X-Factor, Vol. 7: Time and a Half

X-Factor (2005) (Collected Editions)

by Peter David, Valentine De Landro (Contributor)

Witness the most important event in the lives of Jaime Madrox and Siren - the birth of their baby! What will happen to X-Factor - and what will be the meaning for mutantkind!All we can guarantee are that the answers are not what you expect - but that's what makes it X-Factor! Don't miss what is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of 2009! Collects X-Factor #39-45.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

168 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 2009

About the author

aka David Peters

Peter Allen David, often abbreviated PAD, was an American writer of comic books, novels, television, films, and video games. His notable comic book work includes an award-winning 12-year run on The Incredible Hulk, as well as runs on Aquaman, Young Justice, SpyBoy, Supergirl, Fallen Angel, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, and X-Factor.
His Star Trek work included comic books and novels such as the New Frontier book series. His other novels included film adaptations, media tie-ins, and original works, such as the Apropos of Nothing and Knight Life series. His television work includes series such as Babylon 5, Young Justice, Ben 10: Alien Force and Nickelodeon's Space Cases, which he co-created with Bill Mumy.
David often jokingly described his occupation as "Writer of Stuff", and he was noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real-world issues with humor and references to popular culture, as well as elements of metafiction and self-reference.
David earned multiple awards for his work, including a 1992 Eisner Award, a 1993 Wizard Fan Award, a 1996 Haxtur Award, a 2007 Julie Award and a 2011 GLAAD Media Award.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one begins in a truly dark place even for Marvel; Madrox has had enough and wants to kill himself! A tale of great dialogue and ideas but being set as a cross-time-caper sort of detracts from that greatness; time travel is always a big risk. This volume also features some interesting surprises. 7 out of 12, Three Star read.

2018 read

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great volume of X-Factor. I'm loving re-reading these books. This one in particular packs a real punch.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus christ that first issue 0_0

So this is it! The big day has come. Jamie is about to be a dad! We then go into a spiriling adventure of crazyness as every character of the X-Factor team gets their own storyline. When jamie goes to visit his dupe who's a priest we get flung into a future world because, you guessed it, the girl who knows everything is back! On top of that we have to deal with Cortex who's a nasty little creature who begins to hurt the rest of the team. Shatterstar shows up as a surprise guest and...well all in all, without spoilers, this is a insane volume.

Good: The interactions are fantastic. I mean everyone coming together, the dialog, the way everyone speaks, they all have their own voice. The storyline is crazy, everywhere, so much is happening, yet it's never confusing. The split of the team makes for a interesting idea but it actually enhances the story. Also, how amazing is the end of this volume? Also, the first issue is one of my favorite issues ever in a Marvel comic.

Bad: The future storyline can go one of two ways, and I'm hoping it doesn't go the bad way.

Overall this volume was both funny and intriguing. The best since the first volume. I can't recommend x-factor enough. A 5 out of 5.

[Alex Sarll]

A third-tier X-book from almost a decade ago, my read-through of which has been stalled for months – so you'd expect that when the recap pages plead for readers not to spoil developments herein online, it would now be tinged with a note of bathos that anyone cared. Not so; for the most part, these characters have been used little since, and so much was this their big story that the shocks and reversals here still seem solid and consequential, even when so many of their peers have been killed, resurrected, replaced and rebooted half a dozen times since then. None of which precludes room for the comedy at which David also excels.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best volumes of X-Factor, both because of the birth of Madrox's baby and because of the return to a certain plot from the past (in the future). About my only complaint is that the story just stops at the end of the volume.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was jaw-dropping. Peter David is pulling off things that presented as plot ideas would never, ever fly, but then he not only makes them work, he writes the hell out of them and the volume just sings like an Angel.

The handling of the birth of Madrox and Syren's child, and all that follows is one of the most gut punching stories I've ever read in comics. Beautifully Handled. Its impact shakes everything--everything--and everyone involved in the title to the proverbial foundations. And unlike most books that use that kind of cliched praise, it's not an excuse to dump all the current characters and start again with a new bunch. It is simply built into the story, in the characters, into the series' DNA in a way that few comics ever reach.

The time travel story that opens after that is also really strong, but then, it's almost never the first half of the X-Men time travel stories that go wrong. It's almost always when its wrapped up in a way that dismisses the possibility of paradox without addressing it, or negates all the events of the story so that they're unimportant. Given what we learn in these pages I'm really hoping they stick the landing. David has all the elements and characters he needs to do it.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece of a volume! Mainly the first two or so issues, though the following ones are super solid.

Climaxing the pregnancy storyline in the most unexpected and interesting way possible, I would say it's practically impossible to not have your mind blown at the content of this book. There is such a huge twist that the author practically begs the reader not to spoil it for anyone in the notes at the beginning.

On top of that, this volume brings back some other interesting storylines. One that I loved and was very satisfied with (though still happy to see more of) and another that I have been waiting to see resolved for a long time.

First two issues alone make this book a knockout. The rest? Okay plot, with excellent humour, some of the best in the series so far. Good art. Highly recommended.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is so flippin' good! 5/5.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Publicado en las revistas de Panini en los números 36 a 41.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

That thing with the baby was COLD - to EVERYONE.

[mkhare · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Jedhua · Rating 3 out of 5]

ABSOLUTE RATING: {3+/5 stars}

STANDARDIZED RATING: <3/5 stars>

[Meredith Katz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listen, I normally try to go through and give thoughtful and careful critique but this volume is bad and I hate it. Frankly it's the worst of the volumes I've read so far.

And I guess I'm going to try anyway but it's all spoilers about how the pregnancy plot is handled, so, listen, the pregnancy plot is already gonna be bad enough to get through; we know already they weren't going to stay together because we have been told already that Jamie ends up marrying Layla (delightful as THAT is to be told when she's sometimes drawn when she's 10, let alone 15 or whatever she is, "Even when I was a kid, I wasn't a kid, you know" Hffff). It would be possible to get through if the baby was allowed to live etc, even though it already begs us to ignore everything that happened a couple of issues ago with the Messiah Complex storyline by making her having a mutant baby be a non issue. And frankly, nearly ALL tragic pregnancy plots are bad and hard to get through and seemingly impossible to avoid in media. But instead of anything.... not just good but even reasonable, what happens is:
- He knew a dupe fucked one of the women and he fucked one when he was drunk, and it turns out it was a dupe who fucked Theresa and got her INSTANTLY PREGNANT even though it would be logical for his dupes to shoot blanks, under the circumstances
- Because it was a DUPE BABY, the moment he held his newborn child he AUTOMATICALLY REABSORBED IT. HE ABSORBED HIS NEWBORN BABY.
- he goes to the dupe he previously let live, John Maddox the priest, just to tell him that John's kid isn't his kid because if he WERE John would have automatically reabsorbed it, and we are told John knows, which, fine, sure, this is part of attempting to convince us that it's logical that ALL dupe babies would ALWAYS get AUTOMATICALLy reabsorbed,
- At this point we're flat out told "Audience, this makes sense because it was a HYSTERICAL PREGNANCY, his dupe sperm CONVINCED Theresa's body she was pregnant, so the pregnancy happened anyway (as if that makes ANY sense), and the SAME THING happened to Monet (even though previously we were told to assume that 1 of them was got by the REAL Jamie), but since Monet was psychic she had a way of automatically shutting that down without her EVEN REALIZING"
- (ALL OF WHICH IS EVEN STUPIDER AND WORSE OF A PREGNANCY PLOT WHEN YOU REALIZE THAT, DOUBLE SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING VOLUMES, RAHNE IS ALSO PREGNANT AT THIS POINT, ALL THREE X-FACTOR LADIES GOT PREGNANT AT THE SAME TIME, LOVELY)
- but the fact is it is not only a cruel and awful plot point but ACTUALLY, NO, it DOESN'T make sense, because the literal WHOLE POINT of the earlier John Maddox storyline is that MADROX CAN CHOOSE WHICH OF HIS DUPES HE WILL ABSORB AND WHICH HE WILL NOT.
- He LITERALLY CHOSE to let john live. THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THAT STORYLINE. And by bringing John back onto the page you REMIND THE VIEWERS OF THIS
- NOT TO MENTION THAT MADROX "ABSORBED ALL DUPES IN HIS IMMEDIATE VICINITY" REPEATEDLY IN PAST ISSUES. He would multiply himself to like 20 to fight skrulls or she-hulk or whatever and then suck 'em all back without deliberately picking and choosing or physically touching WHY DID THERESA NOT LOSE THE BABY THEN??? She was pregnant before she was showing and was definitely around him when he did it then in vol 5 and whatever, so WHY NOT DO A MISCARRIAGE STORYLINE INSTEAD OF THIS BEAST?
- It is frankly a dark day in which I want to say "I would rather have had a miscarriage storyline" than a "Madrox literally killed his living baby by accidentally sucking it into his body while trying to father-bond with it after Theresa has a difficult birth" which btw also required a C-section. They couldn't even give her an easy birth or have it be a difficult one and the child die from NON mutant complications, no.
- ANYWAY, EITHER THE BABY IS HALF THERESA'S AND THAT PROTECTS IT FROM BEING ABSORBED BY JAMIE NEARBY WHEN HE RANDOMLY ABSORBS ALL OTHER ONES, OR IT IS NOT AND IS A HYSTERICAL PREGNANCY (that's how this works right? Do hysterical pregnancies even show on pregnancy tests, such as the plot point earlier?) AND THUS IS JUST A REGULAR DUPE AND THUS HE COULD PICK AND CHOOSE WHETHER TO ABSORB IT

Anyway it feels like David decided to insert something that is extremely traumatic to a lot of people at worst and distasteful at best just to get Theresa and Jamie's good and healthy relationship out of the way to bring Layla back and didn't actually find a way to make it make sense, and yikes man, I'm big mad, because on top of the subject matter itself, it makes me feel like the whole team who approved this expects the reader to be stupid about this.

The rating is only two stars instead of one because Layla AND Shatterstar show up in this issue later on and it's the volume that ends with the famous Rictor-Shatterstar kiss and I'm glad about that part because it's also what's keeping me reading. I guess if I can ding a star on showing a dying woman's thong, I can also raise a star on showing me some characters I like doing things I care about.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I just one-shotted this today.

What a great volume, I knew it would be amazing. I read the final issue in this volume before without any context and wow, context is everything. I understood what was going on much more, except I’ll be honest, I still have no clue what’s going on. Kind of?

I know we’re following two timelines, and vaguely understand what’s being said, but I’m drawing a blank on where this is all going. X-Factor Investigations started out as a noir PI agency solving crime, while simultaneously dealing with mutant politics, big bads, and local competitors (speaking of, where the heck did those guys go?). Now, Layla Miller and Jamie Madrox are time traveling to 80 years in the future fighting a rebellion against sentinels and some average looking big bad guy, while this “Cortex” is controlling Monet and Shatterstar. Honestly, the reason this volume has 5 stars is primarily due to Shatterstar, but the rest of this volume has been good drama as well, love it.

But where’s this all going? Who’s the next big bad? The purple suit dude introduced in Secret Invasion? Cortex? This new guy with the sentinels 80 years in the future? Doctor Doom? SCOTT SUMMERS? Peter David sure knows how to surprise me, so I suppose I’ll have to read to find out. I am very curious though.

Obviously, I loved seeing Jamie and Layla reunite, and even more overexcited to see Rictor and Shatterstar reunited. And kiss. I see you Peter David, I see you, and thank you. They’re the reason I started reading about this series in the first place, and I’ve fallen in love before they’re even together. I love this series so damn much. I can’t wait to see where it goes!

[Rob Marney · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not often a superhero comic is genuinely shocking, but this run manages it. Peter David grows the cast to Claremont-era proportions, but doesn't lose sight of what all these mean to our heroes. and delivers an alternate future just different enough to feel like anything can happen. This run also marks the debut of Santucci on art, whose "Greg Land but better" oversexed aesthetic is perfect for the soap opera this series is quickly becoming.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still continuing my great x-read of 2017/2018 and I am WAY behind on reviews due to a move and limited down time. I will be updating everything I have read in the meantime with tiny (or nonexistent) reviews so I can catch up again...


Wow. Wow, wow, wow.

Just read this series if you are an x-fan. And don't read spoilers in advance.

[Cihan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The way Peter David writes Layla Miller's character in this volume is...problematic to say the least. Disgusting and creepy as hell is a more appropriate summary in my opinion.

The series started off strong, but started to lose quality (narratively and with art) around Secret Invasion, before descending into this desperate attempt at retaining readership with 'shocking' twists and turns.

[Michael T. Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s some truly shocking stuff in here, and it makes for great drama. The imagery from when Madrox holds his child for the first time has stuck with me for more than a decade, and it’s pretty powerful revisiting it. That said, there’s definitely some male gaze that gets pretty unpleasant, and a few smaller quirks that make this a hard series to love. But I do really like it.

[Madeline Rossell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am really not rocking with the aging up of Layla Miller. It feels really weird, and gross.

I would rank it 2 stars, but the plot twist and emotional vulnerability of the first issue earned that issue alone a 4 star.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series keeps being AMAZING!
Wonderful characters and astonishing plots. Amazing character-driven drama.

[TK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hyped up but worth it

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

More enjoyable stuff by Peter David, with solid artwork by Valentine De Landro and Marco Santucci. Oh, and the Shatterstar thing was hilarious. Was it a swipe at Liefeld? One can only hope.

[Judith Groen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! The first issue though... Men... That was... Well you know what I'll say if you've read it...
The rest was amazing though! Full of action and great artwork! And yay! Layla! Love that she is old enough to be Jamie's love interest! <3

[Christina Nightengale · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art is greatly improved in this volume! The part with Darwin and his dad is heartbreaking, but extremely well done! The romance between Jamie and Terry is not very interesting to me. It's not bad, but not great. How the baby was handled was was great! I've never seen anything like that before and didn't see that coming for sure! The fall out is hard to read at times, but beautifully done!So many of the characters really develop so much from it. I really love how organic Peter David makes character development! Layla's reintroduction into the story is interesting. Ruby Summers is introduced and is an awesome character I'd love to see more of! There are multiple story lines going on in this volume, but the way they all connect and stay cohesive is some really amazing writing! Longshot gets to show off some of his charm. Darwin and Monet get some interesting character moments. Strong Guy and Rictor get some good friend moments. Shatterstar's introduction into the series is AWESOME! A certain interaction between Rictor and him was PERFECT!

[Adam Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume should definitely be immediately followed by X-Factor, Vol. 8: Overtime. The story that envelops both volumes serves as a definitive ending point to the X-Factor story that began after House of M. While the series, itself, is only halfway over, most of the plot that's been threaded since Layla Miller showed up finds itself knotted at the conclusion of volume eight.

There are quite a few surprises, a lot of humor, and at least one devastating personal beat in this volume that no fan of Peter David's 21st century X-Factor run is going to want to miss.

X-Factor volumes 1-8, with a small hiccup in volume 6 is one of the best runs of X-related comics ever produced.

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este tomo lo tengo en castellano en revistas (#36-41 de Panini), aunque me tardé varios años en leerlo porque me faltaban varios números en el medio. En cuanto al contenido... Ufff... Qué decir. Un primer capítulo durísimo, en el que el mismísimo Peter David tuvo que salir a pedirle a los fans que no espoilearan el tremendo final, seguido por otros no tan duros pero igual de densos (en el buen sentido), incluyendo un par de regresos más que esperados. No sé cómo le habrán ido en estos diez años que dejamos abandonada en el futuro a Layla pero me alegró mucho tenerla de vuelta y sabiendo cosas, como siempre.

[Jacobi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weird. This volume is where shit got real in X-factor. I remember the buzz that David created with the endings to the issues that are in this volume. I will admit, the issue with the baby was a pretty neat thing. That said, I didn't care for this story. With this volume, X-factor began to feel more like a typical X-men book, and not the street level X-factor I liked that was present earlier in the series. The scope just got a little too big for me. Also, there is a character pairing that I feel isn't really earned in this volume. It was hinted at earlier, but I didn't buy it for a second when it actually happened.

[Du4 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been one of the most consistently great titles MArvel's put out in a while. Peter David really has a compelling grasp of these characters, right down to the absurdity Madrox recognizes in the supposed "noir" genre his investigatory business is in.

The only reason I can't give this full marks is what seems like an abrupt ending that doesn't correspond to a logical cliffhanger. The story just cuts off at the end of the volume, which is probably more linked to Marvel's "6 issues only per trade" policy. They should probably rethink that policy.

[Tiamatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume might be the most insane of Peter David's entire 2000s run on X-Factor. The first issue in the volume is a jawdropper, with a genuinely shocking and tragic moment. Soon after, there's a major return that's shocking and awesome. There's also another cool return, which leads to a big same-sex kiss and relationship, and that was really nice. PAD's always been strong on characterization, and his characters shine in this arc. There's also plenty of his sharp humour. This is a fantastic arc that keeps readers on the edge of their seats, waiting to see what happens next.

[Jason Seaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Layla's back! The art doesn't suck! Those two were real problems with previous volumes, but things get much better here. Writer Peter David leans on some too-familiar tropes - ANOTHER future where mutants are hunted by Sentinels and rounded up into concentration camps? Taking a baby off the table? Aging young characters? - but executes them well enough that "Time and a Half" is a fun comic, even if this collection does seem to stop rather than come to a natural break point.