As many of you may have heard, X-Factor writer Peter David suffered a stroke while on vacation with his family in the end of December. From what I understand, he’s been recovering, but I don’t think there has been any word yet on what will happen to X-Factor. I’m sure he’s already got several scripts in the can ready to publish. Peter David is a fantastic guy. I had the pleasure of meeting him at the New York Comic-Con a few years ago, where he politely entertained by stumbling declarations that I loved his work on X-Factor. I’m glad I brought my brother along because he had far more substantial questions to ask. To help support PAD’s hospital bills, everyone is being encouraged to buy some of his ebooks and comics online, which you can do at his website. His wife Kathleen also gave an update on his condition this week.

X-Factor #250

Considering Peter David is almost single-handedly responsible for turning Multiple Man into my favorite comic book character, you better believe we here at Henchman-4-Hire wish him a speedy recovery.

Especially since he’s kicking total ass with the Hell on Earth War so far!

Comic rating: 4/5: Good!

The second issue in and this story is pretty awesome. PAD is hitting the heroes hard and fast with the action, trying up a lot of his ongoing stories as he launches this brand new one. There are a lot of questions still about what has caused all of his hellfire and brimstone, but PAD is definitely keeping the story exciting. X-Factor is thrust right into the heart of the conflict with this issue, and all of it seems to be focused around Tier, the son of Wolfsbane. I’ve never been all that interested in this certain story, but really it’s just a reason for X-Factor to be awesome and face off against villains from Earth and Hell alike. Leonard Kirk’s art remains just as strong as it’s always been, making this story a definite winner so far.

If I had one complaint it would be that none of the action really seems to affect the characters on any sort of personal level. They’re all just kind of there, reacting as the adventure unfolds. Even when a certain character makes his dramatic return, nobody seems all that affected. Hopefully PAD can add to the oomph level in coming issues.

Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review.

We open with Tier wandering the streets of New York City, his face and wolfen features covered in a hoodie. Something happened at his mother’s house and she was dragged out by some evil forces. Wolfsbane told Tier to go to New York and find X-Factor, and he’s made it to the Big Apple. But he doesn’t necessarily believe that X-Factor can help. Still, they’re his only hope.

Especially with Darwin still on his tail! (pun intended)

Darwin has been hunting Tier for reasons that have not yet exactly been explained. He just popped up in a single issue a few months ago trying to kill the boy, who’s aging far faster than a normal child. Wolfsbane, Rictor and Shatterstar were able to save Tier, but now Darwin has tracked him to New York. Darwin points his gun at the boy’s head, but he hesitates…just long enough for Wolfsbane to run him down with a taxi!

*Insert obligatory ‘catching a cab’ joke here*

For new readers, this is probably all very confusing.

But there’s no time to wait becuase we quickly cut to X-Factor, where Pip has apparently taken off and left the team (good!). Monet explains that she told Pip she’d kill him if he stayed, since he recently jumped into her mind and took control of her body. Madrox is trying to calm Monet down when Polaris informs him that Wolfsbane and her son have arrived. So Madrox instead goes to hear them out. Once Wolfsbane catches him up, Madrox promsies that Wolfsbane and her son will be safe with X-Factor.

I’ve been saying this for years: Multiple Man is a swell guy

At least until Darwin suddenly shows up, guns blazing. Darwin bursts into the building and again tries to shoot Tier, with X-Factor responding to take him out. Darwin holds his own and gets his hands on Tier, once again putting his gun to the kid’s head. But Madrox is pretty sure that Darwin is just bluffing, so he tells his team to stand down and for Darwin to do what he needs to do. Of course, he’s also got a dupe sneaking up behind Darwin, but that’s just Plan B.

Sure enough, Madrox is right, and Darwin can’t bring himself to murder Tier in cold blood. He shoots the floor in anguish and lets the kid go.

But Darwin isn’t the only person looking to kill Tier. Suddenly, Strong Guy appears in the front door, and he’s in cahoots with Jezebel, the red, winged demon lady!

I bet Guido would tap that

We saw Jezebel at the start of the issue, where she was sitting atop a mesa in the southwest beseeching God to use his power to stop the Hell on Earth War before it starts. When she didn’t get a response, she said she’d just do her herself. And apparently she was the one who convinced Strong Guy to abandon X-Factor several issues ago. Now they’re back, and they’re ready to kill Tier.

Sadly, nobody really reacts to Strong Guy being back the way I want them to. That’s one of the great failures of this run of X-Factor, the camaraderie and friendship between the characters isn’t as strong as it could be. Or at least it isn’t as strong as it used to be. I don’t know. But Multiple Man and Strong Guy are supposed to be best friends, same with Wolfsbane. But nobody really cares that Strong Guy was gone or that now he’s back. Madrox doesn’t remark on it at all. The only one who really reacts is Monet, who’s inexplicably angry to see Guido again. Sure he ruined one date that the two went on, but she is really, really holding a grudge over it. Strong Guy punches Monet out of the building and everyone attacks him without question.

Questions such as ‘How are you today?’ and ‘What’s with the get-up?’

Again, why are they attacking him? He’s supposed to be their friend!

Rather than stay and fight, Layla decides to teleport everyone out of there. She gathers them for a spell, but something kind of goes wrong. The entire building is blown up and everyone (with the exception of Monet) is instead transported to that mesa that Jezebel was sitting on at the start of the issue. Once there, X-Factor can only stand by and watch as Jezebel meets with her father, Mephisto, and he notes that she has found the child, Tier. Then several other Hell characters show up around the mesa. I don’t recognize most of them, other than Hel from Asgardian mythology. She then says that one of them should just kill Tier and get this whole thing over with.

Can you name all these demonic beings?

I can only name, like, two of them…

The pacing in this issue was fantastic, just like last issue. Peter David is writing a fast and exciting story as the forces of Hell descend upon our characters, even though they don’t really have anything to do with it. Everyone is just kind of dragged along to protect Tier, which is a perfectly legitimate struggle. Tier is Wolfsbane’s son, that makes him part of the family. So it’s easy to see why X-Factor would get involved in this struggle. Though hopefully PAD will explain why Tier is so important to this Hell on Earth War. Was he the fabled 7 billionth person born on Earth? And what does that have to do with anything?

I also hope PAD really gets his characters involved in this story. Right now, they’re kind of just being dragged along for the ride. Everything feels very much on the surface. Nobody really reacted to Strong Guy coming back and siding with Jezebel. Nobody seems all that impressed when faced off against all these demonic beings. And while Darwin may be suffering some emotional fallout, we’ve barely seen Darwin in years, so any impact is lost.

I want to see everybody really put through the ringer with this one.