Notes on X-Factor 201
A lot of questions were raised in this issue, most of them tangential to the actual plot.
Faux!Reed may be able to duplicate Reed's power, but he's never worked for Doom before and he wasn't fully briefed on the Fantastic Four's m.o. He's making too many mistakes on those counts. He's not beyond killing human children though. An abandoned Skrull grunt still seems the best bet.
Even after all these years of being on various teams, when Monet is scared she still reverts to thinking of herself as being alone against the world, desperate, and somewhat helpless. Fear grips her, and makes her angry and reckless. She doesn't sit back and think of her non-personal resources because deep down she doesn't really believe in them. Memories of Emplate still hold too much power over her head.
"Why the hell is Layla working with Doctor Doom?"
After all this time, Ric still doesn't trust Layla.
Interesting to see Longshot's psychometrics taking the place of Rahne's tracking skills, especially when combined with Shatterstar's teleporter.
Page 8, third panel -- I only now realized the artist is drawing Longshot and Shatterstar with exactly the same face, only Longshot's face is older and heavier, and starting to sag just a little bit. Subtle.
Shatterstar's new teleporting blades require an anchor to visualize the destination, someone he's "connected" to, like Longshot and Rictor. This brings up a whole slew of questions:
1) What is the nature of this connection? Is it someone he feels connected to, or is there something more?
2) Can he find someone he's connected to and hone in on them anywhere? Is that how he found Rictor in the last story? If so, what implications will that have when (not if) Rictor walks out on him again?
3) What does his connection to Longshot mean to him personally?
4) What happens if he no longer feels connected to someone?
5) Is there someone else back on his homeworld he feels connected to? It would seem that there must be, as one doesn't design a targeting system that can't be used because the key ingrediant(s) are all so far away. That would render it useless from its creation, an aesthetically unpleasant thought for the creator. Unless of course someone gave him the blades as a way to get him to leave....
6) Possibly the blades were designed for someone else. In that case, how fully are they tuned to him and his powers?
It also points out just how few people Shatterstar does feel connected to, and how lonely he is. Previously he's copped a "sour grapes" attitude on this subject, but I have to wonder how much his new-found sociability is an attemt to reach out and connect to more people than just Rictor and Longshot.
"Don't ask."
"Don't tell."
Rictor still doesn't having his personal life be a topic of conversation. Jamie doesn't seem to want to hear it either.
"...go to Ireland and set things right with Terry."
As upset as she is, Monet is still thinking of others. She may not be able to see where she can use the team's connections for herself, but she has no trouble using the for her friend.
Monet relishes the idea of scrapping with Ben until she notices how angry he is. I love how his face is reflected in her eyes in that panel. Another nice subtlety from the artist.
Franklin is polite even when fleeing for his life. Score one for the homeschooled kids. And I love the Peter Pan panel.
"..it makes sense to her and that's good enough."
Aw, loyal Jamie is loyal.
And the heavy hitters go off half-cocked over Jamie's protests. Jamie is no Cyclops. He is a pretty good detective though.
I can't wait to see PAD make zingers off the real Reed Richards. There's so much material to work with.