X-Factor vol. 11: Happenings in Vegas
Long time readers will know that I like Peter David’s “X-Factor” a great deal. In fact, the first six volumes of his current run are comics that I’d recommend to people who generally aren’t interested in the “X-Men” franchise. That hasn’t been the case for a while now, but David still knows how to write a fun comic in any circumstance. Even when you get the feeling that he’s been given the mandate to “write something involving Thor to tie-in with the upcoming movie.”
A tall, elegant lady with a body that was eighty percent legs and one-hundred percent trouble walks into X-Factor Investigations one day and asks Jamie Madrox to find a man and the trinket he stole from her. Not one to resist such an obviously noir femme fatale, Madrox and co. spring into action… only to find out that this lady is Hela, the Norse god of death (it’s not a spoiler, you can find this out on the back cover). She’s hired them to find Pip the Troll for her so he can fulfill his role as her jester due to the deal they struck. Not wanting to have the troll’s eternal torment on his conscience, Madrox takes his team out to Hela’s headquarters — Las Vegas.
There’s a lot to like about this volume. Simple things like Monet’s cleverness at outwitting Baron Mordo in the opening chapter, and Layla’s clever timing with a pillow and sheet. You’ve also got the “why hasn’t anyone done this before” appeal of seeing Longshot use his luck powers to win big in Vegas. We also get to see some interesting developments in Rictor and Shatterstar’s relationship when a very pregnant Rhane Sinclaire (a.k.a. Wolfsbane) shows up in their apartment. Shatterstar then proceeds to give the reader a crash course in what NOT to say to an agitated, pregnant, shapeshifting mutant.
It’s a good thing that there are all of these other diversions, including a one-issue break where Rictor and Rhane go to get their baby checked out and David sets up some future subplots, because the main story isn’t that interesting by itself. I’ll admit that this kind of story is better suited for the title, as opposed to vol. 9’s “Inivisible Woman Has Vanished” which felt more like a “Fantastic Four” arc, but it’s still pretty straightforward. Madrox gets Pip captured by Hela. The team goes to Vegas. They fight zombie Vikings. Thor shows up. Then they bring the fight to Hela. The end. It really just serves as a hanger for all of the interesting bits I mentioned above. That’s not really a bad thing, but I’ll keep hoping for an “X-Factor” storyline to be as interesting as its characters.
The ending also suffers a bit from the feeling that David had to wrap things up quick. It’s almost as if he didn’t realize he was running out of pages while he was writing it. His method of resolution also manages the difficult feat of stretching the boundaries of believability… which is impressive for a story that involves zombie vikings. Without getting into specifics, it involves the use of Darwin’s powers in a way that while creative, should’ve killed him outright. Evolution doesn’t work quite this way, the last I checked. The volume ends on a note indicating that what happened to Darwin will have repercussions, so maybe we’ll get a better explanation then.
It pains me to give the standard, “if you liked the previous volumes, then you’ll like this” recommendation… but I’m going to have to cop out and do it here. I will say that after eleven volumes you’d think that diminishing returns would be setting in, but that’s not the case. “Happenings in Vegas” isn’t a true return to form, but it does represent an uptick in quality. I would’ve liked more, but this is good enough for now.