Review: X-Factor #259
Hey continuity fans, this issue is for you! Did you ever wonder what happened to Dazzler’s baby from that one brief mention of it’s fate back in 2001? What about the secret history of Longshot and Shatterstar? Are you a scholar of X-Men history so deep and obscure that you’ve been waiting decades for your answers? Peter David and X-Factor have you covered in the latest issue of The End of X-Factor! And it’s mostly good, but also mostly just a quick attempt for PAD to write off a story idea he had in one issue.
X-Factor #259
On the one hand, The End of X-Factor is about tying off each individual character with a bow. On the other hand, like with this issue, PAD might be cramming every story idea he had left into single, one-off issues.
Comic Rating: 6/10 – Pretty Good.
I’m just not a big fan of Rictor, Shatterstar or Longshot, so maybe the true strength of this issue was lost on me. PAD has been hinting at some sort of connection between the two similar heroes for a while now, and I can definitely say I didn’t see this exact twist coming, but it’s still similar to what I expected. It also only comes up in the last third of the book, which turns into a huge info-dump as PAD just lets it all out. I got the feeling that he had planned something bigger and better for the big reveal, but the comic’s cancellation saw to the end of those plans.
The rest of the issue is fine. It’s mostly about Rictor, and it’s so utterly random. After the events of Hell on Earth War, Rictor wound up in the Mojoverse, of all places. That part doesn’t make much sense, but again, this issue is all about tying off the Longshot/Shatterstar story. PAD does a fine job with it, and might actually appease a few continuity buffs in the audience.
The issue opens with Rictor in a cell. He’s got a beard now, and long hair. Like most superheroes in the Mojoverse, he’s being forced to perform in gladiatorial games for Mojo’s amusement. Rictor says he keeps doing it to bide his time, hoping to find some time to escape. And Mojo is up there on the screen, screeching to his audience about the games. Rictor is not amused.
Enter Thunderdome
Rictor’s next opponent comes out, dressed all in armor, and he quickly realizes that it’s Shatterstar in some kind of costume. After a quick battle, Rictor uses his powers to knock Shatterstar’s helmet off, confirming that it’s him – but Shatterstar doesn’t recognize him. Then a band of rebels shows up (there are always bands of rebels in the Mojoverse). They blast Mojo’s screen and blast Shatterstar when he gets up to attack Rictor. It turns out, Longshot is among the rebels, and he too doesn’t recognize Rictor.
They don’t have time to talk about it before Mojo’s guards show up. Rictor uses his powers to split the arena ground, and the rebels flee, with Shatterstar in tow. They retreat to their secret headquarters, and PAD drops a sweet Doctor Who reference.
Allons-y!
Good times.
Rictor then meets Arize, a tall man with a big bushy head of red hair, and an equally big and bushy beard. Arize is a creator who makes things and people, often to fight Mojo. Except he didn’t make Shatterstar, who has been put in a bed. Arize explains that Shatterstar showed up a few years ago out of the blue, and Arize started cloning him into rebel warriors…rebel warriors like Longshot, perhaps?
Looks like
So there’s one surprise reveal.
They manage to wake Shatterstar up, and he finally recognizes Rictor. But then a moment later, Mojo bursts into the lair with his army. He praises Arize for making so many fun rebels for him to kill, but sometimes he needs to thin our the herd a bit. Besides, attacking the rebel stronghold will make for good TV.
There’s a big army/rebel battle, and Mojo reveals his new secret weapon: Spiral!
Rictor wonders why Spiral is considered ‘new’, and Shatterstar reveals what he’s figured out:
Clever boy
So they’re now also back in time? See what I mean how this story was clearly crammed into one issue? Anyway, Shatterstar grabs Rictor and teleports them forward in time. He doesn’t have much strength, at least not enough to teleport them out of the Mojoverse. They wind up in the same rebel camp, only several years have passed, and the place is in ruins. Rictor hears a woman screaming somewhere in the distance, and he goes to investigate. He finds Dazzler on the floor about to give birth…
Once upon a time, I think back in the 80s, Dazzler and Longshot were a couple. At some point, Dazzler got pregnant, and she and Longshot ended up trapped in the Mojoverse for awhile. The story was that they were assisting the rebels to overthrow Mojo. But that storyline was eventually dropped, and the next time Dazzler showed up, in 2001, it was mentioned that she had a miscarriage. Basically, the X-Men writers at the time just washed over the old stories so that they could use Dazzler without any complicated baby drama.
Now it seems that PAD has a big idea for what happened to Dazzler and Longshot’s baby!
There is no logic in this place
And there’s your next big surprise!
Shatterstar explains to Rictor that in order to keep the timestream intact, they have erase Dazzler’s memories of the baby. Then they will take the young Shatterstar 100 years into the future, and deliver him to the people who raised him. And eventually, all of it will just repeat itself again.
Obviously, he is a Rob Liefeld character
Let’s get this straight: at some point in time, Shatterstar winds up in the Mojoverse, and Arize starts cloning him. One of those clones is Longshot, who goes on to have many adventures with the X-Men, and falls in love with Dazzler. They have a baby, who turns out to be Shatterstar. Then a future version of Shatterstar and Rictor take baby Shatterstar into the future, to be raised by whomever raised him. Then at some point, Shatterstar, Rictor and Longshot are all on X-Factor together.
Is that a soap opera or what?
One’s enjoyment of this issue really stems entirely from how much they like the starring characters. I don’t particularly care for any of them, so the revelations about Shatterstar and Longshot mean little to nothing to me. If any of you readers are big fans, please let the rest of us know what you thought of the issue. Is this a cool twist? Did you see it coming? Does it change your opinion on any of the characters?
Personally, I thought it was interesting enough. And I would have loved to have seen PAD’s full idea. He could have fleshed out some of these story elements and giving us a fuller, richer story. Though I’ve also never been a fan of Mojo, so I can’t say as how I would have liked it even if it were longer. This issue was a quick, necessarily evil, tying up a loose end that PAD didn’t want to leave dangling. And that’s all the issue really was, in the end. The art was serviceable, and PAD told the story he wanted, all quick and dirty like. It doesn’t feature the emotional closure of Rahne’s final issue, but it was good enough.
Next up is Polaris, who barely got any time to shine upon her return only a year or so ago. Then after that, it’s goodbye old friend.
Posted on July 18, 2013, in Comics, Marvel, Multiple Man, Reviews, X-Men and tagged Longshot, Rictor, Shatterstar, X-Factor. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Henchman-4-Hire 
I liked this. Mojo stole the scenes he was in – I do love me some Mojo. Each given twist was obvious before it came up. As soon as Arize started talking about not having created Shatterstar, it was obvious he was going to explain that Longshot was cloned from him. As soon as Longshot didn’t recognize Rictor, I figured out they were in the past. As soon as I saw Dazzler, I knew she was giving birth to Shatterstar.
That’s not really bad, though.
I enjoyed this issue.
Sometimes I do wonder if I’m being harder on this book than I should be. But it’s X-Factor! It’s supposed to be great!
PAD has set himself a pretty high standard. An issue that would be great from anyone else feels oddly disappointing from him.
The mid 80s Longshot mini series was one of the first comics I ever read and ever since Longshot has been a personal favorite of mine. Over the years, a lot of writers have mismanaged him in my opinion. He became a joke character when in fact his origin is pretty awesome. This issue goes a long way to piece together both Shatterstar and Longshots back story.
Many people will be weirded out by the relevation that Shatterstar is both Longshots clone and also Longshot’s son but there are many ways I can imagine this makes sense.
1) All the upright people in the Mojoverse are slaves created by Arize, who wears a mechanical spine himself. The spineless ones like Mojo are the native population. Many of the upright slaves are partially animal, such as Quark, the goatman we see in this issue. The Mojoverse receives television waves from earth which much of their lore is based on, and they view humans as devils. Arize, at some point, starts building his rebels to look human – this could coincide with the arrival of Shatterstar – as a way to frighten the spineless ones.
2) Longshot may be a clone, but he’s obviously not a perfect one. For example, he only has four fingers, his skin has been described as leathery, he has hollow bones, he’s blonde where Shatterstar is a ginger. This implies that Arize tinkers with each clone. In the Longshot miniseries, we see Longshot in one of Mojo’s television arenas along with another humanoid clone. His friend has brown/black hair and he gets killed. I believe he also had super luck, or he at least wore the star on his jacket like Longshot. Anyway, this tells us there are more and they all look a little different. PS- Quark also has the luck power but he is too cynical to use it as effectively as Longshot. Does Shatterstar have luck? This could mean his mutant genetics are expressing differently in the mojoverse clones. Longshot also has a branded scar on his temple of a star, which Arize identifies at one point – is this the brand Arize puts on his Shatterstar clones?
3) Spiral described Longshot as the Fallen Messiah – way back in an X-Factor annual in the 90s. He is destined to challenge Mojo, fail, have his memory erased, and repeat the sequence again. In a world based on television or movies, it makes sense that there are endless sequels. In that same annual, it is revealed that Spiral is Longshots first lover on earth, Richochet Rita, a movie stunt woman. She was defiled by Mojo and sent back in time as a present to himself. Spiral can also teleport and jump between dimensions (and possibly time?). Her adaptations could be based on Shatterstar’s genetics as well.
4) Longshot can’t jump through time, but he can “read” the past and future of the pychic imprint left on objects. Again, this connects to Shatterstar’s abilities. It also is the one means that allows Longshot to find traces of his past since he’s been mind wiped several times.
5) PAD really could have turned this into a minimum 3 issue arch (and I really wish they had asked Art Adams back to do the issue – although I bet he costs alot now), but he leaves open the idea that Shatterstar is raised in the future (a la Cable, Hope) but he never tells us by who. It’s possible that Rictor and Shatterstar raise him themselves. The real question remains – how do Shatterstar, Longshot and the clones finally overcome Mojo and end the repetitive loop they are all caught in?
5) Perhaps someone else could jump in and explain the Benjamin Russell connection here. Didn’t Shatterstar switch bodies at some point? Was Benjamin Russell his teenage self in a coma while his spirit lived in the mojoverse future in a clone of a Shatterstar? I don’t know all the details on SS, and I’m realizing his origin is more convoluted than any other X-character. Anyway, if Benjamin Russell was a mutant, perhaps it explains how we get more mutant genes into the Mojoverse clones and the whole pool is just a little less inbred.
Fun to meet a Longshot fan. Sounds like you love Longshot as much as I love Multiple Man. I’ve always found it very neat the way we glom on to our favorite character for whatever reason.
Did you hear about the Longshot mini-series coming out? Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe?
Yes! I’m excited about that series however, I really hope it’s handled well. Like I was saying, I think a lot of writers have played up Longshot into a joke when I think he works better as naive but not stupid. I’ve always thought a Longshot movie could be great if they cut out the hammy stuff like the X-Babies or Mojo II the Sequel, and if Mojo is truly sinister and manipulative rather than a cliche smarmy Hollywood Producer.
Yeah, I know your pain. Longshot is one of those characters who is just too obscure for general writers to get perfect. Multiple Man was like that for a long while, until Peter David came back and turned him into a leading man. You’ve just got to hold out hope that this new writer has some good ideas for Longshot, and can see them through.
Multiple Man is a great character and Peter David did some really interesting things with him. I’ve only bobbed in and out of X-Factor so I’m not up to date on everything he did, but I love the idea that there are multiple Madrox’s (Madri?) living their own lives and when they die or get reabsorbed he gathers their memories. It makes him pretty god like in a lot of ways.
Wasn’t there two Jamie’s sent into two potential futures during Messiah Complex? One met Layla, but what happened to the other one?
That was the original premise of the series, but PAD actually had Madrox absorb all the rest of his wayward dupes (except one) a few years ago. As for that other duplicate, he ended up in a different reality, turned evil, gained some kind of techno-psychic powers and he was the villain of a big time travel storyline in X-Factor a few years ago.