X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David, Vol. 1

X-Factor Visionaries #1

by Peter David, Larry Stroman (Artist)

The name wasn't changed to protect the innocent, but everything else was as Peter David took over the series from the founding X-Men Alumni of the X-Men, the New Mutants and the Avengers join refugees from odd corners of the X-Universe as the government's latest super-effort, but Mister Sinister and his Nasty Boys don't want this team to survive long enough to get its roster straight Featuring the historic first meeting of the cast of Marvel Knights' Madrox Collects X-Factor #71-75.

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

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

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 4 out of 5]

The All-New All-Different - Peter David and Larry Stroman's superb re-imagining of X-Factor with Val Cooper managing Havoc, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy and Jamie Madrox, plus Quicksilver and Random. A must read, a masterclass in multifaceted characterisation, real sounding dialogue, and great humour! I cannot stress just how great the humour is. The book turned a group of B-list X-men in to geek cult classics overnight. 8.5 out of 12, very strong Four Stars

I read the comic books All-New All-Different X-Factor #70 to #79; X-Factor #80 to #89 Annual #7 and Hulk #390-392. A must read series of 4 volumes, a masterclass in characterisation, dialogue and great humour! Also a black artist in Stroman truly captured the diverse body shapes of Americans in this series.

2017, 2015 and 2010 read

[Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter David’s X-Factor is an interesting case study. It kind of seemed like an extra, unnecessary X-team filled up with random leftover characters who didn’t end up anywhere else. It was also just so 90s, with the uniforms and ridiculousness of Strong Guy in particular. And they were the premier government super team at the time.

The stylistic art in these early issues by Larry Stroman was a bold choice, very different from the other edgier books of the era. It would later look more conventional, but this was a dramatic start with issue # 71. What stands out the most was Peter David’s writing. It’s very funny, with superheroes bickering and witty dialogue. Quite similar to the 1980s Justice League International, in retrospect. David worked well with what was probably an editorially decreed lineup.

There was Cyclops’s brother Havok and former New Mutant Wolfsbane (she was in a movie), fresh from their brainwashing adventure in the X-Tinction Agenda crossover. Multiple Man, with the philosophical implication of his superpower getting explored in the opening storyline. And Havok’s girlfriend Polaris and the irritating speedster Quicksilver—both of whom were Magneto’s kids depending on the shifting continuity. And the aforementioned Guido who chose the dumbest name ever Strong Guy, who was so fun to draw.

Just nice and fun reads. I didn’t appreciate it enough when it first came out. I’m glad Peter David returned to X-Factor a number of times, and this particular All-New All-Different remake has aged well as something of a classic underappreciated in its time.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of Peter David's irreverent, offbeat X-Team full of the characters no one else wanted. X-Factor takes the place of Freedom Force as a government super-team. David injects a lot of humor into the stories. It's surprisingly still holds up 30 years later. I haven't read this since buying it as a teenager. Larry Stroman's art is certainly unique. Occasionally, the characters are extremely misshapen, but overall I really like it. It's very distinctive and dynamic with all of the swirling hair.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of Peter David's fantastic run on X-Factor. (Well, two runs if you want to be picky.) Seriously funny.

The only thing I don't like about it is David's retconning of my favourite Lockjaw story.

[Michael Emond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter David is a fan favourite when it comes to comics and it is well deserved. He puts together solidly constructed stories that have both good dramatic flow and some humorous moments. Now, that may seem basic but believe me - many writers don't know how to construct stories and build characters and almost none of them have the comedic timing that can translate into the printed medium. But Peter has a great ear for dialogue and making characters with a fleshed out personality.

Okay - what about X-Factor? The main reason I haven't read a lot of Peter's writing is he always seems to pick characters I have no interest in (Hulk) and X-Factor is one of them. They are just a random assortment of mutants who don't fit into other X-Men books. Here we have Polaris, Havok, Wolfsbane, Madrox, Quicksilver and...Strong Man? Strong man, in particular, is a very 90's character. Weird, forgettable and we don't care about him. We have Larry Stroman - who does some great art here - over exaggerating him to the point his muscles are 50 times larger than it makes sense.

I did enjoy this volume because of Peter's writing and Larry's art but I can't see myself wanting to revisit the stories. This isn't a knock on the writing, because, as I said, Peter has an idea and he carries it through very well with a logical and satisfying conclusion (one of Madrox's duplicates is murdered followed by "which is the duplicate and which is the REAL Madrox""?). What I did not like is how random this group was - how I never felt there was a need for this group to be assembled - and the characters in it are D list characters. I will also add - like so many D listers - their personalities change depending on who is writing them. I have never seen Polaris act the way she does here.

Overall - fun book, and an enjoyable read. Nothing memorable but that's okay - sometimes a fun story is all we need.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stroman's art, while very much of the late 80s and early 90s, is so dynamic and interesting, although it has some of the feel of late 80s and early 90s fashion sketches. This is preferable to mixture of Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, and Rob Liefeld that defined both Marvel and Image house styles for most of the 90s. Peter David's reset of X-Factor moves into a mixture of superhero comic and Gen X sitcom. In many ways, Peter David's X-Factor was a foil to the Rob Liefeld's X-force, which had much more popularity at the time and I remember reading as a child as it was released. I would not have caught all the references as a preteen and thus X-Force's popularity makes more sense in retrospect, but David and Stroman hold-up, albeit requiring some knowledge of early 90s pop culture, whereas Liefeld's work often does not.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was afraid going back to read this would disappoint my memory of reading this series a few years ago. It didn't quite live up to my memory, but wasn't as mediocre as I was beginning to fear.

It is an interesting comparison to see the difference between this book and the X-Force title taking off at the same time. Rob Liefield (X-Force) is all big muscles, big fights, big explosions. Whereas for Peter David's X-Factor a fight is often hard to come by.

The dialogue is probably what doesn't stand up quite as well as I remembered. I think David is far more polished in his current X-Factor series. However it still has a good lead on any of the other mainstream books I've read around this same era.

The best thing David does (in fact he does it better here than in his current run) is give each character a meaningful arc. This is especially impressive with the cast of characters he put together. 3 characters are B-listers, and the two other characters can't even brag a letter ranking (and in the end they could be the two best characters here). I can't imagine the hate mail Marvel got when this grouping was announced (this grouping being: Havok, Polaris, Wolfsbane, Strong Guy (he gets named early on in the series and it is a running joke through out), and Multiple Man). It certainly doesn't grab your attention. That is until you crack the pages. I personally think Peter David has turned Jamie Madrox into the most interesting Marvel character running right now, and this is where that process begins.

Another key component of a Peter David book, in my experience, is the humor. Again, the humor wasn't quite as fantastic as I remember, and there was some far too standard one-liners. But David isn't afraid to waste a page here and there to a joke. And it definitely endears you to both of those unranked characters I mentioned before.

The art of Larry Stroman is another departure from the norm for series artists at the time. Most were going the way of Jim Lee at this time: trying to make everything realistic but extreme; super detailed and super poses. Larry Stroman goes with a more simple and stylized approach with lots of deep shadows and flowing lines. Of the 4 big X-titles of the time, I would guess this was the least liked art of the time, but I am liking it far more than Lee, Portacio, or Liefield.

So overall, while I should probably drop the ranking on this book, I feel it stands above its mainstream peers well enough, and still brings a smile to my face when I think about it, that it shall keep a 4-star.

Some of the better moments of the series are still ahead of me however. X-aminations is still to come (corny title, but great execution of a potentially cheap gimmick).

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new iteration very 90’s of X-Factor by Peter David, who puts his talent and humour at the service of mutants... Genetically Challenged (GeeCees according to Strong Guy).

It's fresh, it's fun, it's dynamic, and it's illustrated by an excellent Larry Stroman at the top of his game. What more could you ask for?

I haven't yet read Peter David's Hulks - please don't hit me - and I know they're particularly popular with fans, but X-Factor is clearly another series in which the author is having fun... and so are we. It's worth noting that many of the jokes are very referential and therefore very dated.

[ShamNoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best X-comic I’ve read so far

[Andrew Uys · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my fav teenage comic book series, re-reading this brought back a flood of memories! Absolutely love all the fun pop culture references; this is writer Peter David in peak form!

The X-Factor series was originally billed as the "return of the original X-Men" but with Cyclops and co. now re-integrated in the Uncanny X-Men and X-Men titles, X-Factor became a government "mutant response" team. With Havok leading it...my, how the wheel keeps turning (Uncanny Avengers, excelsior!)...and Wolfsbane, Quicksilver, Polaris, Strong. Guy, and Multiple Man rounding out the team. Multiple Man?!? Jamie Madrox?!?

Yes! Peter David returned to X-Factor in the new millennium with another smash run of thrilling stories detailing the new-Private Investigation agency run by Jamie Madrox, and staffed by many familiar faces. Peter David's writing combines snappy slang with an operatic quality that works especially well on titles such of these. You know....weird, wacky, oddball characters. Cause, the truth is, X-Factor has never been the "pack leader" for the X-Men titles, but precisely because of this, has always been the better read.

Bringing David's words to the page, Larry Stroman artwork is both blunt and delightfully fresh to the reader's eyes. Strong pencil lines that punch the character's action straight out of the page are the industry norm, and Stroman certainty delivers on this. Better yet though, are his characters's faces. Mishappen, distorted, bizarre...how ever you want to describe it, you know you are looking at Art. Escaping my paltry words, Stoman's art is so definitely '90s to me, having first enjoyed the series in 1991, but there are so many other influences that you teach an entire course on Art History using on this graphic novel as your inspiration. Not a bad idea, eh?

For aspiring comic book creators, this GN needs to be well-read on your shelf! A+

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I've been avoiding reading this series. It just never seemed to appeal to me. I suppose it's the overly stylized look of the art. However - it is written by Peter David. And it is a classic run with plenty of fans.

It's always nice to be surprised and have expectations exceeded. This slim little book did so. And it's the writing that does it. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Marvel really needs to update this run in a "Complete Collection". These slim little old style volumes are silly by today's reprint standards.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 5 out of 5]

Después de la Saga de la Isla Muir, había llegado el momento de realizar grandes cambios en la franquicia mutante, y además de lo más "gordo", que sería la aparición de la nueva colección X-Men, la serie de Factor-X también viviría un gran cambio, de hecho tan grande que no tendría nada que ver con su historia anterior. Y es que podría haber sido una colección perfectamente nueva, porque cambió de equipo creativo, cambió de alineación y cambió hasta de objetivo el equipo. A estas alturas, la Fuerza de la Libertad había desaparecido, así que había quedado vacía la posición de equipo de mutantes vinculado con el gobierno, y Valerie Cooper, que ya había sido enlace mutante en tiempos anteriores, va a organizar un nuevo equipo "oficial" de mutantes, asentados en Washington y que actuarán en los casos en los que el gobierno de EE.UU necesite tratar con cuestiones mutantes. Y así, tendremos un nuevo equipo liderado por Kaos y con Polaris, Loba Venenosa, el Hombre Múltiple, Mercurio y el antiguo guardaespaldas de Lila Cheney, Guido Carosella (que pronto tomará el nombre clave de Fortachón) como miembros.

Y con uno de los mejores números de presentación del equipo que se ha escrito nunca, girando alrededor de un tarro de mayonesa, pronto nos iremos adentrando en las primeras misiones del equipo, encontrándose con que su Hombre Múltiple podría ser una copia descarriada, y enfrentándose a los que serán sus primeros enemigos, los Chicos Malos... y descubriríamos que tras ese nombre absurdo y el boicot dirigido por un senador de los Estados Unidos, había algo mucho más... Siniestro. En las siguientes historias, el grupo se enfrentaría al Frente de Liberación Mutante de Dyscordia, a un villano llamado Cyber y sus seguidoras, las Bellas Infernales, y a una crisis de propia estructura al tener que hacer frente a la llegada de un barco de refugiados genoshanos que ponen a prueba la consistencia de la propia ideología d e los Estados Unidos. Y es que como veríamos a lo largo de sus etapas en Factor-X, Peter David iba a ser capaz de darnos escenas divertidísimas acompañadas de fondos muy realistas y elementos traumáticos. Y en estos primeros números, lo veríamos acompañado por Larry Stroman, un dibujante que, si bien puede no se del gusto de todo el mundo... a esta serie le viene como anillo al dedo, creando entre ambos una etapa corta pero inolvidable.

Por cierto, valga esta reseña para los números del 71 al 83, para dejarlos justo antes de La Canción del Verdugo.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this first volume of Peter David's X-Factor run probably 10 times now, dating back to when the issues were originally released in 1991. Re-reading it now, I still find it enjoyable and fresh, although the characters and their quirks seem more forced than at its debut.

In the wake of the Muir Island Saga, the original X-men have returned to Charles Xavier's fold, so David gathers a team of second-stringers to populate his new squad: Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Quicksilver, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy. The team has its own built-in drama--there's a love triangle between Havok, Polaris and a mentally manipulated Wolfsbane right from the start--but David add in layer of Seinfeld-era eccentricities, given the book an exciting tone that was different from anything on the stands at the time.

Sometimes it's too much--you can see strains in the dialogue as David works to shape every member of the team into a quip factory. But he largely does a good job establishing personalities that, in many ways, have endured to this day. The writing is often funny too, as he makes good use of Pietro's arrogance, Havok's uncertainty and the true weirdness of Jamie Madrox, a superhero able to create duplicates of himself, with all the existential drama that implies.

The plotting is pretty good too. A new group of villains is introduced--something de rigueur in those Image-adjacent days--and they offer good foils for the team. The ultimate plot involves some convoluted scheming from Mr. Sinister (I lost track of the double crosses). It's fine.

One element of David's X-Factor run that has grown on me over the decades in Larry Stroman's art. When the book came out, his exaggerated, almost sketchlike approach seemed like a messy departure from the Marvel style. Now I find it distinct and energetic. Some individual panels can still strike me as ugly, but the overall effect is striking.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun volume and shows a new team emerging and the various personalities that make it and I love the crispy dialogue here even if it gets a bit much sometimes and you see dynamic ones like Guido whose so cool and then Alex and Lorna are there and you feel the romantic tension between them given their history and then the stuff with Multiple man which becomes the focal point of the volume with his multiples and whose the real one and I love how when you think the real one is who you think he is.. its not.. I know it can be confusing but if you read the volume its so awesomely done lol.

And then there is the thing with Mr sinister and the nasty boys who are the main villains and I love how stupid they are and they present themselves as a formidable foe but they aren't lol, even their names are dumb but it works here haha! The slab guy issue vs Strong guy is funny and well done and its a testament to David's writing! Also setting the stage for Mr sinister to be the big bad guy and another one called Vic something, lets see how the future volumes pan out to be! This one was awesome!

[Peter Brichs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter David sous bag X-Factor tegneserien i MANGE år. På stående fod kan jeg ikke huske præcis hvor mange, men i omegnen af 15. Og det hele starter her - med det regeringsstøttede projekt, X-Factor, med Jacob (Cyclops' bror) i førertrøjen.

Det er noget nyt i X-Men universet - Chris Claremont er lige stoppet som hovedmanden bag universet, efter selv at have stået bag i en 7-8 år, og nu tager forskellige andre over. Peter David overtog X-Factor...og det er nu en sjov(!) serie, med masser an jokes - både indforståede for fans, men også populærkultur-jokes. Det er skønt.

I det isse første blade ser vi teamet samles, og det nye status quo blive etableret. Mutanterne vil nu kaldes GeeCee - Genetically Challenged, efter en fortalelse af Strong Guy - en Mutant, som ikke nødvendigvis er den med et veltalende. Og bag ved de skurke, X-Factor nu møder, er en mere...sinister... Mand.

Nej, den reference virker ikke i oversættelsen.

[TK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't love Peter David's writing, there's a silliness and wackiness that overwhelms this book. I'll admit there were times where I generally laughed out loud, but those were overshadowed by the times I audibly groaned.

Still, this book is solid, it's taking a lot of less popular characters and creating something enjoyable with them.

Also I like the art! There's something strange about it and it reminds me of some of the more bizarre New Mutant issues, which is a good thing.

[Marco Antonio di Forelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normalmente los dibujos de los tebeos de los noventa me suelen dar urticaria, pero en este caso Stroman no parece TAN malo.

Y bueno, tras leer lo que es el simple inicio de la etapa de Peter David, entiendo por qué es tan aclamado por la fanaticada. Me gusta mucho la forma que tiene este hombre de desarrollar personajes secundarios o incluso terciarios al punto de hacer que te importen igual o más que aquellos de las series principales.

Qué gran equipo.

[Matt J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great characters with dialogue that is sometimes very clever and sometimes very cringe. More than a few jokes that were topical at the time but no one born after 2000 would understand.

Still, this aged better than any other X-title at the time (despite selling the worst) and it’s a great collection of underused characters. I hope they bring this team back someday.

[Lavell]

Artwork: Excellent. Story: Excellent. I am a huge fan of Peter David's storytelling. He never disappoints and he is funny while telling the story. I had to get used to the Larry Stroman artwork and it grew on me and I loved it.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

+

[Bernardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aunque las historias de Peter David son espectaculares y convincentes, el arte no me atrapó del todo. Ciertamente es muy dinámico y original, pero sencillamente, no me gustó.

[Red Equis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno de los mejores relanzamientos mutantes de la historia de Marvel y sus irregulares reboots.

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good!

[dude · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally appeared on my blog, Shared Universe Reviews.

Like all of Peter David’s other works that I’ve read, X-Factor has a lot of humour. I enjoy it for the most part but it does take over sometime and it can distract from the rest of what’s happening in the comic. Similarly to his Star Trek writing, the jokes occasionally go too far. Not too far in a sense of indecency, but in a way that feels unnecessary. You can only keep a joke going for so long at which point it loses some of its effect.

One of my issues with the first volume of Peter David’s tenure of X-Factor has to do with his main collaborator, artist Larry Stroman. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Stroman’s art. I’m pretty certain this is the first book I read where he’s on art duties and it didn’t completely agree with me. His characters look stiff and often times they also look squared off. His lines are thin, which isn’t a problem in itself, but there’s too many of them on the page. It fits into the style of 90s superhero art but that’s something I’m not really a fan of in general. It’s not all bad though. He uses exaggerated anatomy to pretty good effect, particularly on Guido (Strong Guy). I think that where Stroman’s art really excels is with the portrayal of Guido and Lorna “Polaris” Dane’s hair. He draws Guido large and muscular but in such a way that it clearly demonstrates his awkwardness. Guido is physically awkward because he’s so big and so strong. By drawing him in a way that makes him look somewhat deformed, he’s adding quite a bit of personality to the character. It’s physically impossible for anybody to be that big but, being a mutant, of course it’s possible for Guido. But it wouldn’t be a seamless growth and it’s to be exaggerated that his muscles would seriously alter his physical form. The art isn’t all good but it’s not all bad either. There is a lot of potential for a unique look and feel but it’s too unpolished and inconsistent to be qualified as really good in the context of superhero comics.

The same can be said for the writing. David tries to do a lot with six issues worth of pages. He packs a considerable amount of story in a 120 page story but parts of the comic feel bloated while others feel decompressed. The exposition is often done on pages that have a significant number of small panels that have more word balloons in them than is visually appealing. The action and humour scenes on the other hand feel decompressed. They take a lot of space and that shouldn’t be where the focus, especially because David is trying to tell an interesting story. He still accomplishes this but there are a lot of kinks to work out on the title.

I find that often first arcs on superhero comics are slow to start and uncertain in their quality or they’re phenomenal stories. In the case of phenomenal beginnings, many writers cannot keep the momentum they build. There can be multiple reasons for this but essentially it amounts to lack of skill or because they only had one or two really good stories to tell and they didn’t know when to quit. Peter David’s X-Factor falls into the first category of opening arcs. He has plenty of good ideas. One of them is the study of Jamie Madrox, Multiple Man and his powers and the other is to take a waning superhero title composed of A and B-list X-men and try to make a great comic by replacing the existing team with C-list heroes. It’s a smart move because everybody’s written about the most well-known X-men but the lesser known ones have more potential for characterization and interesting stories. Jamie Madrox is an excellent example of this.

X-Factor Visionaries: Peter David volume 1 is a good start. The writer and the artist are finding their footing and it’s apparent but it doesn’t get in the way of enjoying the parts of the comic that work well. You can tell that they’re trying to tell a story that isn’t your traditional good vs. evil comic and I appreciate that. Still, X-Factor is still clearly a superhero comic and there will always be good guys fighting bad guys and the creative team even struggles with that. One of the most boring parts of this volume was the villain. There are quite a few things that were more interesting that Mr. Sinister and his Nasty Boys. The forming of the team, the jokes and Jamie Madrox where all significantly more worthy of my attention that the X-men baddy, Sinister and his goons. This is a good start and I look forward to seeing where the title goes because it’s clear to me there is quite a bit of potential for a great comic within these pages.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

***Updated for 2024 reread***

I talk about Larry Stroman's art being blocky and offputting in this volume. I had yet to realize he was the artist on one of the most visually unappealing comics of all-time, an X-Factor issue from the 2010s that looks like someone covered a guinea pig in inks and rolled it across the page. Comparatively, his work in the 90s is breathtaking.

*******

The plotting behind Peter David's early 1990s X-Factor run is focused and meta in a way that most superhero comics wouldn't figure out for another decade. It's nearly a great comic. The two main strikes against it are Larry Stroman's blocky anatomy, and David's own unrelenting dad jokes and pop culture references.

The premise of a government funded mutant (sorry, "geecee") superhero team being targeted by a conservative senator with presidential ambitions, who, in turn, is being funded by another mutant, is slick. And most of the narrative turns are well designed. But calling one of the heroes "Strong Guy", and one of the villains "Hairball" is the kind of hokey writing that kept this very good, solid series from being one of the all-time greats.

Luckily, about fifteen years later, David got a chance to write another run of X-Factor, and that *does* stand as one of my all-time favorites.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leído de la edición española de Factor-X (vol. 1) #55-59.
Con lo que me gusta lo poco que leí del volumen actual de X-Factor de David, sería una blasfemia no leerme sus números "clásicos", así que ni bien encontré en medio del mar los números de Factor-X de Panini, me sumergí en su lectura. Y si bien el resultado es menos redondo y más desprolijo de lo que suelen ser las historias actuales de X-Factor, se ve que David acá ya tenía muchísimas de las ideas (tanto argumentales como de tono) que desarrollaría una década después. Y aunque el dibujo es bastante interesante, creo que promediaría para abajo de no ser por el tratamiento que le da a Madrox, ya que yo creía que recién en su miniserie comenzó a cobrar chapa, pero leyendo estos números me doy cuenta de que el personaje tenía onda desde la primera vez que David lo tocó con su teclado.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter David took over the X-Factor title in 1991 at a major sea change -- the team, founded by the original X-Men, had pretty much been dissolved, so David reconstituted it with Havoc and Polaris, along with Maddrox, Wolfsbane, the newly-introduced Strong Guy -- most of which are characters that David brought back for his new, current X-Factor run.

Even early days, in this collection of Issues 71-75, David's deft humor, eye for interpersonal conflicts, and witty dialog were all present. Larry Stroman's art is far too 90s, but still works for all that.

Good stuff -- I'll be (finally) picking up the follow-up installments.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading Peter David's run on this title wasn't quite the great time I remembered, but didn't horribly disappoint. A lot of the humor is groan-inducing (as are the costumes and hair styles), but also slyly subversive, poking holes in the angsty feelings pervading the X-books of the time. It falls prey to more 90s fads than it skewers, however, and issue after issue parades out one incredibly lame villain after another. The art is consistently awful, despite some promising early work from Jae Lee and Joe Quesada, but overall had enough charm to keep me turning the pages.

[Krystl Louwagie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love you, Jamie Madrox, and I love you, Peter David, for seeing all the great potential of a mutant who's ability is to have multiples of himself. That being said, the inclusion of Madrox was the only truly interesting thing here for me-the plot was typical, and the cliche jealous women and love interests were "eh" at best. But I did enjoy the humor overall and learning more background on some of my favorite X-Factor peeps. Not as good as the current X-Factor run, because, no Lyla! (Or Shatterstar, Longshot, or Rictor).