I wasn’t quite sure where they were going to go bringing Danger to the team in the last issue, but now it all makes sense. Pater David was able to make a cohesive story in this issue that is well told and not only makes sense to both new fans but will resonate with fans of the prior incarnation of ‘X-Factor’ as well!
First off, we have the issue opening with one entertaining thing and one annoying thing. Let’s go with the entertaining thing first. Gambit wakes up only to find that he isn’t alone in his room. Danger is there. After last issue’s kiss that snapped her back to her senses, she’s still missing parts of herself and hints that she wants more human contact to find herself again. I suppose there are more awkward things than an AI telling you that while you;re still in bed. The book doesn’t quite have the mature rating so we were spared the details, however the rest of the team wastes no time harassing him. Quicksilver got right on it the moment he had an opportunity to.
The annoying part? We found out that the C.E.O. of Serval Industries is sleeping with his secretary behind his wife’s back. Oh No! The owner of the company is a bad guy (at least morally.) Is this the first real kink in showing him to be the really bad person we all suspect he is? Or is this actually a ruse to make us all suspect the company is really bad and has an agenda that will end with X-Factor branching out on their own or finding out in a way that they can’t publicly attack the company? We’ll see. For now it helped that we weren’t the only ones to notice this as Danger did as well and was told she was wrong.
In fact, Danger was told she was wrong again on another occasion and when X-Factor was asked to show up and meet the CEO of a rival company that Serval Industries plans on buying, she’s told that she is wrong again when she accuses the visiting CEO of not being human. Being sick of being told she’s wrong (there’s a very chauvinistic joke about women not enjoying being told that they are wrong somewhere in here) she quite literally punches a hole through the man. Only, the man is quickly shown to be machine and not just any machine but we now get the tie-in to the old ‘X-Factor’ as Magus is back. While that usually means trouble for anyone who has to fight him, Danger is able to quickly smack him around.
Magus isn’t alone though and is quickly joined by Warlock (in a complete twist). The two are fundamentally at war with one another (and Warlock is a friend to the mutants) so something is going on here. What that might be, we won’t find out until next issue. However, the ‘All-New X-Factor’ won’t be investigating it alone as it looks like they are going to contact Cypher and bring him into the mix (though our one look at him seems to show that he isn’t exactly well).
I’m still not sold on the concept behind the ‘All-New X-Factor’ and didn’t trust Serval Industries motives even before this issue’s reveal, but I can’t help but wanting to know more. I love the return of Warlock though am wondering how it’ll all tie together. I’ll be happy to see these old characters pop back in and possibly even join the team, depending how the next issue plays out.
ALL-NEW X-FACTOR #5
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Carmine Di Giandomenico
