X-Factor #7: Scientia Vincere Tenebras

[superboyprime]

"Jean-Paul is canonically anti-establishment and proud of his identity as a gay mutant, so coming out of AOXM would have very clear implications on his emotional state. He’s angry and traumatized and has always been an agitator who pushes against the establishment. Asks a lot of questions. Instigates. So tracking down missing mutants is a righteous and natural fit for him, now." - Leah Williams

Comments

[zachbeacon]

While it's nice to finally see them acknowledge some of the X-Factor Investigations stuff, it's still weird that Jamie is here. He earned that retirement. Heck, most writers use him as nothing more than an expendable body to throw at a problem and the Five have made it so that that's true for every mutant.

(Has Layla been seen since HOX/POX?)

Also it seems like this story is implying that Theresa is possessed by the the Morrigan instead of someone who assumed the mantle of the Morrigan. I understand why a writer would do that if the end goal is to bring back 90s Siryn but that isn't what happened.

Speaking of weird writer decisions; I still think Northstar as team leader is a terrible idea.

[cainofdreaming]

Her knowing stuff might fall under the no precogs rule, so she's probably not allowed on the island.

[zachbeacon]

Well separating Raven from her precog wife doesn't seem to be going very well. I'm not sure it's wise to also tick off the one man army.

Layla isn't actually a precog. She only "knew stuff" up to a point thanks to some time travel shenanigans. Her actual power is raising the dead which seems like a huge time saver. She needs to have the body so it doesn't completely eliminate the need for the Five and they come back without souls but there has to be someone on the island who can fix that particular bug.

[deh_tommy]

Pfft, push comes to shove they can always blackmail her with resurrection the way they did with Mystique.

[zachbeacon]

Which "her" are you referring to? Pretty sure Jamie's pronouns are he/them* and Raven seems ready to burn the island to the ground. Honestly this is one of those times where I think Mystique would be totally justified too.

*As in "oh my god, they're so many of them."

[deh_tommy]

Sorry, her as in Layla. I meant to say “blackmail him [as in Jamie] with her [Layla’s] resurrection”.

And before you say “she’s not dead”: she’s a relatively obscure X-man. Chances are she died offscreen because Gyrich sneezed one of those mutie-vaccines on her or Onslaught banished her to cyberspace or something.

[zachbeacon]

I mean, Marvel has done worse to characters who faded from the spotlight.