posted
It did feel like a placeholder issue. Nothing happened except the team moved from NYC to Detroit. The story started with Val demanding they become gov't lackeys, and it ended that way.
Layla's appearance just makes me think Jaime's unhinged... I liked it better when he had an external monolauge with himself ala` ish #1.
And Val is nothing more than a plot device these days. I see her and think Gyrich from the 80's.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Stealth: I think there's a little more to it than that, because it just seems weird to me that we've recently had both Quicksilver and Jamie seeing and talking to Layla. What I hope this means is that she's coming back sooner rather than later.
Layla one-shot in a couple of months.
-------------------- My views are my own and do not reflect those of everyone else... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
quote:X-FACTOR SPECIAL: LAYLA MILLER ONE-SHOT Written by PETER DAVID Penciled by VALENTINE DE LANDRO Cover by BOO COOK Trapped in a future she never made, Layla Miller finds herself smack in the middle of the Summers rebellion that was responsible for the eventual liberation of mutants from the camps. The only question is, will she survive it? 48 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
When I said I hope Layla comes back, I meant to the present day.
posted
I lost interest in this book several months ago. It's too bad - it used to be one of my favorites.
From: New York, NY | Registered: Jul 2003
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It's taken a lot to make it happen, but it's happened: after reading the 33rd issue, I'm losing patience with X-Factor.
First of all, Larry Stroman. I was expecting his art to be bad, but not THIS bad! It looks like John Romita, Jr. trying to draw after drinking too much cough syrup. I'd never realized until today just how much the Glynis Oliver's coloring over Stroman's early 90s X-Factor helped make it readable, along with PAD-in-his-prime's high quality writing, of course...not a million miles from the Jim Fern issues of L.E.G.I.O.N. where the talents of Alan Grant and Lovern Kindzierski transcended Fern's dreadful art.
That was then, this is now. The coloring on today's X-Factor is drab in a way that's all too typical of these times, making Stroman's art even uglier. Then there's PAD's script. How does a writer fluctuate the way he's been doing on X-Factor?? I mean, I can objectively accept that the peaks and valleys have been taking place for most of the book's run -- for example, I think the first eight issues are great, then nine through eleven not so good, then a great conclusion to the singularity arc in twelve. But I don't think there were any truly bad issues until 26 and 27, the second and third Messiah CompleX tie-ins. But THEN 28, the aftermath of Messiah CompleX where, among other things, Rahne leaves, was possibly the BEST-written issue to date. And I think the Arcade/destruction-of-Mutant-Town arc got off to a great start but went downhill like a snowball. So now it's come to...THIS -- jokes that sputter where they once sparkled, characters that are flat where they were once fully-formed, set-ups and situations that fail to involve where they once inspired joy and devotion.
In fairness to PAD, I really think there must some kind of problems between him and editorial, which would mean that my worst fear has come true.
quote:Originally posted by Stealth (In June of 2007): Andy Schmidt, who got the Madrox mini-series greenlighted, and who then stayed aboard to continue editing the X-Factor ongoing, has recently decided to quit editing.
This concerns me, because X-Factor has been so good up til now, and I think we all know that a change in editors can often ruin a book.
I'll admit I have something of a fatalistic streak, and hopefully my worries are unfounded, but I just wanted to prepare us for a possible decline. If it happens, I won't be surprised if the decline begins with the new editor.
It recalls the decline of Amazing Spider-Man in the 1980s when Roger Stern left less than two years after beginning his run; Stern says he left because his chemistry with editor Tom DeFalco (who had just been taken off the Spidey books and promoted to Special Projects Editor) was so perfect, that he knew he could never be as good with a different editor (ironically enough, the writer who replaced Stern was...Tom DeFalco.) Looks like PAD would have been wise to follow Stern's example. Then this 2nd PAD X-Factor run would be remembered the way that the Stern Spidey run -- or, more to the point, the 1st PAD X-Factor run -- is remembered today: brief but brilliant.
And yet, I'm STILL not ready to give up on this book. THAT'S how much I love what X-Factor has been at its best -- and maybe still can be.
I'm making 35, the first issue after the Secret Invasion tie-ins are over, the cut-off issue. If it's not PAD's best script since 28, I'll...well, most likely I'll keep buying X-Factor, at least for a while, but probably won't post about it anymore.
posted
I was not impressed with the artwork either. Facial close ups were what really bugged me. But from pencil to colouring, it's a drastic change from the rest of the series, so I'll give myself a little bit of time to get use to it.
PAD's cast seemed one note this issue, but he spent most of his time on the newbies. I'm not liking the Val dynmaic, but I don't think we're suppose to anymore than Jamie does.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Not a fan of this art, either. Especially the faces.
I did like learning that Monet had memorized the bios of known surviving mutants.
Who else might have done that? Will this be remembered?
I thought the transition from Longshot and Darwin's fight to Jamie meeting with their client was both clever and maddening. The line "I'm looking for my son," sent my mind straight to Shatterstar. He is still considered Longshot's son, isn't he?
Of course, there was no search for Rictor's old boyfriend. The 'son' in question is Darwin.
Uncovering a hidden Skrull could have made for a nicely atmospheric noirish X-factor story. Instead it's a fairly typical superhero slugfest, awkward team-up.
Disappointing. It's just one more issue of SI crossover, though, right?
From: Knoxville, TN | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Well, the art was so bad on this last two-parter that I couldn't enjoy the story one bit. That's unfortnate.
I also did not like the previous issues with Val Cooper. PAD has a tendency over the years to really lay it on too thick with the 'government are a bunch of evil assholes' routine. He does so here.
Another PAD tendency I hate is his involvement with every crossover. And yes, I've read over and over his rationalization for it and I don't buy into it.
So even though I like the title and love PAD's writing, the two things he does that bother me the most are present lately, combined with distracting art.
Not dropping the book (by a longshot) but hoping this all goes away quickly and we can get back to the PAD's X-Factor I've come to enjoy. Plus Detroit is so ripe for jokes that I'm looking forward to that.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
This last issue was meaningless to me. I don't know Darwin from a hole in the wall, and I'm not interested in why Jen is being such a raving freakshow of a character all of a sudden, when she used to be one of my favorites.
I got this the same day as Legion of Three Worlds, which had me *far* more engaged, so it felt like a chore to read anyway.
The useless damn crossovers are destroying this book for me. It just can't get any momentum without everything ending suddenly and anticlimactically to make room for the next pointless crossover that also has nothing to do with the book. Seeing Longshot (whom I haven't liked since his original mini-series with the Art Adams artwork, when I thought he was the coolest thing, ever), in the last issue made me think I was reading an issue of Exiles, which I shook like a bad habit when Claremont decided to reboot the series.
Too many lame endings. Hubert gets bored and walks away. Quicksilver and his wannabe mutant gang kinda vanish. Arcade shows up and does about fifty gabillion dollars worth of work, and, as usual, kills none of his intended targets. This book has just yawed from one epic fail to deliver a complete story to the next epic fail to deliver a complete story.
posted
With only hours to go, I've managed to make my monthly X-Factor post.
I didn't think the ending of the Secret Invasion/She-Hulk tie-ins was as bad as the beginning, but that's really not saying much. It was cool to see Monet delivering a right hook to the Skrull's jaw, though.
I'm surprised no one's commented on the X-Factor: Layla Miller special. I thought that one had good jokes, good art, good characterization...even if in the end, it's really all for nothing. As Paul O'Brien (http://thexaxis.com) said in his review last week:
quote:I rather suspect that this is a story designed to give at least some closure to a character who is being written out for the foreseeable future.
If that's the case, then it's yet another nail in the coffin for my interest in this book.
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Another PAD tendency I hate is his involvement with every crossover. And yes, I've read over and over his rationalization for it and I don't buy into it.
I haven't read his rationalization, but I do know he hasn't been enamoured of EVERY crossover. He hated Acts of Vengance, and deliberately requested the lamest villain available for his tie-in issue of Hulk.
quote:Originally posted by Set: This book has just yawed from one epic fail to deliver a complete story to the next epic fail to deliver a complete story.
I don't entirely disagree with you, but I do think the Singularity arc of the first twelve issues works as a complete story; I don't think it's perfect -- among other things, it loses momentum with the second half of the Civil War tie-ins -- but I find the last issue of that arc more than satisfactory.
And finally, I have to once again stress that I think the book's loss of direction has to do with the loss of its original editor. PAD's justly celebrated run on Hulk worked because he had the same editor from the Las Vegas stories (which is IMO where it changed from merely a superior action/superhero book to a distinctly PAD superhero book) through his final issue (although it did jump the shark in its last couple years because of Onslaught/Heroes Reborn, but that's a whole other discussion.) Personally, I have a feeling that PAD won't be on this book much longer, and when he's gone, he'll be replaced by someone who will bring it completely in line with the mediocrity of the rest of the Emperor Axel Alonso era of the X-Books.
posted
Count me also amongst the disappointed former readers of X-Factor. The art is amazingly bad (I think the artist uses a balloon as a nose-model) and the story suffers quite a bit because of that. I also get the feeling David has given up on it. I mistakenly bought the Skrull whatever tie-in that I couldn't care less about and that was enough to sour me. Too bad, I really liked this book at one time. It was refreshing to see a more realistic approach to super people, with characters who don't always have to retain the moral high ground or conversely don't occasionally turn into berserk maniacs a la Wolverine. Oh well, it's a couple of bucks savings to me a month I guess.
-------------------- Is that a moon?
From: Portland, OR | Registered: Aug 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Uranus Lad: Count me also amongst the disappointed former readers of X-Factor. Too bad, I really liked this book at one time. It was refreshing to see a more realistic approach to super people, with characters who don't always have to retain the moral high ground or conversely don't occasionally turn into berserk maniacs a la Wolverine.
Well said.
I dropped it after # 35. I thought it best to make a clean break instead of hoping in vain that next month's issue (and then the next month's, and then next month's after that...) would be better.
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