The conclusion of the X-Cell storyline. Whad’ja think?
PAD
22 comments on “OUT THIS WEEK (well, last week) X-FACTOR #20”
It was great and the book only deserves such a tight and gripping ending for the arc. You made so many characters matter in such a small space that I would have enjoyed it playing out for another issue or two at least.
Good luck with the crossover this summer. I cringe whenever anyone else writes Jamie though. in the One-Shot he didn’t have even the most basic knowledge of genetics. He was a bøøb!
First a few points of critic.
1.Why was nothing said about Blob at the end? Did they handed him over to the goverment or did they let him go?
2. How can a boy like Elijah Cross lead such a bunch of hardend terrorist like X-cell?
3. Maybe its not your fault but the solitication made it sound like this issue was supposed to be the aftermath of this arc, while X-Factor was supposed to battle the repowered X-Cell members in the last issue.
Did you had to drop one chapter of this arc?
Since you can’t be blamed for the sometimes strange art i won’t say much about (at least someone seems to have remembered Marrows unnatural pink skin tone and hair color).
However it was still a good read.
THANKS VERY MUCH for not turning Marrow into a villian again, but actualy making her do something heroic. I loved the scene where she takes down the Quicksilver behind Layla
Now just tell me that she won’t bite it please (i know Rictor won’t)!
By the way any plans for her and Callisto? After all they now know the secret behind House of M and who is responicible.
Or was that that the last we saw of them for the next 12 month?
Some funny scenes like Madrox playing the persian army from 300 in a one man show and M not stepping aside not to get her shirt dirty by Fatales “problem”.
Oh and the scene with Rictor and Rahne was awfully cute.
While we are at Rictor his fight with Quicksilver was cool as well.
Strangly i wonder why Layla kept a record of Cyclops telling the secret behind House of M, doen’t she wants to keep the House of M a secret from the world?
So why not only keeping a profe around but also playing it for those two?
Last thing, the scene with Quicksilver at the end. Did it showed him pushing the last crystal in his shoulder or did the wound his future self got from Sarah just apeared on his present self?
I liked it a lot. It’ll be interesting to see where the new revelation about Layla takes us. Once again, we get a chilling reminder of just how cold she can be, considering what the end result of her wish to just let the X-Cell situation take care of itself would have been.
I have no idea what Pietro’s loss of the crystals means. Are his power-restoration abilities gone?
One thing I thought was odd: Reaver’s redundant use of “neurotoxins in my skin” twice in one panel.
I must ask, especially after seeing this over the weekend:
Was the “Jamie Army” with sheilds supposed to be a sort of tribute to Multi-man?
Another good issue, and as always I’m looking forward to seeing where you take this series next.
Of course, related to this issue of X-Factor, I’m curious to see where Silent War ends up. That’s been an enjoyable read, but it’s all but been rendered to have no major impact due to the fact that Quicksilver’s story is in X-Factor, and we see the most important Inhumans in WWH.
“Was the “Jamie Army” with sheilds supposed to be a sort of tribute to Multi-man?”
Finally, SOMEONE got it. I’ve seen no mention of it in any reviews.
Yes, definitely. When I was a kid, I loved the old series “The Impossibles” and my favorite character was Multi-Man. So yes, although it was a “300” riff, it was also a tip of the hat to ol’ Multi and his shield with “M” on it.
PAD
“How can a boy like Elijah Cross lead such a bunch of hardend terrorist like X-cell?”
Boy? I thought he was just short.
He is. He’s just mistaken for a boy, as was established in his first appearance.
PAD
Slightly off topic, did Fallen Angel come out last week? If so, my store didn’t get it for the second issue in a row.
Rick
I enjoyed it, definitely a strong finish both from action and story perspective – i was really reading this as fast as i could and was genuinely excited (*sigh*, what an exciting life i lead…). the art was stronger too – there had been some points that didn’t really flow the past two months, but this one slotted together nicely
i’d very much like to thank you for consistently writing layla miller as a pre-teen character who’s not only ‘not annoying’, but quite possibly ‘awesome’
Today i also picked up the latest in the UK reprint title ‘wolverine & deadpool’ which featured a blast from the past from you, from the late 80s. i’d been skipping out on the old strips, but then about a month back i saw your name and reread them – well done on the gehenna stone affair from nearly two decades ago!
“Slightly off topic, did Fallen Angel come out last week? If so, my store didn’t get it for the second issue in a row.”
It arrived at my store last week, so yes, it’s out. Also, I think that Mr. David will be happy to hear that my troubles with getting copies of Fallen Angel via my local LCS seem to be a thing of the past.
I dont have the issue in front of me, so I cant point out the exact lines, But there were at least 3 major laugh out loud moments for me written into that issue.
I have to stop reading your books in public places. People give me weird looks 🙂
Michael
I liked it, was glad that Abyss, Fatale and Reaper weren’t confirmed dead at the end.
I’m curious why Reaper was in danger of exploding, though, since I had read Pietro re-powered him some time before he joined the X-Cell. If that were the case, why would he undergo the treatment with Rictor like they did?
The other thing I’ve noticed: this is the second time in less than 12 issues that we’ve had a villain who’s an adult who looks like a kid who dies at the end of the story. Hmmm…
In the X-Factor discussion thread at comixfan.com, “Havok-X2” asked what “accelerated hearing” was. I took a guess and told him that everything sounded like a vinyl record with the RPMs increased to somebody with “accelerated hearing”, which may explain why Monet is the way she is. But perhaps you have a real answer for us (or a better smartass answer, either would be great).
Even though I’m growing to hate Monet, I was forced to smile when she moved away from Fatale so the explosion wouldn’t ruin her outfit. Will it be revealed at some point what’s going on with her?
I was a little puzzled at the end. Because the point of that page was “what you do now can come back to bite you in the ášš later on”, right? Pietro’s walking away with the one salvaged crystal, thinking it can give him his own powers back. Then the crystal spontaneously fizzles away and he screams in frustration. Then he feels Marrow stab in the shoulder from earlier. I had wondered if the panels were out of order or something and it was supposed to go like this: Pietro is cradling his precious crystal, then suddenly he feels Marrow stab him, convulses in pain, loses the crystal and screams in frustration.
But yeah, I’m glad that Cal and Marrow are safe and that Blob wasn’t subjected to this even if he’s gonna probably end up handed over to Cooper. Because Blob has really gone through hëll as it is: take a look at his Wikipedia page right now, they’ve got the art from when he lost his powers and tried to commit suicide. I honestly think the guys who opened the Ark of the Covenenant may have been *more handsome*
Overall quite good, but the “Stuff. I know STUFF. Don’t mangle my catch phrase.” bit made it a keeper all on its own.
I liked it. Good ending. Rictor showed he still has the guts to make the suicidal move when he has to.
Nice “The Impossibles” tribute too! It made me thing of some of the other shows of it’s time like Herculoids and The Galaxy Trio. I then thought about Meteor Man (not the Robert Townsend movie) and his ability to change the size (and strength) of any part of his body.
THAT made me wonder about Guido AKA “Strong Guy”. I may have missed it sometime back when I wasn’t buying comics regularly, but wasn’t Guido’s body a little “out of proportions” because of his ability? When did he get enough control to straighten most of himself out? Is it the artists who are drawing him that way or was it your call? I remember at least one major fit when he was hit EXTREMELY hard and he had to pound the daylights out of the ground immediately to release that build-up or he’d die.
I missed the body mod somewhere right?
Posted by The StarWolf at July 2, 2007 06:44 PM
Overall quite good, but the “Stuff. I know STUFF. Don’t mangle my catch phrase.” bit made it a keeper all on its own.
Oh god yes! That was 26 different shades of AWESOME! ^_^
The past catches up sooner than you think… does this mean also for everyone, like Terry + Monet + Jamie? It’s been conspicuous in its absence, and there must be more of a follow-through coming soon. I will give you my honest impression from all the ads in the advance pubs: I thought Terry and Monet will end up in an affair? Like, take this, peeping tom and Dudley Do-Two! And more characters from the past: the Madrox series, or Fallen Angels? Did Robert DaCosta lose his powers in M-Day? Either way he could appear since so many of his former teammates are together. I reaallly don’t like Layla. As in, at all. She’s so mean! Maybe my problem is she was evil to Pietro (especially in Silent War), whom I will always read after X-Factor 89, wasn’t it? That issue bought him a lot of sympathy from me. Another old thing: Guido used to be really rich. Did he lose his money? After all the crap everyone’s been through, maybe he could spring for a new roof…or air conditioning?
Alright so I am thoroughly confused. At the end of X-Factor 20# doesn’t Cross blow up or something akin to such and then I could swear that I spotted him in X-Men 200# among the Maurauders. Any clue as to what is up with that? Did X-Men 200# happen before or after X-Factor 20#?
@Steve
I am 100% that he is not a Marauder in X-men 200.
First he is a one time character only created to die in this arc. He came out of nowhere and thats the reason why he can be finished of unlike the other named X-cell members. Because he has no fanbase so no one would be angry.
Second the Marauders where all revealed before. Also someone like Cross does not pose the popularity nor the powers and fighting abilitys to be a member of a team that is supposed to beat the X-men big time.
So basicly you must have confused him with someone.
If this is true than I pose that Mr. David find out which character this man I speak of is and if it is indeed Cross he should yell at X-Men writers for stealing his recently deceased villan! Still curious as to who the shorty in the newest X-Men issue is, if anyone can please enlighten me!!!
@Steve
Okay let me guess. In the scene where the Marauders are revealed. You mean the guy between Vertigo (the Woman with the green hair and the weird outfit) and Wolverine. The one with the green jacket right?
Thats Scrambler one of the original Marauders.
And just before you ask those questions again. Here is a nice side with lots of explanation about many Villian teams. http://www.uncannyxmen.net
And except for his hairstyle he looks nothing like Cross.
If it’s allowed in this thread, I’d like to say a few words about the last issue of Fallen Angel.
Though the following may sound harsh, I want to point out first that I liked most of the series so far.
But:
I thought this issue was very weak. It is a crossover issue with some character from another series who does actually seem interesting. But Lee’s part of the story consists mostly of her being teleported by a mysterious force into some wilderness and all she does is walk around without much happening till she arrives in a city where a fight starts. To be continued.
Oh, she actually does another thing: She says unfriendly things about god and points out what an unfriendly guy he seems to be who does stuff just to annoy her.
Now, I’m an atheist, so personally that doesn’t bother me.
But is it a good story?
Obviously it’s reminicent of Preacher. But Preacher was interesting because the relationship with god was DYNAMIC: God has retired and Jesse has his powers and wants to find him to give him a piece of his mind. That’s a setup that makes you eager to learn how the story goes on.
But Lee addressing god doesn’t do anything besides point out that she is a disillusioned and cynical character, a disappointed idealist. News flash: We know that. That’s what the series is and was all about from the beginning. Her constant ranting is just boring and annoying.
I like the series very much. But the new origin and all that stuff about god doesn’t work very well I’m afraid. PAD, I definitly would prefer if you stick to human stories about the humans in Bete noir, and use mystical elements only to emphasize those.
• 
It was great and the book only deserves such a tight and gripping ending for the arc. You made so many characters matter in such a small space that I would have enjoyed it playing out for another issue or two at least.
Good luck with the crossover this summer. I cringe whenever anyone else writes Jamie though. in the One-Shot he didn’t have even the most basic knowledge of genetics. He was a bøøb!
First a few points of critic.
1.Why was nothing said about Blob at the end? Did they handed him over to the goverment or did they let him go?
2. How can a boy like Elijah Cross lead such a bunch of hardend terrorist like X-cell?
3. Maybe its not your fault but the solitication made it sound like this issue was supposed to be the aftermath of this arc, while X-Factor was supposed to battle the repowered X-Cell members in the last issue.
Did you had to drop one chapter of this arc?
Since you can’t be blamed for the sometimes strange art i won’t say much about (at least someone seems to have remembered Marrows unnatural pink skin tone and hair color).
However it was still a good read.
THANKS VERY MUCH for not turning Marrow into a villian again, but actualy making her do something heroic. I loved the scene where she takes down the Quicksilver behind Layla
Now just tell me that she won’t bite it please (i know Rictor won’t)!
By the way any plans for her and Callisto? After all they now know the secret behind House of M and who is responicible.
Or was that that the last we saw of them for the next 12 month?
Some funny scenes like Madrox playing the persian army from 300 in a one man show and M not stepping aside not to get her shirt dirty by Fatales “problem”.
Oh and the scene with Rictor and Rahne was awfully cute.
While we are at Rictor his fight with Quicksilver was cool as well.
Strangly i wonder why Layla kept a record of Cyclops telling the secret behind House of M, doen’t she wants to keep the House of M a secret from the world?
So why not only keeping a profe around but also playing it for those two?
Last thing, the scene with Quicksilver at the end. Did it showed him pushing the last crystal in his shoulder or did the wound his future self got from Sarah just apeared on his present self?
I liked it a lot. It’ll be interesting to see where the new revelation about Layla takes us. Once again, we get a chilling reminder of just how cold she can be, considering what the end result of her wish to just let the X-Cell situation take care of itself would have been.
I have no idea what Pietro’s loss of the crystals means. Are his power-restoration abilities gone?
One thing I thought was odd: Reaver’s redundant use of “neurotoxins in my skin” twice in one panel.
I must ask, especially after seeing this over the weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEcOJwZL_0Y
Was the “Jamie Army” with sheilds supposed to be a sort of tribute to Multi-man?
Another good issue, and as always I’m looking forward to seeing where you take this series next.
Of course, related to this issue of X-Factor, I’m curious to see where Silent War ends up. That’s been an enjoyable read, but it’s all but been rendered to have no major impact due to the fact that Quicksilver’s story is in X-Factor, and we see the most important Inhumans in WWH.
“Was the “Jamie Army” with sheilds supposed to be a sort of tribute to Multi-man?”
Finally, SOMEONE got it. I’ve seen no mention of it in any reviews.
Yes, definitely. When I was a kid, I loved the old series “The Impossibles” and my favorite character was Multi-Man. So yes, although it was a “300” riff, it was also a tip of the hat to ol’ Multi and his shield with “M” on it.
PAD
“How can a boy like Elijah Cross lead such a bunch of hardend terrorist like X-cell?”
Boy? I thought he was just short.
He is. He’s just mistaken for a boy, as was established in his first appearance.
PAD
Slightly off topic, did Fallen Angel come out last week? If so, my store didn’t get it for the second issue in a row.
Rick
I enjoyed it, definitely a strong finish both from action and story perspective – i was really reading this as fast as i could and was genuinely excited (*sigh*, what an exciting life i lead…). the art was stronger too – there had been some points that didn’t really flow the past two months, but this one slotted together nicely
i’d very much like to thank you for consistently writing layla miller as a pre-teen character who’s not only ‘not annoying’, but quite possibly ‘awesome’
Today i also picked up the latest in the UK reprint title ‘wolverine & deadpool’ which featured a blast from the past from you, from the late 80s. i’d been skipping out on the old strips, but then about a month back i saw your name and reread them – well done on the gehenna stone affair from nearly two decades ago!
“Slightly off topic, did Fallen Angel come out last week? If so, my store didn’t get it for the second issue in a row.”
It arrived at my store last week, so yes, it’s out. Also, I think that Mr. David will be happy to hear that my troubles with getting copies of Fallen Angel via my local LCS seem to be a thing of the past.
I dont have the issue in front of me, so I cant point out the exact lines, But there were at least 3 major laugh out loud moments for me written into that issue.
I have to stop reading your books in public places. People give me weird looks 🙂
Michael
I liked it, was glad that Abyss, Fatale and Reaper weren’t confirmed dead at the end.
I’m curious why Reaper was in danger of exploding, though, since I had read Pietro re-powered him some time before he joined the X-Cell. If that were the case, why would he undergo the treatment with Rictor like they did?
The other thing I’ve noticed: this is the second time in less than 12 issues that we’ve had a villain who’s an adult who looks like a kid who dies at the end of the story. Hmmm…
In the X-Factor discussion thread at comixfan.com, “Havok-X2” asked what “accelerated hearing” was. I took a guess and told him that everything sounded like a vinyl record with the RPMs increased to somebody with “accelerated hearing”, which may explain why Monet is the way she is. But perhaps you have a real answer for us (or a better smartass answer, either would be great).
Even though I’m growing to hate Monet, I was forced to smile when she moved away from Fatale so the explosion wouldn’t ruin her outfit. Will it be revealed at some point what’s going on with her?
I was a little puzzled at the end. Because the point of that page was “what you do now can come back to bite you in the ášš later on”, right? Pietro’s walking away with the one salvaged crystal, thinking it can give him his own powers back. Then the crystal spontaneously fizzles away and he screams in frustration. Then he feels Marrow stab in the shoulder from earlier. I had wondered if the panels were out of order or something and it was supposed to go like this: Pietro is cradling his precious crystal, then suddenly he feels Marrow stab him, convulses in pain, loses the crystal and screams in frustration.
But yeah, I’m glad that Cal and Marrow are safe and that Blob wasn’t subjected to this even if he’s gonna probably end up handed over to Cooper. Because Blob has really gone through hëll as it is: take a look at his Wikipedia page right now, they’ve got the art from when he lost his powers and tried to commit suicide. I honestly think the guys who opened the Ark of the Covenenant may have been *more handsome*
Overall quite good, but the “Stuff. I know STUFF. Don’t mangle my catch phrase.” bit made it a keeper all on its own.
I liked it. Good ending. Rictor showed he still has the guts to make the suicidal move when he has to.
Nice “The Impossibles” tribute too! It made me thing of some of the other shows of it’s time like Herculoids and The Galaxy Trio. I then thought about Meteor Man (not the Robert Townsend movie) and his ability to change the size (and strength) of any part of his body.
THAT made me wonder about Guido AKA “Strong Guy”. I may have missed it sometime back when I wasn’t buying comics regularly, but wasn’t Guido’s body a little “out of proportions” because of his ability? When did he get enough control to straighten most of himself out? Is it the artists who are drawing him that way or was it your call? I remember at least one major fit when he was hit EXTREMELY hard and he had to pound the daylights out of the ground immediately to release that build-up or he’d die.
I missed the body mod somewhere right?
Posted by The StarWolf at July 2, 2007 06:44 PM
Overall quite good, but the “Stuff. I know STUFF. Don’t mangle my catch phrase.” bit made it a keeper all on its own.
Oh god yes! That was 26 different shades of AWESOME! ^_^
The past catches up sooner than you think… does this mean also for everyone, like Terry + Monet + Jamie? It’s been conspicuous in its absence, and there must be more of a follow-through coming soon. I will give you my honest impression from all the ads in the advance pubs: I thought Terry and Monet will end up in an affair? Like, take this, peeping tom and Dudley Do-Two! And more characters from the past: the Madrox series, or Fallen Angels? Did Robert DaCosta lose his powers in M-Day? Either way he could appear since so many of his former teammates are together. I reaallly don’t like Layla. As in, at all. She’s so mean! Maybe my problem is she was evil to Pietro (especially in Silent War), whom I will always read after X-Factor 89, wasn’t it? That issue bought him a lot of sympathy from me. Another old thing: Guido used to be really rich. Did he lose his money? After all the crap everyone’s been through, maybe he could spring for a new roof…or air conditioning?
Alright so I am thoroughly confused. At the end of X-Factor 20# doesn’t Cross blow up or something akin to such and then I could swear that I spotted him in X-Men 200# among the Maurauders. Any clue as to what is up with that? Did X-Men 200# happen before or after X-Factor 20#?
@Steve
I am 100% that he is not a Marauder in X-men 200.
First he is a one time character only created to die in this arc. He came out of nowhere and thats the reason why he can be finished of unlike the other named X-cell members. Because he has no fanbase so no one would be angry.
Second the Marauders where all revealed before. Also someone like Cross does not pose the popularity nor the powers and fighting abilitys to be a member of a team that is supposed to beat the X-men big time.
So basicly you must have confused him with someone.
If this is true than I pose that Mr. David find out which character this man I speak of is and if it is indeed Cross he should yell at X-Men writers for stealing his recently deceased villan! Still curious as to who the shorty in the newest X-Men issue is, if anyone can please enlighten me!!!
@Steve
Okay let me guess. In the scene where the Marauders are revealed. You mean the guy between Vertigo (the Woman with the green hair and the weird outfit) and Wolverine. The one with the green jacket right?
Thats Scrambler one of the original Marauders.
And just before you ask those questions again. Here is a nice side with lots of explanation about many Villian teams.
http://www.uncannyxmen.net
And except for his hairstyle he looks nothing like Cross.
If it’s allowed in this thread, I’d like to say a few words about the last issue of Fallen Angel.
Though the following may sound harsh, I want to point out first that I liked most of the series so far.
But:
I thought this issue was very weak. It is a crossover issue with some character from another series who does actually seem interesting. But Lee’s part of the story consists mostly of her being teleported by a mysterious force into some wilderness and all she does is walk around without much happening till she arrives in a city where a fight starts. To be continued.
Oh, she actually does another thing: She says unfriendly things about god and points out what an unfriendly guy he seems to be who does stuff just to annoy her.
Now, I’m an atheist, so personally that doesn’t bother me.
But is it a good story?
Obviously it’s reminicent of Preacher. But Preacher was interesting because the relationship with god was DYNAMIC: God has retired and Jesse has his powers and wants to find him to give him a piece of his mind. That’s a setup that makes you eager to learn how the story goes on.
But Lee addressing god doesn’t do anything besides point out that she is a disillusioned and cynical character, a disappointed idealist. News flash: We know that. That’s what the series is and was all about from the beginning. Her constant ranting is just boring and annoying.
I like the series very much. But the new origin and all that stuff about god doesn’t work very well I’m afraid. PAD, I definitly would prefer if you stick to human stories about the humans in Bete noir, and use mystical elements only to emphasize those.