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fandomhigh_ooc2007-04-29 01:30 pm
multi-madrox.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh_ooc2007-04-29 01:30 pm
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Spotlight on: X-Factor
Please excuse this interruption of Wee Tiny Weekend to bring you some not so tiny information.
Behold the personally skewed info-dump of this week's spotlight on "X-Factor"!
What is X-factor you ask? Well the first question you should ask is "Which version of X-factor are you talking about?"
X-Factor: Version 1 (Spoilers Ahoy)
A long time ago there was a version of X-men that did not (GASP) have a Wolverine. They were the original X-men and had a very long run until the powers that be at Marvel brought in a new bunch of muties who were more international and ethnically diverse that the original group.
One by one the original group went their way and either died, left the team for other super teams or became an accountant. Eventually the fans said "Hey! We want the original team back!" And then Marvel said "Okay! But one of them is dead and we can't call them X-men. Hmm... I know! We'll call them X-factor and bring that dead girl back. What's her name? Oh yeah. Jean Grey."
So in one of the bigger retcons of Marvel history, The Fantastic Four and the Avengers find the original Jean Grey in some sort of weird cocoon at the bottom of Jamica Bay and from there the beginnings of X-Factor were born.
The lineup included:
Cyclops: Who left his wife who looked exactly like Jean Grey and his son Nathan to go back to New York because his long dead girlfriend was back and alive. Of course later on his ex-wife became the Goblin Queen and his son was sent to the future to become Cable because Marvel always has the most cracktastic plots ever. Oh. He also shoots powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes and was the leader of both X-Factor and X-men.
Jean "I Was Never the Phoenix" Grey: a.k.a Marvel Girl. Back from her suspended animation and having never been Phoenix, Jean had to deal with a freaked out Scott who was in love with someone pretending to be her and the fact that she had the worst bed-head ever after ten or so years.
Iceman: Bobby was still Bobby. The comic relief with the occasional angst storyline to keep him real. By all rights he should really be pissed at Loki.
Angel: Still the millionaire heir with wings. Eventually he lost his millions, lost his wings and committed suicide. Of course he was rescued by Apocalypse, turned into Death with blue skin and bio-mechanical wings and then through the love of friendship turned against Apocalypse and became Archangel.
Beast: Who went from Furry to Non-Furry and back to Furry again because, again, Marvel has the most cracktastic plots ever.
The team spent the first half of their series pretending to be "Mutant Hunters" who would rescue and train the mutants the were supposed to hunt. After they were exposed they became yet another mutant superhero team. Eventually the powers that be decided that all the X-men should just be brought back into the X-men. Of course now they had an X-Title and no team. What to do. What to do.
Then along came Peter David.
X-Factor Version 2: Not your Father's X-men (And I pretty much copy Wiki because I need to get this up and posted)
Rather than end the series, Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Stroman to recreate X-Factor with new members, all of whom were already allies of the X-Men. The new X-Factor worked for the Pentagon making them the only salaried mutant team. Their relationship with their benefactors was often strained and complicated. The new X-Factor, debuting in issue #71, included:
Havok: a former X-Man and brother of Cyclops who could generate powerful "plasma blasts." Havok served as X-Factor's leader. He also had the best hair and the puffiest uniform ever. (I blame Liefield)
Polaris: Havok's longtime lover and also a former X-Man who could control magnetism.
Wolfsbane: a Scottish former New Mutant who could transform into a wolf-like creature.
Multiple Man: who could create duplicates of himself on physical impact.
Strong Guy: a wise-cracking character (who lived in constant pain. Woe) who could rechannel kinetic energy aimed at him, transforming it into muscular mass.
Quicksilver: a long-running Avengers character and former foe of the X-Men, who possessed super speed and a difficult temperament. He also had a puffy uniform at one time
Valerie Cooper: X-Factor's government liaison
Although X-Factor was not as flashy or wildly popular as other X-Books, it was pretty cool in that it fleshed out a lot of characters and took them in directions you didn't expect.
This all ended after Jamie Madrox was supposedly killed after trying to be cured by the legacy virus, Strong Guy had a heart attack and Havok supposedly became a bad guy.
Then the team morphed again and included a reformed Sabretooth, Wild Child, Mystique, Shard and Forge.
In 1997, Marvel attempted yet another revival. After various stories focusing on individual characters, a new team was gathered consisting of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Shard and several other members of the X.S.E.; Fixx, Archer and Greystone; brought to the 20th Century. But this version of the team was disbanded the issue they debuted. In that issue, #149 (1998), Greystone built a time machine meant to take him and his compatriots back to the future. However, the device exploded, killing Greystone and apparently Havok. Afterwards, X-Factor disbanded.
In fact, the time machine transported Havok to a parallel world, populated by twisted versions of Marvel characters. He explored this strange world in the series Mutant X, which lasted from 1998 until 2001. Although Marvel planned to revive X-Factor after Mutant X ended but this never happened.
So what happened then?
Hello Peter David! We got a job for you!
No! It's not X-factor! But it has Jamie Madrox, Guido and Rahne!
In 2004 Peter wrote a mini-series about Jamie Madrox. It shows Madrox working as a private detective in the "Mutant Town" area of New York, along with former X-Factor teammates Wolfsbane and Strong Guy. It also reveals that he has sent "dupes" out to lead alternate lives, occasionally returning to give Jamie new skills and abilities.
One of these dupes shows up on the agency's doorstep with a lethal wound and almost dies right before Jamie absorbs him. The rest of the series dealt with Jamie tracking down the person who was killing his duplicates and Rahne and Strong Guy doing some small jobs in Mutant town. The mini-series was such a succes that...
X-Factor #3: Now we're a detective Agency! (More Spoilers!)
Originally The agency was named XXX Investigations, but everone thought that it sounded like they were investigating pornography. So instead they went back to their old name and added "Investigations" at the end of it. (Awww.)
Following the House of M, Madrox newfound wealth from winning a Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style gameshow allowed him to recruit several of his former colleagues of the Paris branch of the now defunct X-Corporation.
This new team up includes:
Jamie Madrox: Of course.
Wolfsbane: Now with less Scottish accent depending on who is writing her.
Strong Guy: Still Guido. Still strong. Still in pain but always the class clown.
Siyrn: Banshee's daughter and former girlfriend of one of Madrox's dupes
Rictor: Who used to be able to create earthquakes but is now powerless. Woe.
Monet St. Croix: She can fly, is invulnerable, has enhanced senses, agility, super strength and is a telepath but I think her real mutant power is to act stuck up.
Layla Miller: Once a plot device for House of M, Layla is now a very creepy girl who knows stuff. You don't want to mess with her.
Quicksilver is also around but he's mostly there to annoy X-factor.And is possibly sleeping with Rictor. Don't tell Shatterstar.
Peter David put a noir spin on the mutant series and has dealt with the Jamie Madrox as the central character. The new series spins directly out of House of M and the first year of the series deals with the attempt by the group to unravel the truth behind the decimation.
Jamie currently is on a mission to reacquire and reabsorb the scattered "dupes" (duplicates) of himself while dealing with a terrorist group of former mutants who think the government is to blame for their depowering.
Why should you read it? BECAUSE IT'S FREAKING AWESOME!
Where can I find it? Amazon has some TPB and if you want the good stuff you should head to your comic book store.
I now return you to your Wee Tiny Weekend already in progress.
Behold the personally skewed info-dump of this week's spotlight on "X-Factor"!
What is X-factor you ask? Well the first question you should ask is "Which version of X-factor are you talking about?"
X-Factor: Version 1 (Spoilers Ahoy)
A long time ago there was a version of X-men that did not (GASP) have a Wolverine. They were the original X-men and had a very long run until the powers that be at Marvel brought in a new bunch of muties who were more international and ethnically diverse that the original group.
One by one the original group went their way and either died, left the team for other super teams or became an accountant. Eventually the fans said "Hey! We want the original team back!" And then Marvel said "Okay! But one of them is dead and we can't call them X-men. Hmm... I know! We'll call them X-factor and bring that dead girl back. What's her name? Oh yeah. Jean Grey."
So in one of the bigger retcons of Marvel history, The Fantastic Four and the Avengers find the original Jean Grey in some sort of weird cocoon at the bottom of Jamica Bay and from there the beginnings of X-Factor were born.
The lineup included:
Cyclops: Who left his wife who looked exactly like Jean Grey and his son Nathan to go back to New York because his long dead girlfriend was back and alive. Of course later on his ex-wife became the Goblin Queen and his son was sent to the future to become Cable because Marvel always has the most cracktastic plots ever. Oh. He also shoots powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes and was the leader of both X-Factor and X-men.
Jean "I Was Never the Phoenix" Grey: a.k.a Marvel Girl. Back from her suspended animation and having never been Phoenix, Jean had to deal with a freaked out Scott who was in love with someone pretending to be her and the fact that she had the worst bed-head ever after ten or so years.
Iceman: Bobby was still Bobby. The comic relief with the occasional angst storyline to keep him real. By all rights he should really be pissed at Loki.
Angel: Still the millionaire heir with wings. Eventually he lost his millions, lost his wings and committed suicide. Of course he was rescued by Apocalypse, turned into Death with blue skin and bio-mechanical wings and then through the love of friendship turned against Apocalypse and became Archangel.
Beast: Who went from Furry to Non-Furry and back to Furry again because, again, Marvel has the most cracktastic plots ever.
The team spent the first half of their series pretending to be "Mutant Hunters" who would rescue and train the mutants the were supposed to hunt. After they were exposed they became yet another mutant superhero team. Eventually the powers that be decided that all the X-men should just be brought back into the X-men. Of course now they had an X-Title and no team. What to do. What to do.
Then along came Peter David.
X-Factor Version 2: Not your Father's X-men (And I pretty much copy Wiki because I need to get this up and posted)
Rather than end the series, Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Stroman to recreate X-Factor with new members, all of whom were already allies of the X-Men. The new X-Factor worked for the Pentagon making them the only salaried mutant team. Their relationship with their benefactors was often strained and complicated. The new X-Factor, debuting in issue #71, included:
Havok: a former X-Man and brother of Cyclops who could generate powerful "plasma blasts." Havok served as X-Factor's leader. He also had the best hair and the puffiest uniform ever. (I blame Liefield)
Polaris: Havok's longtime lover and also a former X-Man who could control magnetism.
Wolfsbane: a Scottish former New Mutant who could transform into a wolf-like creature.
Multiple Man: who could create duplicates of himself on physical impact.
Strong Guy: a wise-cracking character (who lived in constant pain. Woe) who could rechannel kinetic energy aimed at him, transforming it into muscular mass.
Quicksilver: a long-running Avengers character and former foe of the X-Men, who possessed super speed and a difficult temperament. He also had a puffy uniform at one time
Valerie Cooper: X-Factor's government liaison
Although X-Factor was not as flashy or wildly popular as other X-Books, it was pretty cool in that it fleshed out a lot of characters and took them in directions you didn't expect.
This all ended after Jamie Madrox was supposedly killed after trying to be cured by the legacy virus, Strong Guy had a heart attack and Havok supposedly became a bad guy.
Then the team morphed again and included a reformed Sabretooth, Wild Child, Mystique, Shard and Forge.
In 1997, Marvel attempted yet another revival. After various stories focusing on individual characters, a new team was gathered consisting of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Shard and several other members of the X.S.E.; Fixx, Archer and Greystone; brought to the 20th Century. But this version of the team was disbanded the issue they debuted. In that issue, #149 (1998), Greystone built a time machine meant to take him and his compatriots back to the future. However, the device exploded, killing Greystone and apparently Havok. Afterwards, X-Factor disbanded.
In fact, the time machine transported Havok to a parallel world, populated by twisted versions of Marvel characters. He explored this strange world in the series Mutant X, which lasted from 1998 until 2001. Although Marvel planned to revive X-Factor after Mutant X ended but this never happened.
So what happened then?
Hello Peter David! We got a job for you!
No! It's not X-factor! But it has Jamie Madrox, Guido and Rahne!
In 2004 Peter wrote a mini-series about Jamie Madrox. It shows Madrox working as a private detective in the "Mutant Town" area of New York, along with former X-Factor teammates Wolfsbane and Strong Guy. It also reveals that he has sent "dupes" out to lead alternate lives, occasionally returning to give Jamie new skills and abilities.
One of these dupes shows up on the agency's doorstep with a lethal wound and almost dies right before Jamie absorbs him. The rest of the series dealt with Jamie tracking down the person who was killing his duplicates and Rahne and Strong Guy doing some small jobs in Mutant town. The mini-series was such a succes that...
X-Factor #3: Now we're a detective Agency! (More Spoilers!)
Originally The agency was named XXX Investigations, but everone thought that it sounded like they were investigating pornography. So instead they went back to their old name and added "Investigations" at the end of it. (Awww.)
Following the House of M, Madrox newfound wealth from winning a Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style gameshow allowed him to recruit several of his former colleagues of the Paris branch of the now defunct X-Corporation.
This new team up includes:
Jamie Madrox: Of course.
Wolfsbane: Now with less Scottish accent depending on who is writing her.
Strong Guy: Still Guido. Still strong. Still in pain but always the class clown.
Siyrn: Banshee's daughter and former girlfriend of one of Madrox's dupes
Rictor: Who used to be able to create earthquakes but is now powerless. Woe.
Monet St. Croix: She can fly, is invulnerable, has enhanced senses, agility, super strength and is a telepath but I think her real mutant power is to act stuck up.
Layla Miller: Once a plot device for House of M, Layla is now a very creepy girl who knows stuff. You don't want to mess with her.
Quicksilver is also around but he's mostly there to annoy X-factor.
Peter David put a noir spin on the mutant series and has dealt with the Jamie Madrox as the central character. The new series spins directly out of House of M and the first year of the series deals with the attempt by the group to unravel the truth behind the decimation.
Jamie currently is on a mission to reacquire and reabsorb the scattered "dupes" (duplicates) of himself while dealing with a terrorist group of former mutants who think the government is to blame for their depowering.
Why should you read it? BECAUSE IT'S FREAKING AWESOME!
Where can I find it? Amazon has some TPB and if you want the good stuff you should head to your comic book store.
I now return you to your Wee Tiny Weekend already in progress.
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Woooooo!
Just had to share that. . . .
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We all did.
It's okay. You can admit it to us. We're your friends.
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Alas, it was not until later that I realized that Jamie was much more interesting. I blame the extraordinarily goofy looking costume.
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Again... I blame Liefield.
I blame him for a lot really. :)
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Clearly Liefield's fault!
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Without Liefield there would be no Deadpool.
And that would be a sad sad world.
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And then you brought up Shatterstar.
When that gag was originally done in the comic, it was one of those moments where I actually had to put the comic down until I stopped laughing. PAD is good at doing that to me.
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I adore PAD.
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