Nope, I still don’t care for it. I was pretty harsh in my review of All-New X-Factor #1, but I had high hopes that the second issue would alleviate some of my concerns and prove that I’m an idiot. It didn’t. Not even a little. The second issue is just as generic and uninspired as the first. It doesn’t help that writer Peter David spends the whole issue in action mode, pushing what little character and creativity exist into the background.

All-New X-Factor #2

It’s not that All-New X-Factor is a bad comic, per se, it’s that I know PAD can do much, much better. So far, the relaunch is painfully mediocre, and that’s just not good enough.

Comic Rating: 5/10 – Alright.

There is nothing about the second issue of All-New X-Factor that has anything to do with ‘X-Factor’ as a comic or a concept, let alone this new Serval Industries angle. The mission to save a bunch of captured mutants could have been performed by any of the X-Men squads, either of the X-Forces, the New Mutants, the Fallen Angels, the X-Statix; anybody. Any chance PAD had to make this comic specifically about these characters is wasted. Gambit, Polaris and Quicksilver are all in fine superhero form, but nothing they do is particularly unique to them, least of all the dialogue.

Gambit makes a Star Wars reference in this comic that literally anybody in the universe would make. Captain America would make that same reference. I could see Magneto making that reference, it’s so simple.

I think part of the problem is that PAD (or Marvel?) just didn’t pick very interesting characters for this team. Gambit, Polaris and Quicksilver don’t really have anything to do with one another, but they’re all old hats at this concept. They all know what it’s like to randomly be part of a new superhero team, so they’re all familiar with what they’re supposed to be doing. But they’re not really familiar enough with each other to make the banter or interpersonal relationships all that interesting. There’s no wonderment involved in being on this superhero team.

So far, All-New X-Factor is just a group of workman superheroes doing their job, but it’s written as if this is all supposed to be really cool and exciting. Generic superhero comics are a dime a dozen, even at Marvel Comics. X-Factor needs to find a way to stand out and do something new.

Also, if you don’t remember the specific characters and the conclusion to the X-Cell storyline from 2007, you’re a little bit out of luck with this new issue.

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