X-Factor #257-262 – “The End of X-Factor”
What was the last time a series ended with six straight issues of epilogue? Sandman?
Yes, granted, X-Factor is evidently being relaunched. Issue #260 ends with Polaris being being recruited for a new corporate version of X-Factor, and Peter David’s closing essay is sure to remind us of that. In fact, it sounds very much as though David himself is sticking around for the new version. This is not a high-selling book, and from the looks of it everyone realised that the Hell on Earth War was a suitable opportunity to quit while they were ahead and go for the relaunch.
But by the same token, this really does seem to be the end of the current version of X-Factor, with whatever replaces it set to attach the name to a different concept entirely. “The End of X-Factor” consists of six issues of epilogue stories designed to give wrap up the outstanding storylines of the various members of the cast (except for Polaris, for obvious reasons). The first and last chapters have Layla retrieving Jamie, then taking him back to his family farm where he’s eventually cured of his demonic transformation. In other stories, Rahne decides to quit and become a deacon; Longshot and Rictor spend an issue disentangling long-niggling continuity problems; Polaris drinks a lot; and Darwin finally gets together with the newly soulless M.
This is not a storyline, then. It’s an extended exercise in closure, something that the superhero genre has never exactly been fond of. Partly that’s because of the mentality that a superhero comic should never end. I don’t subscribe to that view; I’ve long maintained that in a healthy market there would be a fairly regular turnover of new ideas coming and going. And partly it’s because publishers used to assume (with some justification) that sales would collapse if they announced a cancellation. That no longer appears to hold the same fear, hence Marvel’s willingness to publicly proclaim six straight issues of wrap-up.
In the grander scheme of things, it’s probably a smart move. The current version of X-Factor is a bit of a black sheep in the X-Men line; aside from participating in the “Messiah Complex” crossover, it’s rarely interacted with the other X-Men titles, and it’s shown little or no interest in the standard themes of the X-Men. Instead, it’s been a slightly off-kilter superhero ensemble book (the heroes spent so much time separated that calling it a team book seems inaccurate) with a cast assembled from the X-Men’s offcuts. This version of the book dates from 2006, and it’s been a vehicle for Peter David to do his thing in a corner of the modern Marvel Universe, building on his very well-received Madrox mini. While “Hell on Earth War” tied up a lot of the ongoing storylines, it didn’t tie up everything, nor would it really have worked as a climax for many of the individual characters. “The End of X-Factor” has let David and his readers say goodbye to the characters properly, and gives a much more effective sense of an era drawing to an end.
And that also means that when they launch another book also called X-Factor in a few months time, it’ll feel like a fresh start rather than just a renumbering of the same old title. You’d have thought it would make more sense to call the damn thing something else, but that doesn’t seem to be the way Marvel work at the moment – they’d much rather just attach an existing title to a new book, no matter how arbitarily. (Avengers Arena, anyone?)
Are these particularly good short stories in their own right? Um. They’re middling, to be honest. The Rictor/Longshot issue in particular gets itself bogged down in largely-forgotten continuity problems that would have been best left at the back of the sofa. I’m not convinced that this week’s issue was really crying out for a brief appearance by Mr Tryp, either. The Polaris story feels a little out of place, partly because of its different agenda and partly because she herself seems a bit out of character – it has Quicksilver showing up as the voice of reason, and I’ve never seen Lorna as being an extreme enough personality to justify him in that role.
But Rahne’s story sells the idea of her leaving the business rather beautifully, and there are good moments for Darwin, Jamie and Layla as well. Neil Edwards, who draws most of these issues, is a clear storyteller if occasionally a bit bland, and he sells the big emotional beats. There are points in Lorna’s story where he’s channelling Kevin Maguire, though it doesn’t seem to come through in the other chapters.
Besides, these aren’t really issues that are meant to stand on their own. Sure, they’re self-contained, but they’re all built around being a farewell to characters we know, and (perhaps more to the point) to Peter David’s take on them. It’s nice to see a lower-tier title like this get a chance to put the toys away properly and switch out the lights – just the fact of doing it makes the ending seem a little bit more significant.
It is like the ongoing rift of the name X-Factor… constantly changing from a front, to a government body, to just a team, to an investigation firm, to… and on and on…
I hope Shatterstar and Rictor and M don’t end up in Limbo. I kinda hope Banshee becomes a Syren again, sometime soon.
It would be cool if the Longshot series opened some new doors for wacky X-stories again, and something in the spirit of Excalibur, say a Wildways with Longshot, Shatterstar, Rictor, some others… be fun.
I’m kind of in agreement with PAD. He’s been writing these characters for so long, I’m not sure that anybody else will be able to write them and have them sound “right” to me as well.
If X-Factor IS being relaunched (which seems likely) and if PAD is writing it, I will follow (especially since he seems to be one of the few people who can write Polaris effectively.)
So you mean I have to read the other five issues then? I flipped through this not realizing the epilogue nature and was completely lost.
I loved X-factor for the majority of its run, and admit it reads even better as a serial that waiting for monthly editions as a lot of the lot threads were very long running. It also crafted a really solid ensemble team, with each character having a distinctive voice, even when it did get very cluttered. And Peter David made a great character out of Layla Miller, who to begin with was just a walking dues ex machina. That said, I’m happy for her and Jamie to “retire” for a while, as I feel we’ve got the most out of the multiple personalities and “I know stuff” schtick for a while – time for a breather. The only least successful character was Darwin, but was another editorial mandate. The final epilogues were quite underwhelming but that was hard to avoid… Also Polaris felt very off kilter, almost like Siryn on a bad day… Do all the female characters seem to be a bit too fond of the bottle in the last couple of issues? That said, I look forward to whatever comes next, once David has time for a recharge. Here’s hoping some other minor x-men get his gold star treatment in the next iteration!
I respect the quiet pace of these issues, and that the epilogue is a slow dissolve of the team rather than a violent end. (Until Paul mentioned it, I wasn’t thinking of the issues as an extended epilogue, and just that shift is really helping me appreciate them.) Still, I’m vaguely disappointed with the ending here. Other series of PAD’s–Captain Marvel and Incredible Hulk, for example–had endings that left an emotional impact on me, and I still go back to read them on occasion. I’ll have to reread these issues and the Hell on Earth storyline to be sure, but I don’t think the X-Factor ending will ever have the same resonance for me.
The last year of this title has been rather lackluster. Does anyone envision yet another iteration of X-Factor by Peter David relaunching as a great success that makes it beyond 12 or 20 issues?
It may have a great cast. It may have a great concept. But the thought of it just has such a ho-hum vibe to it. Unless they do something brilliant and revolutionary like calling it “Uncanny X-Factor” or whatever.
M is soulless?
Wasn’t she always?
I’m glad that the characters got such an Extended good-bye, and that PAD specified that the books ending wasn’t precipitated by his stroke. He gave each of the characters a Kind of closure, while they were “parked” so that future writers might choose to use them again or not. I mean, suppose Madrox or Rahne doesn’t appear in any book for the next five years, at least we wouldn’t have to ask: where are they now?
However, the least successful of them all was the Lorna issue, especially since PAD had previously gone some way to address and repair her mental instability issues. Here she seemed like a throwback to Austen’s time mixed with Siryn’s alcohol problem, and I’m somewhat disappointed that it’s precisely this what PAD seems to want to continue.
Re: M – I don’t think she is soulless in the Guido way, as she wasn’t resurrected by Layla. That was just Darwin’s initial presumption. I thought she was just emotionally stunned after her death, and the way she smiled when Darwin told Hela he was OK was a hint that she is starting to feel again.
Re: Tryp – given that he has been the most long-term X-Factor villain still at large, I think it was imperative to address him again. Now he’s probably gone, but I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t learn more about how his trans-temporal multiplication worked and what his motives were, rather than “I do it because I can”. Duh.
“I’ve long maintained that in a healthy market there would be a fairly regular turnover of new ideas coming and going.”
Coming and going from where? Because I sort of assumed that in this day and age, if you’re a creator, and you come up with a genuinely new idea- something that could conceivably exist in an entirely separate universe, and something that doesn’t rely on existing DC or Marvel IP, then you hang onto that idea for yourself. You don’t sell it to Marvel or DC so that they can own it. You work at Marvel and/or DC for the money and to build a following while you use or recycle their preexisting characters and concepts. Any new ideas you might come up with along the way, you save for self publishing.
halapeno summed things up pretty well.
Adios, X-factor. There were a few missteps along the way, but you were overall an enjoyable series. Certainly one of the better X-titles we’ve seen over the last 6 or 7 years. I hope the next series is just as good (in it’s own way), and that lazy writers use your characters well (instead of shock deaths/rapes/villain turns/etc).
You’re not the only one who thought Lorna seemed a bit off in her epilogue issue. Sure, she’s been depicted as unstable or even downright psychotic at times (Chuck Austen comes to mind), but PAD’s take on her has always been very down to earth.
All in all, though, this is a good wrap-up for a good series, and I look forward to seeing what Peter David does next.
I thought the Lorna issue itself was really well done and I think PAD was trying to make sense of her Chuck Austen days by doing this off-kilter Lorna. Plus the fact that she just learned she killed her parents and the end of Hell on Earth breaking up her team and killing effectively an old friend and her friends son, she kind of lost it even more.
I kind of enjoy Lorna a tad bit nuts as it makes her interesting. Shes been a pawn and manipulated all of her life. She never had full control of her actions even where she was little as we saw in X-Factor #243. She’s incredibly damaged and I am very much looking foward to seeing her try to heal.
halapeno: Coming from within the MU, like this series did. You can have new ideas for new takes on existing characters, and introduce new characters at the same time. A team of X-Avengers is new for Marvel – maybe it has a shelf life. Thunderbolts was a new idea when it started. X-Force as a kill squad was new, and both Kyle/Yost and Remender’s versions had endings.
“Thunderbolts was a new idea when it started.”
That’s strange. I could have sworn it didn’t become a new idea until issue #27.
Joking aside, everything you’ve mentioned falls under the category of “relies upon existing IP.” But I was speaking as to why Marvel no longer seems to produce anything that’s genuinely new. They can’t because creators don’t want to part with such ideas. That’s at least partly the reason we don’t see much in the way of the closure that Paul’s referring to. Even this isn’t closure. Well, it is in that it closes the book on this particular version of X-Factor, but Rahne will be back at some point in the future. Probably for yet another nostalgia-motivated New Mutants reunion series.
And I can’t really criticize Marvel for it. On one hand Marvel Entertainment is making buckets of money from films based on characters whose creators don’t own the rights to and never did. On the other hand, you have Robert Kirkman reaping the rewards of a hit cable TV series based on IP that he owns. It’s no wonder that all Marvel can do now is just rearrange the same old pieces on the the same old board with no new ideas forthcoming. But hey, they’re getting a Guardians of the Galaxy movie out of this approach.
Hopefully we will hear more about the new X-Factor title soon. Marvel just announced All-New Invaders this morning (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2013/09/09/all-new-marvel-now-comic-books/2764537/). A corporate super-hero title produced by a corporate super-hero company sounds like a great vehicle for PAD.
“What was the last time a series ended with six straight issues of epilogue? Sandman?”
Depending on your definition of ‘epilogue,’ James Robinson’s Starman might count.
The climactic story, “Grand Guignol”, ended with #73 (which itself was labeled as an epilogue). That was followed with a Times Past story, a one-off of Jack meeting Superman, the final Talking with David issue, a three-parter where Jack time-traveled and met his time-displaced brother, and then the final issue. All of this had the atmosphere of tying up loose ends without any major conflict.
Finally! X-Factor Complete Collections starting in December. Those three and four issue trades were not going to fly for this many issues.