X-Factor Vol. 2: Life and Death Matters

By Peter David, Dennis Calero, Roy Allen Martinez

Collects X-Factor 7-12

The LowDown: Madrox is forced to make a decision on X-factor's role in the Civil War and X-factor comes head to head with Singularity Investigations.

Review: The first year of Peter David's run on X-factor comes to a close.

This volume is decidedly different in tone than the first volume. While the first volume had a very neo-noirish feel, tone, and look, was more street level, and character enhancing, most of this volume is spent forwarding the major plotlines of the book: Investigations on the Decimation, and arch-rivals Tryp, Tryp, and Tryp from Singularity Investigations.

Don't get me wrong there are some character moments, Siryn's comes face to face with the death of her father and decides to deal with it in a way that is obviously a parody on how comic books deaths don't mean anything and at the same time, says a lot about the character's dysfunctions. Peter David is pushing Siryn to the brink, and it's not a good thing for Siryn to be a recovering alcoholic during this period in her life. It shows strength that she doesn't succumb by drinking but it also shows weakness in how she does end up coping with her father's death and her recent assault.

Also Peter David forces Madrox into finally fulfilling responsibilities as leader of X-factor and making tough choices. The plot about investigating M-Day/Decimation really leads to the awesome moment of Madrox taking the reigns of leadership, confronting the X-men, and then making a decision on the Registration Act. Madrox's issues relate very well to the issues of a twenty something male and female, trying to make life decisions, dealing with relationship issues and consequences of drunken behavior. It also doesn't provide any easy answers for any of these issues. Ultimately, that's why Madrox is such a compelling character, it's because he's an unlikely hero, he's a torn hero, and overall he's human, and like most humans he doesn't know how to deal with his life and makes mistakes along the way.

The plot really comes to the forefront in the last three issues of this volume, as all the build-up to a confrontation with Singularity Investigations reaches a boiling point. There's lots of twists and turns here, with SI using one of X-factor's own members as a spy, the consequences of victimization, lots of mysteries are revealed, and while conclusive in terms of this arc, it's all built on a large grand scale story that will pan out over the next few years. And really all of it builds out of House of M as well. Peter David really messes with the X-men ethos, playing with both the fears of mutants and humans, often turning the fears of mutant concentration camps onto the humans. Also David going beyond the traditional, homo-sapien and homo-superior introducing new species into the fold. It's all rather plot driven, but it's also really fun because it builds out of the original ideas and themes and twists them around a bit to make them seem fresh again.

Conclusion: While a little slower and a little weaker in terms of character's pushing the action, it's got a chock full of plot, the plot moves forward, there are still SOME quiet moments, and it's still a ton of fun.

X-Factor vol. 1: The Longest Night

By Peter David, Ryan Sook, and Dennis Calero

Collects: X-Factor #1-6

Lowdown: Following the events of Madrox and the events of House of M, these issues catch up with the new team at X-factor detective agency and inclusion of new members M, Siryn, and Rictor along with old favorites Strong Guy, Wolfsbane (Rahne), and everyone's favorite detective, Madrox, the Multiple Man. The new team tries to find out the secret behind the decimation, dealing with violent fallouts in Mutant Town, and elite corporate crime.

Review:

Marvel has been getting a lot of slack lately for huge crossover events that eat away at every book for months and then letting the book go back to whatever they were doing before. Peter David took these cross-over events and instead of making his book weaker, it made it stronger. Case in point this book is one of the only books I've seen that deal with the events from House of M, M-day, "No More Mutants," and Decimation head-on all the while juggling his larger X-factor only plot. I always felt that Peter David's X-Factor has been the most new reader friendly and even though it has cross-over material, it explains pretty much everything you need to know in it's self-contained little corner. Ultimately it doesn't hinder this book, not in the least. It's a different method that really works for this book. I can't imagine it working for A-list or even B-list characters though.

As for this particular book, Peter David takes the technique he used in Madrox and improves upon it. There's multiple plotlines in this book: there's the fallout from M-day, the first couple of conflicts involving Singularity Investigations, the first case for X-factor, and the gathering of the new team. The biggest thing is that Peter David weaves all these plots and all the characters in and out so seamlessly, there's no distinct A Plot, B Plot, C Plot, it's all one big masterful weaving. Characters move from plot to plot and it feels much like real life, for example, Guido is involved in the Singularity plot in the beginning and later is dealing with riots in Mutant Town. Also the characters don't feel like they're fighting for page time, it's a 7 man team, and yet all the characters get their due.

As for the characters themselves, we've been over at how great of a character I think Madrox is in Peter David's hands. Yet Peter David works in this theme of identity that's so clear in Madrox's character with some of his new characters as well. Rictor, an ex-mutant, deals with the sudden loss of his powers and thus in a way his identity, his connection to the world, and his individuality. Layla Miller, a plot device in House of M, begins a journey to a full character in this series, although much of her identity is "that she knows stuff" but the consequences of this "knowing stuff" is explored here, making her a deeper character than first glance. She's a little girl with huge power in her hands and this has tremendous impact on her psyche. Layla Miller is still shrouded in mystery at this point, but it adds to her character, to the mystery of M-day that X-factor is trying to figure out, and to the plot. Plus it at times makes her downright scary.

Madrox is still at odds with himself and still takes the lead role in this book, mainly because any time there is narration, it's Madrox doing it. All the characters are great in this book and Peter David doesn't really have any trouble finding their voices. There's no real stumbles here and the dialogue is excellent and very clever, at times. All the new characters to the team are welcome editions and each one brings something new to the table.

As for the plot, Peter David doesn't seem to be writing this book for the Trade, while yes, the first major arc is contained in this trade in that it is "the longest night" and everything occurs with in 24 hours. The first major arc is that the first case involving a conflict with SI and SI's actor client as well as the riots in Mutant Town, yes these are resolved, but the larger plots of M-day consequences and Singularity Investigations conflict is still at large, making the entire series seem more fluid. There's a greater story at work here and Peter David reveals it in little steps at a time.

Along with the lots of themes of identity, there's the age-old racism theme in terms of the ex-mutants and how people react to them, there's a theme of consequences for actions in terms of Layla Miller, and there's also a lot of noir, mystery in this book that Peter David plays with but a lot more seriously than his parodied version in Madrox.

There's a stand-out issue only involving Rictor, Siryn, and an ex-mutant outcast. It's got great elements of horror throughout, and it can actually be terrifying to see how much damage M-day has done to certain people who don't know how to cope. There's various reactions, Madrox runs into a person that's happy about losing their powers, there's of course Rictor's reaction, and then there's this guy. It's an excellent issue that really puts the reader on edge. Also the final issue dealing with Layla Miller, who she is, where she's from, and what she can do is also rather great. Strong Guy has a great section where he stands up to Rictor who is bullying Layla with his accusations. Those are probably my two favorite issues of this trade.


Conclusion: This a really strong book, and even if you don't check out Madrox (which you should), this is also a good place to start. After this book, David begins to build his large story, and it could be easy to get lost. But this is a great introduction to all the characters.

Madrox: Multiple Choice (Prelude to X-factor)

By Peter David and Pablo Raimondi

Collects: Madrox miniseries #1-5

The Lowdown: Who is Jamie Madrox? Stabbed staggering off the bus, one of his wayward duplicates brings a mystery that Jamie must solve.

Review:
What would you do if you could go every direction at once? How would you piece together who you are if you can be everything? This is what Peter David begins to explore as he returns to the characters he made famous in the 90s.

While this miniseries is mostly about Madrox, the Multiple Man, it also acts as a prelude and reemergence of the X-factor book by bring in supporting characters Wolfsbane and Strong Guy as well.

The mood and artistic style of the story takes many cues from the noir film style and follows the footsteps of the crime comic surge that has been taking place. It also parodies this noir style all the same. Peter David often satirizes the noir style to great comedic effect. Speaking of comedic, this book is very much in vein of that comedic style as it doesn't take itself too seriously. Even in the 90's series, Peter David had a great balance of the comedy and the serious themes he tries to portray.

In this miniseries and later in the X-factor series, Peter David emphasizes the theme of identity. It's most obvious with the title character, Madrox, who could also be considered the lead character in the main series, as he tries to discover who he really is and who he wants to be. Madrox's dupes often show conflict with each other and the real Madrox, and it's a show of understanding by David about the human mind. We often have multiple parts of ourselves, and argue within ourselves about what decision to make, what direction we should take, who we are, and who we want to be. It's a constant struggle within our mind. And Madrox represents that, Madrox is the character representation of our mind. Throughout this story, Madrox shows how strong our inner conflict can be, and how fluid our identities can be. All at the same time Madrox is trying to hide his insecurity, and sometimes outright depression by cracking wise (through jokes and humor).

There are two plots in this particular book, the A-plot sees Madrox, the real one, try to solve the mystery behind the murder of one of his dupes. This plot is where most of the fun is, where a lot of the noir cues take place, and there's a ton of momentum up to the ending. The ending itself and the final reveal is hackneyed and ridiculous but still plays up the theme of "identity," and who people really are. That's really the only issue I have with it, overall the story is quite clever, there's great twists, even at the end, and allows some development in Madrox, the man, as well as Madrox, the hero (I wouldn't say superhero as he's more of a Humphrey Bogart than a Clark Kent).

The B-plot has Madrox, a dupe, Wolfsbane, and Guido being hired by a woman who thinks her husband has been cheating on him and also dealing with Madrox being a target. The B-plot isn't nearly as fun as the A-plot, there's still all the fun dialogue, but most of it feels like a distraction. Guido and Wolfsbane are great characters, and this is just their way of trying to reintroduce those characters without taking too much time away from the main character. Not much development but more of a reintroduction of who Wolfsbane and Guido are, Guido is the dumb, loud muscle and Wolfbane is the morally and religiously conflicted because of her mutant powers and her mutant identity. It's still fun just not quite as fun.

Overall: This is an excellent reintroduction to the characters and a flash of what's to come. Definitely recommended for anybody who's interested in mutants, or crime novels with some pep. Later on though, the book becomes more superhero and less noir. So keep that in mind.

Smallvile Diary Season 1, Discs 4, 5, and 6

So I finished the first season way back in November, and I'm just getting around to posting it on the blog now. I'll probably do some kind of Season 1 Review, reviewing the season as a whole but for now, here were my thoughts when I watched the episodes at the time.

Episode 13: Kinetic - Really didn't like this episode much. The washed out athletes with tatoos were pretty annoying throughout the episode and really their dumb as rocks to pull off any kind of scheme. It's more of the same, super-powered kryptonite villains do things, threaten people, Clark saves them. The only good thing about this episode is that it builds Whitney a bit more, as now he's lost his scholarship and kind of a defeated teen who feels like he'll fall into the same fate as his old man. 6/10

Episode 14: Zero - This was a rather cool episode as it kind of shows everybody having something to hide, gives more insight into the type of man Lex has been, Lex's past and the trouble he's caused (although all of it with noble intentions). The mystery behind the dead man is a lame deus ex machina, cop out and it's disappointing after they've built such intriguing mysteries. 7.5/10

Episode 15: Nicodemus - I really liked this episode, what could have easily been a throw-away episode is a great study on what happens when emotions are uncontrolled. It allows some of the cutesy characters in the series be bad for an episode and it looks like they're having a blast doing it. Everybody does a great job here, and it's a really fun episode all the way around with some interesting insight into some of the deeper feelings of the characters. Lex also got some development as he is always been smirky, and sneaky, but never a bold-faced liar, he was one in this episode to Clark no less. The climax between those two was rather intense and an absolute fantastic scene. 8.5

Episode 16: Stray - Another solid episode that doesn't feel too formulaic, it's slow but all the interactions are pretty good, the comparisons between Clark and the Stray are plentiful, and the relationship that the two build felt genuine. But overall, the show is spinning it's wheels, the characters are still not really developing and I feel a very circular motion going on and I usually vomit from those types of rides. 7/10

Episode 17: Reaper - Really...Smallville takes on assisted suicide, REALLY! The villain in this episode is really just terrible. The biggest situation is that this issue takes up most of episode, the only thing that keeps these bad episodes a float is the political machinations in Lex's storyline. The differences in the father/son relationships throughout this season between Lionel/Lex, John/Clark are fucking fascinating and it's explored a bit here, as well as the John Kent and Lex non-relationship.

Episode 18: Drone - Oh My Goodness, huge leaps in logic here. A girl gets stung by lots of bees she MUST be the Queen Bee now. The FUCK? The class president Clark Kent campaign is actually really fun as he searches for slogans and becomes popular, but the main plot is garbage. Again the only thing keeping these bad episodes afloat are the Lex storyline, here Lex deals with a reporter trying to slander his name. It's a good thing Lex isn't in the high-school because then he'd get caught up in these stupid ass main plots where crazy meteor induced teens go on a rampage. He's kind of on the fringe in his storylines and it's fun to watch him there.

Episode 19: Crush - After the last two episodes, this villain doesn't seem half-bad. He's got legitimate gripes with certain people but his penchant for revenge is just too consuming. The Clark/Chloe relationship gets pushed to the front, and it seems all too quick, sure they were hinting at it throughout the season, but it seems like they skipped a gear somewhere along the way. We go from 3rd to 6th gear here and it's kind of an awkward but nice change of pace as the mid-season was kind of dull to be honest. It's not a great episode but it's a good one as we finally see some progress.

Episode 20: Obscura - This is actually an interesting plot and it feels closer to home as Lana is the one who gets meteor induced powers this time around. Chloe is the one who gets in trouble, and it all just feels closer to Clark rather than some student who goes crazy who happens to be Clark's tutor. Here it's all real, and it's all happening to people Clark cares about. Also it's nice not to get a meteor induced villain for once.

Episode 21: Tempest - I hate cliffhangers as season finales. It's okay to cliffhang some things, but the season should have a clear theme and closure every or at least every other season. Instead Smallville leaves everybody on a to be continued basis and it grinds my gears... Outside of that, Lionel Luthor is awesome, he's been awesome in his sporadic appearances all season and he's a great ploy to Lex. Clark, Chloe, Lana, and Whitney are all left up in the air in terms of relationships and for Lana in terms of safety. See it's okay to have Lex/Lionel tension that's perfect type of cliffhanger, it's okay to have uncertainty for all kinds of relationships, it's great to have this guy following them around trying to discover what's really going on, it's great to have the spaceship come to life, that's all great stuff, but to throw a couple of twisters into the mix, fucking stupid. You should have twister thing ended, and all the other stuff left in the air. That's really how you should have ended the season. Frustrating, but really excited all the same.