Review: X-Factor #218
Peter David is absolutely one of my favorite writers in comics at the moment and X-Factor has been a consistently entertaining book for years now. It's one of the books I'm most excited to see show up in my bag: like, bounce up and down and make squeeeee noises levels of excited.
Issue #217 was well outside of what one might expect of an action-y comic such as this but it was absolutely classic Peter David: that mix of retro soliloquy and modern sensibility that leads iconic characters to remind us that when the present was still the future it was supposed to be a lot more interesting and advanced than it is. Throw in that great scene of Monet taking on the protesters to remind them that plenty of Muslims are on their side, too, and it became about as fun as a soapbox comic can get.
It was pretty into that soapbox, though, and that made the surprise ending all the more shocking. Peter David didn't just use it to present another great progressive perspective on recent events; he let the delivery of that perspective lull us into reading for ideas instead of actions and then, blam (literally), he pulled a fast one and hit us with a cliffhanger.
So what about #218? I only care about two things in that whole issue - just two! - and one of them is as spoilery as it gets but it's all I've got room in my brain to think about.
Read on for what that is!
First off, hot damn for Marvel and Peter David wearing that GLAAD Media Award loud and proud right there on the title page. It was sweet of him to tease us with the notion that Shatterstar and Rictor have nothing to say because they're too busy celebrating; I suppose it's too much to hope that they'd show us that. Ah, well. Still, there was a time when I imagine a mainstream title could have won that award and then tried to act like it never happened and instead, there it is for everyone to see and hear about. Nice.
What's the other thing I care about? That last shot of Layla hiding in the shadows after Strong Guy comes back from the dead. Oh, Peter David, no. No! I gasped aloud when I saw her back there because anyone who's read this comic for a while knows what that means: Layla brought him back to life using her real mutant power: to return a dead body back to life but without its soul. We found that out in #50, when Layla brought back Fitzroy and confessed that doing so was probably what turned him into a villain.
So... what happens to Strong Guy now? Bless him, the character's always been about as complicated as Cliff's Notes for Pat The Bunny. I mean, the guy's deal is that he gets bigger when he gets hit and he's got so much heart that it's too much. I can't imagine him as a villain. His sweet joviality is a lot of why he's such a useful proxy for readers to understand prejudice: we've gotten to see him deal with Shatterstar's sexuality, Rictor's sexuality, their relationship and Monet's religion. In the case of the latter I find it particularly touching: transparently in love with someone who may or may not have feelings for him but whose own inner life is pretty much a mystery to him. You have to love a puppy dog and Guido is the biggest puppy dog ever.
Are they trying to tell me he has no soul now? Oh, Peter David, you wicked, wicked man. Honestly, I get a little misty just thinking about it and all that does is confirm how very good David is at telling a story that's affecting and effective.
Of course, there may be other explanations. Guido isn't necessarily doomed! Maybe Layla doesn't understand her own power! Maybe Layla didn't bring him back? Maybe she grabbed the crash cart and brought him back some more conventional way and then hid because she didn't want Jamie to think she used her real powers and robbed Strong Guy of his soul! Maybe... maybe she... maybe? I hope. Oh, do I ever hope.
The part of it that I really don't want to think about? When Jamie found out Layla's real power, and they time-travelled back to the present, that was issue #50 or #200, something like that, and Layla said that Jamie would find out the real reason Crazy Senile Future Dr. Doom sent them back "in a couple of years." It's been a couple of years.
Did Doom send them back to turn Strong Guy into a sociopath?
Oh, Peter David, you horrible bastard; you wonderful writer.
Klarion
Posted to Comic of the Week, Comics, Review on 5 May 2011
· Comments (5)
Other stuff like this: GLAAD Media Awards, Marvel, Monet, Peter David, Rictor, Shatterstar, Strong Guy, X-Factor
My mind was engaged in all kinds of (well, is there a word for it?) over Rictor and Shatterstar "celebrating". ;P
As to Guido, I kept thinking, well, Layla "knows stuff"' so maybe she knows somehow that a soul-less Guido will be a net positive for everyone. But it also occurs to me that from the first issue of this volume of X-Factor, Peter David has laid down intriguing plot threads, some of which he never returns to ... and some of which it takes him months to return to. What makes X-Factor enjoyable reading for me is knowing that there are curve balls coming but never knowing what they'll be or when he'll pitch them.
Great fun, this book. I'll be reading until it cancels, which will hopefully be NEVER.
I think the phrase you're looking for is "excellent fantasy." ;)
I was wondering the same thing: that perhaps Layla did this because she knows that in the long run a soulless Guido is somehow necessary. Still, he's got me scared. Guido without a soul! It's like a rainbow without color or a car without tires or a Pride march without drag queens. On the upside, a sociopath Strong Guy stands a significantly better chance of doing everyone a favor by pushing Rahne under a truck.
David is absolutely the master of narrative juggling. He is too good at this. I will absolutely keep reading until I can't. I think it would be the last thing from which I would unsubscribe.
Oh man, I was hoping that you would write about this issue. That last scene was just horrible if it means what we're supposed to think it means. I'm still shocked by it all, but I PAD knows how to tell a story as well as anyone, and one way or another I'm going to enjoy it.
I've been trying to think of what to say for weeks but I couldn't think of anything beyond STRONG GUY! NOOOOO! Eventually I figured out that's what I should say.
...your text for the image now has me envisioning Guido in C&B torture scenes and what would happen. Why did my mind go there?? *facepalm*