In which two members do some soul searching while everyone else enjoys a much deserved group hug. And that’s mostly it. This issue of X-Factor had a few certain story beats it wanted to hit, so it did. Everything else is just kind of fun, generally moving a few different plots along while taking care of the ‘Madrox is back from the dead!’ angle. It’s not the big, emotional scene of awesome I was hoping for, but it’s definitely some good team bonding. We also have Madrox and Havok start butting heads, so that was fun. Though I hope we see some more of this team drama in the issues that come.

X-Factor #234

This issue also featured one of the most adorable superhero group hugs ever.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good.

This issue is also book-ended by the Isolationist’s story, as the mysterious woman is finally revealed in full. But their little segments add absolutely nothing to the overall threat they’re trying to convey, and I find myself rolling my eyes at them even more than last week. They are not threatening, they are not interesting and I have little to no desire in seeing them eventually face off against X-Factor. This book’s greatest strength is when its characters can act like real people, and deal with grounded, street-level adventures. The idea of them facing off against two far-out super-villains seeking world domination just doesn’t interest me in the least.

Fortunately, this issue mostly focuses on the good characters and what their lives are like together. So that’s a plus.

We open, like I said, in the Isolationist’s Arctic fortress. The demon woman stands revealed, and says that her name is Jezebel, and I believe she is from Hell.

Or a very creative escort service

The Isolationist doesn’t believe her at first and attacks, accusing her of trying to raise false hope in him. But Jezebel has all manner of Hellfire powers, and she fights back, putting Isolationist in his place. He concedes that maybe he rushed to judgement too quickly. Jezebel agrees, and says that everyone should take time to stop and smell the roses.

Like Polaris, for example.

So much green

Polaris is hanging out in Central Park, enjoying a bit of quiet time. Havok finds her quickly and explains that she jumped out of the helicopter on their way back from the last mission. Polaris explains that she just wanted to take some time for herself. They were space pirates for so long, and when they came back to Earth, they immediately jumped into leading X-Factor. Havok tells his girlfriend that he totally understands, and there isn’t anything wrong with taking an hour or so to just relax, just the two of them.

Besides, there isn’t anything major going on back at HQ that won’t wait for them…

Guess who's back!!

Except for Multiple Man being back from the dead! Huzzah! Strong Guy makes a funny quip about how he can’t believe everyone is so surprised that this happened. But the joyous reunion is cut short when Monet freaks the Hell out and attacks Layla Miller. She grabs Layla and slams her against a wall. You see, as was explained when Madrox was killed, Layla has the ability to bring the dead back to life – minus a soul. She did it to Strong Guy, and she was going to do it to Madrox. Monet was against the idea. Now Monet is simply assuming that Layla went through with it and brought Madrox back to life sans soul.

Banshee tries to jump in to stop Monet – but she’s the only one.

I'm with you on that one, big guy

Madrox tries to intervene, but Monet grabs Layla and flies away. It’s not over until Monet says it’s over. Madrox tells Banshee to follow them, but Banshee doesn’t want to. She asks if Layla brought Madrox back from the dead, and he tells her no. So Banshee says that Monet will figure that out eventually. If Monet wanted to hurt Layla, she would have done so. Banshee figures that Monet has something she needs or wants to work out with Layla, not just violence.

Banshee then punches Madrox on the arm – creating a dupe. She tells him that was for dying and making them worry. Then she gives him a hug and welcomes him back.

Group hug!

You won't see the Avengers hugging like this

We then cut to one of the silliest moments I’ve ever seen in X-Factor. Two low-rent superheroes in Seattle, Shutterbug and The Insignia, are filming their amateur attempts at being heroes. These guys are from the Kickass school of superheroics, essentially just two guys in costumes walking down the street. They jibber and jabber about their little project, basically just a silly bit of nonsense.

Not quite the character finds of 2012

Then they are both brutally killed by something off-panel. Hooray!

Meanwhile, Monet has flown Layla to the observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building. She scares away the tourists by announcing herself as a “superstrong, Muslim mutant with PMS!” That definitely gets the people running for cover. Monet then demands to know how Layla could bring Madrox back to life without a soul. Layla gives her some backtalk instead of answering. Monet had earlier told Layla to shut up, so Layla says she can’t exactly answer the question if she’s been told to shut up. Layla continues to be difficult in a smarmy way until finally explaining that she didn’t bring Madrox back to life without a soul.

Then she has an experiment for Monet to explain how her “I know things” works. She has Monet look through one of those coin-operated telescopes.

Monet takes ogling cleavage to a whole new level

Layla explains that the closer in time she gets to people and events, the harder they become to see. And recently, it’s gotten worse. There are big black curtains drawn over parts of time that she should know. All because she decided to bring Guido back from the dead. Strong Guy was supposed to die. But his resurrection is now having ripple effects, like Madrox getting killed.

Layla says that she brought Strong Guy back to life to spare Monet, because Monet would have blamed herself and would have become a wreck after Strong Guy’s murder all those issues ago. Layla wanted to spare Monet that pain…only for fate to bite her on the ass by killing Madrox.

Monet pulls away and says that she believes that Layla didn’t resurrection Madrox, but she’s still not happy. She flies off and tells Layla to keep her distance.

Back at X-Factor HQ, we finally get the scene of Havok confronting the returned Madrox. As leader, Havok wants to know when Monet and Layla will be back, but Madrox and Banshee don’t know. They tell Havok to just relax. Banshee let them fly off, and she doesn’t like being second-guessed.

Madrox tells Havok that if he wants to blame someone, then blame Madrox.

Havok can't stand up to Madrox's wit

Madrox proves he’s the real him by showing off his autopsy scar, with the staples down the center of his chest. Madrox tells Havok that he doesn’t know the point of his interdimensional death journey, and he doesn’t know what the future holds for X-Factor. All he knows is that they are stronger together than apart.

A sentiment echoed by Jezebel as we cut back to the Isolationist. Jezebel tells the Isolationist that her planned apocalypse will wipe out all mutants, all superheroes. Anyone whoever put on a costume will be destroyed – and the plan has already started with the deaths of Shutterbug and the Insignia.

And…I don’t care.

No seriously, this Isolationist subplot has done nothing for me. I don’t know who Jezebel is. She’s never appeared anywhere before this. And her claims of causing an apocalypse that will wipe out all superheroes is just ridiculous. Because, hello! She’s not going to wipe out all mutants, let alone all superheroes. Especially not when she starts with a pair like Shutterbug and the Insignia, who are just a bit of nonsense. So the threat of this subplot is essentially nonexistent. It’s pointless and pathetic. I’m not at all looking forward to probably a year’s worth of stories of X-Factor fighting this nonsense threat. Though based on upcoming solicitations, it doesn’t sound like X-Factor is going to get involved in some prolonged thing. So maybe there’s hope.

The rest of the issue was OK. It was nice to see everyone welcoming Madrox back, and we started off the dust-up between Havok and Madrox nicely. I do hope there is more in store in future issues. Polaris continues to be a non-entity, and I still hate her costume. If you have something as unique and fascinating as green hair, then the rest of your costume shouldn’t also be green! It takes away from the uniqueness of the hair! So I really, really hope she gets a new, more relaxed costume soon. Her and Havok both. X-Factor have always had very realistic looking costumes, more like clothing than actual superhero uniforms.

As for the talk between Monet and Layla, I thought it was alright. No real emotional revelations or big secrets revealed. We get some vague information about the nature of Layla’s knowledge, but it doesn’t explain much more than we already knew. And Monet didn’t do much either.

Though if anyone is paying attention, ever since Pip commented on Monet’s excessive cleavage a few issues back, she’s been zipping her costume all the way up. That’s a neat little change in character that some people might not even see. Hooray for subtlety in storytelling!

I love a comic book that trusts its readers to notice stuff