Introduction
The launch of X-Factor in 1995 was filled with drama and intrigue. And while there certainly was plenty of drama throughout the series, I'm actually referring to the drama that took place within Marvel's writer's room. Chris Claremont, who penned Uncanny X-Men from 1975 - 1991, had written (along with the great John Byrne) one of the most successful comic stories of all time: The Dark Phoenix Saga. At the conclusion of the Dark Phoenix Saga, Jim Shooter (Editor in Chief at the time) demanded that Jean Grey die for her actions. While that was not originally Claremont and Byrne had envisioned, it ended up helping the story to reach unparalleled success.
However, 5 years later Jim Shooter decided to not only bring Jean back to life, but to put the original X-Men back together without the involvement of Chris Claremont. Claremont had the following to say in an interview within Comic Creators on X-Men:
"I had the whole weekend to go berserk. I spent the weekend coming up with a whole new set of characters that they could use for X-Factor.” “Shooter sat there and said ‘That’s a great concept. I think it’s wonderful. If you want to go with it, go with it, but we’re bringing back Jean Grey."
Louise Simonson, who would take over X-Factor in short order, had the following to say:
“Even then, I truly did not believe that Shooter would do a book like that without involving Chris. I was really appalled. I didn’t think it was fair."
Bob Layton was the original creator of X-Factor, but it was clear early on that this new series was not on a good footing. It was also important for another X-book to work well with Claremont, so after 3 issues they switched to Louise Simonson. Bob Harras, the X-editor at the time, had the following to say in Comic Creators on X-Men:
“I wanted to make some sort of connection with the main X-books and I knew Chris was very comfortable with Louise.”
And so it was. Louise Simonson took Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, and Beast through one hell of a journey. While it was certainly uneven at times, we have Simonson to thank for the creation of Apocalypse, the transformation of Angel into Archangel, and contributions to some of the best X-Men events of all time (Inferno, Mutant Massacre, and the X-Tinction Agenda.) The series would eventually be re-launched under Peter David with all new characters, but this retrospective will focus on the original X-Factor run under Louise Simonson.
Major Themes
Mutant Hunters
The first major theme of the original X-Factor Run was that X-Factor was pretending to be mutant hunters. Yes, it was incredibly stupid and Simonson moved quickly to distance the series from that status quo.
Mentorship
Another surprising theme was that of mentorship within the pages of X-Factor. The X-Factor team brought a number of troubled mutants under their wing. The first was Rusty Collins (Firefist), and while he never really exploded as a character, he kicked things off well with the mentorship theme during X-Factor. The team also brought in a number of Morlocks such as Leach, Caliban, and Skids. Future X-Force stars Boom Boom and Rictor also got their start in this series (although Boom Boom had her first appearance during Secret Wars V2). But nothing was as endearing as the budding friendship between Leach and Artie (a mute mutant boy who was abandoned by his father).
Scott & Jean Drama
You can't discuss X-Factor without getting into the ongoing drama between Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Madelyn Pryor. Bring Jean back to life wasn't the only thing that that pissed Claremont off. He intended for Cyclops to retire and live a happy life with Madelyn Pryor and his son, Nathan. In order for Bob Layton and Jim Shooter to bring Jean back to life and have her on a team with Cyclops, Claremont had to support a story that involved Scott abandoning his wife and child for his ex. To be honest, I still haven't forgiven Scott for this.
Great Crossover Events
Simonson penned X-Factor through 3 of my favorite events: Inferno, Mutant Massacre, and the X-Tinction Agenda. Since they have their own dedicated articles, I won't spend as much time gushing about them here, other to make sure it's clear that they are part of what helps me to reflect favorably on Simonson's inaugral X-Factor run.
Breaking Down the Arcs
I'll start by quoting myself:
"There is a reason why most comic "experts" will tell you to start your X-Men reading with Giant Sized X-Men and Chris Claremont's rebooting of the team. As highlighted in my "1: UXM # 1 - 93 (The Original, Slightly Crappy Run)" blog, the original team and their dynamics weren't terribly interesting. Unfortunately, this new series falls into the same trap. I was glad though that I started my journey with X-Men # 1, because it made a lot of the references in this re-launch make more sense."
The new team book makes a clear choice to re-boot back to the original status quo. Cyclops comes out of retirement to lead the team (and apparently editorial thought this was important enough to justify having him abandon his family), Jean comes back from the dead, Iceman is struggling with his powers, Beast reverts back to human form, and Angel is a simple playboy, hitting on Jean behind Scott's back.
Claremont was quick to feel better once Wheezy took over the comic:
“It wasn’t until Louise and Walter Simonson were on the book that we actually managed to massage the characters back to the way they should have been.”
Louise's husband, Walter Simonson, hot off a fantastic run on Thor, joined Louise to provide some pretty strong art. Next, I'll quote myself!
“As much as I'm pissing all over the writing, my hate for Scott, my annoyance at the slowly building romance, and the odd decision to go back to tropes from the original X-Men comic, there are some pretty exciting things happening here. Namely, this is where Apocalypse makes his first appearance! How awesome is that!? You can definitely see the core of the Apocalypse I know today with his belief in mutant superiority and belief in mutant evolution, but we don't see as much yet about his vast age or augmented alien powers.
We also get a very stead clip of brand new characters. A lot of them are a miss (Tower, Frenzy, Mike, Stinger, Timeshift), but some have some real potential. Rusty (Firefist) and Artie are growing on me and I really like the beautiful Morlock Skids (Morlocks are not supposed to be pretty, and this is actually part of her story) who is introduced in this run.”
I'll make a special note that while I was ripping on Frenzy, I do recognize that she will eventually become a beloved mutant. Her initial appearance here though was a little formulaic.
In this run we also get the government sponsored Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who will go by the name Freedom Force!
X-Factor # 9 - 11 (The Mutant Massacre)
I'll quote myself here:
“The Mutant Massacre is the grim tale of a vicious mutant group called the Marauders gruesomely massacring the Morlocks. As big and influential as this event is, Claremont has given interviews shedding light on a very small and surprising influence for this tale. Apparently he had always envisioned the Morlocks being a smaller group of mutants, but Paul Smith accidentally portrayed them as being a group with hundreds of members. Claremont was going to create a small plot where hundreds of them were killed, but Louise Simonson convinced him to make something more grand of it. ”
The mutant massacre was the first ever X-Men crossover, and it happened as a last minute suggestion! The original blog about the Mutant Massacre was quite verbose (and set up like a Mortal Kombat tournament) so I'll simply add that this is where Caliban and Leach join the team!
Poor Warren. Angel goes on a helicopter ride while angsting about Candy Southern, the loss of his wings, the X-Factor legal debacle, and more when his plane blows up. We are led to believe that he committed suicide by helicopter explosion (something rich guys do).
Meanwhile, Scott decides to go look for Maddie where he comes to the conclusion that she's dead.
Caliban, Leach, Erg, Tar Baby, and Ape are all living at the X-Factor facility now. Boom-Boom has joined them. Skids and Rusty are now a couple, and Master Mold identifies Scott as one of the "The Twelve."
I'll start by quoting a pretty great guy...me:
“This is a pretty action packed set of stories that I really didn't see coming. More Apocalypse (yay!), Caliban joins (and leaves) an X-Team, a villain hiding right under our nose, Archangel makes his first appearance, and Rictor is introduced!
The opening run of this series was so vanilla that I keep expecting to hate it, but looking back there is a lot of important stuff happening that I'm pretty into. So maybe I don't need to wait 90 issues for the new team member's to take over before this gets good. You're still on watch though, X-Factor!
The whole team starts questioning the X-Factor concept and it all starts getting blamed on Cameron Hodge. Ok, X-Factor comic, I see what you're doing here. Again! Did you think I forgot when you tried to gloss over Scott taking responsibility for his dumbassness by making everything about Maddie and his son being kidnapped, instead of her just leaving him for being a bad husband/father. Now they are trying to do the same thing here by making it look like Cameron Hodge was responsible for the X-Factor concept. Let's not forget that Warren and pretty much all 5 team members thought this whole mutant hunter premise was a great idea for the first few issues. I don't blame Louise Simonson for trying to make us forget that and correct her predecessor's bad decision, but I'm not letting them get away with it that easily.”
Also, Caliban joins the team, Rictor has his first appearance, Cameron Hodge goes full on evil, 3 of Apoc's Horseman appear, Hodge takes over Warren's future and the smiley faced goons, and we get our first appearance of Archangel!
This was a pretty weak set of stories. X-Factor moves into Apocalypse's abandoned "Ship." Scott learns that Maddie was alive, living with the X-Men (in the Outback), and that their son is lost! Warren battles Hodge.
Inferno Part 1 and Part 4
I LOVE Inferno. If you haven't read it, please go do so. I'll wait. Oh, you're still here. You should at least read my Synopsis. I'll let you read my original take to hear me gush, but as an overview...
Scott and Jean find Nathan in Cyclops’s Nebraska Orphanage, learn about creepy ties to Mr. Sinister. Maddy is revealed as a Jean clone. The X-Men and X-Factor team FINALLY re-unite with a kiss from Wolverine to Jean. (Epic).
1989 was the year that Marvel fucked up. All of the X-Men stories were terrible following the greatest event in X-Men history. Even Wheezy agrees:
“I have to say that I think I made a mistake. I now think that you shouldn’t have major characters away from Earth for more than three issues max. I think that readers like to have that contact with the familiar.”
More weak stories. Caliban and Archangel get a chance to take on Sabretooth, to get revenge on him for the Mutant Massacre. There is a really dumb arc that involves vampires. And then there's a dumb Mesmero story.
Once again we have a fantastic event that X-Factor is a part of. I covered it fabulously in my original blog, but for now I'll just add that Cameron Hodge appears in his second Final Fantasy villain form and becomes a villain that can threaten all of the X-Men. The image guys are here and the art gets AMAZING. This also opens up the door for the exist of Louise Simonson and eventually Claremont himself.
Iceman and his girlfriend, Opal Tanaka, are attacked by Cyborn Samurai's!
Characters
Cyclops and Jean
Scott and Jean's drama is front and center, but Scott's actions were unforgivable. Don't take word for it, here's what Claremont had to say:
"I was so pissed off. I couldn’t believe they did that to Cyclops. He was supposed to be a hero and they had him walking out on his wife and newborn child and not even thinking twice about it."
Louise also didn't agree:
"I felt some of them had been wrenched out of their proper personas, particularly Cyclops. He had been turned into somebody that he wasn’t. He had simply abandoned his wife and child to join this other team and be with his old girlfriend without any guilt or soul searching. That was nonsense! You’d think he’d at least call his wife. We spent the next three years kind of putting Cyclops back where he belonged."
They certainly tried and here was one of my original rants about the effort!
"I want to point out that I see what Simonson is up to here with Cyclops. He made some shitty decisions. He was a poor husband and father before Jean came back. He stopped calling her, kept going on missions, and even missed the birth of his son. When he found out Jean was back and he couldn't get back in touch with Maddie, he didn't try very hard and she left him. All of that is a big black mark on Scott and the fact that he finally decided to go find her and make up for his failures is a big plot point."
And later...
"What's happening here is that Maddie appears to be kidnapped or something and the focus is shifting from him making amends with his shitty acts and instead turning into the amazing super hero husband who is trying to save his wife and son. They are trying to shift the focus to him being apart from Maddie because she was kidnapped and not that she left him because he failed as a husband. While I think this cheapens his ability to truly make amends, I do think it will ultimately help to turn the Cyclops character around and get us back to liking him. I've never been a big Cyclops fan as I don't find him terribly relatable to me, but I've only recently started despising him due him being a bad provider (and I personally have a wife and 3 kids and find his acts unacceptable)."
*Editors note. I now have 4 kids. Hee hee.
Eventually Scott believes Maddie is dead and this frees him up to get back together with Jean. He even proposes to her, but she tells him she can't commit. (This is great setup because later it will be Jean who proposes.) Jean eventually starts acting as Nathan's mother and that will be cemented in the Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix.
Jean has some of her own issues and she doesn't have telepathy at first after being resseructed, but it comes back shortly before Wheezy exits stage right. Jean also makes out with Wolverine multiple times, but I won't get into that here.
(Arch) Angel
At first, he's your typical playboy, hitting on Jean behind Scott and Candy's back. However, he actually gets interesting when he loses his wings during Mutant Massacre, gets depressed, is presumed death, and then gets transformed by Apocalypyse into ArchAngel.
Wheezy tries to justify all this by sharing the following:
“One of the goals that we had was to try to increase the powers of some of the X-Characters. Rather than Angel being able to fly at sixty miles per hour or whatever he could do, we wanted to give him powers that were more in keeping with the inflated power level of other characters."
He eventually starts to snap out of his depression after meeting Charlotte Jones.
Iceman
Ready to be shocked? Iceman is boring. There, I said it. Again. He quits being an accountant to join his friends and once again struggles with his powers and needs a belt to make them work properly. He eventually meets a nice girl to date named Opal Tanaka.
Beast
It took some time for Beast to find his way. Bob Layton immediately continued the return to Status Quo approach by reverting Beast back to human form.
They try to make him interesting with him "losing his intelligence," but just like Iceman struggling with his powers, it's not very interesting. However, eventually Beast starts dating reporter Trish Tilby and suddenly his stories become a bit more interesting.
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