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View Full Version : X-Factor (vol.1): Longest Night TPB (my thoughts)


TheDreamingCelestial
06-29-2008, 07:22 PM
all right than. just finished the first trade. first of all, i was a little disapoointed by the (i guess purposefully) conservative use of madrox duplicates after the first issue.. i hope there'll be more madrox duplicates action in the second arc, a la madrox limited series. madrox seeming a little confused and not knowing what he's doing with this bunch of mutant characters in his investigation office is kinda nice too.. but i think his army of duplicates should have really given the singularity bastard a hard beat up. so what if he gave him a scare, man? they could have pretended that they were all jogging in the opposite direction and bump along while they passed along.. i mean, an army of joggers could easily miss a single man, no?

i so love monet, her cool and distant posture and uber powerfulness, smugness etc. is so lovely. but, i think her reasons for staying there should be examined more deeply. i think she is also afraid of what's going post m-day so she moved in without admitting that fear (though i guess she was technically with them before the m-day, no?)

layla is not a little bit cool too, though i did not like the final issue with the stuff she pulled at the orphanage that much, it was kind of a predictable scenario along with rictor's doubts too.. some creepy remarks from her are chilling though.. so is the butterfly flying at the end.. i know, i know, nothing is what it seems..

the singularity stuff (the inside goings on) are the most interesting for me.. i get a wolfram and hart wibe to them :) and the man from future whom we had a glimpse is what i really want to see the story jump straight into..

guido's fondness of layla is so nice. it's so like him to take a caring approach to those who seem smaller around him. i like how he is close with rahne too.. i love me some whiney rictor too.. he is so hot.. yumss. i hope he hooks up with a duplicate of jamie's :)

i like some of the sub text and also the humor btw. jamie and various people in the x-factor investigations, the mis-communications and really the inexperience and messes that they got up in the sister-murder case of singularity presented famous person.

now, to what i dislike.. first of all, jamie seems so distant. i don't see much attraction between him and syrin whom i guess have shared a romance before (which jamie pretty much dismissed during the face off between x-force and other x-teams during the x-tinction agenda). i hear that some progeny action is going right about now between them, so i guess the relationship is bound to develop.

but more importantly, i was really repelled by the whole syrin gets beaten up story. man! it was hard.. somebody call women in refrigerators site! (are they still active?) i mean, this totally felt like a plot development's sake violence against the female character and it was also excessive to a level.. i mean, why does this kind of victimization story always have to have a female character receiving the beating up to convey certain emotions? i know, random (or not) violence against women is really an issue happening but nevertheless, this kind of stories are also bordering on the debatable terrain of cultural reproduction.. the torture and face off by an decimation victim that followed the severe beat up did not offer so much to convey the power of syrin's heroism (in the sense of keeping her ideals against the odds). there were smudges of her trying to resist against the odds physically, but i did not think it was really strong either that would bring up our regard of the character..

the severe beat up - psycho torturer happening by - appropriate/dramatic scene of prolonged torture/terrorization just in the side - just a small bit of her power returning just at the moment to dish out a critical blow to turn around the fight were a little all too convenient for me. and the resolution of the fight seemed like a total controversy to me. rictor hanging the man up? oh my class? first of all, he should have been able to best the man in the struggle. he is a fine build teenage who participated in active combat for years and survived some hard training from the x-teams, just let aside the way his build was drawn in the early 90s :p anyways, even if you might say he was intimated with the unexpected attack, his messed up state following decimation, etc. (which i do not buy much on explaining his disadvantages) killing your opponent should be an absolute last point a hero try to avoid at all costs and face serious stresses in the aftermath if such a measure could not be avoided.. is this how noir this book is? "hey look, these people kill in these realistic and horrific situations".. come on, these books should still be about heroics.. at that point, after what all theresa went through, i just asked, do i need such a reading in my life?

later in the week, i revisited the stuff, now i think the hanging up was kind of an accident maybe, the man getting entangled in the rope and he himself cutting the weight at the end unintentionally. if this is the case, the art does not convey it all that clearly so some introspection on the issue could have been nice.

the following issue of course features a shocking reveal of the bruised and beaten up face of layla a couple of pages in, and i think it's kind of too much. i hope the second trade lightens up a bit and addresses some of these issues too..

so what do you guys think about my points or of the first arc in general? i would love to hear your thoughts if you had cared to read this post through, but i would really appreciate it if you refrain from spilling any spoilers about the following issues too.. so thanks already and see you around.

Alex A Sanchez
06-30-2008, 01:44 PM
Ahh... I remember those issues, many moons ago.

Many of the topics you have brought up are dealt with in later issues. Don't worry, you will see plenty of Jamie dupes in following stories. Some characters you will see less of than you would like to, but that is simply one of the limitations of having only 22 pages of story every month.

I feel you on the Siryn issue- it did seem sort of random having that thrown into the mix. It was basically a stand-alone story, and was very disturbing. But then again, that was the point of it. I remember when I read the issue for the first time 1) being impressed with it, but 2) being disappointed that we only got to see two members of the team. The book was still new, the team was getting settled in, and we were in the middle of a storyline. Randomly, we get a Siryn solo story. Good story, bad time to tell it.

TheDreamingCelestial
06-30-2008, 02:22 PM
well, it was not so much a gripe with when the story was told and how it was only centered around syrin herself (i actually liked that it only featured two of the cast) but rather the victimization of her in the story. i hope the upcoming stories deal with how she deals with the situation..

Pro
06-30-2008, 02:40 PM
If i recall correctly the psycho did accidentally get tangled and chocked himself.

It was basically a stand-alone story, and was very disturbing. But then again, that was the point of it.

There was also the fact that Layla didn't warn her because "it had to happen" and it pushes Madrox into decisive action against Singularity and gave Rictor a little bit of selfconfidence back I think.

TheDreamingCelestial
06-30-2008, 03:09 PM
There was also the fact that Layla didn't warn her because "it had to happen" and it pushes Madrox into decisive action against Singularity and gave Rictor a little bit of selfconfidence back I think.

i haven't seen any definitive action yet.. one issue in on the second trade and he goes to talk the wolfram & hart head quarters in order to what, discover what they are about?

La Fea
06-30-2008, 11:20 PM
Yeah, the Siryn issue felt a bit contrived to prove something for Rictor at Siryn's expense.

I think it would've been more enjoyable if Rictor himself was able to use his smarts to escape a captor instead of him playing Prince Charming or riding off on a motorcycle from an exploding gas tank.

Overall though this was the ideal EVERYTHING at the time. Its a shame Ryan Sook didn't stay longer as he drew the absolute best Layla and Monet in the two-and-a-half issues he ended up finishing.

Rahne being as hilarious as she was in the first issue opened me up to liking her beyond that (kinda for the first time) while PAD's superb handling of Monet made me accept her post-Hama in a way I never thought I could (and now she's like...probably my favorite character even over Sofia).

Though I guess this is what will be the test for the new era of X-Factor with Longshot and Darwin. I'm still wary, but that initial feeling may be what will turn me upside down and fall in love with this comic again.

Initial doubt seems to bring about the strongest and most surprising kind of passion.