JD Francesco
Mar 16, 2008, 06:33 pm
<a href=" http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/XFACT029_col.jpg" target="_blank"><img src=" http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/marvel/0308/XFACT029_colt.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="X-Factor #29"></a> Reviewer: JD Francesco, vos_attestor@yahoo.com
Story Title: The Only Game In Town, Part 1
“You certainly have cojones....for another few seconds, anyway.”
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Valentine De Landro
Inks: Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Aubrey Sitterson
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com/)
Contains some spoilers!
Messiah Complex is thankfully out of the way leaving a slightly thinner cast in its wake. Rahne and Layla are out of the picture, with new characters to be joining in the near future. Much of last issue dealt with the team reacting to the loss. Rictor’s reaction was the last to be addressed but Peter David wisely covered that territory within one page so we can move on to the next big question of where these new developments leave the rest of our cast. With the absence of X-Factor’s “hope” and “faith” can they still function? Do they even want to?
Since the X-Men allegedly disbanded and X-Force being a secret, X-Factor is the only public mutant team around. Of course Jamie is all for keeping the team together on the simple grounds that as long as there are villains there will always be a need for heroes. They stand a better chance of surviving to deal with these threats working together rather than going solo. As for the rest of the team…
Guido is still on board. Previously Val Cooper offered him a position as sheriff of Mutant Town. That sub plot has been abandoned as lately there hasn’t been much of a Mutant Town to speak of. Most of the remaining former mutants have been leaving rendering the position obsolete. I personally think Guido as sheriff would have made for some fun stories so I’m a little disappointed. However, Peter David does manage to ring a funny little moment out of the development before leaving it behind.
M isn’t going anywhere. I wish I had more to say on that but Monet hasn’t had much character development since this book started. Don’t get me wrong, I like her and I think she does her part for the team. I just think her roll in X-Factor has been very one dimensional. She hasn’t been involved in any decent character driven sub plots aside from sleeping with Jamie. Even that didn’t do much for her characterization aside from revealing to us that she’s great in bed. Hopefully PAD does something interesting with her in the near future.
Siryn seems to be staying too. By now everybody knows Theresa is pregnant with Jamie’s baby. The thing is Jamie doesn’t know yet. She tries to tell him twice and is interrupted both times by situations involving Rictor. The moment of misunderstanding between her and Jamie is funny but in light of Monet’s observation toward the end of that scene (not the Three’s Company reference) I see potential for a lot of heartache in the future. Jamie has a lot on his plate right now with trying to keep the team together and Layla’s disappearance. Is he capable of reciprocating Terri’s affections at this point?
What’s going on with Rictor? Well, he plans on leaving the team and straight out the door gets kidnapped by Arcade. If ever there was a clear illustration of Jamie’s rationalization regarding safety in numbers, this was it. Ideally I would like to see the gang rescue Rictor before he gets Goldfingered by that pendulum. I like him. He’s the token human and since House Of M, I have been enjoying reading how he adjusts to life on a super hero team after losing his powers. It will be interesting to find out who hates him enough to hire Arcade.
In the end it isn’t a question of whether or not X-Factor wants to go on as a team. For now, they pretty much have to. Rictor’s cojones depend on it. It doesn’t matter if one person quits the team and another has gone missing or even gets shot in the head by a cop from the future. Jamie had it spot on. The villains will never quit, so if good is to prevail the heroes can’t quit either.
(One last thing, I heard this week that there will be a new artist on X-Factor. I’m not going to say who it is but I will say that I’m going to miss Valentine De Landro’s work on the title.)
RATING:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy X-Factor at X-World comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2061&cat=X%2DFACTOR+%28CURRENT+SERIES%29)
Story Title: The Only Game In Town, Part 1
“You certainly have cojones....for another few seconds, anyway.”
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Valentine De Landro
Inks: Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Aubrey Sitterson
Editor in Chief: Joe Quesada
Publisher: Dan Buckley
Published by: Marvel Comics (http://www.marvel.com/)
Contains some spoilers!
Messiah Complex is thankfully out of the way leaving a slightly thinner cast in its wake. Rahne and Layla are out of the picture, with new characters to be joining in the near future. Much of last issue dealt with the team reacting to the loss. Rictor’s reaction was the last to be addressed but Peter David wisely covered that territory within one page so we can move on to the next big question of where these new developments leave the rest of our cast. With the absence of X-Factor’s “hope” and “faith” can they still function? Do they even want to?
Since the X-Men allegedly disbanded and X-Force being a secret, X-Factor is the only public mutant team around. Of course Jamie is all for keeping the team together on the simple grounds that as long as there are villains there will always be a need for heroes. They stand a better chance of surviving to deal with these threats working together rather than going solo. As for the rest of the team…
Guido is still on board. Previously Val Cooper offered him a position as sheriff of Mutant Town. That sub plot has been abandoned as lately there hasn’t been much of a Mutant Town to speak of. Most of the remaining former mutants have been leaving rendering the position obsolete. I personally think Guido as sheriff would have made for some fun stories so I’m a little disappointed. However, Peter David does manage to ring a funny little moment out of the development before leaving it behind.
M isn’t going anywhere. I wish I had more to say on that but Monet hasn’t had much character development since this book started. Don’t get me wrong, I like her and I think she does her part for the team. I just think her roll in X-Factor has been very one dimensional. She hasn’t been involved in any decent character driven sub plots aside from sleeping with Jamie. Even that didn’t do much for her characterization aside from revealing to us that she’s great in bed. Hopefully PAD does something interesting with her in the near future.
Siryn seems to be staying too. By now everybody knows Theresa is pregnant with Jamie’s baby. The thing is Jamie doesn’t know yet. She tries to tell him twice and is interrupted both times by situations involving Rictor. The moment of misunderstanding between her and Jamie is funny but in light of Monet’s observation toward the end of that scene (not the Three’s Company reference) I see potential for a lot of heartache in the future. Jamie has a lot on his plate right now with trying to keep the team together and Layla’s disappearance. Is he capable of reciprocating Terri’s affections at this point?
What’s going on with Rictor? Well, he plans on leaving the team and straight out the door gets kidnapped by Arcade. If ever there was a clear illustration of Jamie’s rationalization regarding safety in numbers, this was it. Ideally I would like to see the gang rescue Rictor before he gets Goldfingered by that pendulum. I like him. He’s the token human and since House Of M, I have been enjoying reading how he adjusts to life on a super hero team after losing his powers. It will be interesting to find out who hates him enough to hire Arcade.
In the end it isn’t a question of whether or not X-Factor wants to go on as a team. For now, they pretty much have to. Rictor’s cojones depend on it. It doesn’t matter if one person quits the team and another has gone missing or even gets shot in the head by a cop from the future. Jamie had it spot on. The villains will never quit, so if good is to prevail the heroes can’t quit either.
(One last thing, I heard this week that there will be a new artist on X-Factor. I’m not going to say who it is but I will say that I’m going to miss Valentine De Landro’s work on the title.)
RATING:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/xnone.jpg
Buy X-Factor at X-World comics and save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=2061&cat=X%2DFACTOR+%28CURRENT+SERIES%29)