{"id":10994,"date":"2025-04-18T20:19:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T19:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10994"},"modified":"2025-04-18T20:19:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T19:19:30","slug":"x-factor-9-annotations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=10994","title":{"rendered":"X-Factor #9 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>X-FACTOR vol 5 #9<\/strong>
\n“Lost Causes”<\/strong>
\nWriter: Mark Russell<\/strong>
\nArtist: Bob Quinn<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Jesus Aburtov<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Joe Caramagna<\/strong>
\nEditor: Darren Shan<\/strong><\/p>\n

X-FACTOR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Archangel.<\/strong> He’s now being pushed as the star of the team. Back in issue #1, Broderick seemed to think that the whole point of X-Factor was to build around Archangel’s popularity, and told Warren that “they are your supporting cast. You don’t need competition.” Since he returned from hospital, Warren (and X-Factor’s military backers) seem to be acting according to that agenda. Obviously, Warren’s behaviour remains out of character.<\/p>\n

He seems to be regarded as the most truly loyal team member, and is sent to personally deal with Polaris while most of X-Factor are packed off on a nicer mission to keep them out of the way.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

His new wings are non-ferrous, so Polaris can’t affect them.<\/p>\n

Xyber.<\/strong> He worries that one of his own electromagnetic pulses will kill him, a concern that he previously raised in issue #7 (and he seemed exhausted after using his power in issue #1). However, he heroically risks death in order to destroy the quantum computer for his team. It’s speed-running a subplot, basically.<\/p>\n

Granny Smite.<\/strong> She distracts the Black Wolf military by drawing their fire, and it seems clear that she is indeed invulnerable and not just immortal. She tells Xyber that losing her family made her realise that she cares more about her loved ones than she does about life itself, and advises him to worry more about the people he loves than about the risk of death. She claims to be “80% sane”, and her conversation with Xyber feels like the first time we’ve seen her drop the act and talk candidly.<\/p>\n

Cecilia Reyes.<\/strong> Like Xyber and Granny Smite, she opts for Alex’s mission. (Granny Smite implies that she got on the wrong plane, but she’s probably joking.)<\/p>\n

Pyro.<\/strong> He goes with Archangel on the official mission, but seems to be left to pilot the j et.<\/p>\n

Forget-me-Not.<\/strong> He also goes on the official mission, which is a bit odd given his nice-guy status. Because of his powers, Archangel and Pyro both forget that he’s there. Does he no longer have access to the devices that he used on Krakoa to avoid this problem? Or does he actually want<\/em> to take advantage of it? We never did find out why he signed up for this team.<\/p>\n

SUPPORTING CAST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Havok.<\/strong> I know he’s really still the main character, but he’s not a team member any more, so he goes here. He and Frenzy<\/strong> have either moved to New York since we last saw them, or they arrange to meet General Mills there for some reason.<\/p>\n

By the end of the issue, Havok has basically come to agree with the line that Mark Russell has been taking throughout this series: the mutants needed to stick together rather than letting the humans play divide and conquer by taking advantage of their desire to make it in the human world. They’ve let the humans dictate terms to them.<\/p>\n

Polaris<\/strong>. She’s holed up in Colombia at the moment.<\/p>\n

VILLAINS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Doom.<\/strong> One World Under Doom<\/em> is still in progress. He’s on surprisingly good terms with…<\/p>\n

Ethan Farthing.<\/strong> Farthing believes that Doom is launching a “new era of regulatory freedom… for me, anyway”, which may be an ambitious view of his relationship with the popular megalomaniac. He’s planning to launch Doom-themed implants, based on the mind-control implants worn by the population of Gigosha in issue #7. If General Mills is to be believed, Doom will use these to gain mind control over the entire planet, though quite why he needs it when he’s already running the world is unclear.<\/p>\n

General Mills.<\/strong> She wants to stop Farthing from launching his Doom implants, and to that end she wants Havok and Frenzy to destroy the quantum computer that Black Wolf stole from Gigosha in issue #7. This might all be a red herring, since a major purpose of the mission is seemingly to keep most of X-Factor distracted while Archangel goes after Polaris. But if that was the only purpose of the mission then it’s not obvious why she’d bother tracking down Havok and Frenzy in the first place. And she did seem to genuinely want the computer destroyed in issue #7, so it makes sense that she’d have another go.<\/p>\n

Black Wolf.<\/strong> The mutant strike-force of Trident, Strych9<\/strong> and\u00a0Ordo<\/strong> who were previously seen in issue #7, and who got away with the quantum computer at the end of the issue. Here, they also have a regular looking bunch of soldiers armed with conventional weapons. The weird missile-launcher things on Ordo’s arms are apparently not armour, but his actual hands; understandably, he would like to change this. Strych9 feels so strongly about not going back to Nevermor that he attempts to use his powers to kill everyone on X-Factor’s plane, including his own teammates.<\/p>\n

FOOTNOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n