Marvel is kicking off another wave of reveals of new X-Men titles with the announcement of X-Factor, which revives one of the first X-Men spin-off titles from the '80s and '90s with a roster that calls back to that same era.
Written by Mark Russell with art from Bob Quinn, the new X-Factor features Angel and Havok as the team's leaders, with Angel having served as part of the original X-Factor team, and Havok having served as the leader of the team's second incarnation. They'll be joined by Pyro, Frenzy, and Feral, with more mutants planned to join up as the title goes on.
But rather than just simply being another mutant superhero team, the new X-Factor will be a government-sanctioned task force with the goal of "fighting for mutant rights within the system" while also operating as mutant influencers of a sort.
"FAME, FORTUNE, MUTANTS! From the ashes of Krakoa, a new mutant arms race sweeps the globe! International governments are building their own mutant armies," reads Marvel's official description of X-Factor #1. "But only America’s X-Factor has the most powerful, most patriotic, most marketable mutant heroes to stem the tide and make the world safe for democracy! Join them as they go from one death-defying mission to another. Who will die? Who will fall in love? Who will be the first to sell out? Like, comment and subscribe to find out!"
"Whether they believe in their actions or are just doing it for a check, the members of X-Factor are no fools when it comes to shady politics," it continues. "As hidden agendas rear their ugly head, they'll fight against the dark consequences and disastrous public opinion from the inside! Mutant sell-outs or mutant role models? You be the judge!"
In its original incarnation, X-Factor was a government-sanctioned team masquerading as agents who would seek out and capture mutant threats, while secretly using their government clearance to protect mutants from people who would do them harm.
X-Factor has also been a private investigation firm, a superhero corporation, and more, so turning the team into a group of mutant influencers isn't a total stretch at this point. In fact, it's not even the first time there's been a similar team in X-Men history. Back in the early '00s and revived again in recent years, the team X-Statix (which grew out of X-Force) was a team of mutant reality TV stars in the very early era of the concept of reality TV.
"The thing I've always loved about the X-Men is that they're characters first, super heroes second," states writer Mark Russell. "So being able to write characters like Havok and Angel and Frenzy in a post-Krakoa reality is an opportunity to write about what I really care about, which is how do we help each other survive the apathy of the world we live in?"
In addition to his recent work on a wide variety of superhero comics for Marvel and DC, Russell is known for his political satire, both as a prose author and as a comic writer, so he seems uniquely poised for a title like this. And with tons of X-Men experience of his own, artist Bob Quinn is a perfect choice to round out the book's creative team. "It's so exciting to be back and drawing mutants in the X-Men universe again, and doubly exciting to work with Mark again," Quinn states. "To my mind, Mark's mix of humor and ability to shine a light on the peculiarities of modern society make him the perfect writer to tackle the relaunch of X-Factor. Drawing this team and every unexpected twist and turn of the story has been a blast so far, and I can't wait for readers to get their hands on it."
X-Factor #1 goes on sale August 14, with a cover from Greg Land, seen above. Marvel has also promised to announce further details of its planned new Wolverine title this week.
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