All-New X-Factor issue #1 review
January 10, 2014 12:22 am | 1 Comment
Peter David hopes that Schoolhouse Rock was right and returns to glory with his favorite X-ers in All-New X-Factor. David’s first run on X-Factor was one of my favorite runs in the history of mutantkind so I am a giant mark for this book from the get go. Make that a giant mark squared because the New Mutants Doug Ramsey is also on the cover. In this incarnation, Peter David intends to explore the concept of a corporate sponsored superteam. As a fan of Garth Ennis’ The Boys, I have been shown time and time again that this concept always ends badly. David’s dialogue steps all over artist Carmine di Giandomenico during Gambit’s introduction. The creative page layout on this page is obscured all over the place with Remy’s step by step description of his every action that is beautifully displayed already. He also compounds the problem by combining the two laziest transition words in the writer’s arsenal: meanwhile, elsewhere. I am hopeful that I will be seeing more of the cute character moments in this issue and less cliches of the genre moving forward. For goddess’ sake, the CEO of the book’s corporate masters Serval Industries actually BWAAAHAAAHAAA’s at one point.
Di Giandomenico’s linework is very anime influenced which is an immediate draw to me. I am not a fan of colorist Lee Loughridge’s choice of monochromatic panel after panel. Polaris is the leader of this version of the team, Serval Industries having “purchased” the rights to the name. Polaris is not known for her stability but for her colorful history of going from one puppet master to the next. Gambit and Quicksilver are recruited because neither one seems to be able to find his place in his current surroundings. I was promised Cypher, Warlock, and Danger in the solicits, but they are nowhere to be found in this debut issue.
When the Freeze It rating was suggested, I thought it was a bit of a cop out. But I am trying to be a more measure consumer of comics these days, and Peter David has proven himself before to be worth the wait. I’m going to keep on reading the All-New X-Factor, and I will get back to you after Freezing It for now. Mr. David, please resist the urge to make Cypher and Danger hook up; I want well crafted surprises, not predictability.
Yours Truly,
domesticateddave@gmail.com
Tags: all-new X-Factor, Cypher, Danger, Gambit, peter david, Polaris, Warlock
Categorised in: Comic Reviews, Random Reviews & News
This post was written by David Griffin
Cypher and Danger? I can honestly say that never even occurred to me. So I wouldn’t worry.