X-Factor #9

X-Factor (2020) (Single Issues)

by Leah Williams, Ivan Shavrin (Cover Art), David Baldeón (Artist)

BEST! CONCERT! EVER! The Morrigan needs to be destroyed! The answer lies in the Mojoverse. LOOKS LIKE WE’RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER.

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

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 12, 2021

About the author

Leah Williams is an American writer originally from Oxford, Mississippi. She has written comics for Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Vault Comics, and is working on more. Her debut novel was a YA Fantasy book titled The Alchemy of Being Fourteen and she is currently writing its sequel, The Divinity of Hitting Fifteen. Leah has nonfiction articles and essays published in The Atlantic, Oprah Magazine, and Salon.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been up and down on this title. After some initial meh feelings it really found a stride but recently it's got a little odd.

This issue starts strong but ends in odd. The rescue from mojo was both rushed and confusing from how the panels were set up. It didn't really tell a story them suddenly New Mutants were there and rescue was done...

Then the Shatterstar part which could have been cool was also weird, like bad Excalibur weird, and honestly I had no idea what happened with that or what happened when he was rid of Morrigan (or are we rid of Morrigan?)

Yeah just tried to get a bit too smart and cram too much and missed the mark which is a shame.

A comment on the last panel suggests that the next issue will be the end of the X Factor run. I really hope not. For all my niggles with the series it's really developed some good characters, gave them past and future story lines and tends toward interesting and good story telling. Why you would cancel this and keep Excalibur and Children of the Atom going is beyond me.

[Tanabrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finale (quasi) di questo arco narrativo che ruota intorno alla Morrigan.
Non ho capito bene perché Shatterstar sia la chiave per sconfggerla, o come sia possibile che in un attimo riescano a conquistare il Mojoverso e a liberare tutte le persone tenute in prigionia.

Ah, e i disegni non sono il massimo...

Tra il 2 e il 3, 3 stelle di ottimismo.

[Scratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having trouble deciding between 3 and 4 stars. Going with 3, because the tone of this book is really starting to irritate me.

While there was definitely progress made in this story, nothing quite felt... Satisfying. We made progress on figuring out what is happening with Siryn and the Morrigan. We made progress in the stupid, small detail that people think Eye Boy's ability to see magic is somehow so cool and powerful. (It's not.) This even finally made progress on the inexplicable relationship hiatus between Rictor and Shatterstar; Rictor has seemed incapable of even mentioning Shatterstar for months now, even though we never even saw them have a fight and break up.

If you're wondering why there was progress on Rictor and Shatterstar's relationship in a book for which neither of them are actual cast members? Well, yeah, me too. But I would rather have them both return to X-Factor. The Excalibur book that Rictor has been languishing in is not good.

This title is better than Excalibur, but its tone is somehow smarmy. Trying too hard to be flippant or something. Rachel is only allocated three or four sentences per issue, basically, and she is never allowed to have any real character development. For that matter, no one else gets much depth either. And for some reason Aurora and Daken are the only "earned" relationship in all the X-books right now, because they're the only relationship writers are actually investing time and effort in to show a slow-burn courtship. All the other relationships in the X-books right now are just inexplicably together, without any investment on the part of the audience.

Who was clamoring for Daken and Aurora?

[heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While many X-fans have commented on the rushed ending for this Mojoverse-Morrigan saga which has shadowed this issue, I still find myself liking this book a lot mostly because of what Williams managed to accomplish with it even after being given short notice that she was to end her X-Factor run in two issues. Apparently she was informed of this executive decision by Marvel's Man Upstairs as she was scripting issue #9, which explains why this issue crams a lot of plot in 24 pages.

A shitty decision by Marvel execs, really. X-Factor is one of my favorite X-books and now there's only issue #10 left for me to enjoy – and to add salt to wound the major surprise in issue #10 has been ruined for me by selfish idiots on X-twitter who shared page screenshots without any spoiler warnings / tags 😒

So my thoughts on #9:

- As usual I love the character beats of these young mutants, the easy banter and jokes, their developing camaraderie, and how the Boneyard really feels like a fun queer family. Even Kyle making his appearance with that mundane conversation about what to have for dinner feels precious. Mostly because I don't know when I'll get to see my favorite queer mutants getting this joyful, sensitive treatment by another writer again. Ok now I'm really sad. I've absolutely enjoyed Williams' current run.

- Shatterstar's backstory should def be developed in future issues instead of, again here, just being referenced and hinted at and then handwaved away and then kept dormant until another X-book requires it for the plot. He's an interesting character! Use him! I sure hope whatever curse Morrigan cast on him and Rictor will be turned into rich comic material soon. Perhaps in Excalibur?

- Interesting that a few divisions have already grown in Krakoa, seeing how the the older mutants (the Quiet Council or “leadership” as Northstar calls it) are not receiving the full trust of the younger groups. We've seen this in New Mutants when Magik insisted to Cyclops that her team should be allowed to resolve their own problems without interference, and when Boom-Boom more than once said it was easier to get things done without running their plan through their Council leaders. That Northstar asks for New Mutants team to assist the X-Factor for to tie up loose ends in Mojoverse feels fitting and maybe a little… foreshadowing? How far will our mutant youths break away from the leadership of OG X-Men in future?

- Northstar's point about not wanting Krakoan leadership to know about his teammates' capabilities especially those that could be weaponized is spot on. I mean, even in the early days of X-Men at Graymalkin Lane it could be said that Xavier was using mutant teenagers as his paramilitary team…

- On the artwork I just want to say the Morrigan backstory pages illustrated with Celtic motifs in ancient scroll style is totally inspired. Ditto the scene where Shatterstar kneels next to the dying Morrigan. It looks like a stained glass window. Beautifully done.

[Shawn Ingle · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are parts of this I really enjoy and others that are kind of confusing. Most of the art is spectacular except some of the small panels can be difficult to interpret. Baldeon does some incredible backgrounds.

Shatterstar being the answer to the Morrigan riddle(prophecy?) was perplexing. I have mixed feelings about all the cameos. While it was fun to see a wide cast of characters, it left little space to focus on the actual X-Factor team members. Normally it wouldn't be a big deal but with this title coming to a close (which I'm not happy about) it would be nice to maximize the time that's left with them.

[Ian Sharman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of the whole Morrigan saga, and the return of Shatterstar, feels a little rushed, but that's understandable given that the next issue will be the final issue of X-Factor, and that issue will be the Hellfire Gala, so everything needed to be tied up this issue.

Despite feeling rushed it's an enjoyable issue, and it's always pleasing when the answer is Shatterstar, even if it's never really explained why the answer is Shatterstar.

There is, as ever, a nice amount of fun little interpersonal relationship bits, which has been the real strength of this book.

It's a shame this book is ending as it's ben a lot of fun, but it does explain why Polaris is moving to the new X-Men book, and I'm hopeful that a lot of the characters and themes from this will carry over to some of the new book moving forward.

[francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

didn't totally understand what was happening but the gag with kyle was great and I'll be sad to see this series end

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow that was everything I could have hoped for in a return of Shatterstar! His connection with Rictor, his almost telling Dazzler she's his mother. Slaying the Morrigan who wanted exactly what I had assumed: her power that has been taken by the resurrection protocols. I'm so sad to see this book end with the Hellfire Gala! I've been enjoying it. I like that Northstar has decided to keep Eye Boy's powers from the Quiet Council. They're shady. They still haven't bought back any of the pre-cogs. They lie about the why of not bringing back certain mutants. They're using Multiple Man as the Swiss army knife of an entire nation. Creepy Professor in his Cerebro helmet...
I hope the Hellfire Gala doesn't let me down

[M.L.D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing and plotting suffer in this one because of the book's cancellation (btw, screw you, Marvel, cancelling this title). Still, a lot of great interpersonal stuff, and I mourn what probably would have been an excellent heist/rescue/concert scene in a properly plotted arc. I'm angry that issue 10 will be the last issue and will be devoted to some big Marvel crossover, rather than focussing on these characters.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty enjoyable even if the usual complaints about it being a little confusing as always apply. I'm quite intrigued as to what they're doing with Eye boy. I loved the moment when Rachel came out of the mindscape back to the real world how that was rendered between panels. I wish I knew more about shatter Stars backstory but I gather he's gay and used to be with Richter? It would be cool if they got together. I loved the text message thing between Jean Paul and Danny moonstar, I wish we'd actually seen that interaction. Oh well. I went through this whole ark I really liked daken, he never was my favorite character but he's been really good in this book. And they seem to imply that it was the age of X-Men story that I think might be where the second x-23 clone girl is from?

[The Wintermute System · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know, but I'm glad this is over next issue and me being just invested enough to finish the next issue, but grumbling all the way and hoping it ends soon has been the majority of issues, although some got better and one got worse.

[Mana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a fan of the art particularly. But I do enjoy the story. Finally glad to see what happened to Syryn and why. Eye Boy! This is very interesting. Wonder what would happen if he died on Arrako and returned. How would this sharpen his abilities?

[McKenna A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shatterstar, my beloved

[Roman Colombo · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, Eye-Boy is definitely the greatest member of this team, right? Williams made Eye-Boy interesting. It can be done!

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75