X-Factor: El fin de Factor-X

X-Factor (2005) (Collected Editions)

by Peter David, Neil Edwards (dibujo), Carmen Carnero (dibujo)

Contiene X-Factor 257-262 USA.
Después de una década al frente de Investigaciones X-Factor, Peter David cuenta el final de la historia. Mientras algunos miembros del equipo se recuperan de la Guerra del Infierno en la Tierra, Loba Venenosa tomará una decisión que cambiará su vida y uno de los más viejos secretos del cosmos mutante será revelado: la verdad sobre Longshot y Estrella Rota. Es la hora de apagar la luz y cerrar la puerta. La agencia de detectives de Jamie Madrox cierra para siempre. ¡Querrás estar allí para verlo!

Autores: Peter David, Neil Edwards y Leonard Kirk

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 7, 2014

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 2 out of 5]

6 stories telling where the X-Factor team members ended up after the Hell on Earth War. A systematic closing storylines after 10 years of Peter David playing with these characters. Sorry, mundane dialogue spoils this final arc, after so many years of great stuff. 5 out of 12.

[Frédéric · Rating 3 out of 5]

A closure of a kind. At least Peter David knotted all loose threads but still, it left me with a feeling of unfinished business. Some were ok- Rahne- some were meh - Rictor/Shatterstar- some were rather dumb- Monet/Darwin with few hopes of somebody following them through afterwards.

Anyway, this whole run was overall good: Good plots mostly, often excellent dialogues and a very cool sense of humor. Poor art dragged the whole thing down most of the time with few exceptions.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I started reading this X-Factor run years ago, I'd always looked forward to the next collected edition. I didn't always love the storylines, but I liked them enough to hang on and keep coming back. The last few trade paperbacks were up and down, with X-Factor: Hell on Earth War really not hitting the mark for me. So it was with a mixture of anticipation and... a little sadness maybe, that I dove into this last volume, aptly named 'The End Of X-Factor'.

It's never easy to end a series, whether it's a book or a TV show, because it will never be good enough to please everybody, and there will always be criticisms that some things could've been done better. Try as I might to not fall into that trap, I know it's just as impossible, but I'll try and be positive about it.

The individual stories at least all have something in common, and that is that the 'endings' they provide for the different characters are appropriate. Rahne's ending, especially, was touching. The Shatterstar/Longshot/Rictor story was way out there, but was a natural fit with the X-Universe's convoluted (and sometimes laughably ridiculous) time-travel stories. The very last story gave us a nice ending for Madrox and Layla, who will soon be parents. Aw shucks!

Now for the things this collection didn't do: [1] Strong Guy is still 'Lord of Hell' (or something), and there's no way Marvel will leave it like that; [2] there are still some questions Peter David didn't answer in regards to his run (and I'd mentioned this in my review of X-Factor: Hell on Earth War), such as « Who/What is Mr.Tryp », « If Madrox isn't really a mutant, then what is he? »; there are quite a few more things that could've been cleared up, and if/when I re-read the whole run, I might keep a list of 'plot points/questions' and check off the ones that get explained.

All in all, as far as endings go, this one's alright. I will miss this series.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Y como se diría por ahí, con esto y un bizcocho, hasta mañana a las ocho... o en este caso, hasta Marvel Now y el New X-Factor que asomaba en el horizonte, pero antes, Peter David se permitió el lujo de dedicar varios números a cerrar las tramas abiertas por el final de La Guerra del Infierno en la Tierra, e incluso se va a permitir el lujo de aclarar una de esas tramas infinitas y enredadas del Universo Marvel, como es la relación entre Estrella Rota y Longshot. Cada uno de los números que compone El Final de Factor-X está dedicado a una de las tramas abiertas y a uno de los personajes que habían formado el equipo y que han quedado todos separados tras el sorprendente final del arco anterior.

Así, vamos a tener a Layla recuperando al Madrox demonio en Marrakesh (en un número extraordinariamente duro en cuanto a su contenido, telita); a Rahne haciendo frente a Fortachón y acudiendo junto al reverendo John Maddox, ese doble de Madrox independiente y convertido en consejero espiritual del equipo; a Ríctor, Estrella Rota y Longshot en Mundomojo metidos en medio de la guerra entre Mojo y los rebeldes; a M y Darwin resolviendo sus temas pendientes; y por último, de nuevo a Layla y Madrox, para cerrar el tema... Pero además, hay un número dedicado a Polaris en el que aparece como invitado Mercurio y que deja preparada la siguiente etapa de X-Factor como grupo corporativo de Industrias Serval.

Con esta etapa de Factor-X, que duró casi diez años, Peter David lo demostró todo a nivel cómic, y lo hizo trabajando con personajes que en muchas ocasiones habían sido descartados del "mainstream", una serie que quizá no había destacado nunca en ventas pero que había sido reclamada una y otra vez por sus seguidores y por la crítica, y supo dar continuidad a un mundo que no la tenía (X-Factor arrancó con las consecuencias de Dinastía de M y pasó por Diezmados, Civil War, Complejo de Mesías, Invasión Secreta, Advenimiento, Asedio...) y que capeó perfectamente todos y cada uno de los eventos manteniendo a sus personajes siempre como protagonistas de la historia, perfectamente definidos y caracterizados.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great end to a long running series, where a lot of questions are answered.

I loved how he gave each character their own ending, and it worked so well for everyone of them. I did not feel cheated. I think the Peter David run on X-Factor is one of my favourites. A very good read.

[Vinton Bayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was some really good and some not so great in this last volume. Overall I enjoyed it, but I’m not fully satisfied with it as an ending.

[Tokio Myers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a whole series review soooooo.....

All in all I would give X-Factor four stars. I loved almost all of the characters and what became of them. The series just felt slow in parts or rushed especially at the end. The ending felt like "oh Snapple we got to end this ride" which is okay but not in a series that started off so strong and X-factor did start out strong.
The best part for me was the beginning when everything was fun and Layla Miller wasn't fighting her fate. The end of the series wasn't bad by any means, come on Shatterstar and Longshot joined the team, its bound to be an awesome adventure and it was. I couldn't stop laughing when these guys were in the same panel.

All in all would recommend to the Marvel fan.

[Chantaal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought the final issue of X-Factor the day it came out, but didn't touch it for months, because I was in denial.

Denial that it was actually over. Denial that my favorite character, Siryn/Banshee, would most likely be relegated to Marvel limbo despite her being a god now. Denial that the book was ending after a run of stories I didn't enjoy as much as I have past X-Factor runs.

This version of X-Factor was my gateway drug into the Marvel universe, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, but not even nostalgia could get me to rate it higher than three stars. I disliked the way the team worked after Lorna and Alex joined it, I disliked the way some of the relationships evolved, and I especially disliked Siryn being a deus ex fucking machina (LITERALLY! SHE WAS LITERALLY A GOD WHO FIXED SOMETHING) so Jamie and Layla could have their happy ending. Just thinking about it makes me angry on so many levels.

I will probably re-read the earlier volumes when I'm missing Siryn something fierce, and also to wash away the taste of later volumes. (Shatterstar was the last and best addition to the team, end of discussion. And we do not speak of Darwin. Ever.)

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lukewarm ending for this X-Factor fan.

It was great how Peter David took 5 issues to really try and tie up the major character moments, but for every nice moment there was a lingering feeling that major elements were left untended, and the resolutions didn’t really resolve anything.

Like Longshot and Shatterstar and Rictor. They’ve been sent into the past on Mojoworld, and they have to travel into the future because of cloning and unexplained weirdness, and then that’s it? What happens to them after that? Never explained or even hinted at.

And then there’s the nice tie up to Rahne, but Guido doesn’t even get a mention? And Madrox & Layla get a nice tie up, but Polaris is an insane drunk now and starting up a new X-Factor outfit? What the hell is this?

I put this down and felt very lukewarm at what I had just been presented. It was an average end to a series which has been a great read, but given how it petered out in the final furlong, it was probably time for it to end.

I’m grateful for the experience that was the entire 21 volume run. It was weird, wonderful, funny, heartfelt, ridiculous, witty, and like nothing else on the stands. Occasionally it faltered, but in the great looking back, I’ll remember this long run quite fondly.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se me terminó nomás una de mis series mutantes favoritas de todos los tiempos y cierra con un final satisfactorio pero que está lejos de los picos de calidad que supo alcanzar. En parte es culpa del mediocre dibujo, eso seguro, pero así como el tomo anterior se me hizo largo, este se me hizo corto y algo ligerito. La mayoría de los personajes se despiden con la frente en alto y la dignidad casi intacta, y eso me sirve de consuelo hasta que los agarren otros guionistas menos empáticos, pero eso es otro tema.
Ahora, a esperar el todo-nuevo pero enseguida-cancelado Factor-X, que al menos en cuanto a la premisa y estética general me llama bastante la atención.

[Christina Nightengale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great art! I enjoyed the end of this series I loved! It is now one of my all time favorite runs! <3 Poor Wolfsbane! Her, Layla and Jamie's story felt done and wrapped up well! I want more Rictor and Shatterstar! They are a wonderful couple! I want more Longshot too! Love how Polaris gave it to Quicksilver! Hehehe! Poor Monet! I want her to find some happiness. Darwin's ending is fascinating. I want more of Terry as the Goddess of the Banshees! That look is AMAZING! It'd be cool to see more Guido too, especially given his ending.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomo más o menos final de la colección Héroes Marvel X-Factor de Panini comics, ya que con este recopilatorio se cierra la numeración original de la serie en USA, pero la numeración propia se mantuvo para los tres tomos de Nuevo Factor-X que quedaban.

[Alex Sarll]

21 volumes; 100+ issues just in this run, not counting the Madrox miniseries, or Peter David's earlier stint on an overlapping team of the same name, and certainly not counting his ill-advised attempt at a third go-round, set up with a few unwelcome hints here. What started as a simple street-level book about a mutant detective agency, animated at the character level by a gift for inter-character snarking to rival JLI, survived more events and crossovers than most Big Two books ever have, let alone in the 21st century marketplace. The set-up's ability to get the characters dragged into any corner of the Marvel Universe ended up doing for it as it got increasingly bogged down in long-running, high-level supernatural plotlines that really weren't its forte, and its big strength (using minor characters and being able to make permanent-ish changes to them) became a weakness as those characters then inevitably became less like the people we'd grown to love. Still, sometimes the stories told in the margins or aftermath of a big event can be a lot better than the event itself, right? Alas, not this time. There's too much tidying up to do after Hell On Earth War, too many other plotlines to resolve (including a really daft explanation of the connection between Longshot and Shatterstar), not enough heart and definitely not enough interaction between the different team-mates, who are mostly split into twos and threes at most for their separate farewell issues. A few good ideas scattered around (not least the distinctly Situationist take on Mojo's reaction to rebels against his rule) can't stop this feeling like a disappointing end to an often fabulous series.

[Freddie Kentish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Man I should not be reviewing this. I absolutely loved the first few volumes of this series when I picked them up for cheap but I just couldn't afford to buy the whole series at full price so I dropped off after 5 or 6 volumes. Needless to say, I've missed A LOT. That said, I am familiar and invested with most of the characters (Love you, Jamie!) whose stories this volume sets out to wrap up, even if they are often beyond recognition in their present forms.

Really though, this reads more like a collection of random one-shot character pieces to be published between major plot arcs in order to slow the pacing rather than the culmination of a story a decade in the making. There is some good stuff here but overall these are pretty hit-or-miss. The story with the dupe reverend was a personal favourite of mine. Although if I had read all the preceeding 20 volumes I imagine I would want to see a lot more of the OG Madrox in these pages instead. There's some pretty fun sci-fi family tree stuff in the middle on the Mojo planet but it seemed to lead to more questions and plot threads than what was needed here.

I don't know. I enjoyed reading these but they didn't make me feel bad for picking up a final volume like I'd spoiled the ending of some epic saga or anything. Going forward, I would not hesitate picking up the odd X-Factor volume for cheap here and there as they do not really seem to tell one uniform kaleidoscoping epic to be read front to back as I had envisioned at the beginning. I might be wrong though!

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

I am so sad to see this series go. Peter David is absolutely one of the best writers that the x-books have ever had and despite some problems here and there, I freaking loved this series.

The ending is a little unsatisfying (as these kinds of things often are) but PAD got a chance to give each character a little bit of closure.

I sort of hate where a couple of characters' arcs went (Guido and Siryn) but I am happy with where the rest were left for the most part.

It's bittersweet and I'm not sure if I would rather leave these characters where they are or immediately see them in other books so that I won't miss them so.

[Rob Marney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This self-indulgent but highly enjoyable trade returns to what made the series good in the first place: soap opera. The resolution of the Longshot/Shatterstar tease is great, as are the syrupy sweet endings for Rahne and Madrox, and even the last hurrah for Terry. These are the characters we started with, and once all the guest stars have been cleared from the board, it's enough that they have a satisfying conclusion. David tries his hardest to put a bow on the stories of his team, doing what Claremont failed to do with Cyclops and Iceman. It doesn't totally work, but I appreciate the effort.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

All done. After a long run that took me even longer to read, one of the most consistent mutant-titles that was the least concerned with mutants is over. As a whole, the series is great and an instant recommendation. The final volume wraps things up too quickly for my tastes and it's a bit unsatisfying, but, again, there's more than a hundred issues in this run and I can't remember a time I wasn't entertained throughout. So long, X-Factor!

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Factor ends with a whimper but has some nice character moments and revelations. The book had its highs and lows but I'm not sure it was ended well. Maddrox not being...verbal, surely hinders that. The art was good but there was a lot of down time here. I strongly disliked M's solo story. Overall, okay but lacking.

[Kapitol Tank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traduce seis capítulos de corrido: 257-262.
Último tomo de este volumen de X-Factor, aunque la edición española como Héroes Marvel continuaría para abarcar también los tres tomos del "Nuevo X-Factor".

[Tomás · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esperaba un final un poco más épico, pero de todas maneras me convenció. David termina de atar un par de cabos sueltos y nos cuenta que pasa con cada uno de los integrantes luego de la batalla con Mefisto. En un momento de la historia tira el pie para el excelente pero cortito "All New X-Factor" y cierra la historia de Madrox, personaje que va a estar caracterizado por David indefectiblemente en mi imaginario si me lo encuentro en algún otro libro mutante.

Disfruté mucho de esta serie, a pesar de haberla leído de manera desordenada, comprando los tomos cada tanto y tratando de ser lo más regular posible cuando el tiempo me lo permitía.

Serie que nunca tuvo la repercusión que deberìa haber tenido pero que vale la pena cada una de sus páginas. Peter David nos demuestra que sus épocas de gloria no quedaron a fines de los 80-transcurso de los 90.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent finale for X-Factor. It doesn't have the big scope of many of X-Factor's stories, but these personal tales show off how well David knows his characters.

The Rahne story is terrific and leaves her in a great, totally appropriate place; I hope it's respected by future writers.
The Shatterstar and Rictor story is a fun take on Longshot and Shatterstar's origins.
The Polaris story is one of my favorites, because it shows off how deranged and villainous she really is.
The Monet and Darwin story was the most "meh", but at least David corrects some of the damage to Darwin's character.
The book-end Layla and Madrox stories are terrific. This is another one where I love the ending and I hope future writers respect it.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a massively disappointing story in the previous volume, X-Factor gets a pretty decent send-off. After the chaos of the Hell On Earth War, all the X-Factor characters are dropped off in different locations throughout the world, and as far as the rest of the world (and lucky readers) are concerned the whole Hell On Earth storyline never happened.

Each of the goodbyes make sense within the story, although the Longshot/Shatterstar revelations make sense only given the fact that nothing in the Mojoverse has ever made sense, and it doesn't start making sense now.

I'm grateful that the series ends as well as it does, but if I was suggesting that someone read the X-Factor series, I might suggest they skip from volume twelve to this volume.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the afterword author Peter David says his editors and he spoke about how many issues he would need to conclude the series as it was being cancelled. He asked for six issues, and for once Marvel gave the creative staff the chance to wrap up a title. David does lead into the newly resurrected X-Factor title but more importantly...

Everyone's stories are wrapped up in, I think, a satisfying manner. Not just Madrox and Layla, but Rhane, Rictor, Shatterstar, Monet, and a pleasant return by John Madrox. A writer whom David has expressed admiration for is Joss Whedon, a man who himself is very good at concluding a series. David emulates Whedon in many ways in this finale.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of short one-off stories cluing up all the different storylines remaining from the X-Factor crew. Some are better than others but each is good, with special props to the chapters starring Madrox and Layla, and the chapter on Mojoworld (we finally have some concrete answers we've been looking for!)

David shows off his done-in-one skills show off here and shows that he can survive in the old-school single issue-based stories AND in the more modern, drawn-out style. But while each story is good, they don't mix into much of significance.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, so I certainly missed a lot there. And I'm not sure I see the reason to try to go back and fill it in.

But it's an interesting conclusion. Also, interesting that Jamie Madrox is really the star. We all know that Havok was the star/leader of X-Factor. I think sometimes it was also Forge and before Havok, Cyclops. So it's a little strange to see this second tier take over so completely.

Still, conclusions and resolutions abound, all intriguing yet reasonable.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a couple of the closing issues weren't fantastic, they were still solid, and there were some really excellent wrap-ups in the other issues to all the long-running stories throughout Peter David's fantastic run. Obviously, this isn't the jumping-on point for the series, as you'd miss so much of the back story, but for devoted X-Factor fans, this was a nice epilogue.

[Gianfranco Mancini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Petet David conclude degnamente la sua lunga run sulla serie. Il mistero del rapporto di parentela che lega Longshot a Shatterstar viene finalmente svelato dopo più di vent'anni di storie. Un must-have per Marvel fan di vecchia data.

[Jase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partially upset this series is over. They had a good run and was better this time than the previous series that was around. I am NOT liking the pregnancy, the baby, or Layla Miller at all but it's nice to see old teams reunite after some time. Didn't see Havok enough tho.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad to see it go. Really enjoyed some of the issues.

[La Revistería Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Último, emotivo y divertido tomo antes del relanzamiento de la serie como All-New X-Factor.