292: X-Factor V3 # 35 - 50 (Best Arc Ever?)
- Matt Campbell
- 2 hours ago
- 12 min read
What’s Covered?
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Before I begin, I have to let you all know that this might have been the best X-Men arc I've ever read. I need to give it time before I decide, but I went to my "favorites list" and made sure that this will crack the top ten in my next "Favorites as of..." entry.
35 -38 : Darwin is Kidnapped
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Larry Stroman, Valentine De Landro
This first arc is ok, it's the two following this that are mind blowing.
Immediately following the Secret Invasion arc where the team found Darwin and re-united him with his father, Darwin was kidnapped by the Karma Project and his father was shot in the head. The Karma Project wants to dissect Darwin and build an army using his DNA.
A man claiming to be Longshot shows up at the X-Factor headquarters (the new one in Detroit.) Everyone assumes he's a Skrull, until he keeps reminding them that he would be a dumb Skrull if he continued to use Longshot's form after everyone knew he was just using Longshot's form. So, it's him! He claims that he heard about someone using his form in Detroit, so he decided to check it out. In other words, this is the excuse to bring Longshot onto the team.
It's little things like this that are so shocking to me and a stark reminder that I know NOTHING about what was going on with the X-Men at this time. In 2009 I was in my third year as a high school teacher (I don't do that anymore) and was definitely done reading comics at that point in my life. I wasn't even reading IGN or ComicBook.com articles, like I do know, to at least stay up to speed with the comic world. So I had no idea that Longshot joined X-Factor, nor that a character named Darwin existed (except when he showed up in X:Men: First Class, one of my favorite movies.
Well, back to the plot. It turns out that Darwin's dad sold him out because he was offed $1M go to give up his son. Sleazeball! Unsettlingly, one of Jamie's dupes tries to smother the dad in this sleep until Jamie prime stops him at the last second.
Meanwhile, a very pregnant Siryn is surprised to see Val Cooper show up. For some reason Val throws Jamie under the bus and tells her Jamie has been lying to her about them being in contact for months. Val is hassling both Theresa (Siryn) and Rictor until her water breaks! They are met outside by a group of armed federal agents. For some reason Rictor tries to initiate death/suicide by cop after kissing Theresa on the cheek and telling her that if the baby was his, he would marry her. So...maybe he has feelings for her? Or just feels negatively about Jamie (which I think is the correct answer based on later context.)
Luckily Siryn saves Rictor's life, but not before realizing Val got shot. Siryn flies off with Val, taking them both to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team tracks down a lead to a warehouse where Darwin was, but the bad guys (who we find out is called the Karma Project) blows it up. The team is only saved by Longshot's positive luck (causing them to fall in a hole before it blows up.) Monet is not so lucky. She's unvulnerable, but her clothes aren't so the artists get a an excuse to draw her with limited clothes. A recurring theme in this series.
Shortly after the warehouse blows up, a paramilitary group (sent by the Karma Project) shows up. The team gets in a fight and Jamie watches in horror as Guido and Lonshot have no problem killing. Later, Jamie threatens to kill one of the mercenaries to get info, but then one of Jamie's dupes slaps him in the back of the head while his hand is in the guy's mouth, and a new dupe comes into existence and blows the guy up. Jamie is terrified. The scene is gruesome and this is the second time that one of his dupes is acting homicidal. What's going on with him!?
We learn that the Karma project was led by a guy named Mr. Manu, who captured Darwin to create an army of ever evolving soldiers. Who now show up and attack.
The team is getting their ass handed to them until Jamie, ever the pragmatist, makes a deal with Mr. Manu to leave him alone as long as he can have Darwin back and they agree to not get in each other's way. Also, the Darwin clones melt, so they won't be an issue.
39: Birth of Sean Madrox
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Valentine De Landro, Marco Santucci
Alright, so Siryn flew herself and Val to the hospital. She's been in labor for a long ass time. Enough time to let the entire team show up, including the father, Jamie Madrox. Val got through a surgery and she'll survive (unsurprisingly.) Everyone is loitering around, feeling happy. Theresa actually asks Jamie to marry her and he says yes without hesitation. Everything is great, until...Until Siryn points out that that Jamie hasn't held the baby yet...and this happens:
JAMIE FRICKEN ABSORBS THE BABY!
Siryn loses her mind:
Oh my freakin God. Apparently it wasn't Jamie Prime who slept with Theresa, it was a dupe. And a dupe can't have a baby. Terry tries her hardest to rip the baby back out, but it's to no avail. Later, she asks to see Jamie and breaks his finger, then tells her that the next time she sees him, it will be his neck. Wow.
40: The Death of Jamie Madrox (almost)
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Valentine De Landro, Marco Santucci
Weeks (or months) have passed. Terry is depressed but has taken over control of X-Factor Investigations. Jamie has spent all this time simply walking hundreds of miles to the dupe pastor (John Maddox) with a kid. He tells John that his kid can't be biologically his, however John already knew. Jaime explains that Siryn was never actually pregnant. She just had a dupe growing inside her. He says that Monet was also going through the same thing but she was mentally stronger and made it go away.
So here I am. It's midnight and I can't stop reading. I'm still mentally devastated by the baby absorption. That was one of the most impactful moments I've ever read in comics, maybe in any media. The last thing I expected was another. Jamie is depressed. After talking to John, he brings a gun out with plans to end his life, until he hears a voice that he hasn't heard in quite some time.
It's fricken Layla Miller! She's back, and at the exact moment where she was needed most. At first I was thinking this might be a coincidence, but she IS the girl who knows stuff so it's not even a clever little comic excuse. Also, on top of Layla being back, she's older and hot now! Packing an even bigger punch. Once again, I need to break the 4th wall and talk about how this impacted me. I liked the character of Layla Miller. A lot. But I had never really heard anything about her so I assumed that she was just written off and we would never see her again. I should have given Peter David more respect. It also immediately reminded me that passing comment made by Layla many issues ago saying that one day they would get married. That didn't seem credible, but now she's here as an adult and suddenly anything is possible. Good shit!
41 - 50: Cortex
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Valentine De Landro, Marco Santucci
Not everything is as it seems. Layla isn't fully there. She's more of a hologram, projecting from the future. She asks Jamie to come with her, and since he was about to off himself, and Layla looks hot, he figures why not.
While the comics go back and forth between the future and the present, I'm going to stick with the future for now.
Upon coming to the future, he quickly meets Ruby Summers. I don't believe it mentioned who her mother was, but according to the Marvel Wiki, it's Emma. That's fun! I should have guessed based on her blonde hair.
This is where we take a quick detour into X-Factor Special: Layla Miller #1. To make a long story short, Layla escapes her prison, meets up with Ruby Summers (the daughter of Cyclops,) and a Cyborg version of Cyclops.
Layla encourages them to start a rebellion, which will be known as the Summers rebellion. It doesn't take long before Sentinels show up and Jamie contributes to the fight.
It doesn't take long for Jamie and Layla to make out and start acting like a couple. Which seems like it should feel wrong, but when compared to his tryst with Siryn and Monet, this is a relationship that just seems right.
In the letters column, Peter David goes out of his way to make clear that these two did not have sex. David clarifies that Jamie was in a raw emotional state and while Layla is still young (I guess she's actually only 18,) they both know that they need each other right now.
Old Scott asks Jamie to use his detective skills to figure out why some members of the rebellion are blinking out of existence. Jamie and Layla go visit an elder Dr Doom to consult about time travel. The team learns about something called Doomlocks, which is a device that enables people in the past to take actions that would impact the future rather than just create alternate timelines.
Trevor Fitzroy shows up and appears to be a good guy, dating Ruby Summers. Doom and Cyke have a thoughtful conversation about why society hated them. Now let's catch up on the present!
Monet, Darwin, M, and Longshot are completing missions for Val Cooper and the US government, while still operating X-Factor Investigations. One such case involves Siryn and XF agreeing to help a former mutant (Lenore) who feels like she’s being followed. Longshot is protecting former mutant Lenore, who can’t stop hitting on him. At one point, Lenore's mom shows up, brainwashed, and tries to kill Lenore.
Meanwhile, Guido and Rictor driving to meet the John Maddox (the Pastor dupe,) as they need to figure out what's going on with Jamie. On the way, Guido asks if Rictor wants to talk almost doing suicide by cop. A brainwashed Shatterstar shows up and attacks Guido, John, and Rictor. The team starts to learn that both Lenore's mom and Shatterstar have been controlled by a mysterious man named Cortex.
Later, M hits on Darwin while they are protecting Lenore...
but he figures out she’s compromised by Cortex...
Cortex lets his guard down and Shatterstar snaps out of it. Him and Rictor kiss. Guido struggles with Rictor’s sexuality, but Rictor doesn't want to talk about it. It turns out that the Depowered mutants who are being killed, are being killed to stop their mutant ancestors from being born, which is the exact thing that Jamie Madrox was hired to figure out! The character cortex seems to be working in both the present and the future, so now we'll bring both stories together.
A fight between Cortex, Monet, Siryn, future sentinels, and Longshot breaks out. Longshot’s luck helps them get the upper hand, but it's a bloodbath. It turns out that Cortex is actually the OTHER Madrox dupe who went into a future timeline during Messiah Complex.
While it seems random, we learn that the Elder Tryp is behind most things. He had been mentoring a man named Anthony Falcone, who now works in the White House and is trying to destroy all mutants. Doom ends up bringing Cortex back to his time, then instructs him To kill all the mutants! Cortex kills Fitzroy too. Doom, being less senile than expected, re-programmed Cyke and orders him to attack Ruby. Layla uses her true power and brings Fitzroy back to life, however he would no longer have a soul. So Layla was the one who made him evil…She needed to do this because Fitzroy was the only one who could defeat Cortex, and did so by absorbing his powers. Anthony Falcone and a Voltron Sentinel were sent into a portal, thus ending the conflict. Jamie goes back into his time, sent by Fitzroy.
This is where we finally learn how Layla "knows stuff." Layla goes back to meet herself as a kid and gives her ALL the memories that she had, plus what happens the next 80 years.
X-Factor: The Quick And The Dead #1
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Pablo Raimondi
Pietro is rotting in a jail cell without any powers, wallowing in his own self pity. Eventually he forgives himself, gets his speed powers back, and saves a woman.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
Ummm, great! It's going to be difficult to get over my recency bias when I do my next favorites blog and not put this one pretty high up. It might make an appearance (or two) in both top "moments," as well as top stories. I should have known something big was coming because Peter David kept repeatedly begging at the beginning of his issues for people to not post spoilers on the internet. He knew this would be big, and he was right. I'm a little embarrassed that as a self proclaimed X-Men super fan, I had no idea about any of this, but I'm also thrilled because it made the revelations that much more impactful to me.
Thoughts on Art
I absolutely hate Larry Stroman. He's terrible! Are there any Stroman apologists out there!?
Larger Impacts and things to keep an eye on
Do Cylcops and Emma eventually have a child (Ruby)?
Will Layla stay with the X-Factor team now?
How will Siryn treat Jamie when she sees him again.
Will Layla and Jamie continue dating. Will they get married as Layla predicts!?
Will Rictor and Shatterstar stay as a couple. Hell, does Shatterstar stick around?
Will Guido accept Rictor's sexuality?
Will there be romantic tension between Darwin and Monet?
Will the Elder Tryp continue to show up?
Will Layla be less creepy?
Characters
Jamie Madrox
What a ride! What a character! I think an argument could be made for Jamie Madrox being the most authentic X-Men character. He's a strong leader while also being incredibly flawed.
In past issues he's struggled with making hard decisions. In this one, he was struggling a bit early on in the arc with the idea of killing someone, yet wondering why so many of his dupes are coming out homicidal. It was eating away at him, just like it would eat away at any of us.
I find it hard to believe that Madrox will ever have another defining moment quite like the absorption of his baby. That was just so shocking and nuts. And speaking of him as a character, he was distraught after. He was almost more upset about knowing he hurt Theresa than about losing the baby, something I can relate to. (Just meaning that it's really important to me to be a good dad, but it's almost more important to me that my wife thinks I'm a good dad.)
To see him on the absolute brink, thinking about ending everything, and then being saved by Layla was also so powerful. And it's totally relatable that he would fall for her in that state after being so emotionally devastated. Amazing character, well done PAD.
Siryn
Poor Theresa. How can you read this arc and not feel for her. We all felt her pain when she was clawing at Jamie. And then to see her step up and lead X-Factor while Jamie was missing was an even stronger demonstration of her character. It had me thinking about early X-Force, when Cable told Siryn that she was second in command because of her experience and it was like...what experience!? We barely knew her. But here...here we see why she can lead a team.
Layla Miller
I'm a sucker for these teenage mutant girls (Kitty) and especially those who are miraculously aged up (Magik.) We finally peek behind the curtain and see why she's be so weird. How she knows the future. What her true power is. Why she's special. What Jamies sees in her. I, for one, will be clamoring for more Layla.
Monet
We're starting to get a bit more out of Monet, yet I think there is still a lot of meat left on the bone. I can tell that PAD likes her, but he seems unsure how to use her. She comes off a lot like Emma Frost light.
Rictor
Strong set of issues here for Rictor. I almost feeling guilty being so bored by him up until now. He's so deeply upset about being powerless, and some of that powerlessness comes through as he tries to commit suicide by cop. I love how Guido keeps being like "Umm, do you need to talk about this?" He's clearly struggling, but it's nice to see him light up a bit with Shatterstar back in the picture.
Strong Guy
Not a whole lot for him here, but that doesn't make him any less great.
Darwin
He's an interesting character and I'm looking forward to learning more about him. We didn't get a whole lot to work with here, but I'm eager to see him more.
Shatterstar
He just barely re-appeared, but I think he'll have a nice fit with the team. He's got his former lover and secret dad (Longshot) on the roster, so there should be plenty of threads to pull on here.
Longshot
I'm interested to see where PAD takes him. We're obviously leaning hard into the luck powers, and applying that to his charisma as well. We'll see where this goes.