PETER DAVID ON X-FACTOR AND RE-X-AMINATIONS

[MattBrady]

Most X-fans probably missed it.

While your more typical X-Men were traipsing around in Shi-ar space, or fighting the Children of the Vault, over in X-Factor, Peter David quietly, but fundamentally shifted the placement of mutants in the evolutionary tree.

As the head of Singularity Investigations, Damian Tryp explained, there were mutants before there were mutants. Well, before the current crop of Homo superior that everyone likes to make a fuss about.

These “mutants” that preceded the contemporary versions were a rung down on the evolutionary ladder. As Tryp said:

“’Homo superior did not spring into existence overnight. Before them, there were beings like Jamie [Madrox]. Like myself. ‘Changelings.’ ‘Replacement people.’ ‘Killcrops…’ That’s my favorite. We were blamed for poor harvests. Heh”

As Tryp explained, these creatures possessed varied powers, almost as if nature was giving things a test run before it really hunkered down and got serious with Homo superior. As further explained by Tryp, every now and then, a “Homo killcrop” shows up – birthed of normal parents, and most often mistaken for a mutant. Those “mutants” – like Jamie Madrox – who have had their powers since birth, rather than gaining them at adolescence? They just might be one of these evolutionary throwbacks.

Think of them as the “Titans” of myth to the mutant “Gods.”

“Basically the notion stemmed from the scientific tendency to keep reclassifying dinosaurs,” David explained when asked where this all came from. “They find a skeleton with small variations from a known species and they immediately say, ‘These variations mean that this is a different species altogether.’ Pondering Jamie's origins, I was struck by the notion that one of the major aspects of mutants is that the powers manifest when they become adolescents. Indeed, this trait has become one of the major thematic underpinnings of the whole mutant concept: That the transition in adolescence is symbolic of teens having to cope with the hardships of growing up or--depending who you talk to--that becoming a teen, realizing that you're a mutant and thus have to cope with a society that may despise you for it is analogous to becoming a teen, ‘realizing’ you're gay and experiencing that same notion of being hated for what you are.

To me it's so tied in with adolescence that, in pondering Jamie's origins, the fact that he manifested his power at birth leaped out at me. I thought, ‘If having small variations in skeletal structure result in a different species of dinosaur, shouldn't it be that having a major variation in the normal presentation of mutant powers be a different species as well?’ But the notion of simply having it be an offshoot branch of homo superior wasn't interesting to me. Then I considered the notion of having it play into evolution: That once upon a time, powers always manifested at birth. The result was that the children were typically killed, presumed to be demonspawn and such. It explained to my satisfaction why it was that there were so few individuals born with powers prior to the 20th Century, beyond the notion of ‘Oh, well it's because of radiation.’ The race that we call Homo superior didn't show up out of nowhere; evolution doesn't work that way. They should up after uncounted centuries of natural selection in which the ones born with powers didn't survive, and the ones whose powers manifested when they were older and could protect themselves did.

“So does that mean that Jamie was never a Homo superior? That perhaps others, such as Nightcrawler, aren't either? Maybe. We'll see how it plays out.”

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, X-fans.

No really – think of the implications…an entire other race of mutant-type beings out there, perhaps hidden and living among us, like Tryp. Pepper in some strife…perhaps more like Tryp seeking out and collecting others like himself (issue #11) strongly implied that Tryp created the tornado that killed Madrox’s parents). Suddenly, the story ideas just start coming out of the woodwork, no? And not little stories. Whole, big-picture, “You’ve ignored your cousins the apes for too long, and now they’re here to kick your ass” type stories, huh?

Actually…next summer’s big crossover event…

Won’t really have anything to do with this. The element was just something David put into X-Factor as he said, because it seemed to fit.

“I think fans are conditioned to think that, if stories aren't accompanied by multiple covers, huge advertising campaigns and sweeping crossovers - all the things they claim they hate but nevertheless respond to - then the subject matter is incidental and can be safely overlooked,” David said, noting that the bulk of X-Men fans probably missed the development entirely. “Many will ignore a book until they're literally forced to read it. You have no idea how many postings I saw after the Civil War tie-ins of fans saying, ‘I never read X-Factor until now; is the book always this good?’ and the regulars would immediately pipe in with, ‘Yup.’”

Oh, and one other little bombshell that was dropped in - if you’ve been looking for the period at the end of the sentence that was “Decimation,” it was here. Basically, as Tryp explained to the mutants, Decimation was something that had to happen and has to stick, otherwise, well, the picture of the future if the mutants regained their powers sure made it look like nowhere that you wanted to visit anytime soon.

“Of course, our heroes now have to wrestle with the notion of whether that's really true,” David said. “For that matter, what if they restore everyone's powers but then take the lead in trying to make the future turn out differently even though the mutants are fully empowered again?”

So – kind of long-winded spiel about why you should be reading X-Factor over, next month’s issue, “Re-X-aminations” (#13) doesn’t play with “Homo killcrop” at all, really – it’s a sequel of sorts, separated from its first part by 13 years (yes, we checked the math), and featuring the X-Factor team all being analyzed by Doctor Leonard Samson, psychiatrist to the super-powered folks of the Marvel Universe.

The “first part,” if you want to call it that, happened in X-Factor #87 written by David and drawn by young star on the rise, Joe Quesada (this his cover for issue #13 up top, by the way).

So what was that story about?

“About twenty two pages. Ba DUM bum. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waitress.”

Alrigtht, better yet – why was there a need for “couch time” among the team members of that iteration?

“I was getting a little frustrated by fan perception that the characters were flat, one-dimensional and such,” David said. “See, here's the thing: In those days, fans had become accustomed to the way Chris [Claremont] wrote the mutant characters. There was tons of expository thought balloons where they would be laying out every single thing that was running through their heads. Basically, Chris spoon fed the fans the characterization--very effectively, I might add, obviously, judging by fan reaction and sales--and that's what they became used to. My writing style was different. I preferred to have them display their characterization purely through action and dialogue rather than lengthy self-reflection. But fans didn't get that. They wanted everything spelled out, just like they were used to, and because I wasn't doing that, they just assumed the characters had no depth.

“Deciding something needed to be done, I hit on the notion that--since they were a government team--it made sense for the government to insist they go in for a psychiatric consult after a particularly traumatic encounter. That way I could have an entire issue where the team members did nothing but talk about themselves. I could spell out for the fans all the characterization that was abundantly clear to me but apparently wasn't getting through to the readers. I could do it once, never have to deal with it again, and the fans would know where my guys were coming from that point on.”

And why revisit the story approach now? Surely, after 12 issues, there’s not one regular reader that thinks the members of X-factor lack depth…

So blame a (then) kid who picked up the issue and thought it was cool. Thing is, this fan’s name also appears with David’s in the credit box.

“[X-Factor editor] Andy Schmidt suggested it, actually,” David said. “No different from any other fan of my first run, Andy cited that issue as his favorite, and thought it would be a cool idea to do the exact same thing for the new team as we'd done for the old. I'd like to think I'm a better writer now than I was then, and have done a better job at getting the characterization across through show, don't tell. Nevertheless, I figured that Andy was right and it wouldn't hurt to have an issue where the characters ponder themselves. Plus having it occur at the end of the first Singularity Investigations arc seemed a good place to take a breather.”

This time, as David explained, the members go at Jamie’s insistence, and, since he’s the boss, they gotta.

“For the original members - Guido, Rahne - he's an old friend. For the new ones, they're basically doing it to humor Jamie, and I very much suspect that Monet would never have indulged Jamie's request if they weren't sleeping together.”

And yes, this time, Quicksilver will also have a session.

“It wouldn't be the same without Quicksilver,” David said. “When X-Factor #87 came out, I was literally flooded with letters - this was back in the days when you actually got paper letters - from fans saying that they'd hated Pietro for decades, and in just a few pages, I'd completely turned them around. Everyone admitted to having been driven nuts standing behind someone who didn't know how to operate an ATM. Curiously, no one ever admitted to being the one who didn't know how to operate an ATM…

“In any event, this time around, Doc takes it upon himself to check in with Quicksilver because he's literally in the area and drops in. And Pietro is happy to talk to him because, well, Pietro is a budding megalomaniac, so he's happy to talk to anyone. My goal the first time around was to make Pietro as sympathetic as possible to readers. This time out, I want him to come across as the most chilling individual in the X-Universe. I want readers to come out of that scene, put the comic down and say, ‘Jeeeeez’ before they can then pick it up and finish it.”

And moving on from there? Well, as regular readers will recall, Jamie Madrox had left one of his duplicates at SHIELD, where he’d become a full-on agent. Thanks to recent events, Jamie’s looking to round up his long external dupes, and that starts with Jamie Madrox, Agent of SHIELD.

“Jamie feels the need to get his act together in every sense of the word, and decides it's time to round up the few stray dupes still out there,” David said. “Plus we're going to have some serious shake ups in group dynamics as a result of ‘Re-X-aminations,’ moreso than when we did X-Factor #87. Plus we're going to see the rise of a radical group of former mutants. Remember how, when AIDS first started, many believed - probably still believe - that it was the result of a secret government plan? Or how some people believe that Bush was secretly behind the attack on the World Trade Center in order to foster his agenda - which, I have to emphasize, even I, as much as I dislike Bush, don't believe for a heartbeat. I thought it would make sense to have a movement among former mutants believing that the government was behind the loss of their powers and they go into guerilla attack mode, which is really going to put X-Factor on the spot. They're supposed to be protecting former mutants, but at the same time, they know the real reason behind M-Day...but now they're worried about the potential ramifications if they go public.”

Oh, and finally, if any of this sounds wonky, or hard to follow, like all Marvel books, X-Factor has those "Previously in X-Factor" pages where everything is made clear – including notes on Peter David daughters’ accomplishments.

“Just trying to make them a little different,” David said. “You know, just like the rest of the book: You never know what's going to happen next.”

[michaelman9]

first post

I just picked up the first HC and am anxious to get the second. Great series by a great writer.

[cookiejar]

great cover...nice to see Joe return to his xfactor roots.

[bossofbam]

god, I love this book...I hope PAD stays on this book for a long long time!

[Darthphere]

Best book Marvel publishes, yeah i said it. BEST.

[Ace]

PAD,

Tell me you're reusing the Mutant Liberation Front name for that group.

And yeah, I'm looking forward to X-Factor 13 at least as much as Seven Soldiers 1 and Planetary 26 (haven't hit the store yet, today), which means, about as much as anything this year.

Matt

[S. Ostrich]

WHOA! I never get first post. And now I see I never will...

I think P David is one the most talented writers in the M. U. Really!!! Ellis is definitely a heavy hitter but i don't think of him as a regular Marvel writer in M.U. proper.

I love everything P David has done. His run on Hulk with the Pantheon was my favorite Hulk run to date. And without a doubt I have never liked Madrox, WOlfsbane or Guido (really don't like Guido)

BUT BUT BUT....P. David has made me an absolute slave for X-Factor. Book is good enough to make you slap your mother for her not reading it.

Go P.D!!! It's ya birthday!!! Well not really but.

Damn The Factor is good reading!

[thefellowship12]

WHOA! I never get first post.

and you didn't this time either

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by bossofbam

god, I love this book...I hope PAD stays on this book for a long long time!

Seconded.

[Ironhorse]

Oh man, this book really rocks, is one of the best in Marvel, I hope PAD stays in this book (and Marvel) for a long time. PAD RULES!!! Peace.

[durkadurka]

X-factor is one of the best books Marvel currently has (and that includes the ultimate line). I never read the Madrox mini, but after the first few issues of X-factor, I kind of had to. The use of a bunch of B-list X-characters is superb, each one becoming a much more interesting character, if not a better super hero (that goes double for Rictor).

Now, as far as this thing with these other "mutants" like Tryp, I was almost expecting it to be related to the Neo. Remember those guys? Enemies of the X-men after the Reload thing or whatever it was called? Remember how the storyline didn't really go anywhere? Yah, those guys (I think some joined Magneto, maybe). While it would have been nice to have some closure to that thing, because stuff like that bugs the hell out of me, this seems like a very interesting concept.

Kudos to the whole team working on this title.

[artiepants]

Awesome of Joe to step in with that cover

X-Factr's been really solid this year, can't wait to read this and the next arc.

[MatthewSmith]

X-Factor is so awesome. It's the only X-Book I read.

And I can't frickin' wait until this next issue comes out.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by S. Ostrich

WHOA! I never get first post. And now I see I never will...

Why do you want one? Will you put it in your curriculum vitae?

[WTF?]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

Best book Marvel publishes, yeah i said it. BEST.

It's true. Right up there with Punisher. Love it to bits but I reckon it should be weekly.

[Kolimar]

Originally Posted by thefellowship12

and you didn't this time either

Heheheh

[WTF?]

Originally Posted by thefellowship12

and you didn't this time either

Well spotted eagle eyes.

[HartyPotter]

You know, I always expect every issue of X-Factor to be good. But it never is. I'm always shocked at how great they are. It's impossible to get used to it.

[Ye Olde Iowa]

I haven't read any of the new X-Factor stuff, but it was a book I thoroughly enjoyed back in the day. I love PAD's stuff, though; and it seems to be getting a great response. How many issues does the first trade cover? I could always pick it up and then play catch up on the issues in-between. That means something has to go off my pull-list though, its getting out of control.

[Sims]

Man, and I thought I was excited about this issue beforehand! Peter does such a damn good job selling this book.

[Spaz_Monkey]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again --
Put PAD in charge of Marvel, and Waid in charge of DC. I guaren-damn-tee you it'll be some of the best work both companies have put out. PAD and Waid 'get' comics and comic fans. Look at the quality work both men have continuously put out over the years, and tell me you'd expect any less of their respective companies if they were in charge.

[Sims]

Originally Posted by Ye Olde Iowa

How many issues does the first trade cover?

The first six.

[M-Stranger]

I picked up the first issue on a whim and instantly got hooked on the series. I can't quite pin down what exactly it was that captivated me about it but there is something about this title that I can't get enough of. Between the writing and the noir-ish art and the unexpected twists, its just a great great book and if you're not reading it you're missing out on something really special.

But then that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[lisiecki2]

first post

thats nice
dose that first post feeling keep you warm at night?

[Scorned1]

If only Peter David is not exclusive to Marvel. He could helped out IDW so much on their Star Trek projects. DAMN YOU MARVEL.