‘X-Factor’ Tackles Fame, Fortune, Fear & Hatred In August
by Tony Thornley
Marvel’s X-Men From The Ashes relaunch continues to roll out with the latest announcement. As the rest of mutantkind finds themselves hated and feared, X-Factor has arrived to show the world that there’s nothing to fear from the government’s own team of mutants.
Created by Mark Russell and Bob Quinn, the series will show Angel and Havok leading a new team that’s one part government strike force, one part propaganda machine. The duo are joined by Pyro, Feral and Frenzy, with more to come. X-Factor will explore the new status quo while battling new emerging factions like the Mutant Underground and X-Term.
“The thing I’ve always loved about the X-Men is that they’re characters first, Super Heroes second,” Russell shared. “So being able to write characters like Havok and Angel and Frenzy in a post-Krakoa reality is an opportunity to write about what I really care about, which is how do we help each other survive the apathy of the world we live in?”
“It’s so exciting to be back and drawing mutants in the X-Men universe again, and doubly exciting to work with Mark again,” Quinn added. “To my mind, Mark’s mix of humor and ability to shine a light on the peculiarities of modern society make him the perfect writer to tackle the relaunch of X-FACTOR. Drawing this team and every unexpected twist and turn of the story has been a blast so far, and I can’t wait for readers to get their hands on it.”
The concept is interesting- a mix of the original X-Factor and its second government sponsored incarnation, with a little bit of Freedom Force mixed in there for good measure. I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve read by Russell, but the idea of an ongoing superhero book from him has me just a little skeptical. We’ll definitely see how it goes.
Check out the main cover from X-Factor #1 from Greg Land above and watch for the series in August from Marvel Comics.
