X-Factor vol. 12: Hard Labor

If it hasn’t quite worked its way back to being “The X-book for people who don’t like ‘X-Men,’” this latest volume of “X-Factor” at least delivers a more consistent standard of quality than most other superhero books out there.  Peter David’s character-driven approach to the title has sustained it for over seventy issues now and when he wants to devote a few issues to stock-taking, a bizzaro western pastiche, and a demonic vampire spirit from Africa, that usually turns out to be a good thing more often than not.  This has never been a series to focus on visceral action, as all of the drama comes from things like seeing former mutant Rictor coming to terms with the fact that Rhane, his pregnant mutant ex-girlfriend, told him that the kid was his in order to save his soul.  Okay, maybe it sounds a little ridiculous when I write it out like that, but it’s still treated with just enough realism to be involving.  More successful is Jamie Madrox and Layla Miller’s back-and-forth, will-they-or-won’t-they banter while they investigate a vampire-related slaying.

All of this is just a prelude to the book’s main story, when Mayor of New York J. Jonah Jameson hires X-Factor Investigations to look into the death of his friend.  This friend happened to be a general, and the superpowered woman who killed him is now gunning for Jameson himself.  Though the story is a fairly routine tale of secret military projects gone wrong, the writing elevates it as we get a wealth of meaningful character moments and drama as one of the team faces a life-threatening experience.  It’s also fun to see the cast interact with Jameson, and David writes the man well — even when he’s using him as a mouthpiece.  So you have all this, and strong art from regular contributor Valentine De Landro, and newcomer Emanuela Lupacchino, and it all adds up to another volume in the “win” column.