Post by Meriades Rai on May 16, 2016 15:36:33 GMT -5
X-FACTOR #1-3 by David Golightly
Taking a handful of characters - often unrelated and often under-used - and tossing them into a brand new cooking pot is a staple of fanfic, and I always have a soft spot for series like this. David's team is a clever mix of powers and personalities, and sticking at a quartet (plus Havok, if he's going to more of a regular cast member going forward) is just the right number, especially as we're not talking A-listers everyone is already familiar with.
The initial Mesmero storyline serves its purpose, which is to showcase each member of the team in their own way, and I thought the resolution - Daken resisting Mesmero to the extent of causing deliberate brain damage, knowing that his healing factor would restore him - was actually rather clever. The appearance of Corsair and the Brood in issue #3 is then a real curveball, so it'll be interesting to see where the series bounces from hereon. It's the characters, however, who are the big draw.
I don't like comics Daken at all, but he's far more engaging here, mainly because his arrogance has been played down a notch or three. And, again, the denouement of issue #2 gave him a lot of depth. Morph is irritating as hell, but with a hint here and there that his Bat-Mite-ish tendencies hide a more vulnerable side. There's something hugely appealing about Xorn (although I'm sure it's mostly because mysterious masked women with tremendous powers are my definite go-to characters, and she ticks all the boxes for someone I want to learn more about). Cypher is the star, however, at least for me. I think the major developments with his power set, and the way David describes them, are excellent; reminiscent in some ways of David Ellis' stellar work with Batgirl over at DC Omega. Characters with quirky powers can work very well in prose, and Cypher has been nothing less than completely engaging so far.
My one hope going forward is that one-on-one character dynamics continue to be developed. We know that Morph is out to shake Daken's tree and we know that Cypher finds it hard to read Xorn, but there's plenty more potential interplay to work with; Xorn and Daken, for example, don't seem to have bounced off each other just yet, and I can't help but wonder how Morph's shape-shifting will affect how Cypher reads his mannerisms at key times.
Very interesting series, and looking forward to more.