X-Factor #230
Written by: Peter David
Pencilled by: Emanuela Lupacchino
Inked by: Guillermo Ortego
Coloring by: Matt Milla
Lettering by: VC’s Cory Petit
Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $2.99
Note: This review is for the digital version of the comic available from Marvel Comics on Comixology
Full disclosure before I start this review. I have a huge Peter David bias. Last week, on a message board, there was a question about “Favorite Comic Writer” and Peter David was my immediate response. I’ve been a huge fan of his comics and novels for as long as I can remember. Especially Young Justice, Supergirl, Captain Marvel, Star Trek: New Frontier (really any Star Trek book he’s done), Hulk, Sir Apropos, Spider-Man 2099, X-Factor, Soulsearchers, and Fallen Angel.
In fact, Peter David is partially responsible for me finding the woman of my dreams. In high school, seeing my now wife reading the Next Generation novel Q-Squared by Peter David definitely broke the ice. And made me a Star Trek fan, come to think about it.
Despite my love for Peter David, I hadn’t been reading the current X-Factor run. For the most part, I’ve really been staying away from mainstream Marvel (mostly for financial reasons), and unfortunately, that has meant me missing out on series like X-Factor and Daredevil.
That said, it’s nice that there are still Marvel series that only come out once a month and don’t have $4 cover prices. It would be even nicer if these books’ digital editions price dropped after a month or so. Marvel seems like the only company not jumping about that trend, not understand that some comic readers are on a budget. I would be much more inclined to read more Marvel books at lower price points. It’s definitely the reason I read more DC than Marvel right now.
Nothing was really leaping out at me to review this week, so Grey suggested X-Factor. And I figured, “Hey, it’s PAD. Why not?” Real glad I did!
Summary (contains spoilers): This is likely going to be a short summary. This issue seemed to be about characterization and stepping back from the action a bit…which tends to make for dull summaries, but great comic stories.
Looks like in the last issue or so, Jamie was believed to have been killed, but instead got shuffled off to an alternate reality. The team is not taking it so well. Layla pretty much just sits and mopes. Readers also found out that when Guido had been brought back from the dead, Layla brought him back without a soul, which seems to be weirding out a lot of the X-Factor team, especially Guido himself.
Wolverine stops by to try and recruit X-Factor to do some work for him. I especially like the line about the team being able to pull back together:
In order to help the team find it’s way, Wolverine has brought some people who know a lot about running a team called X-Factor: Havok and Polaris.
Meanwhile, Jamie finds himself in an alternate reality being hunted by giant robots. It turns out that these giant robots all look like Iron Man!
Review: One of the toughest jobs in the world has to be solicit writer. How do you build excitement to read a comic, maybe lure in some new readers, without spoiling the surprises in the book? I was a little disappointed that I knew Havok and Polaris would be showing up, so when Wolverine talks about bringing in some people to help lead X-Factor in Jamie’s absense, it wasn’t exactly a surprise who it would be. In fact, I thought the twist in what Jamie found in the alternate reality had a much bigger impact on me.
As always, Peter David works in a lot of characterization and keeps the dialouge light. The back and forth between the characters about Guido’s resurrection and lack of soul worked really well. I especially liked Rhane’s reaction, since she always had a strong religious background, and Guido’s line about not being able to enjoy James Brown anymore. I also loved when Shatterstar was trying to guess who stopped by, and randomly guessed Wolverine, only to discover he was right. A really nice play on the idea that Wolverine is all over the place in the Marvel universe.
I did think the “sexting” line about how Longshot and Dazzler kept in touch felt a little awkward. Sometimes, the random humor in PAD’s books goes a little too far into the absurd.
Another thing Peter David does really well is make unique tweaks in how characters’ stories and powers work. The idea that Jamie pulls dupes from alternate realities is an interesting one, and I am really curious where this idea goes. It helps that I love alternate reality stories. I am sort of hoping that Jamie’s story gets some “Exiles” elements to it. I still miss that series!
This book felt very accessible to me. When I realized it was issue 2 of an arc, I was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to follow it all that well, but it was real easy for me to jump right it. It never felt like PAD was holding my hand and dumbing it down, but the comic really was set up in a way to fill in the parts of the back story a new reader would need. He even managed to adequately explain what’s going on with Wolverine and the X-Men in just a panel or two. There are definitely a lot of comic writers that can take a lesson from this.
There were a lot of characters (including strange ones like Pip The Troll), but I thought each of them got plenty of page time, even if most of the time it was just to make a quip. I’m not always sure that Peter David manages to match these characters to how they were before he wrote them, but each character in his books always have distinct personalities and speech patterns. I always consider that a major achievement by a writer. I also liked that Wolverine showed up in more of a talky role than a lot of his guest appearances.
I don’t know her work all that well, but Emanuela Lupacchino is a great comic artist. Everything is drawn in terrific detail. Whether it was Jamie seeing giant Iron Men:
or Wolverine leaning against a wall talking to the team:
The art really brought the story to life perfectly. I definitely want to see more of her work!
I liked this comic a lot, and I really would like to add it to my pull list. I can already hear my budget crying out in protest, but there are definitely books I read that don’t deserve to be there as much as X-Factor. Really well written and beutifully drawn. Damn you Grey for constantly costing me more and more money each week. I am going to start sending you a bill, you evil bastard! HIGHLY RECCOMMENDED!
Final Score: 9.0 – I’ve always liked Peter David, and X-Factor is the perfect book for him to show off his many talents. Add in brilliant art by Emanuela Lupacchino, and X-Factor is a must buy! Shame it took me this long to try it out, looks like I have a lot of back issue shopping to catch up on.
