1443 ( )

With the exception to the Secret Invasion tie-in, I've really been enjoying Peter David's X-Factor series. But I found this trade to be really lacking the usual magic that keeps me reading. X-Factor started out with a noir feel to it, but that's totally lacking in this story arc. Instead, Madrox and Layla Miller are stuck in the future, apparently tying up loose ends that were presented in the previous trades.

While elderly von Doom was entertaining at times, elderly Cyclops and his daughter Ruby left me completely cold, and the whole story felt rather disjointed to me. Maybe if it hadn't been six months since I'd last read an X-Factor story, I would have felt differently. But I'm hoping that David will return to his gritty story lines that made this series a must read.

The art was okay, but nothing spectacular. There was a "big reveal" about one of the characters, but because the art, I didn't know who in the heck the character was supposed to be until another character spelled it out clearly several pages later.

Altogether, this is a rather disappointing offering of X-Factor, which has usually been a very good read. ( )