"X-Factor: Genesis & Apocalypse" by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob Harras, Louise Simonson, Tom DeFalco, Chris Claremont, and Jackson Guice

 

            The following is a review of the Marvel Epic Collection “X-Factor: Genesis & Apocalypse” graphic novel by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob Harras, Louise Simonson, Tom DeFalco, Chris Claremont, and Jackson Guice.

            Howdy, one and all, and welcome to another review From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! As is most often the case here, I am myself Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, so, if you’ve been here before, you know that I review every Marvel comic event, Marvel Epic Collection, and Marvel prose novel I read, as well as some other books I read. If you’ve never been here before, now you know. If you’ve ever been here before, you will know how I usually structure my reviews, but if not, I’ll tell you how this review is going to work. After I finish the lead-in to this review, I will briefly tell you a little bit about the main characters in this book. It will be brief because the following paragraph will be about the story and the characters’ roles will be self-explanatory during it, so dilly-dallying on the individual characters would be pointless. After that, I will share some of my personal thoughts about the book, what I liked, what I disliked, and a few other things I feel like typing about the book. After that, I will give this book a numeric score, which, if you’ve been here before you know the deal, and if not, I’ll explain when we get there. Upon finishing that, I’ll say if I recommend this book and who I think the best audience would be, based on the knowledge I feel is required to fully understand and appreciate the story. Then I’ll finish things up with our boring goodbyes and then you can be on your way. So, I hope we’re good on that, so, let’s go!

            Scott Summers/Cyclops: Fires optic beams uncontrollably.

            Jean Grey/Marvel Girl: Telekinetic.

            Bobby Drake/Iceman: Can lower temperature and create ice.

            Warren Worthington III/Angel: Flight due to natural wings.

            Hank McCoy/Beast: Blue fur, claws, enhanced strength, speed and agility.

            Cameron Hodge: Public relations manager.

            Rusty Collins: Pyrokinetic.

            Arthur “Artie” Maddicks: Pink skin, large eyes, mute, communicates by projecting images.

            Tower: Able to grow and shrink.

            Joanna Cargill/Frenzy: Super strength.

            Vera: Beast’s sort-of girlfriend.

            Freedom Force: Mystique, Destiny, Pyro Avalanche, Blob, Spider-Woman. Former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, now government employees.

            Trish Tilby: Reporter.

            Tony Stark/Iron Man: High-tech suit of armor.

            Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Enhanced speed, strength, and agility, can stick to walls and ceilings, precognitive “spider-sense,” self-created web shooters.

            The Avengers: Captain America, Namor, Black Knight, Hercules, Wasp, Captain Marvel. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

            The Fantastic Four: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, She-Hulk. Team and family.

En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse: Nearly immortal, shape-changer, super strength, stamina and durability.

Okay, I think that’ll do it for character description, now on to the story. A plane crash in Jamaica Bay leads the Avengers to investigate and they discover a cocoon. They take it to the Fantastic Four, and they discover it contains the body of Jean Grey, who had been believed deceased. The cosmic force the Phoenix copied Jean’s body during a shuttle crash in Jamaica Bay and replaced her, leaving her body to heal at the bottom of the Bay. Jean has lost her telepathic powers. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic calls Warren to inform him that Jean has been found alive. In the time since the Phoenix’s demise, her lover Scott Summers has married Madelyne Pryor and had a son Nathan. Their former team, the X-Men are now led by their greatest enemy, Magneto, and the five original X-Men band together to form X-Factor, a mutant hunting team, which is actually a front for taking in new mutants and training them in the use of their powers. While X-Factor are believed to be humans to the public, as mutants, they call themselves the X-Terminators. They hire publicist Cameron Hodge as their public relations manager. X-Factor take in young mutants Rusty Collins and Artie Maddicks. They go up against evil mutants Frenzy, Tower, Apocalypse, and former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants now government agents Freedom Force and have team-ups with Iron Man and Spider-Man and meet young mutant Skids. The male X-Terminators originally neglect to tell Jean of Scott’s marriage to Madelyne and of his son Nathan. Madelyne, now furious over Scott’s return to being a superhero, takes Nathan and flees, removing every communications to Scott. Beast’s furry form is reverted to appearing passably human. Backstories explore Jean’s connection with the Phoenix.

I think these are all the highlights of the story, so I’ll move on to my thoughts. First off, when I first got into X-Men comics as a regular reader, I had bought a graphic novel containing the first issues of X-Men and read of this team. I had known X-Factor was a reunion of the original X-Men, but I honestly knew nothing about the story, having never read the start of the series, so this was a treat. I mean, this was from 1986, before I was born, but I didn’t pick up the original X-Factor comics series starting that year. The posing as mutant hunters was to me an amazing ploy. I’d also never read of the first recovery of Jean, and, spoiler alert, there was a panel suggesting she and Phoenix weren’t as separated as the X-Terminators had been led to believe. The showdown between Jean and Scott upon Scott fessing up to his marriage and child totally thrilled me to see Jean’s fury not as Phoenix, but as Jean Grey herself. To me, Artie was a fascinating character, and I felt the writers did an amazing job of him while being silent being such a useful character. And reading the earliest Apocalypse appearance was great, BUT! I feel like the writers could have extended the story a bit more, and the Alliance of Evil were a bit bland to me. And I loved the story of J. Jonah Jameson hiring X-Factor to destroy Spider-Man. I found Freedom Force to be an interesting reunion of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants which I felt totally appropriate considering the reunion of the original X-Men and I thought was a great parallel. I personally loved the bond Rusty and Artie formed, their becoming best friends. I wish more mutants could have been included, though, and Bulk and Glow Worm just made me think they were pathetic and their story did not interest me. I enjoyed the backstories of the connection of Jean and Phoenix and found them totally fascinating. As for the artwork, there’s been many different styles of art, and some were characterizations of the time. I personally loved the mid-to-late 90’s, the colorizations of the time always satisfied me. As far as art went for the 80’s, I felt it was top notch and the epitome of art for the time. I mean, when it comes to comic books, the art is just as important as the story itself as it tells half of the story, and I felt this was amazing art for the time.

So, my score. This is very hard for me to decide. There was so much I liked about the book, but I did have disappointed moments as well. By the way, I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One is I wish I’d never read this book, ten I loved it and will definitely read it again. First, I will tell you that I will totally read it again someday, BUT! I still have to score it as an eight. For a start of a series, I felt this was a good introduction, but, like I said, I do have complaints.

Now, the biggest question on any of my reviews: do I recommend this book? I say… YES! And I feel it is an excellent jumping-on point for a comic series. If you have never read a Marvel comic before and are considering starting, I feel this would be a good book to begin with. I feel the story is very self-contained and knowing nothing about X-Factor would still be easy to pick up and read. And it you’ve read this review and are intrigued by my description, I totally think you should pick this up. And if you’re a fan of X-Men from the 60’s to mid-70’s and never read X-Factor, I think this is a good book for you. And if you’re a fan of the villain Apocalypse and have never read his first appearance, you may enjoy this book, but, like I said, I would have liked to see more En Sabah Nur. All-in-all, I totally recommend this book.

And now that I’ve ranted for so long, I’m just going to say a few more sentences. And if you are still here and still reading, you are THE BEST and I appreciate your support. Now, I’ve done literally dozens of reviews and I feel you should keep browsing my blog, especially since I have other content as well, including essays and editorials (I am a certified journalist) and short stories both fiction and nonfiction, mostly nonfiction (I have a bachelor’s degree in English, so some may say I’m a great writer), as well as some poetry, and I post fairly regularly, so you can totally keep an eye out for more posts in the near future. And with that, I have three more words: Tim Cubbin… out!