309: X-Factor V3 #207 - 224 (Hela, Pip, Original Sins & Vegas!?)
- 6 hours ago
- 9 min read
What’s Covered?
X-Factor V3 #207 - 224
Roster Watch
Synopsis
XFV3# 207 - 219: Hela, Pip, and Vegas
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Emanuela Lupacchino, Valentine De Landro (210, 213, 215)
Monet is determined to keep her promise to Baron Mordo, even if “helping” him does not exactly mean curing him. With a tip from Layla Miller, she uses her telepathy to trick Mordo into believing he has been saved, while the cancer still quietly does its work. Meanwhile, Rictor and Shatterstar hit a major relationship speed bump when Shatterstar admits he wants an open relationship, not because he’s being cruel, but because he honestly does not fully understand emotions yet. Then a very obviously disguised Hela hires X-Factor to recover something stolen from her, which turns out to have been taken by Pip the Troll. As if things were not messy enough, Rahne returns and she is pregnant.
Rahne confirms that the baby is Rictor’s, which immediately makes an already awkward situation even worse. She attacks Shatterstar, because apparently calm conversations are not really on the menu right now. Hela takes Pip back to Las Vegas, dragging X-Factor further into her weird supernatural nonsense. Monet also corners Layla, convinced that Layla’s time with Doctor Doom means she is up to something. Nobody trusts anybody, which is pretty much X-Factor at its most natural.
Everyone gives Jaime a hard time over whether one of his dupes may have gotten Rahne pregnant, because when your power is making copies of yourself, personal responsibility gets very weird very quickly. The team heads into Las Vegas, where Peter David gets to lean hard into the chaos and comedy of the setup. Jaime uses Longshot’s luck powers to keep winning big, hoping that enough attention will eventually draw out Hela. The plan is ridiculous, but also exactly the kind of ridiculous that works for this team. Along the way, they run into Jane Foster, which makes the supernatural stakes feel even bigger.
Rictor and Rahne go in for an ultrasound, but the pregnancy is not exactly cooperating with normal medical science. Some kind of mystical barrier blocks the doctors from getting a clear look, suggesting there is a lot more going on with this baby than anyone wants to admit. Elsewhere, Monet helps a woman forget traumatic memories from war, which is a rare, softer moment for her. The problem is that removing those memories seems to awaken something powerful inside the woman. It’s a small side plot, but it has that classic X-Factor feeling where every good deed comes with a horrible little consequence.
The team is still neck deep in Hela’s insanity, fighting off undead Vikings because apparently this is just what their lives are now. In the middle of the battle, Siryn apologizes to Jaime for breaking his finger, which is both sweet and completely absurd given the circumstances. The fight has plenty of supernatural chaos, but the character moments keep it grounded in the team’s usual dysfunction. Then Thor shows up, because when undead Vikings are involved, that’s usually the next logical step. His arrival pushes the story from “weird X-Factor case” into full-blown mythological disaster.
Thor and X-Factor travel to Hell to take the fight directly to Hela, with Pip tagging along in the middle of all the madness. They battle Hela and her minions, but things get even stranger when another god appears, beats Hela down, and declares himself the new death. Hrimhari also shows up and goes after Shatterstar, claiming that he can smell Rahne and his child. That revelation makes the pregnancy drama even more complicated, especially for Rictor, who already had more than enough emotional whiplash. Darwin is touched by Hela, and even though he survives, something evil is left inside him.
Darwin decides to take a leave of absence, which feels pretty understandable after having death goddess residue hanging around inside your soul. Pip follows the team back to New York, meaning the fallout from the Hela story is not completely over. X-Factor gets a moment to breathe, but it’s the kind of breathing where everyone is still glaring at each other and wondering what the next disaster will be. The team’s roster and relationships are shifting again, and there is a real sense that nobody is emotionally stable enough for what is coming. So, naturally, things just keep getting weirder.
Darwin gets a one-off issue where he hallucinates that he is trapped in the Wild West. It is a strange detour, but it works as a way to show how badly Hela’s touch has messed with him. Instead of just saying Darwin is haunted, the issue throws him into a full genre shift and lets the nightmare play out around him. The western setup gives his trauma a surreal flavor, like his power set and his mind are both trying to process something they were never built to handle. It is odd, but Darwin has always been one of those characters where odd can absolutely work.
Jaime and Layla investigate what looks like a vampire murder, only to discover that the actual culprit is some kind of Ethiopian demon. During the case, one of Jaime’s dupes proposes to Layla, and even though it is not technically “real,” Layla admits it is the first time she has been happy in over a year. That leads to a painful fight, because Jaime is starting to realize that Layla’s future knowledge was cute when she was a kid, but as an adult it makes trusting her nearly impossible. Everyone is suspicious of her after the years she spent with Doctor Doom, but Layla proves herself by using the mystic arts Doom taught her to exorcise the demon and save Jaime’s life. Jaime then asks her to marry him for real, and Layla basically tells him to ask again later, because of course she does.
J. Jonah Jameson arrives asking Madrox to help solve a murder mystery, because apparently even newspaper blowhards know when X-Factor is useful. Layla threatens Rahne because she does not want Wolfsbane attacking her on her wedding night, something Layla has apparently foreseen. Monet gets into it with protesters and admits that she is Muslim, which shocks Guido almost as much as Rictor being gay once did. Guido’s reaction is awkward, but it also reads like a guy trying, badly, to become less of a caveman in real time. Then Guido gets shot again by a terrorist, because Strong Guy really cannot catch a break.
The terrorist turns out to be Noel, the blonde girl from a previous issue who can shoot bullets out of her fingers. Black Cat enters the story and helps stop an assassination attempt, adding some fun street-level chaos to the X-Factor mystery. Monet is devastated by Guido getting shot and flies him to the hospital herself, with Guido using the moment to tell her he loves her while they are still in the air. He dies, which lands hard because the confession comes at the absolute worst possible time. Then he is somehow brought back, and it certainly seems like Layla had something to do with it.
Issue #218 continues the immediate fallout from Guido’s death and return, with the team trying to understand what exactly happened and what it cost. Layla’s involvement hangs over everything, because whenever she says she “knows stuff,” it usually means someone else is about to pay for it emotionally. The team is also pulled deeper into the mystery surrounding the girls who have been turned into monsters. It’s another one of those X-Factor cases where a detective story slowly becomes a supernatural horror story. The issue keeps the tension simmering as the larger picture starts coming into focus.
Layla definitely had something to do with saving Guido, but the details remain unclear, which is somehow more unsettling than if she just explained it. X-Factor tracks down the three girls and stops them from killing the man who turned them into monsters. The team manages to prevent revenge from becoming murder, but the damage done to the girls is still ugly and hard to brush aside. As usual, X-Factor gets the “win,” but the emotional and moral mess is left all over the floor. The arc closes with the team still intact, but with Layla’s secrets, Guido’s resurrection, Rahne’s pregnancy, and everyone’s trust issues still hanging in the air.
XFV3# 220-224: Original Sins
Writer - Peter David
Pencils - Sebastian Fiumara
A tentacled woman murders a priest, which is a pretty strong sign that this is not going to be one of X-Factor’s quieter cases. Back at the office, Rahne finds Shatterstar dancing to Singin’ in the Rain, and he casually mentions that Rictor would not want to get into musicals because it would feel like too much of a gay stereotype. It is a funny little character moment, especially because Shatterstar is still learning the difference between logic, emotion, and social awkwardness. Things turn darker when a Sin-Eater comes for Rahne and her unborn child. Shatterstar helps her dispatch it, but the arrival of Feral makes it clear Rahne’s pregnancy is pulling in all kinds of supernatural trouble.
Feral is back, but not in the way anyone would have expected, because she is now a ghost. Unfortunately, her presence is accidentally guiding other spirits toward Wolfsbane, including a giant Irish dog that comes crashing into the story like mythological nightmare fuel. Rahne is already dealing with a terrifying pregnancy, and now the dead are apparently lining up to take a shot at her too. The issue leans into the horror angle, with Feral serving less as a villain and more as a tragic warning sign. X-Factor is starting to realize that Rahne’s baby is not just complicated, it may be a supernatural disaster waiting to happen.
Picking up from Guido confessing his love to Monet while dying, Monet reacts in the most Monet way possible once he is being wheeled out of the hospital room. She starts making out with him, because apparently almost dying is one way to finally move their relationship forward. Meanwhile, Layla has protected X-Factor’s office with salt and runes to keep hostile spirits and monsters from getting inside. That protection only works for so long before the danger shifts toward Guido and Monet as they return from the hospital, forcing everyone outside into the fight. Then a wolf-like man appears, takes out the enemies, and vows to protect Rahne, because this pregnancy storyline somehow keeps finding new supernatural bodyguards and attackers.
Jaime begins putting together the horrifying truth about Guido’s resurrection. He realizes that Guido probably does not have a soul, and that Layla likely brought him back to life the same way she once did with Fitzroy. That revelation makes Guido’s return feel a lot less like a miracle and a lot more like another one of Layla’s deeply unsettling “I know stuff” decisions. The team’s mistrust of her grows even stronger, because saving someone’s life is great, but leaving out the soul part is a pretty massive detail. It is another brutal reminder that Layla’s powers and knowledge often solve one problem by creating a worse one.
Everything finally converges as Rahne gives birth, though “gives birth” feels too gentle for what happens here, since she basically spits out the baby. The child immediately proves to be an absolute terror, which is not exactly shocking given the nonstop parade of death gods, ghosts, monsters, and prophecies surrounding it. Hela arrives to claim the baby, bringing the whole supernatural mess back around to the earlier arc. Then all of the monsters collide and vanish, ending the immediate threat in a burst of chaos rather than comfort. Rahne survives the experience, but this entire ordeal leaves behind a heavy sense that nobody involved is walking away clean.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
Let's be real, X-Factor is always pretty great, even when the story is average at best. These characters and their interactions are fun and Peter David keeps finding new ways to endear me to them.
If you've read my stuff from the beginning, then you probably know I'm obsessed with the Infinity Gauntlet, therefore I love Pip the Troll. So, pretty pumped to have him around.
It's good to see Jaime and Siryn being civil again. I think it was pretty shitty that Rahne lied to Rictor about the baby. That was totally not cool. I feel like the love between Guido and Monet popped up out of nowhere, but I like both characters so I'm here for it.
Thoughts on Art
The art across 207 - 219 shifts between Sebastian Fiumara, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Valentine De Landro, which gives the run a few different visual flavors without completely losing the book’s identity. Lupacchino especially gives the team a clean, expressive look that works really well for both the relationship drama and the bigger supernatural action. De Landro’s moodier style fits the detective side of the book, while Fiumara brings a slightly stranger edge that suits the Hela and Baron Mordo material.
Paul Davidson and Dennis Calero bring a darker, stranger energy that fits the ghostly horror surrounding Rahne and the Sin-Eater material. Emanuela Lupacchino’s cleaner, more expressive style works especially well once the story pivots back to the team dynamic, the Monet and Guido fallout, and the escalating chaos around the baby. The shifting artists make the arc feel slightly uneven visually, but the creepier tone still lands where it needs to.
Larger Impacts & Things to keep an eye on
Bro, is Guido really dead? Or an undead Zombie? That's cray.
Is Rahne going to stick around with the team now?
What happened to all the romance between Layla and Jaime!?
is Pip a new perpetual sidekick?
Is Darwin really gone?
Are we ever going to get something substantial between Longshot and Shatterstar? I mean, they are both from the Mojoverse and Longshot might be his father. Are we really just not going to focus much on that!?
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