X-Men Legacy 15, X-Factor 261

X-Men Legacy 15
Spurrier (w) and Huat and Yeung (a) and Villarrubia (c)

Pete Wisdom set up a meeting for David with his rather estranged mother Gabrielle Haller and it instantly starts on a pretty hostile note as David brings Gabrielle to Muir Island, the place where David was at his craziest and abandoned to Moira MacTaggert's experiments. There's an emotional core to the issue that's really solid as David tries to get to the center of his abandonment issues and why Moira MacTaggert was a bigger role in his life than his own mother. There are some really great resolves here for David and his own issues (including Gabrielle going into David's mind and identifying the demon that's been in there as specifically not Charles Xavier, which is rather a weight off of David). It's good that these resolves come, of course, because Gabrielle is promptly shot after David's issues are lessened. He immediately, in a remarkably cool moment in his brain, harnesses new powers and destroys the attackers (an attack organized by the newly unseated President Abdi) before teleporting himself to the Jean Grey School where he can sit in front of the statue of his father (unbothered after he telepathically suggests to everyone around that he's not there) with Blindfold. The two talk for a bit and it leads to David's revelation that he ought to maybe dispatch some "filial justice" in honor of his father, dead at the hands of Cyclops.

Exciting times for the book and, really, what this whole thing boils down to as ever, is that I really love this book you guys. It's just...it's the best book and I don't get why you're not reading it. If you are reading it, ignore that because you totally know how awesome it is already and I don't need to tell you (I will anyway). There's a great emotional core to this book, as I mentioned above, and it really strikes home for David and for the readers that care about David. There's a lot of resolution to hope for and certainly not enough that could ever be given (David was given up by his mother to Charles and Moira when he developed his powers, where he inevitably went a bit crazy and was ultimately sedated and tested on relentlessly, so yeah, there's a bit to come back from) but David gets enough to satisfy and to make more of a weight for Gabrielle's death. I talked in a Fearless Defenders review in the last couple months about "fridging" a character, creating them just to kill them off for an emotional resonance, but this isn't exactly that. Gabrielle is an established character in the Marvel Universe and her death, even though she's been off the pages for a while, still has a real impact to it. She's big in that world (head of the Israeli Embassy) and she's big in the mutant community. Most importantly right now, she was somehow big to David, even if he didn't grow up with her around. So it's not exactly fridging, it's bigger than that and the weight it holds can't be ignored. Some more great stuff with David in his own mind and hey you guys, I really love this book.

X-Factor 261
David (w) and N. Edwards and Leisten (a) and Milla (c)

We're on the penultimate issue of this iteration of X-Factor (it's very likely it will be rebooted shortly after it ends but no official word yet) which means we're still trying to figure out what's become of the team since the events of the Hell on Earth arc. Today's team members: Darwin and Monet. Darwin, sick of being a lackey for Hela, is trying to hunt the Norse goddess down and work some things out with her when he runs into Monet. He questions how she came back from the dead (it happens) and isn't totally satisfied with her response. Like Guido before her, Monet has come back not feeling much of anything and hoping to fix that but can't find the team and has no real outlet so she's shooting in the dark. She and Darwin talk for a bit and he reveals that he's in love with her, that he always has been, leading the two of them into a brief entanglement that ends when Hela appears the next morning and Darwin shoos her off, deciding he's happy the way he is. Awwwwww.

I've mostly been happy with the wrapping up of individual arcs as the book winds down and I think Peter David's taken great care to make sure his characters, the ones he's been writing for years and years pretty much untouched now are in good shape as their book concludes. It's especially nice for X-Factor fans because there's a good chance we won't see much from these characters in the immediate future, particularly if they don't end up on the newest iteration of the team. Sure, some will probably find their way into X-Men books here and there but by and large these characters are ones that are likely to drift into the background of the universe. Truly sad, sure, but kind of expected. The fact we had them in this book for as long as we did is nice (except Rahne, who I still don't care for). But BOY, he better resolve the Madrox thing in the final issue or I'm going to be so angry. I love Madrox. He better not be a goat-headed demon for the rest of his life. I'll be so mad, you guys.