Thanks to Marvel’s popular and successful foray into films with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve finally decided to get back into comics. I grew up a big fan of X-Men and other superheroes but haven’t really kept up since the 90s. Thus begins my grand catching-up of the last ten years of Marvel comics, events and stories.
Thanks in large part to trade paperbacks and the digital convenience of Marvel Unlimited I can make relatively quick progress, and I’ll write down my Final Thoughts for each collection here on my blog. Like my gaming Final Thoughts, this will be full of spoilers. You’ve been warned!
Writer: Peter David
Artists: Pablo Raimondi (Madrox), Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero, Ariel Olivetti, Renato Arlem
Issues: Madrox #1-5, X-Factor (2005) #1-12
One of the many new excellent series to premiere in the wake of House of M was a new version of X-Factor. Essentially Jamie Madrox, AKA Multiple Man, sets up a detective agency in Mutant Town and gathers together some of his old friends (along with a few new ones) to help mutants with various problems.
What could have easily turned into X-Men with lesser characters quickly carved out its own unique series thanks to an amazing noir style that permeated both the writing and awesome shadowy art, as well as loving attention paid to each character and their own personal dramas and interpersonal relationships. After reading the Volume 1 trade paperback, X-Factor has become one of my favorite ‘new’ series.
While this new version of X-Factor started in late 2005/early 2006, it was actually preceded by a limited mini-series, simply titled Madrox. Madrox nicely laid the seeds for the series a year beforehand by sprinkling in a classic noir story involving a murder mystery and a mysterious woman, and introduced us to some of the supporting cast (namely Rahne and Guido). While it’s definitely more of a solo series than the ensemble cast that X-Factor becomes, Madrox is an absolutely fantastic self-contained story.
Jamie is a fascinatingly complex character as his unique cloning powers are brought to the forefront of just about every encounter and story. His dupes (as he calls them) are created whenever he’s hit – so while he can generate them by slamming his fist on the ground, they also comically shoot out whenever he’s shoved or punched. Each dupe takes a separate personality cue from Madrox, and he never knows which is going to show up. One might be sweet and sensitive, another aggressive and sociopathic; this concept is used in endlessly entertaining ways, including an amazing revelation during the climactic moments of issue #12.
Jamie is the leader of the group even though he’s technically the weakest (he was able to afford the new business venture thanks to one of his dupes winning Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). Thanks to letting his dupes loose in the wild for years at a time, he can reabsorb them and instantly gain all their knowledge, giving him more street-smarts and book smarts than any normal human could learn in a single lifetime – another cool character trait. Of course if a dupe dies he feels the pain and trauma, and it makes a wonderful story hook for the series when a bloody dupe comes stumbling in and collapses in front of him.
The rest of the team consists of former X-Factor teammates (former being their original team from the 90s) Rahne Sinclair AKA Wolfsbane (a fiery Irish Catholic werewolf), Guido Carosella AKA Strong Guy (the resident muscle that turns energy into strength, also the comic relief) and Rictor (now dealing with being depowered from House of M – the first issue is about Madrox trying to stop his suicide attempt). They’re joined by new members Monet St. Croix AKA M (who has a whole paragraph of powers but acts mainly as the team’s telepath), Theresa Cassidy AKA Siryn (daughter of on-again off-again X-Man Banshee, with the same sonic scream powers) and finally Layla Miller, the mysterious young mutant that first appeared in House of M, and along with Wolverine was the only one that knew the truth behind that altered world. Her odd powers of nonchalant foresight and knowledge of future events are played up to great effect – particularly the running gag about her and Jamie being married one day.
The whole team works remarkably well together, and reminds me of some of the best teams that the X-Men have put out over the years. Everyone has distinct personalities and are wonderfully diverse: Siryn’s Irish-Catholic, Rahne is Scottish, Guido is Italian-American, Rictor is Mexican and Monet is Muslim. Their powers all come in handy in various ways as the plot weaves in some fun murder mysteries, an evil corporation and the general chaos created by the Decimation.
While X-Factor acknowledges the big events happening in the Marvel Universe they are always tangential to their own ongoing stories and struggles, much to the benefit of the series. Their Civil War tie-ins, for example, mostly consist of Quicksilver returning to town after his events in Son of M, and the team learning the truth behind the House of M from the X-Men. Things then go back to normal as the giant plot Peter David’s been building to, involving a sinister corporation and a CEO that was directly involved in the death of Madrox’s parents as a child, comes to an awesome conclusion in the three pat arc “Multiple Disclosure.”
If you like a comic book series with fun, interesting non-X-Men mutants and darker, stylistic art than I can’t recommend X-Factor enough. The Madrox series is a great set-up, and while not necessary reading to the series it’s just as good as the main series and thankfully included in the Volume 1 Complete Collection trade. This run of X-Factor would actually end up being one of Marvel’s most successful launches from that era, lasting for an astonishing eight years and over 100 issues – and Peter David wrote every single one of them. I fully expect to read them all in the coming months.
RogueWatson 