All New X-Factor #7 Recap/Review (Spoilers)

[Neko]

I'm calling it now. Gambit's going to sleep with Snow's wife. She's going to seduce him as retaliation for her husband screwing around with other women.

LOL - okay, works for me. Whether he knows or not, he beds her. I'm alright with that.

dialogue in the plane:
I also didn't understand the dialogue between Gambit and Lorna. I can now see he was uptight. I don't think his loss of words was being dumb, I think he was trying to not be a complete jerk. I also think he accepted the word mandate when he might have meant bullshit. LOL.

I think he meant he would have helped the little guy, but that dialogue was confusing. He has helped all sorts of people. I think he was just more inclined this time because of the young lady and that her father hates mutants.

[From The Shadows]

Absolutely loving this series! :-D

[JeffX]

I don't think Cypher will be dead for long or he'll be back by the next issue.

The various scenes with Warlock trying to impress Danger were kind of entertaining.

[XFan]

I love this book. Nothing much else to say except that I enjoyed all of the little things that they throw in. This issue was not what I was expecting at all when I first read it, and that is a good thing. I keep being surprised by where PAD takes these guys. It rocks.

[Wren]

Did anybody notice, in the panel where it focuses on Quicksilver's ear receiving Havok's commands, that Danger is looking at Quicksilver? Can she hear radio transmissions? I'm probably reading too much into the artwork, but that would be an interesting detail. Danger hasn't been the type to keep her mouth shut when she notices unusual things.

I didn't notice, but when I saw that they were communicating just like that via audio (instead of, as I had assumed, dead-drops), I immediately thought that Danger or Warlock would have noticed by now.

I think Danger's character progression might become "be more concious of other people's perspective".

Anyway I assume that the spying is going to end shortly, Pietro seems to be fed up with it and it's going to be discovered. It's funny to notice that in their previous meeting Havok (jokingly?) said 'I hate you' and Pietro seemed to take that seriously. Now Havok is obviously feeling friendly and it's Pietro who is distancing himself.

PAD is just a damn good writer. All his characters have a level if nuance that most other writers lack. Almost every line of dialogue reveals something about that person's state of mind, but is still easily readable.

[Aquadoc]

Aw, man. This issue broke the camel's back for me. I've been trying so hard to like this series and I just can't. Everything seems wrong. The heavy-handedness of the ripped-from-the-headlines portion of the story. The boring affair between Snow and Linda. The flimsy excuse for the mission. The trying-too-hard-to-be-cute of Gambit and the cats. The annoyingly glib "who wants pie?" at the end just sealed the deal. I loved David's writing on the previous version of X-Factor, which I think is part of the problem. This just doesn't measure up to what he's capable of doing. It seems really bland and basic to me. I keep coming back because I miss the feeling I got from reading X-Factor before, but I'm beginning to realize that that just isn't going to happen again.

Not digging the art either. I objectively can see that it's beautiful, but it just leaves me feeling empty and hollow.

Lastly, why is a robot even reading a book? Shouldn't she be able to process the information in the time it takes her to make one speech bubble?

I think I need to drop this and just go back and read the previous series. I really envy those of you who are able to enjoy this.

[Purplevit]

Lastly, why is a robot even reading a book? Shouldn't she be able to process the information in the time it takes her to make one speech bubble?

I think Danger wants to be more alive. To understand how it to be human.

[Askia]

+Great dialogue
+Nice characterization

-Story felt like it was done before
-Felt like something was lacking

[salarta]

I finally bought and read ANXF #7 today, and I'm glad I did. I'd have to say this replaces ANXF #1 in my opinion as the best issue of the book so far (ANXF #5 had that until I re-read ANXF #1 recently).

Since people kind of expect me to talk about Lorna at this point, I'll go into my thoughts concerning her first. This issue was very good and respectful toward her. She comes across as very intelligent, thinking of many variables, willing to listen to her teammates and all sides of the matter. In my opinion, this is a huge improvement from ANXF #4 and #6. It also does a bit to explain her behavior at the end of ANXF #6 regarding Magus. I noticed that Lorna questions going after Scott Dakei as a bad idea until she closes her eyes, presses her fingers to her nose and makes that sound. Right after she does that, she immediately asks Doug where Georgia is, which makes me really wonder whether or not Lorna really wanted to go to her from the start but tried to argue against it for the sake of not causing problems with Snow. Whether it's just Lorna releasing tension or what some of us are interpreting as Lorna trying to mess with the eye nanocam, it's a very good scene that adds a lot to an intriguing mystery of the book for people following since ANXF #3.

I wish I had more to say about Lorna here because after a lot of the criticism I had over ANXF #4 and #6, I feel like I should say more about all the things I liked about this issue with Lorna. Maybe I'll be able to do that as I have time to process the issue.

Now that I've talked about Lorna, now I'll go into the rest of my thoughts. The dynamic between Danger and Warlock is really cool, there's a little "tough woman, lovestruck doting man" to it. I think the book benefits greatly from that since in my opinion, there's been a heavy element in the book of strong male authority, and their dynamic adds a little variety. The art touch of seeing Pietro's face reflected in the computer screen was cool, and you it does a great job, I think, of illustrating without words that Pietro's thinking of his father while they talk about Georgia's relationship with her father at that spot. One of the things someone said in a past post had me expecting bad things out of Alex's appearance in this issue, but I think it turned out good here. The team mocking use of the word "harshly" was a fun moment for the book and I hope we see more like it. That scene gives a very good sense of team camaraderie that makes you able to believe they can function as a cohesive group instead of being nonstop clashing personalities with big egos like it feels like Marvel is trying to push most heavily in things such as Civil War, Avenger vs X-Men and the recent Avengers film. Doug got the opportunity to state his reasons for why he wanted to force Georgia out of her home, and I fully encourage that since not knowing where he was coming from would've made him look like a jerk.

On the Orson Scott Card thing. As I've said before, the allusion seems very heavy-handed when Pietro and Danger are talking about the book. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. It seems like the allusion to OSC stops at the book Danger is reading, and after that, the similarities between Dakei and OSC end and Dakei is truly his own character. That's a good thing. I think Peter David did a good job of making it clear that the character isn't a full OSC foil, and that we shouldn't assume everything about Dakei is applicable to OSC.

The only concern I sort of had about the issue was when Gambit said he wouldn't care about saving Georgia if they weren't dealing with an anti-mutant father. However, the Gambit fans seem fine with it, so I'll shrug it off. They know Gambit's history and personality much better than me, which makes them the ones that have the greatest say in whether something does or doesn't fit who he is as a character.

Oh, and when Gambit held Lorna at the end of the issue, for a brief second I misinterpreted it as Gambit holding Lorna for comfort because he's afraid of the little girl. It took a couple more seconds for it to sink in that he's holding Lorna back, and that's fine here. Unlike other recent cases, here it's happening to help Lorna keep her gut reaction in check.


Another reason we know Doug isn't dead: what we see concerning Georgia in the preview pages for ANXF #9. Things wouldn't be set up the way they are there if things didn't go well with her.

[jmc247]

I finally bought and read ANXF #7 today, and I'm glad I did. I'd have to say this replaces ANXF #1 in my opinion as the best issue of the book so far (ANXF #5 had that until I re-read ANXF #1 recently).

Since people kind of expect me to talk about Lorna at this point, I'll go into my thoughts concerning her first. This issue was very good and respectful toward her. She comes across as very intelligent, thinking of many variables, willing to listen to her teammates and all sides of the matter. In my opinion, this is a huge improvement from ANXF #4 and #6. It also does a bit to explain her behavior at the end of ANXF #6 regarding Magus. I noticed that Lorna questions going after Scott Dakei as a bad idea until she closes her eyes, presses her fingers to her nose and makes that sound. Right after she does that, she immediately asks Doug where Georgia is, which makes me really wonder whether or not Lorna really wanted to go to her from the start but tried to argue against it for the sake of not causing problems with Snow. Whether it's just Lorna releasing tension or what some of us are interpreting as Lorna trying to mess with the eye nanocam, it's a very good scene that adds a lot to an intriguing mystery of the book for people following since ANXF #3.

I wish I had more to say about Lorna here because after a lot of the criticism I had over ANXF #4 and #6, I feel like I should say more about all the things I liked about this issue with Lorna. Maybe I'll be able to do that as I have time to process the issue.

Now that I've talked about Lorna, now I'll go into the rest of my thoughts. The dynamic between Danger and Warlock is really cool, there's a little "tough woman, lovestruck doting man" to it. I think the book benefits greatly from that since in my opinion, there's been a heavy element in the book of strong male authority, and their dynamic adds a little variety. The art touch of seeing Pietro's face reflected in the computer screen was cool, and you it does a great job, I think, of illustrating without words that Pietro's thinking of his father while they talk about Georgia's relationship with her father at that spot. One of the things someone said in a past post had me expecting bad things out of Alex's appearance in this issue, but I think it turned out good here. The team mocking use of the word "harshly" was a fun moment for the book and I hope we see more like it. That scene gives a very good sense of team camaraderie that makes you able to believe they can function as a cohesive group instead of being nonstop clashing personalities with big egos like it feels like Marvel is trying to push most heavily in things such as Civil War, Avenger vs X-Men and the recent Avengers film. Doug got the opportunity to state his reasons for why he wanted to force Georgia out of her home, and I fully encourage that since not knowing where he was coming from would've made him look like a jerk.

On the Orson Scott Card thing. As I've said before, the allusion seems very heavy-handed when Pietro and Danger are talking about the book. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. It seems like the allusion to OSC stops at the book Danger is reading, and after that, the similarities between Dakei and OSC end and Dakei is truly his own character. That's a good thing. I think Peter David did a good job of making it clear that the character isn't a full OSC foil, and that we shouldn't assume everything about Dakei is applicable to OSC.

The only concern I sort of had about the issue was when Gambit said he wouldn't care about saving Georgia if they weren't dealing with an anti-mutant father. However, the Gambit fans seem fine with it, so I'll shrug it off. They know Gambit's history and personality much better than me, which makes them the ones that have the greatest say in whether something does or doesn't fit who he is as a character.

Oh, and when Gambit held Lorna at the end of the issue, for a brief second I misinterpreted it as Gambit holding Lorna for comfort because he's afraid of the little girl. It took a couple more seconds for it to sink in that he's holding Lorna back, and that's fine here. Unlike other recent cases, here it's happening to help Lorna keep her gut reaction in check.

Another reason we know Doug isn't dead: what we see concerning Georgia in the preview pages for ANXF #9. Things wouldn't be set up the way they are there if things didn't go well with her.

Giving significant deference to the fans of a character to know if a character is acting out of character? Yes, I have always believed in doing that as well.

Anyway, yes first I took Gambit tossing himself on Lorna to mean he was horrified and then I thought given his past actions he is more likely throwing himself on her to retroactively prevent her from potentially doing something he feels is wrong, but the scene was ambiguous.

[salarta]

Giving significant deference to the fans of a character to know if a character is acting out of character? Yes, I have always believed in doing that as well.

Anyway, yes first I took Gambit tossing himself on Lorna to mean he was horrified and then I thought given his past actions he is more likely throwing himself on her to retroactively prevent her from potentially doing something he feels is wrong, but the scene was ambiguous.

Except in very rare, very specific and special cases, I always defer to the fans of a character on what's appropriate for that character. For me, someone that isn't a hardcore fan of Gambit and is only reading him because he's on the same book as Lorna, to go around proclaiming that his depiction is in or out of character for him and disregard what actual Gambit fans have said on the matter would be inappropriate.

For some reason, Lorna and Remy on that panel make me think of this meme comic.

[Neko]

I can't tell if Gambit is out of character or not. Because I don't understand the exchange. I don't know why he is saying he would not care. I'm not sure what he is referencing. This is something I would like to ask PAD, because I'm not getting it. It's believed he wouldn't care about the consequences and would help the little guy anyway, and that being a mutant hating guy isn't a factor in helping the little guy. Makes sense to me and fits his character. Though I can't take credit for the idea it was another Gambit fan who pointed it out to me. Looking at from that pov, then his comments are very much in line with his character.

Or we are just glossing over one part of the conversation that is more important to it, which is, Gambit doesn't need a reason to help someone. He doesn't need some agenda from a super hero team to want to help someone.

[remydat]

I think Lorna's "Thanks for being honest," is the clue that what Gambit said was something that could potentially be interpreted as negative. If all Gambit was saying is that he would help no matter what then there would be no reason for Lorna to say that because people don't say that when someone is saying something entirely positive about themselves.

So I think the statement was simply an acknowledgement that you can't physically save everyone. You can't go on youtube like Cypher did or pick up a newspaper and just go and help everybody that needs help. It's impossible. So you have to pick your battles and all Gambit was saying here is that sure if the dude was not a mutant hating bigot, it probably wouldn't have jumped out to Gambit as a story that he would be jumping in a plane and flying hundreds of thousands of miles to go help this person.

Having said that, I think people are reading too much into it. It's not like if Gambit was just walking down the street and saw someone in trouble, he would just continue walking. That is a situation where the person needing help is right in front of you not thousands of miles away. Just like I am not going to fly to D.C. because some dude is beat his wife who is a stranger to me. But some did was beating his wife right in front of me then of course I would be like WTF and try to help.

[Sea Hound]

Yep, that's how I read it too. It's pragmatic.

[remydat]

Yes, it's pragmatic and it's also the fact that they don't really know the girl is in trouble. There is no way Gambit or any hero of little people would go flying around the country every time a parent shot their kid's computer. That's really all that happened here. A teenage kid was ranting about their crappy life like millions of teenage kids do and their Dad got angry and shot up the computer he paid for.

It's really not something anyone should be flying across the country to check on. So it makes perfect sense for Gambit to admit he only cares because the Dad is a mutant bigot. In fact, this is a real life story and the Dad who did this in real life actually had some people including parents applauding him for doing so and sure some claiming child abuse. But let's be real here, this is not stuff for a superhero to really get involved in.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-b...b_1267850.html