X-FACTOR [09]: Spoilers and Review

[Grunty]

So much for resolving this plot before the Gala. Still dragging this Morrigan stuff out and still no reveals to the Resurrection Protocols

It feels like Williams seriously overestimated the time buffer she has to tell her stories, despite starting on a completely new title, with a newly formed team, in an unproven status quo, all during a time of constant short runs and frequent cancelations.

There is nothing wrong with planning several stories in advanced, or trying to establish an overarching plot meant to pay off several issues later, but these can't be the main draw at launch and require a strong foundation first.
Something i think this title never quite managed to do.

Which is emblematic for a contradictory trend among many writers for the Big Two these days.

On one hand we have constant relaunchs and cancelations with many books barely reaching the dual digit mark.
On the other hand we have many writers with a love or dedication to the idea of decompressed story telling, in which precious pannel time and issues are spend on personal interactions or dialoge which might fuel drama but not satisfy what seems to the primary buying clientele (who want action with a dash of drama, rather than drama with a dash of action).

My personal opinion is that decompressed story telling needs to be earned. Either by having a long lasting series which has a strong foundation in which readers will stay even during slower stories, or by knocking it out of the park early and then slowing down when readers have decided to stay.

In a time were comics barely break the 12 issues, it might be better to spend these issues on fast paced stories where a lot is happening and gets resolved, even if character interaction needs to be woven into these action scenes or reduced to key moments.

Because if the series gets canceled after these issues, at least the writer managed to leave some impact and got things done.
If they aren't canceled (or even increased in sales) they have earned the right to slow things down and draw out the stories.

So perhaps this book might have worked better if every issue was an individual murder case (not even with important characters, just random civilian mutants), showing both something about the new world of the mutants in general and bits about the machination behind the Resurrection Protocols.

That being said, Excalibur shows the same problems and yet is hitting the 21+ issues much to my confusion. So either it is doing something right, doesn't do enough wrong, or certain of it's characters are a much bigger draw than those of X-factor.

[Anduinel]

That being said, Excalibur shows the same problems and yet is hitting the 21+ issues much to my confusion. So either it is doing something right, doesn't do enough wrong, or certain of it's characters are a much bigger draw than those of X-factor.

The roster almost certainly helps. Excalibur had Betsy Braddock, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, and, for a while, Apocalypse. And every month, here and on Twitter, Tumblr, etc. there are folks bemoaning how much the cast is underutilized, but buy it anyway because at least it's some page time for their faves. I'd image that adds up when you have characters with larger fanbases. Rogue's leaving though; might be a similar situation as with Polaris.

[ChronoRogue]

It feels like Williams seriously overestimated the time buffer she has to tell her stories, despite starting on a completely new title, with a newly formed team, in an unproven status quo, all during a time of constant short runs and frequent cancelations.

There is nothing wrong with planning several stories in advanced, or trying to establish an overarching plot meant to pay off several issues later, but these can't be the main draw at launch and require a strong foundation first.
Something i think this title never quite managed to do.

Which is emblematic for a contradictory trend among many writers for the Big Two these days.

On one hand we have constant relaunchs and cancelations with many books barely reaching the dual digit mark.
On the other hand we have many writers with a love or dedication to the idea of decompressed story telling, in which precious pannel time and issues are spend on personal interactions or dialoge which might fuel drama but not satisfy what seems to the primary buying clientele (who want action with a dash of drama, rather than drama with a dash of action).

My personal opinion is that decompressed story telling needs to be earned. Either by having a long lasting series which has a strong foundation in which readers will stay even during slower stories, or by knocking it out of the park early and then slowing down when readers have decided to stay.

In a time were comics barely break the 12 issues, it might be better to spend these issues on fast paced stories where a lot is happening and gets resolved, even if character interaction needs to be woven into these action scenes or reduced to key moments.

Because if the series gets canceled after these issues, at least the writer managed to leave some impact and got things done.
If they aren't canceled (or even increased in sales) they have earned the right to slow things down and draw out the stories.

So perhaps this book might have worked better if every issue was an individual murder case (not even with important characters, just random civilian mutants), showing both something about the new world of the mutants in general and bits about the machination behind the Resurrection Protocols.

That being said, Excalibur shows the same problems and yet is hitting the 21+ issues much to my confusion. So either it is doing something right, doesn't do enough wrong, or certain of it's characters are a much bigger draw than those of X-factor.

While I think your logic is sound, in that decompressed issues are probably safer for a book once it's attracted an audience through high action; I think we have enough of that on the market. I wish that decompressed stories were more of a draw, not everything should be like X-Force, Hellions, etc... and to be fair some books can manage that but they usually pair it with comedy and slap-stick instead of soap opera elements. Titles like Squirrel Girl and Gwenpool for example which didn't take themselves very seriously did seem to click better with a certain market.

To be honest I think a book like this can work, it just needed an artist that fit better with the soap opera/mystery atmosphere and a more focused plot. PADs Vol 3 of X-Factor didn't exactly have a ton of action either and it's one of the longest running versions of this series. It was very high key soap opera in lots of respects.

As for the latter question, it's definitely the last one. I have a feeling X-Corp won't last as long because it has a riskier cast.

[johnnysv75]

X-Factor is a much better book than Excalibur (but Excalibur has gorgeous art). I am fairly certain it is the roster.

[Rang10]

X-Factor is a much better book than Excalibur (but Excalibur has gorgeous art). I am fairly certain it is the roster.

Roster might be a part, but writing i think Tini do a better job.
Also the art is relaly better, To art is a lot better than Baldeon

[pkingdom]

I think the cast was part of the problem. No big A-listers to draw eyes, and the first issue did a very poor job of establishing why this particular group should be in charge. It was just random people who happened to be nearby, and the first story that showcased all of their powers had them stepping all over each other and looking redundant. Rachel alone made everyone else feel unnecessary.

This story was sold as "If you have questions or concerns about the Resurrection Protocols, this is the story". To that end it answered almost none of them. I've seen other writers do the same thing as this series did, which was lay the groundwork for stories that could go 20 or 30 issues, but the issues happening RIGHT AWAY were boring or even unpleasant. This leads the series to get cancelled and leave dozens of plots and characters hanging. The Jim Zub run on Champions was a great example. I think X factor was better than that run, but it never quite committed to anything or even really justified why this story needed to be told.

[ChronoRogue]

When your most well-known character is Polaris, you know you've got an obscure cast. I applaud Leah on wanting to give these characters spotlight, but she needed some star power to help attract people to this title.

Excalibur could have given up Jubilee or Marauders could have given up Bobby cause neither of them are doing anything in their books and Leah did a decent job with both of them in her Age of X-Man series.

Oh wow, Bobby. You know I don't think he fits investigative theme the best but character relationship wise this book is a goldmine for him. From awkward ex-girlfriend angle with Polaris, awkward could-have-been with JP, to the UST he had with Daken in his solo series, etc... meanwhile his hook-ups with Christian has just been boring IMO and Wolverine and the X-Men soured me on him even having a friendship with Kitty.

Jubilee I'm less sure about in terms of connections, though I know she did mentor Eye-Boy in Generation X and it would've been interesting to see her interact with Daken as one of Wolverine's pseudo-daughters.

[jmc247]

So perhaps this book might have worked better if every issue was an individual murder case (not even with important characters, just random civilian mutants), showing both something about the new world of the mutants in general and bits about the machination behind the Resurrection Protocols.

That being said, Excalibur shows the same problems and yet is hitting the 21+ issues much to my confusion. So either it is doing something right, doesn't do enough wrong, or certain of it's characters are a much bigger draw than those of X-factor.

I think you are right.

There was alot that could have been done with the team finding the very bad things that happen to mutants around the world. But, it needed to be one or at most two issue arcs. I know some love Mojo, but I felt his arc was something that should have happened deeper into the book.

I will say I believe Lorna's comic book buying fan base has withered in the past decade and a half. Lorna's readership I have found much like her father's needs rebuilding every so often and going too long where they are stuck in soap opera antics, conventional hero antics, emotional constipation, etc. Some creators preference is to try to rebuild Lorna's fan base by showing how bad ass she could be if mind controlled over and over again and that doesn't do it at all. Only fighting for something she deeply believes in and kicking ass and naming names has ever boosted her fan base for a few years.

I do think Leah and perhaps some others at Marvel early in X-Factor realized Lorna's sales mojo was lower then anticipated which may be one of the reasons why she is going to be on X-Men as well. That stuff went down before the series was canceled.

[Anduinel]

Oh wow, Bobby. You know I don't think he fits investigative theme the best but character relationship wise this book is a goldmine for him. From awkward ex-girlfriend angle with Polaris, awkward could-have-been with JP, to the UST he had with Daken in his solo series, etc... meanwhile his hook-ups with Christian has just been boring IMO and Wolverine and the X-Men soured me on him even having a friendship with Kitty.

Agreed that Bobby doesn't have Lorna's expertise in investigation, but he probably could have filled her slot as the big gun. And, like you said, character wise he would have been a goldmine. Williams did a good job giving him and JP and Ric some bonding moments previously.

[JB]

They have to conclude that story somewhere! A Prodigy & Speed oneshot? Maybe next year’s Pride month?

From your lips. I was so intrigued with what was being set up.

[Kingdom X]

Edit - and whilst I didn't want this book cancelled, I have to concede there are FAR too many X-books. Have been ever since Bill Jemas and his owning of the solitary clue that was ever in Marvel's offices got booted out the door.

I had that realization when I read X-Corp today. I think we're in desperate need of an anthology book to cover all of the supporting characters and corners of Krakoa that can't support an ongoing.

[xhx23x]

I had that realization when I read X-Corp today. I think we're in desperate need of an anthology book to cover all of the supporting characters and corners of Krakoa that can't support an ongoing.

Bring back X-Men Unlimited!

[ChronoRogue]

Is it sacrilege to say I would've welcomed Deadpool on this team? He would've certainly solved the A lister problem.

I think he fits the bill for what Williams was looking for in character choice. He's LGBT+, he's chaotic and he's full of pop culture references. Also his POV as a character that regenerates from things that should kill him all the time and how that affects his viewpoint of death and Krakoa's version of immortality would have been interesting to play with. Daken sort of has that angle as well but Daken isn't as introspective as Deadpool despite his slapstick routine.

Only major barriers are DPs borderline insane and not technically a mutant. But I could see Krakoa bending the rules for him if there were extenuating circumstances...

Though if Williams ever graduated Deadpool from subtext homoeroticism to on-panel romantic homosexual feelings, Deadpool fans would probably riot. I feel that demographic is only ok with "haha funny gay jokes" and not "omg he's actually having feelings for a dude! wtf!111".

Agreed that Bobby doesn't have Lorna's expertise in investigation, but he probably could have filled her slot as the big gun. And, like you said, character wise he would have been a goldmine. Williams did a good job giving him and JP and Ric some bonding moments previously.

True, I think Bobby could've brought interesting chemistry (in a messy way) to the team. Daken just wasn't chaotic enough on his own lol.

[Kingdom X]

Is it sacrilege to say I would've welcomed Deadpool on this team? He would've certainly solved the A lister problem.

I think he fits the bill for what Williams was looking for in character choice. He's LGBT+, he's chaotic and he's full of pop culture references. Also his POV as a character that regenerates from things that should kill him all the time and how that affects his viewpoint of death and Krakoa's version of immortality would have been interesting to play with. Daken sort of has that angle as well but Daken isn't as introspective as Deadpool despite his slapstick routine.

Only major barriers are DPs borderline insane and not technically a mutant. But I could see Krakoa bending the rules for him if there were extenuating circumstances...

Though if Williams ever graduated Deadpool from subtext homoeroticism to on-panel romantic homosexual feelings, Deadpool fans would probably riot. I feel that demographic is only ok with "haha funny gay jokes" and not "omg he's actually having feelings for a dude! wtf!111".


True, I think Bobby could've brought interesting chemistry (in a messy way) to the team. Daken just wasn't chaotic enough on his own lol.

The Deadpool idea is certainly interesting. Though if Williams had pitched it we probably would have just gotten Gwenpool instead and idk how I feel bout all that.

Daken needed to bring 90% more chaos. I'm talking trying to get with both Northstar and Aurora at the minimum.

[ChronoRogue]

The Deadpool idea is certainly interesting. Though if Williams had pitched it we probably would have just gotten Gwenpool instead and idk how I feel bout all that.

Daken needed to bring 90% more chaos. I'm talking trying to get with both Northstar and Aurora at the minimum.

Oh god. Monkey's paw situation. then again...

Yes, Daken was way too wholesome. Like I get that he's changed to not be as crazy but he should still keep the core of being manipulative and self-serving. He was just slightly narcissistic instead.