I just got to reading All-New X-Factor #19.
It was a pretty good read.
At the beginning of the issue, I realized a fair bit of ANXF has an underlying element of Peter David exploring father-child relationships, especially father-daughter ones. Early on, we had Warlock and Magus. After that arc, we had Georgia and Dakei, then Georgia and Memento Mori and her biological mother. Of course, we can’t forget Pietro’s relationship with Luna. Then here, we have Elena’s father grieving over his daughter. It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but I think Peter David was exploring his own thoughts and feelings as a father through ANXF.
And that is a GOOD THING. He may be a professional writer, but professional doesn’t mean devoid of personal emotions; it means the exact opposite. Professional writers have the courage necessary to translate things that matter to them into something people can understand, appreciate and respect. There’s another aspect of being a professional writer of knowing where, when and how to do that, and for the most part (at least since issue #7), I think ANXF has been written with that in mind.
This issue also seemed a lot better to me in terms of the whole political thing. ANXF #18 felt, to me, like it was trying to inject a contentious issue of sides and whether Israel or Palestine is “better” and the other is “worse.” Here, any element of the issue in that vein is specifically on how wrong and awful it is for young, innocent kids to be killed, and I think that’s the most important part of all.
However, there are a few things about the issue that seem really awkward to me. First of all, I really have trouble believing Lorna wouldn’t know the bullets in the guns were plastic (or rather, not metal), for the same reason I have a hard time believing the notion that she wouldn’t know about the eye nanocam. However, I can overlook that considering we’re toward the end of ANXF. I also find the “no mortal weapon” justification for Danger killing Ammit to be bizarre. It comes off as an attempt to give Danger a moment akin to Eowyn in Lord of the Rings, when I think a mix of “I have no soul so I can’t be converted” and Danger using her powers to spot the source of Ammit’s power or some other end game would have worked out much better.
This is the first time we’ve seen Snow outright kill anyone, and it raises a lot of interesting questions. Another user on another site also wondered if the cultists had plastic bullets because of Snow, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s true. It hasn’t come up since ANXF #3, but Snow hired the scientist who had the goal of making it possible to give humans mutant powers. The girl turning out to be so closely linked to Snow suggests that perhaps he plans for that scientist to study the girl’s body and tap into and control the power she had.
One thing I wish would’ve happened: the team winning a battle as a team. Another user on another site once pointed out that a lot of the “victories” of the team aren’t from the team’s own actions, but some other external factor, like Snow showing up (Dakei) or Georgia’s mother blowing up her and Memento Mori. When the team does win, it tends to be only one or two people that actually saved the day, rather than everyone on the team pulling their own weight.
Again, most of the criticisms above are minor, and I think the issue was good overall.
salarta 