X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus, Vol. 1

X-Factor by Peter David Omnibus

by Peter David, Larry Stroman, Joe Quesada

Peter David’s first, transformative X-FACTOR run in one volume! Havok, Polaris, Quicksilver, Multiple Man, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy are the all-new, all-different X-Factor! Sanctioned by the U.S. government to protect humans from mutants — and vice versa — they take on threats including Mister Sinister and his Nasty Boys, the Mutant Liberation Front and…the Incredible Hulk?! But their most challenging encounter is on the couch of super hero psychiatrist, Doc Samson! Whether it’s battling the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in the shadow of Genosha, or clashing with X-Force during the X-Cutioner’s Song saga, this unlikely band of heroes have team chemistry like nothing you’ve ever seen — and a unique style of humor that makes this series a true classic!

COLLECTING: X-Factor (1986) 55, 70-92; X-Factor Annual (1986) 7-8; Incredible Hulk (1968) 390-392; material from X-Factor Annual (1986) 5-6; New Mutants Annual (1984) 6

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

848 pages, Hardcover

First published July 10, 1993

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

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are interesting and some issues really hit the feels, but unfortunately not every issue is as great as the therapy issue. If Peter David had leaned more into the character work and less on the humor, I think I would’ve liked this run more. Still, a fun collection of stories that really flesh out some of the lesser known X-characters.

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who loves Peter David's work on the 2000s X-Factor series, I was curious to go back and read his original 90s run in the omnibus. It's safe to say that my experience had its share of ups and downs.

First off, the beginning of the run is absolutely fucking wonderful. After Peter David has the chance to truly establish his team, the series shines. He takes the time to introduce characters like Strong Guy and Wolfsbane, and even brings a new dimension to a classic character like Quicksilver within this group. The cast is filled with clashing personalities that make the dynamic so entertaining to read. The first eight or so issues were my favorite part of the book, as they focus on smaller, everyday tales and one-shots that subtly weave together to form a bigger narrative.

Later on, there are some definite standout issues. The therapy issue, in particular, really hits home and perfectly showcases how different each character is. It was a powerful reminder of David's skill at character-driven storytelling. I also thought some of the art was great, it has that very early '90s feel that looks fantastic. Unfortunately, some of the crossover sections feature the kind of over-the-top and messy art that was common during that era, which was a little disappointing.

The biggest drawback for me, however, was the constant crossover events. I just don't care about Fatal Attractions event, and since this book doesn't contain every single issue of the event, it feels disjointed and confusing. The series gets hurt by having too many of these events, and it felt like they broke the flow of the book's best elements. It was also a letdown to see that the last two issues weren't even written by Peter David, but by Scott Lobdell, whose writing didn't compare favorably.

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed about half of this omnibus a ton, but the other half was just okay or even bad. It's a run with incredible character work and humor that gets bogged down by editorial mandates and crossovers. A 3 out of 5.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este é o terceiro Omnibus da PaniniTM que tenho a oportunidade de comprar. Na verdade, eu não comprei ele, ganhei numa promoção da loja da Panini, que me legou um vale-brinde no valor do omnibus. São mais de 800 páginas, talvez a publicação com mais páginas que li na vida. Embora eu não ache essa a melhor fase de Peter David no X-Factor, prefiro a da X-Factor Investigações, esta também é boa. As partes que são interligadas com crossovers da linha X-Men são as piores partes. O começo é bastante truncado, mas quando começa a desenvolver, como no crossover com o Hulk, fica ótimo. Depois temos um longo arco envolvendo Genosha, que é a parte mais complicada do omnibus. Por último, temos um monte de materiais inéditos no Brasil, que conta com partes de anuais e a origem de Guido, além de uma história do Fera. Só que nessas partes o trabalho editorial brasileiro começa a mostrar problemas graves de tradução e de revisão, como por exemplo usar "mal" no lugar de "mau" e traduzir a personagem Maligna como Malícia, o que denota falta de conhecimento da língua e do material por quem produziu a versão brasileira. Ainda assim, é bom ver esse material reunido.

[Gary Rhodes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was very nostalgic for me. I remember beginning this run as a kid, but I just didn’t have enough allowance money to keep up with it. Now as an adult I can return to it and enjoy it in the oversized format. Peter David proves himself to be an excellent writer and I when paired with Joe Quesada’s art the final result is a great piece of entertainment. The other artists who take a shot at a few issues are mostly good, especially Jai Lee’s run, however a few really are lackluster. This collection wraps up with some interesting stories that David wrote shortly before he took over the X-Factor book, with the New Mutants one being especially well written. This book is a great dive into a very fun time in the X-Men and associated teams timeline.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.25/5
A book that absolutely deserves better, but was terminally hampered by / interrupted by an endless slew of events that ultimately took what was a promising first half of this book, turning it into an indecipherable and poorly mapped mess. Yes, Marvel has and will obviously put out more readable and coherent event books at some point, forcing those who would like things to actually make sense to double dip ad nauseum. As for what disjointed material we do get here, it's pretty good right up until it isn't, with the second half of the book near to unreadable.
This is hardly Peter David's best material, leaning in to humor too often at the expense of more serious character work, yet getting a decent amount of Larry Stroman and Joe Quesada art softens the blow somewhat.
Ultimately a more coherent collection or a time machine so as to go back in time and prevent early 90's X-Men from turning the line into a hedge maze of literary absurdity. Probably one for the completionist's, which is all rather sad. 3.25/5


OmniBen.

[Matt Aukamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was very hard giving this just 3 stars, but Peter David's spectacular run was just constantly interrupted and ultimately destoyed by the relentless 90's X-Men editorial. Peter David leaves the book so abruptly that even in this omnibus, the final three issues are suddenly written by the vastly less-talented Scott Lobdell.

This led me to look up interviews PAD has done about this series, and his ideas were being watered down by editorial the whole way through. It's a true shame.

This could have been one of the greatest runs in comic book history, but instead stands as a lesson on how over-zealoys editors and greedy corporate control can utterly ruin an artist's work.

At least we have a smattering of glittering gem-like moments scattered about the rubble that was 90's X-Factor.

[Nate Deprey · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is certainly the weaker of David's two great X-Factor runs there's still plenty of gold in them there hills with highlights all over the place concluding with an early X-Factor fill in story with the original team and three truly great back up stories. The Therapy issue will always be highlighted but David's story seed planting and devotion to the rehabilitation of these wayward mutants are the real strength of the collection even if the Hulk crossover and only including the X-Factor portions of mutant events left me a little flat.

[Jameson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Under appreciated in real time, over appreciated after the fact—Peter David’s initial X-Factor run is merely decent. I think its reputation of Quality comes mostly from the fact that it reads better compared to the other 1991 relaunched xbooks. But not by much and certainly not for long.

Despite the strong start (including #70’s great Muir Island Saga epilogue), despite the great character moments (most memorably from #87’s therapy issue), the bloom is soon off the rose. The art goes from different yet interesting to downright fugly and the stories go from fun action-sitcom to lame dramedy. Presumably Larry Stroman needed a lot of lead time to downplay his style’s inherent fug, but I’m not sure why Peter David chose to tell Genoshan stories with stupid ideas and stupid (and stupid looking!) characters with stupid powers.

I’m not even a big fan of David’s celebrated character work, really (at least in this volume.) He mostly treated the team as if they were all brand new. Havok and Polaris are basically unrecognizable from their former selves. Ditto Wolfesbane to a lesser extent (but David had a flimsy excuse for that given how she was left at the end of X-Tinction Agenda.) He makes a weird Multiple Man gaffe that showed he wasn’t familiar with the character’s scant few appearances (but whatever because he more than makes up for it later.) Quicksilver he nails and Strong Guy’s cool—he was such a minor character that David’s changes are excusable. Valerie Cooper though, under David, was an enigma: was she secretly evil or just a sadist?

Oh, and caveat emptor: there’s a lot of non-Peter David’s X-Factor here and it’s utter crap. (And X-Factor will remain in the toilet until the title is canceled almost 60 long, boring, ugly, stupid issues later. Don’t worry! It mutates into one of the x-office’s biggest misfires ever, a book that’s second only to X-Man on the Cringe Scale.)

Allegedly David left the book because he didn’t like his stories being routinely interrupted by the yearly crossover events. But I don’t really buy that. Maybe he suspected it just wasn’t working anymore and used Crossover Panic as a convenient excuse. Because the annual crossover events were already hard baked into the xbooks by then. Did he expect to be exempt? I doubt it. And his stories were lame! The last PD story in this omnibus* is a terrible annual about a demon. I wish it was derailed into anything else by anything else. (Sadly, that annual presages how David will again derail a good X-Factor book with a dumb story about mutants and demons. Although by that point, during his second X-Factor run, David had genuinely accomplished quite a bit. Still, it’s uncanny: both of his first two runs end with terrible art with terrible stories about mutants and demons! And his third run was underwhelming and truncated.) Or more likely he left because he wasn’t vibing with the horrible editorial team!

Overall, worth a read if only because it sets up David’s truly great work on Madrox’s X-Factor years later. Some of the best stories in here are by Peter David but have nothing to do with his All New, All Different X-Factor team: a Beast story from #55, the aforementioned Muir Island Saga epilogue, and a trilogy of shorts about death featuring Jean, Mystique, and Doug Ramsey.

*Not included the earlier non-All New, All Different-era stuff, which are included at the end.

[Ferzem Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The newly formed team, consisting of Havok, Polaris, Strong Guy, Wolfsbane, Multiple Man and Quicksilver, with Valerie Cooper acting as their government liaison, fight a variety of villains like the Nasty Boys, Mutant Liberation Front and Stryfe, Hells Belles, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants etc. in sometimes comical situations and sometimes very serious conflicts with ideological underlying motivations.

Peter David, Larry Stroman and Al Milgrom take over as writer, artist and inker. Stroman’s art with Milgrom inking is great and reminiscent of the 80s. He leaves in #81 and afterword the art becomes very 90s, with Jae Lee especially kind of bad. David charges the comic with pop culture references and lightheartedness, making it feel like a sitcom, with lots of great character work (especially in The Therapy Issue #87) . The humor lands most of the time, but can sometimes feel overtly like its Peter David speaking a dialogue rather than a character.

It was a shame that Peter David left the book earlier than anticipated because this team gave a chance for even sidelined characters like Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man and Strong Guy to develop and come into their own as people, and the book had a distinct identity of its own in the X-line during a time when the books weren't particularly great.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This omnibus marks at least my third full read through Peter David's original X-Factor series, and it remains strong after all this time. The team is quirky and fun. The humor remains funny.

There are a couple of crossovers here, one with the Hulk another with the big X-Cutioner's Song story (the last of the really good X-Men crossovers for a while). In smaller bites they felt like they disrupted David's story, but in a big chunk it's a fine read as a whole. Even with the X-Cutioner's Song being piecemeal since it's missing 3/4 of the story.

Things really felt like they were gelling as we got to the superior Genosha story at the end (which isn't entirely David's work, but thankfully we finally all get it in one place). A fun read.

[Ver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read these in single issues, so I can't comment on the construction of the omnibus. That being said, the writing is what you come to expect from Peter David, even with the first few issues of his X-Factor run being loaded with puns (one per page?). Too bad his stories get held up by the X- Cutioner's Song (I had to take em out of the polybags 30 years later). Stroman's art can be an acquired taste and has its moments, though it can be pretty abstract and confusing when he draws out action sequences. The Jae Lee issues are also nice when he keeps from being to abstract himself, and then we don't get nearly enough issues with Joe Quesada. All in all, it's a great read if you can cope with some 90s abstract art.

[Anton Babkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter David writing is strong as always, but Larry Stroman “art” is fucking abomination. The guy would never be allowed to draw comics, he is just terrible.

[Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

came here for the art and enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book for it. the plot doesn't really hold up to modern sense of comics.

[Craig W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Highlights include the X-Aminations issue and, surprisingly, the Annuals (Strong Guy and the subway accident was incredible, as were the trilogy of short stories from various Annuals at the end).

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Polaris's design and writing altered my brain chemistry. Also, yeah, I did read an 848 page long Omnibus for her. I'm dedicated to my favorites okay?? Just you wait until I read New Mutants for Magik

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good but it leaves out issues from other X-books in xcutioners song and fatal attractions

[Minki Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

+ interesting team origin

- episodic, slow plot that meanders nowhere