299: X-Factor # 200 - 203 (X-Factor & The Fantastic Four)
- Matt Campbell
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
What’s Covered?
X-Factor # 200 - 203
Roster Watch
Synopsis
X-Factor # 200 - 203: The Fantastic Four
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Bing Cansino, Marco Santucci (200)
X-Factor #200
X-Factor settles back into New York, but Siryn (and Monet) stay behind in Detroit while Terry tries to figure out what her life even is right now… including a very “adult” distraction with Deadpool. Valeria and Franklin Richards hire the team to find their mom, only for Reed to abruptly shut it down, which of course makes everything feel more suspicious.
Jamie’s spiraling in that special Madrox way, missing Terry and also Layla, who’s vanished again like she’s got a season pass to disappearance. Monet returns to NYC to track down Jamie, only to stumble into a morgue scene with Longshot that turns into a misdirect: he’s not dead, he’s just miserably hungover from drinking with Guido. Between Val Cooper warning Monet that her father’s been taken by terrorists and Shatterstar casually embarrassing Ben Grimm in a fight, the issue juggles heartbreak, menace, and absurdity—then Longshot gets a hit off Sue’s barrette and sees Layla in Latveria, because apparently that’s where all roads lead.
X-Factor #201
Shatterstar decides subtlety is overrated and teleports the whole team (plus the Thing) to Latveria—minus Guido, because someone has to be left behind to suffer, I guess. Almost immediately, they’re dealing with a “Mr. Fantastic” who feels off, and it becomes clear someone’s running a Doom-friendly con with the kids as collateral. Monet goes full take-charge mode, dragging Shatterstar and Ben straight toward Doom’s castle like they’re storming a boss level. Meanwhile, Jamie does what Jamie does: opens something he probably shouldn’t… and out pops the real Reed Richards from a coffin, which is equal parts hilarious and deeply unsettling.
The whole thing clicks into place: Reed didn’t shut down the case because he didn’t care—he shut it down because he wasn't Reed.
X-Factor #202
The twist gets nastier: this isn’t “our” Doom playing games so much as a Doom from another dimension who hijacked that dimension’s Reed body and walked into our world wearing genius like a skin suit. Did you follow that? Me neither.
Monet finds Sue hooked into a mental device where she’s trapped in a manufactured reality, one that includes an affair with Namor, because psychic torment apparently comes with soap-opera DLC. Doom’s role flips into something almost protective: he kidnapped Sue to keep her safe from the evil Reed, which is the kind of sentence that should not make sense and yet… here we are. Layla’s been living in Latveria for the past year as Doom’s advisor—the price she paid for using his time machine to get back to this point in time. The escape goes sideways in brutal fashion: Layla disrupts Shatterstar’s teleport at the last second, leaving the evil Reed without a head.
Layla and Shatterstar end up stranded in Latveria with Doom like the world’s weirdest exchange program.
X-Factor #203
Back on the home side of the chaos, Guido spends the entire issue hunting for Monet, because when the team fractures, he’s usually the one doing the emotional heavy lifting. The real threat reveals itself: Baron Mordo is siphoning Monet’s power, turning her strength into a battery and leaving her trapped in a situation she can’t simply punch her way out of. It’s a different kind of tension than the Latveria arc—less spectacle, more dread—because Monet isn’t losing to someone stronger, she’s losing to someone stealing her. Guido’s search feels frantic and personal, like he’s chasing the last thread keeping their found-family from unraveling completely. After all the Doom-tech weirdness, this one lands like a gut check: magic doesn’t care how tough you are.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
After the high's of the last arc, which still might be the best X-Men arc ever, this one came down to earth. It wasn't bad, they just can't all be winners. It was also nice to see Jamie interacting with the Fantastic Four, considering he had his first appearance with them 50+ years ago.
Thoughts on Art
Bing Cansino’s pages keep the cast readable even when the plot is doing that Peter David thing where it juggles six tones at once—comedy, soap opera, superhero brawls, and sci-fi paranoia all in the same breath. The Latveria material especially benefits from clean storytelling, because coffins, Doom-castles, and “fake Reed” shenanigans could get messy fast. Valentine De Landro’s shift on #203 gives the Monet/Mordo material a heavier, more grounded mood, which fits perfectly once the story pivots from cosmic weirdness to personal danger.
Larger Impacts and things to keep an eye on
How long until Siryn rejoins the team?
How long until Layla rejoins the team?
Will Siryn find out about Jaime and Layla? Will she care?
Emplate popped back up with the X-Men (I haven't covered it yet.) Will Monet get involved with him?
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