#xfactor26

Jesus, could you guys have found a bigger window to have sex in front of? Talk about a couple of exhibitionists. Do you think anyone wants to watch that shit? Because we don’t. After reading this comic, I had to go take a 3 hour and 45 minute shower just to get to the point where I could sit down and write a blog post about it without vomiting all over my tablet. Anyway, Jean has to resort to the ol’ “we could all be dead tomorrow” routine to get Scott to finally sleep with her. For anyone keeping track of such things, this is the first official time that Scott Summers and Jean Grey engage in sexual intercourse (assuming they don’t just make out and dry hump, which seems more up Scott’s alley), considering that it wasn’t really Jean the other first time they did it (it was the Phoenix), and the two of them insist they weren’t fucking during the original series (but we know better, don’t we). (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)

After 25 years of publication and a narrative story that has spanned at least a decade, the original X-Men are finally accepted by the public as superheroes, complete with a ticker tape parade and gifts of flowers and new costumes. It’s a little weird because, throughout the whole X-Factor comic series, the team was pretty easily able to disguise their identities as they mascaraed as undercover mutant hunters, despite the fact that the original X-Men were a widely known superhero group. Just recently in the Fallen Angels mini-series, we saw that Jean even had her own fan club. Despite this, no one recognizes X-Factor as the original X-Men. I’d fucking remember them if there was a god damn ice man going around freezing the shit out of everything. And a dude shooting lasers out of his eyes and a red haired chick that could levitate everything. Think of the Netflix documentaries we’d have about these guys if they existed in real life. Also of note, Warren is still hanging around in the background doing his best impression of Tim Burton’s Batman, and it appears that after Pestilence got killed by the Power Pack, Apocalypse replaced her as one of his horsemen with Caliban. Because, you know, he’s just as good. He’s really going to cause a lot of plagues with those mutant searching powers of his. (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)

This issue wraps up X-Factor’s involvement in the Fall of the Mutants crossover, and it justifiably deals with the aftermath of the battle against Apocalypse over New York City, which was one of the biggest battles any of the X-Men have ever been involved in. In this comic, X-Factor is actually able to win over the public’s good will by coming to the aid of the citizens of New York who were affected by the battle. It’s weird! It’s like, if you go around helping people instead of brooding all the time, people actually start to like you! (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)

So the change in color of Jean’s costume from green to red that I commented on a few posts ago comes from nothing more than a gracious tailor making new costumes for the whole X-Factor team. Pretty smooth, you asshole, whoever you are!! It’s not like Jean’s costume changing from green to red doesn’t have any extremely traumatic connotations or anything!! Jesus. The cover of this comic gave me a god damned heart attack for no reason. (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)

Oh man, I am chomping at the proverbial BIT to get back to Uncanny X-Men to find out what happened to the main team during Fall of the Mutants. Timeline-wise, this issue of X-Factor takes place at the very end of the event, and whatever went down with the X-Men in Dallas while X-Factor was busy battling Apocalypse in New York, has almost played out in its entirety. From the sound of it, while X-Factor are enjoying their victory and a hero’s celebration, the Uncanny X-Men are not fairing as well. And this plea from Madelyne Pryor, who we have not seen since she woke up from a coma in Uncanny X-Men #215, to her estranged husband Scott Summers who thinks she’s dead, randomly caught on camera by a Dallas television reporter, presumably right before some major sacrifice happens, is incredibly foreboding. What the heck happened to the X-Men!! Why is she saying goodbye like that!! And what happened to Scott and Maddie’s son!!! (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)

Here we see that reporter Trish Tilby is recovering from the injuries she sustained during The Right’s attack at the reading of Warren’s will. And this is the first indication that Trish and Hank’s relationship may go beyond that of casual business acquaintances. If Hank can keep from regressing to the intelligence of a baby goblin shark, that is. (X-Factor #26 – Mar 1988)