{"id":2099,"date":"2013-09-07T22:14:11","date_gmt":"2013-09-07T21:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2099"},"modified":"2013-09-07T22:14:11","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T21:14:11","slug":"x-factor-257-262-the-end-of-x-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2099","title":{"rendered":"X-Factor #257-262 – “The End of X-Factor”"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was the last time a series ended with six straight issues of epilogue? \u00a0Sandman<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Yes, granted,\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> is evidently being relaunched. \u00a0Issue #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. \u00a0In fact, it sounds very much as though David himself is sticking around for the new version. \u00a0This 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0“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). \u00a0The 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. \u00a0In 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.<\/p>\n

This is not a storyline, then. \u00a0It’s an extended exercise in closure, something that the superhero genre has never exactly been fond of. \u00a0Partly that’s because of the mentality that a superhero comic should never end. \u00a0I 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. \u00a0And partly it’s because publishers used to assume (with some justification) that sales would collapse if they announced a cancellation. \u00a0That no longer appears to hold the same fear, hence Marvel’s willingness to publicly proclaim six straight issues of wrap-up.<\/p>\n

In the grander scheme of things, it’s probably a smart move. \u00a0The current version of\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> 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. \u00a0Instead, 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. \u00a0This 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\u00a0Madrox<\/em> mini. \u00a0While “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. \u00a0“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.<\/p>\n

And that also means that when they launch another book also called\u00a0X-Factor<\/em> in a few months time, it’ll feel like a fresh start rather than just a renumbering of the same old title. \u00a0You’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. \u00a0(Avengers Arena<\/em>, anyone?)<\/p>\n

Are these particularly good short stories in their own right? \u00a0Um. \u00a0They’re middling, to be honest. \u00a0The 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. \u00a0I’m not convinced that this week’s issue was really crying out for a brief appearance by Mr Tryp, either. \u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0Neil Edwards, who draws most of these issues, is a clear storyteller if occasionally a bit bland, and he sells the big emotional beats. \u00a0There are points in Lorna’s story where he’s channelling Kevin Maguire, though it doesn’t seem to come through in the other chapters.<\/p>\n

Besides, these aren’t really issues that are meant to stand on their own. \u00a0Sure, 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. \u00a0It’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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was the last time a series ended with six straight issues of epilogue? \u00a0Sandman? Yes, granted,\u00a0X-Factor is evidently being relaunched. \u00a0Issue #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. \u00a0In fact, it sounds very much as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-x-axis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2166,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions\/2166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}