X-Factor #235 spoilers

[blanchett]

I can't say I understand the need to split the team. The cast really isn't as large as everyone assumes and PAD maintains a good balance. Look at Legacy: Rogue, Rachel, Frenzy, Cannonball, Chamber, Iceman, Gambit, Mimic and Husk as regulars with Beast, Wolverine and now Kitty rotating in and out. Not to mention the X-Kids. And Wolverine and the X-Men: Wolverine, Kitty, Iceman, Beast, Rachel, Idie, Broo, QQ, Genesis, Angel, Kid Gladiator, Warbird, Krakoa and the rest of the X-Kids. If anything, the spotlight is more equally shared in X-Factor than it is in those books where certain characters dominate.

I don't think I could cut the cast down to six. M, Madrox, Polaris, Havok, Rictor, Wolfsbane, Shatterstar, Layla, Strong Guy and Siryn are all essential as far as I'm concerned. I like X-Factor just the way it is. And there's no way the market could sustain 2 X-Factor books. No way.

I agree with pretty much everything here. I'm getting really sick of talk of trimming the cast down. The casts are huge on most X-Books.

[Dr. Sonic]

I agree with pretty much everything here. I'm getting really sick of talk of trimming the cast down. The casts are huge on most X-Books.

Sorry to have offended your sensibilities. It's true that the casts for most of the X-books are huge, but the majority of the characters are background with the primary focus being on a select few. So perhaps I'll rephrase my question to which five to seven characters would you like to see in the spotlight and which would you like to see as wallpaper?
For me I guess the main spotlight characters would be Madrox, Syrin/Banshee, Rictor, Shatterstar, M, and Longshot, with the perma-background characters being Strong-guy, Wolfsbane, Layla, Havoc, and Polaris.

[Dr. Sonic]

double post - oops

[Ronin1108]

I'm LOVING the Havok Vs Multiple Man rivalry, cuz both characters have come leaps and bounds development-wise. These two should be butting heads, but I think when it's all said and done Alex will fall back though. But I am willing to ride it out lol

[.A²]

Sorry to have offended your sensibilities. It's true that the casts for most of the X-books are huge, but the majority of the characters are background with the primary focus being on a select few. So perhaps I'll rephrase my question to which five to seven characters would you like to see in the spotlight and which would you like to see as wallpaper?
For me I guess the main spotlight characters would be Madrox, Syrin/Banshee, Rictor, Shatterstar, M, and Longshot, with the perma-background characters being Strong-guy, Wolfsbane, Layla, Havoc, and Polaris.

It's a useless question that doesn't add to the subject at hand. How exactly was X-Factor #235 negatively impacted by its "giant-sized cast"? We've discussed that Polaris hasn't yet been given the opportunity to shine, but she, Terry and Rahne are getting their own arc soon and there are hints at a Lorna origin story in the offing. Layla wasn't around, but the last issue had her at its centre. At least try and justify your argument.

[Dr. Sonic]

It's a useless question that doesn't add to the subject at hand. How exactly was X-Factor #235 negatively impacted by its "giant-sized cast"? We've discussed that Polaris hasn't yet been given the opportunity to shine, but she, Terry and Rahne are getting their own arc soon. Layla wasn't around, but the last issue had her at its centre. At least try and justify your argument.

The needlessly combative tone of your post notwithstanding, I'll try to justify my argument.

I don't like the large cast because the addition of Polaris and Havok takes away from screen time for the characters that I like. I know it's not popular to like Longshot, but I actually love the way PAD writes Longshot and want to see more of it. But he's in a coma now and is likely to stay there for a prolonged period of time. There's also likely to be an arc or two that focuses on the old-school team of Polaris, Havoc, Wolfsbane and Strong-guy. This I will likely skip which is also a bummer because X-Factor is one of my favorite books.

[.A²]

I don't like the large cast because the addition of Polaris and Havok takes away from screen time for the characters that I like. I know it's not popular to like Longshot, but I actually love the way PAD writes Longshot and want to see more of it. But he's in a coma now and is likely to stay there for a prolonged period of time. There's also likely to be an arc or two that focuses on the old-school team of Polaris, Havoc, Wolfsbane and Strong-guy. This I will likely skip which is also a bummer because X-Factor is one of my favorite books.

This is unfounded speculation and without wishing to sound even more "combative", it looks like you're jumping to conclusions. There's no indication that Longshot's coma will be a long-lasting one. For all we know, Shatterstar defeats Scattershot next issue and Longshot regains consciousness. If anything, the current arc seems to have Shatterstar and Longshot at its focus. Shatterstar only became implicated in the case because he considered Longshot's injury "personal". His involvement is clearly crucial, and there's no reason that PAD would dispose of him just so that other characters can be brought to the fore. There's also been no suggestion of a 90's X-Factor reunion.

[Dr. Sonic]

This is unfounded speculation and without wishing to sound even more "combative", it looks like you're jumping to conclusions. There's no indication that Longshot's coma will be a long-lasting one. For all we know, Shatterstar defeats Scattershot next issue and Longshot regains consciousness. If anything, the current arc seems to have Shatterstar and Longshot at its focus. Shatterstar only became implicated in the case because he considered Longshot's injury "personal". His involvement is clearly crucial, and there's no reason that PAD would dispose of him just so that other characters can be brought to the fore. There's also been no suggestion of a 90's X-Factor reunion.

Unfounded speculation is the meat and potatoes of these boards - there's no need to jump down my throat about it.
It's just my opinion. I'm not a fan of bringing Alex and Lorna into the team and Strong-Guy and Wolfsbane are the core X-Factr members I'm least interested in. That's all.

[.A²]

Unfounded speculation is the meat and potatoes of these boards - there's no need to jump down my throat about it.
It's just my opinion. I'm not a fan of bringing Alex and Lorna into the team and Strong-Guy and Wolfsbane are the core X-Factr members I'm least interested in. That's all.

I'm sorry if my tone offends, that's not my intention. I was criticising the basis of your argument and not you. It's a recurring stance on X-Factor, and I'm just trying to understand why and how it's been adopted since it seems rather insubstantial to me. If it helps, Rahne's unlikely to be the centre of attention for a while, though PAD has mentioned that she's in need of compensation after all the torment she's suffered lately. Guido's lack of a soul will probably remain a constant lurking presence for the time being.

[Dr. Sonic]

I'm sorry if my tone offends, that's not my intention. I was criticising the basis of your argument and not you. It's a recurring stance on X-Factor, and I'm just trying to understand why and how it's been adopted since it seems rather insubstantial to me. If it helps, Rahne's unlikely to be the centre of attention for a while, though PAD has mentioned that she's in need of compensation after all the torment she's suffered lately. Guido's lack of a soul will probably remain a constant lurking presence for the time being.

No offense taking - I hadn't realized that the matter had been so frequently referenced.
Do you think that Havoc and Polaris' inclusion on the team was editorially mandated, or was it a decision that PAD came to on his own?
The reason it worries/bothers me is that, as an X-Factor fan, I worry about the title's survival and Havoc is just plain old box-office poison.

[.A²]

No offense taking - I hadn't realized that the matter had been so frequently referenced.
Do you think that Havoc and Polaris' inclusion on the team was editorially mandated, or was it a decision that PAD came to on his own?
The reason it worries/bothers me is that, as an X-Factor fan, I worry about the title's survival and Havoc is just plain old box-office poison.

Ultimately it doesn't really matter how they wound up at X-Factor, but personally, I think PAD probably wanted to revisit Alex and Lorna. I don't think he takes well to editorial mandates, certainly not something as significant as forcing new cast-members into his book. Regardless, they don't really belong elsewhere, and PAD knows them better than anyone else on the X-Books at the moment. I'm not huge Polavok fan myself, but their addition is refreshing, and I'm glad to see them under his pen once

Maybe it's blind optimism, but despite X-Factor's low sales I don't think it's really that close being on the brink of survival. It has a very consistent fan-base that tend not to shy away from double-shipping.

[1derer]

wasn't the name X-Factor government owned at some point, though? maybe Val Cooper should sue. or maybe Madrox could go back to XXX Investigations.

I don't think that the rights to the name were ever discussed in earlier volumes. What we have seen is that Madrox personally visited the Mayor of New York City when he was setting up X-Factor, so it would seem like he's done his due diligence.

give it time, they've only been around for a few issues. seems to me Wolverine put them there to run the show.

Sure he did, but Wolverine doesn't own X-Factor. If you look at the disagreements between Madrox and Havok in this issue, Madrox behaves consistently as someone arguing from a position of power. This is most evident when he imposes his "agreement" on Havok about when each of them will lead the team.

That agreement, btw, is probably what PAD will end up using to switch between leadership status quos. I'm looking forward to seeing Havok and Polaris command their first Wolverine-sponsored job.

true, but Havok is my favorite X-character, so yeah, the interactions alone make it more interesting for me.

That makes sense then.

I can't say I understand the need to split the team. The cast really isn't as large as everyone assumes and PAD maintains a good balance. Look at Legacy: Rogue, Rachel, Frenzy, Cannonball, Chamber, Iceman, Gambit, Mimic and Husk as regulars with Beast, Wolverine and now Kitty rotating in and out. Not to mention the X-Kids. And Wolverine and the X-Men: Wolverine, Kitty, Iceman, Beast, Rachel, Idie, Broo, QQ, Genesis, Angel, Kid Gladiator, Warbird, Krakoa and the rest of the X-Kids. If anything, the spotlight is more equally shared in X-Factor than it is in those books where certain characters dominate.

I think you're missing the point of the discussion somewhat, in terms of people wanting the cast trimmed. Its not really about it being too big, its about people wanting more time for their favourite characters to be focused on. Its a natural consequence of PAD setting up so many plot threads and then putting them to focus on other plots.

As I said previously: PAD can balance his cast better than any other author. I love X-Factor, I just love certain players in it more than others, and so the prospect of having them focused upon is naturally attractive. At the same time, I don't advocate trimming down the cast so much as enjoy discussing it as a thought exercise.

[fortyseven]

There's no need to trim down the X-Factor cast. PAD rotates the characters well to give everyone the spotlight. Removing characters just means one less possible plot or story idea or team-ups or character interactions. If PAD doesn't need a character for a story, then they just don't appear in that story. There's no point in writing them out of the book permanantly.

[Swashbuckler]

Exactly. The character in his cast have had more development then the "background" of any other cast because he knows how to rotate. NO ONE in Fraction's x-men did anything aside from 4 characters. PAD has all his cast constantly doing stuff, even if it's one line or two reminding you of a subplot. That's how comics work best in my opinion.

[.A²]

There's no need to trim down the X-Factor cast. PAD rotates the characters well to give everyone the spotlight. Removing characters just means one less possible plot or story idea or team-ups or character interactions. If PAD doesn't need a character for a story, then they just don't appear in that story. There's no point in writing them out of the book permanantly.

Exactly. The character in his cast have had more development then the "background" of any other cast because he knows how to rotate. NO ONE in Fraction's x-men did anything aside from 4 characters. PAD has all his cast constantly doing stuff, even if it's one line or two reminding you of a subplot. That's how comics work best in my opinion.

In case I didn't already make it clear in my earlier posts, quoting both these comments in absolute agreement.