X-Factor #10
The team goes to the Gala and one mystery is solved. At the same time, another begins in X-Factor #10, by writers Leah Williams and David Baldeon, artists Baldeon, David Messina, and Lucas Werneck, colorist Israel Silva, and letterer Joe Caramagna. This is the final issue of this amazing book, and it goes out with a bang.
This issue touches on a lot of events that have already happened throughout the Hellfire Gala, but the crux of it is Prodigy finally discovering what happened to him a year ago and how he died. As the Gala is going on, he follows the clues to a serial killing producer in LA and is joined by Eye-Boy, who helps take down the killer with a new power and the rest of the team. They meet back up on Krakoa, where Speed is waiting for them but make a grisly discovery that looks to portend something huge for Krakoa and leave Wolverine asking one question- “Where’s Magneto?”
Since it began, X-Factor has been a special book. There was just something about it, but it was often the best X-book coming out, a wonderful mixture of writing and art that always transcended. It dealt with dark subject matter yet was still a fun book more often than not. Williams took every character in the book and gave them some polish, enmeshing them in plots that were always interesting. This issue is no exception, and even though it plays with a lot of scenes that readers had seen if they’d been reading the entire Gala, the core of this issue is Prodigy’s discovery of his killer and the final clues falling into place.
It’s the last little plot thread that needed to be tied up in this book, and it works brilliantly, but that makes it no less sad that this book is ending. There are way worse books still getting published in this line, and losing this one is a tragedy. At least Williams and Baldeon get to go out with a bang, as this is the issue that finally reveals just how Magneto is blamed for killing... It’s a pretty big death, one that will seemingly have major repercussions for Krakoa, and letting Williams and Baldeon rap up with this huge moment is apropos.
Baldeon doesn’t pencil enough of this book, but the pages he does are great. No one has ever captured Eye-Boy’s powers as well as he did, and this issue shows just how much those abilities have grown. Messina’s pages are pretty competent but pale in comparison to Baldeon’s; it would be better for him if he didn’t have to compete with him. Werneck’s art is pretty good, but this issue would have been better if Baldeon got to do the whole thing.
X-Factor #10 is the last issue of an amazing book. It wraps up the book’s final lingering plot thread in wonderful fashion. X-Factor will return in the upcoming Trial of Magneto, but it will never be like this again. X-Factor has been in the top echelon of X-books since its beginning, and Williams, Baldeon, Silva, and Caramagna have done a wonderful job. This issue is an exception, and it only makes the heart grow fonder for more… but the symphony is done.
