Written by: Mark Russell
Art by: Bob Quinn
Colors by: Jesus Aburtov
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Greg Land, Jay Leisten, Frank D’Armata
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: September 16, 2024
X-Factor #2, by Marvel Comics on 9/18/24, puts Havok in a difficult spot when he’s promoted to team leader, and his first order of business is to find the spy who betrayed the first X-Factor team.
Is X-Factor #2 Good?
It’s all so very tiresome. Writer Mark Russell turns in a Havok-centric, almost-actionless script that sets up an atmosphere of paranoia and doubt, weirdly offset by nonsensical attempts at surreal, satirical humor. At some point, Marvel is going to have to accept that Russell’s command of humor is, to be generous, lacking.
When last we left the newly-formed team in X-Factor #1, they attacked an X-Term base for vague reasons at the behest of the American government and TV producer Rodger Broderick. The mission was a disaster that got most of X-Factor killed. The issue ended with the formation of a new X-Factor.
In X-Factor #2, Havok wakes up to a new day as a member of the team and new leader, while Angel is fighting for his life in a hospital after the failed mission in the last issue. Polaris desperately wants Havok to reconsider because she firmly believes joining another team will only lead to trouble. Instead, she wants him to attend an underground mutant support group with her later that evening.
Mark Russell starts the issue on a dramatic note by highlighting the nuanced complexities of being a mutant in a human world post-Krakoa. Polaris’s views on the place of mutants in the world don’t necessarily conflict with Havok’s, but the alternate viewpoint creates interpersonal tension between the lovers that could make for great drama.
Later, Havok arrives at the team headquarters, where Rodger Broderick officially promotes Havok to team leader and arranges a meeting with the General to discuss priorities while making bizarre observations about his new corndog diet. During the meeting, Havok adamantly wants to pursue a root cause analysis of the previous mission. The General informs him that she knows why the missions failed. X-Factor was betrayed by a member of the mutant underground, exemplified by showing a very large picture of Polaris on the wall.
Here is where the issue runs into structural trouble. Havok already had misgivings about joining a team, but he (sorta) follows up on the General’s accusation without proof, circumstantial or otherwise, as to how the mutant underground betrayed the team. Readers are simply expected to go along with the accusation because the script says so.
Meanwhile, members of the new X-Factor get acquainted with each other by the pool. Pyro tries to hook up with Frenzy in the worst way possible. Granny Smite (a mutant with immortality powers) drowns herself in the pool because she loves to experiment with new ways of dying, but nobody on the new team knows about her powers or what she is doing. Faux-hilarity ensues.
Mark Russell is not funny. Let’s move on.
Later, Havok and Polaris attend the underground mutant support group. One of the facilitators of the group, Bruin, so named for his bear-like appearance, delivers a tearful backstory about growing up as different in an orphanage. He was eventually sent to live with his uncle, who farmed Bruin out to a carnival as a sideshow attraction. Unfortunately, Bruin’s speech takes a turn when it becomes apparent he intended to dissuade Havok from participating in X-Factor, opening Havok’s eyes to the fact that the meeting was an intervention on his behalf.
Here, again, is where Russell’s script gets into trouble for a number of reasons. Bruin is depicted as a bear-like child in an orphanage when mutant powers don’t manifest until puberty. The mutant who answers the door is a man with a hand for a head, and his name is Manuel. Manuel doesn’t make any living sense, and it appears to be Russell’s hand-fisted attempt at a joke (Manuel => Mano => Spanish for “Hand” Oy!) Lastly, Polaris knows how strongly Havok feels about doing good from within the system, so why on Earth would she betray his trust with an ambush? It’s an out-of-character move that you could see turning out badly from ten miles away, so the potential for interpersonal drama that feels natural and complex is squandered with a bad script choice.
The issue ends with a “peaceful” mutant gathering calling forth their armed guard squad, X-Factor arriving to save the day, and a couple divided.
Overall, X-Factor #2 fails because it doesn’t know what it wants to be and doesn’t have a point. Is it satire or drama? You can do both, but not when the themes contradict each other’s tone and vibe. Where is this series headed? If, after two issues, a reader still doesn’t know why a series exists, Marvel missed the mark entirely.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Final Thoughts
X-Factor #2 is so very, very tiresome. Mark Russell can’t decide if this series is supposed to be witty satire or serious drama, a superhero comic or a deep treatise on the “human” condition, a tragic love story or a slapstick comedy. With little action or purposeful direction, this comic doesn’t know what it wants to be or why it exists other than to fill shelf space.
4/10
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