X-Factor #26 Review

X-FACTOR #26
Written by Peter David
Art by Scot Eaton

Messiah Complex was finally moving along at a decent pace and this issue put a halt to all that. I assume it's because it's not a "main" X-title and Marvel didn't want anything major happening outside of X-Men or Uncanny. In it's own way, it's very similar to the Return of Ra's storyline over in the Bat-titles that features the equivilent of filler in everything but Batman and Detective.

This chapter of the Messiah Complex is the debut of X-Force. I don't mind a new team being created, but it feels like they were simply made and put in this story for the sake of plugging the new book. Also, I thought they were going to be a covert, top secret team that no one knew about. Apparently, everyone and their mother knows about it in this issue.

As for what happens this issue, X-Force heads back to the hospital where the baby was born and search for more clues about Cable now that they know what to look for. That's about all they do this issue. We also get some glimpses of Cable fighting Lady Deathstrike and her lackeys while protecting the baby and Predator X eats another no-name mutant.

Oh ya, this is an X-Factor book, isn't it? Jamie and Layla actually show up in it for a couple pages. They try to find out what caused the mutant internment camps, but end up getting captured after finding out that a mutant caused all this. No names were given and it was all pretty vague and uninformative. I'm still not sure what this future really has to do with anything. Did the baby end up causing all this? What about that other future the other dupe went to? That has no baring on this storyline?

One final complaint before I go. I really dislike the new characterization of Cyclops. I'm in the mindset of Xavier wondering what the heck is wrong with him and why Scott would condone a killing task force against his own son who has basically saved the 'savior' of the mutant race when the X-Men completely failed. Why isn't he trying to help him first before sending a kill squad in? This doesn't read like any Scott Summers I know. Yes, he's the new leader of X-Men and no longer cow-tows to Xavier's every whim, but he didn't act like this.

Verdict - Check It. Despite the overly negative review, it was still a decent chapter of Messiah Complex. It kind of ruins the momentum of the event with this sluggish, nothing-happens issue, but the Cable and Jaime/Layla stuff was good.

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