OUT THIS WEEK: FALLEN ANGEL #33, X-FACTOR #39

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

No, it’s not really the last issue of “Fallen Angel.” We’re relaunching with a new storyline in a few months.

As for X-Factor, my feelings on spoilers for this issue are well known, but I figure I might as well start a comments thread before people start posting in other threads. All I ask is that if you have not yet read X-Factor, for crying out lout, DON’T READ THIS THREAD.

PAD

UPDATE: On Newsarama the week of January 5th, there was some debate as to whether there should be active speculation about the baby. Those who felt they knew what I was up to were worried that accurately guessing would spoil it for others. I didn’t think that it would, but I offered to let people send me guesses and I would post in this space if anyone got it right so they could have bragging rights.

One person did: The fan who posts under the name “Wraith.” He didn’t quite foresee the shocking result, but he got the main beat correct. So he gets to boast that he thinks like Peter David…which, in the final analysis, is a dubious distinction at best.

102 comments on “OUT THIS WEEK: FALLEN ANGEL #33, X-FACTOR #39”

  3. That “Final Issue” tag scared the heck out of me. Is the relauch an ongoing too or just a mini?

  4. I’ll keep it to generalities. Really did not see that coming and Holy Expletive Expletive.

    I’m curious though did ‘Wally’ go from a boy with a baseball bat to a girl with a tennis racket for a reason besides DC complaining? or another reason? And what name does this avatar go by?

  5. Dear PAD,

    I’m honestly not sure whether to praise you or curse you right now. The issue was amazingly well done, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t left feeling more than a little uneasy about it. I suspect I’ll be able to better articulate how I felt once it’s been more than 30 minutes since I read the issue, but I haven’t been affected like that by a comic book in a long, long time, which I guess means that you did your job well.
    -Ben

  6. What’s the only thing more depressing than waiting by the phone for your agent to call about your script he said he’d read last weekend?

    Reading X-Factor #39 while you do it.

    Ðámņ it, PAD… Well done, but talk about killing your darlings.

  7. RE. X-Factor #39:

    HOLY S***! I did not see that coming! The only downer is that I was hoping for a (for now) happy ending for Jamie and Theresa. I hope she comes to realize it wasn’t his fault.

    RE. Fallen Angel #33:

    Nice twist ending. I wonder how things will work with the new status quo.

    Thanks for a great read, Peter!

  8. You are an evil, evil man, Peter David. Madrox doesn’t get a break, huh? The series should really be named “X-What Else Can Go Wrong with My Dupes?”

    Although, I’m confused: if Madrox has that dupe with a family that he never absorbed, then John Maddox’s kid…???

    And does Madrox now have the memories of…?

  10. Not going to spoil anything about this issue. I will say that this is the X-Factor I fell in love with. Great art and great story. Thanks, Peter!

  12. X-factor #39 – Holy Crap, indeed! Did not see that coming. But wow…the more I think about it, the more I find it – well, upsetting isn’t quite what I’m getting at, but it’s close enough. And I mean that in a good way. I look forward to the fallout…

    Nice wrap up to the current volume of FA – looking forward to Illyria in the next.

  13. The thing that I’m most interested in is that you said the same disclaimer would apply to issues 40 and 41, which leads me to ask, how the hëll can anything in those issues come close to THAT? It certainly helps build anticipation for upcoming issues.

  14. Peter David, I was surprised with the shocking
    scene in this issue. It was truly sad, but a
    great story overall. I remember the time Siryn
    hooked up with one of Jamie Madrox’s dupes way
    back in the Fallen Angels comic book. It seems
    to be just like the unusual relationship with
    Siryn & dupe Jaime. If Siryn & real Jaime isn’t
    meant to be, I hope you hook Siryn with James
    Proudstar (Warpath in Wolverine’s new X-Force) instead in the near future. They were best friends & could have been a couple during the pages of the original X-Force comic book, but
    never got to hook up. Thanks for the wonderful
    story.

  15. What was really funny about the “Final Issue” fakeout, was that this same week, CBG came out, and the last line of your But I Digress was “Read Fallen Angel, while you still can!” (or something close to that) I read that, and then looked at the cover for Fallen Angel, and said to myself, “Well, that wasn’t long…”

    Glad to hear I was wrong.

  16. This is as good a time as any to mention: I just started on Fallen Angel with the first TPB this past week…and hopefully will be caught up by the relaunch. The first six were amazing. Maybe some of my favorite PAD work yet (and that’s saying a bit)…and to think, I hadn’t heard of the book until I was reading Mr. David’s book on writing comics where he talks about his fans having never heard of Fallen Angel…=)

  18. Brilliant issue. I mean, seriously. OHMYGOD. I had a theory about this a few years ago and I think you just proved me right. What I’m confused about though is the dupe Jamie that had a kid? How does that work with this?

    But really, this is what I used to expect from you. This is the genius stuff that makes me love X-Factor. Thank you so much for bringing that back. Definitely going to have to change my “Jez recommends” sign at the comic shop where I work to go in front of X-Factor.

  19. Wow. That’s all I can say.

    Peter, PLEASE keep Longshot on the book. You’ve made me a happy fan-boy with his return. He’s the main reason I picked up the series, and now that I’ve gone back for the trades, I’m hooked.

    X-Factor is the best X-book – ever. I dropped all the X-books in 2004, they were terrible. I’ve never read an X-book that is this amazing, ever.

    Thanks!

  20. Oh. Oh, no. OH, MAN.

    I don’t know what changed. Until a few years ago, it seemed like the one thing you couldn’t mess with was a baby. And then all of a sudden one show had bad things happening to a baby. Then another. And another. And it all started happening about the same time I became a father.

    Or maybe I just started noticing after I became a Dad.

    Either way, this was a brilliantly sick move, Peter. I think I’m actually awestruck.

    lwk

  23. I was curious as to whether the cover to X-Factor had anything to do with the story. Very interesting twist and an inventive way to reset the status quo and open things back up for Layla and Jamie.

  24. Ðámņ it Peter, I did not see this coming. Poor Siryn. To see your baby go like that is one of the ultimate horrors that can happen.

  25. As if what happened wasn’t ugly enough, there’s the additional fact that Madrox only has a theory about why this happened. Since he doesn’t know for sure, how could he ever risk it if he fathers another child?

  28. Mr. David you are my hero.
    Actually you were my hero before and now, after X-Factor #39, you are my superhero.

  30. Excellent. It was a story that could only be told with those characters.

    As a parent, I thought it was great, but it’s a big risk doing such a personal story. Assuming that “kids” are the audience, they probably won’t understand the situation as well as readers who have children.

    Hopefully it pays off. At the very least, X-factor should be seen as not just another X-book. Looking forward to many more issues.

  31. Although I’ve been an avid comic book reader for over 20 years, I have never posted a comment on the internet to a creator.
    This issue demanded that I say something.

    ÐÃMN!

    This issue proves that you are one of the greatest creators in comics today. You love Jamie and the crew enough to really screw them up which forces them to grow, change, be affected, make mistakes, and really shine. You seem to understand that no matter how tight the spandex or wacky the power these mutants are human. Period. And just because you can fly around does not make you exempt for real life’s trials, tribulations, decisions, and doubts.

    This issue was brutal. You’re really sick and I love it.

    Thank you so much for entertaining and me for so many years.

    ONLY QUESTION: What’s up with Darwin’s coloring post-Secret Invasion? Ain’t he brown now?

  32. Although I’ve been an avid comic book reader for over 20 years, I have never posted a comment on the internet to a creator.
    This issue demanded that I say something.

    ÐÃMN!

    This issue proves that you are one of the greatest creators in comics today. You love Jamie and the crew enough to really screw them up which forces them to grow, change, be affected, make mistakes, and really shine. You seem to understand that no matter how tight the spandex or wacky the power these mutants are human. Period. And just because you can fly around does not make you exempt for real life’s trials, tribulations, decisions, and doubts.

    This issue was brutal. You’re really sick and I love it.

    Thank you so much for entertaining and me for so many years.

    ONLY QUESTION: What’s up with Darwin’s coloring post-Secret Invasion? Ain’t he brown now?

  33. Really enjoyed it, heartbreaking as it was.

    I seem to remember the solicitations mentioning that John Maddox would be returning soon, so I’m dreading what’s going to happen there now.

  34. Really enjoyed it, heartbreaking as it was.

    I seem to remember the solicitations mentioning that John Maddox would be returning soon, so I’m dreading what’s going to happen there now.

  35. Wow, I just finished reading the issue of X-Factor and I am totally shocked. I did not see it coming at all.

  36. Well, I will give you credit for at least this much:

    I was sort of counting on Terry calling the baby Sean, and on the birth being a catalyst for her accepting her dad’s death…

    …but I certainly could never have predicted THAT.

    Um…ouch? I guess that sort of sums it up. Terry’s just been through 37 weeks of pregnancy, and an emergency c-section, and she doesn’t have a baby to show for it now. Please tell me you’re not writing her out of the book.

    The sickest part of this, on my end, is that I must confess to being rather relieved to see the end of Madrox/Siryn. I didn’t want to see them together, long term. (Although, on that note, I still say: please don’t write her out of the book. I’m still sort of burned about how she left X-Force ten years ago.)

  39. The big shocker… well, shocked me big. It’s been a while since I’ve had visceral response to something I read. And even though it gets (rightfully) washed away in view of the larger picture, as someone who was a huge Generation X fan, thank you for the moment between M and Siryn as well–it was nice to Sean live on.
    Though, um, not for very long…

  41. Jesus. I’m not sure what was more upsetting this past week, Battlestar Galactica or X-Factor. And I really say that as a complement that you made me care that much.

  42. I was really disappointed to see the FINAL ISSUE! tag on FA… so very relieved to reach the end and see the relaunch coming. I do think the ending was a good wrap up but all during Lee and Tennis Girl’s discussion I was screaming, “No Lee! BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!”

  43. 1
    I liked X-Factor, but am gonna have to call shenanigans on the baby bit. Any resulting child only has a partial mix of dupe DNA. If Madrox can work his whammy on that, could he then absorb anyone who was injected with his DNA?

  44. Any resulting child only has a partial mix of dupe DNA.

    That is a question, isn’t it? Did the baby have the normal mix of DNA from both parents, or did he have only Jamie’s DNA? If the latter, how did that happen? If the former, then how was it possible for Jamie to reabsorb him?

    Another technical difficulty is how John Maddox’s son was able to get to toddlerhood without getting reabsorbed, but I think that’s easier to explain.

  46. I was going to call foul over the John Maddox bit, but the fact he’s slated to appear in the very next issue sort of implies it’s going to be dealt with.

    I forgot to mention in my last post, I have to wait until July for more Fallen Angel? You’re killing me here, I read X-Factor first and thought waiting for THAT next issue would be tough.

  47. Oh. My. God. I just read it on the bus home. Peter, you are one mean s.o.b. God. Ðámņ.

    The art was good too. Valentine DeLandro and Craig Yeung did a good job putting the blacks in all the right places, especially that opening scene with Darwin and his dad in that darkened hospital room, though I thought the subsequent page in Terry’s well-lit room had too many blacks in it. Overall, the art was well-done, especially given that this was such a crucial issue with such an emotionally evocative story. I also liked how they made Darwin look more human, with a more human skin tone and eyes not set so far apart as Larry Stroman depicted them.

    Fallen Angel was also good. I knew Ouroboros could not kill Moloch, or else he’d have done so already, but I didn’t see the climax with Jude. You did a great job in building up to cause us to expect the sword to work on him when Lee tried it, and it was perfect that it broke. With Jude, I figured he’d just stab Moloch with it, and that it would work just like any other sharp weapon because he was the former Magistrate, but you instead did one of your usual surprises. The ending that occurred after that was good too.

    One thing I found interesting was the look of God. I found it interesting because she looked not merely like a young Liandra, but like what a younger Liandra would look like if she were drawn by David Lopez. David drew Liandra with a wide nose, which I liked, since, the combination of her Caucasian-looking skin and the nose more evocative of African Americans (well, some of them) suggested that even though she was a non-human, he wanted to make her look like she was of mixed ethnicity in order to appeal to a wider swath of readers. J.K. Woodward tends to draw her more generically, and one of his early covers, she looked more like Sheryl Crow. So when that little girl first showed up, I wondered if she was some incarnation of Liandra, or something.

  48. Dear mister David,
    The guy who insulted you in french yesterday was me. Well, you didn’t probably hear me but some of my neighboors probably did.
    Who gave you the rights to do what you did in X-Factor #39 ? I’m not refering to the rights on writing this good but to play with such a visceral sentiment ? It was just revolting. And the proof that you are really doing a astounding job with this title.

    Fallen Angel #33 was good too but suffered from being read after X-Factor. I suppose that I will be reading this final arc once agian, after the X-Factor feeling fade. If it will ever.

  49. PAD,

    Why the re-launch of Fallen Angel and why wait until July? It seems to me that given the already high price of $3.99 and the current economic climate, the last thing you or IDW would want to do is take the book off people’s radar for several months (similarly, it doesn’t make sense to me for the producers of Heroes to take it off the air from November to February when it’s already losing viewers). But then I’m not a marketing expert, and maybe this makes sense from a marketing point of view.

    Thing is, from a personal point of view, I’d already decided that once the current storyline ended, I would switch to a “wait for the trade” mode for Fallen Angel, since trades of the book are now being collected. This may have saved me some money on the book (I don’t recall if the trade price would be less than the combined individual issue price), but it would have saved me the cost of that many bags and boards, which need to be replaced every few years.

    In this current economy, and with cuts to my salary, I decided I’d either have to quit buying a $3.99 comic I enjoy or go the trades route and at least save on the cost of bags and boards. Now, I’ll have to decide whether to pick up Fallen Angel Rebirth in July, or wait, either for a possible trade, or for my economic circumstances to improve, so I can seek out the back issues. But July’s a long way off, and I could very well get used to not reading Fallen Angel, especially since we’ve been given, essentially, an ending.

    Which brings me back to the whole marketing question. I know a #1 issue tends to sell better than a #34, but would Fallen Angel Rebirth #1 sell that much better than a Fallen Angel #34, assuming an Illyria appearance in either case?

    Again, you must have had what you consider very good reasons for the re-launch, but one argument for keeping the regular monthly is that you could’ve ended the issue with a “to be continued…” instead of a conclusion. I believe it was Denny O’Neil who wrote in The DC Comics Guide To writing Comics that you’d have an A main plot that would be resolved in a set number of issues (let’s say 3); a B subplot that would continue on beyond those three issue, and then become the new main plot, with a new C subplot filling B’s place, and so on. You’re no doubt aware of this technique, and probably used it all the time in Hulk and other work, including Fallen Angel. The appearance of Prometheus (and other Pantheon members?) before the Pantheon storyline began in Hulk springs to mind. If I’d considered dropping Hulk at that time (which wasn’t the case), the “who’s this guy?” question might well have kept me reading for “a few more issues.”

    By which time there’s another subplot “hook.”

    I can say that these days it’s easy (perhaps easier than in years past, because of the price increases) to drop a book if there’s no hook to carry a reader to the next issue. I decided (again for mostly economic reasons) to drop Usagi Yojimbo a few years ago. My last issue was a done-in-one about a tea ceremony. The previous storyline had ended, and that tea ceremony issue didn’t have any sort of cliffhanger to entice me back for the next issue. It was very easy to jump off at that point.

    If the regular Fallen Angel book had continued, I would have gone the wait for the trade route; but if there had been some sort of cliffhanger, and not just the knowledge that Illyria would be showing up at some future point, I’d have been more likely to look for said trade, and to remind my comics retailer about it from time to time, than in the present circumstances.

    Now, there’s no cliffhanger per se; just a house ad. Come July, I may have gotten used to not reading Fallen Angel, just as come February, viewers may have gotten used to not watching Heroes on Monday nights.

    Still… you do have one thing going for you: this blog. Even if Fallen Angel vanishes from my ken in the next six months, I’ve no doubt you’ll remind everyone who reads this blog (myself included) of the book’s return. Hopefully, my economic circumstances will be such that I can justify picking it up when the time comes.

    I just hope that given the stated problems of some retailers in the past not ordering Fallen Angel, they do, at least, order Fallen Angel Rebirth when it comes out.

    Rick

    P.S. If “Wally the God Boy” was named for your brother, is God as the girl with the tennis racket going to be revealed as having the same name as your sister?

    Fair’s fair, you know.

  50. X-Factor #39

    FREAKED

    ME

    OUT!

    Peter,

    Just when I thought you couldn’t surprise me anymore, you take me completely by surprise and stirred a frenetic mix of emotions that rarely ever happens.

    This was your “Oscar-winning” moment.

    Thank you for making reading worth reading.

    Daniel

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