X-Factor by Peter David has reached issue 200 and they are celebrating big time with an issue that is twice as long. The issue also has characters guides for the entire X-Factor team which is great for anybody who may not be familiar with any particular teammate. At the end of the book is a Marvel Knights Madrox issue which has all the grittiness of a Marvel Knights story while still giving the reader plenty of X-Factor.
The comic book X-Factor involves some of Marvel’s mutants who live apart from the Utopia/ San Francisco storylines and instead work as a group of detectives who take on unique cases. We have to ignore the travesty that Peter David recently did to one of my all time favorite characters, Layla Miller, wrapping up her story but making her entirely useless and half of interesting and move on to better things.
In this issue, some of the X-Factor team is hired by Franklin and Valerie Richards, better known as the precocious children of Fantastic Four’s Reed and Sue Richards. It seems that the children are concerned that their mother is missing and that their father isn’t doing enough to help the situation. Of course, you can see the fight between Strong Guy and the Thing from a mile away, but you still enjoy every second of it. Meanwhile, Syrin deals with the loss of her father and baby by making poor decisions and running into Madrox’s dupes. To make everything else crazy, Monet is visited by government agent Valerie Cooper who tells her that her father has been taken hostage.
I love Peter David’s writing. His characters have depth and a mix of emotion. His storylines are interesting and keep you hooked. I even have to overlook what he did to Layla Miller, effectively giving her a useless power and getting rid of her quirkiness and enjoy what he writes.
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