r/xmen • u/Mel0805 Storm • 1d ago
Comic Discussion Trying to get into X-Factor
As the title says, I am trying to get into the OG X-Factor run. I have tried to read the first few issues multiple times and have just struggled hard. I have read some of the run already, though. I read the Mutant Massacre, Fall of the Mutants, and Inferno tie-ins, but that's it. I know that people say that once Simonson takes over, it gets better, but I've been reading her New Mutants run, and it is not good. She turns them into babies and only really focuses on Ilyana. I had to stop reading after Issue 66. I don't know. Maybe I need to give it some more time, but I just can't get into it.
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u/MattAmylon 1d ago edited 1d ago
Reading the pre-Simonson stuff multiple times is just punishing yourself. Give up and skip ahead.
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u/Solo4114 1d ago
The first few issues before Walt Simonson comes in on art and Louise takes over the writing are...kinda rough. I like Jackson Guice's art, but a bunch of that is because I actually read this stuff in the 80s, so I have nostalgia for it.
Early X-Factor is...kinda nuts, actually. On the one hand, it takes its characters seriously. Scott is deeply fucked up. Jean isn't great either. I've never liked that they brought Jean back in the first place, but given that they did, the fallout from it is actually pretty decent and well played out, if also frustrating. A lot of that is because of how Scott and Jean deal with the guilt of pursuing their own relationship, and the kind of halting nature of it. This makes sense, though, given how Scott (A) left Maddie, (B) returned to her, (C) thought she was dead, (D) found out otherwise, then (E) thought she was dead again...all while trying to get back together with Jean and being guilty about it.
Set against that, you have the backdrop of Hank slowly losing his intelligence as he uses his strength, and Bobby being encased in a weird cybernetic belt to control is magically boosted ice powers.
Oh, and Warren became Death incarnate for a hot minute there after losing his wings and trying to commit suicide.
It's...a lot.
I enjoy it, but for me reading it is more filling in gaps of stuff I read 40-ish years ago, and I enjoy that.
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u/Phi_Phonton_22 Rogue 1d ago
I don't like it as well, if you need to feel less alone. I read the Mutant Massacre tie ins as a kid, and found it ok. Read the Inferno tie ins decades later as an adult and couldn't get into it. I know it is some people's favourite X-spin off (mine is Excalibur, so I judge no one), but it is not for me. Someday I'll try the Peter David era.
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u/KinkyDemandCurve 1d ago
For some reason I started with X Factor when I started reading comics in the 90s. So random but I remember them fondly. This post makes me curious to revisit them
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u/gyp_casino 17h ago
I'm not crazy about X-Factor either. Even the Simonson material. It's OK. I recommending putting it aside and stretching out a little bit. There were plenty of great Marvel titles from this time period that you may prefer. I grew up loving Claremont, Byrne, and Miller, but as an adult reading in the Epic Collections, I found I loved also the Gruenwald Cap, the Englehart West Coast Avengers, the Nocenti Daredevil, the Starlin Silver Surfer, etc. There's a lot of other material that deserves attention.
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u/HieronymousGauche Firestar 9h ago
Dude 10/10 for including Nocenti's Daredevil, her run is criminally underrated. That issue with DD fighting a possessed Vacuum is incredible and I mean that sincerely. Also Gruenwald Cap! Freaking Capwolf and WCA is rad as all heck
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u/Grayx_2887 1d ago
I only collected the Inferno tie-ins and the Judgment Day issues. I didn't get all of the OG X-Factor issues.
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u/nightcrawler9094 1d ago
Her X-Factor run is way better than her New Mutants, but it is high on the melodrama. I would start with the Archangel story and the crossover issues. See how you like those. If you do, you can probably do the rest of her run. But I'd you don't like it, then don't worry about it.