Havok

Updated: Guide to X-Factor

January 12, 2023 by krisis

Now that I’m digging back into my comic guides, it’s time to start attacking my backlog of 150+ guides that haven’t had a significant revision in half a decade! Time flies when you’re reading comics. This week, I’ve reached back to update one of CK’s earliest guides. Actually, I re-wrote every word and rebuilt every link from scratch to make it easier than ever to find the physical and digital collections you want. Welcome to my all-new, all-different Guide to X-Factor.

Guide to X-Factor

My last update of the Guide to X-Factor was in the middle of the Reign of X, which means it wasn’t missing too many collections – just the newest Epics and the relatively fresh second and third volumes of the Peter David Omnibus line.

However, that doesn’t meant the page was easy to use! The guide had grown to be a labyrinth of collections with 20 years worth of competing oversized hardcovers, Epics, and paperbacks. That approach to guide organization predates Marvel’s more-organized approach to the contents of Omnibuses and Epic collections. Now that collection formats are getting tidier, the guide should follow! Now, major collection formats have their own sections that you can easily open or skip.

As a result, I rebuilt every collection link on the page. That’s not the only big change to this guide. I’ve added all of the features of the newest guides on the site, including a “Where to Start” section, digital purchase links, reformatted images, and links to read on Marvel Unlimited!

This was one of my milder rebuilds, since it didn’t require adding many new collections or researching character appearances. It still took a whopping five hours altogether, which is almost as long as it takes to create a small new guide from scratch! I’ve got my work cut out for me keeping everything updated, but the more often I do it the easier and quicker it becomes.

Enjoy this renewed Guide to X-Factor – and, let me know in the comments which of my 200+ guides you’d love to see me update next!

X-Factor by David & DeMatteis – The #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

May 27, 2017 by krisis

The X-Men and their various teams have gone through many reinventions in the decades since their birth, but I’d argue one of the most successful of them all was Peter A. David (PAD) writing X-Factor from 1991 to 1993.

This is an X-Men run that remains as delightful for entrenched fanatics as it is for brand new readers. Even if PAD was already cemented as a household name for comic fans thanks to his lengthy run on Incredible Hulk, he was the first author to ever focus on Polaris and he turned Multiple Man into such an enduring fan favorite that he spawned another 100+ issue run on X-Factor over a decade after this one ended!

X-Factor by David & DeMatteis is the #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017 on Tigereyes’s Secret Ballot. Visit the Marvel Masterworks Message Board to view the original posting of results by Tigereyes, and visit the Guide to X-Factor to learn how can you read it today.

Past Ranking: Up one spot from#38 in 2016.

Probable Contents: Collecting X-Factor #71-83, 87-105, & Annual 8-9 (and maybe #106 along with Excalibur (1988) #82, X-Force (1991) #38.

Yes, that pushes past the PAD material. I’ll explain more below.

See Oversize X-Men: A map of every existing omnibus, plus what’s missing (Part 2: 1991 to 2001) for a map of the remainder of the series.

Creators: Written by Peter A. David (#71-89, with Shana David & Skip Dietz), Scott Lobdell (#90-95 with Joe Quesada), J.M. DeMatteis (#92-105), & Todd Dezago (#103-106).

Line art by Larry Stroman (#71-81 with Tom Raney, Kevin J. West, Brandon Peterson, & James Bosch), Rurik Tyler, Marc Pacella, Jae Lee, Joe Quesada (#87-92 with Aldrin Aw & Jan Duursema), Terry Shoemaker, Paul Ryan, Greg S. Luzniak, Jan Duursema (#97-106 with Greg S. Luzniak, Bryan Hitch, & Roger Cruz), Chris Batista, & Mat Broome.

Inks by Al Milgrom with Clifford E. Van Meter, Andy Lanning, Jeff Albrecht, Mark McKenna, Terry Austin, & Steve Moncuse.

Colors by Glynis Oliver with Mike Thomas, Kevin Tinsley, Brad Vancata, Marie Javins, Ariane Lenshoek-Pinheiro, Tom Smith, Matt Webb, Carlos Lopez, and Joe Rosas.

Can you read it right now? Not entirely. You can get through #92 with current collections, but then there is a gap until #106. The same is true for Marvel Unlimited.

The Details:

Peter David wrote the perfect first issue with X-Factor #71.

I’ve read this run several times, and along with many voters on Tigereyes’ secret ballot I would say it’s amongst my favorites. Yet, at the time in 1991, the announcement of this cast and creative team supplanting the original five X-Men largely written by Louise Simonson in X-Factor drew a reaction more like “Uh, I guess it could work?” [Read more…] about X-Factor by David & DeMatteis – The #37 Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus of 2017

Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #40 to 36

June 8, 2016 by krisis

Omnibus on Shelf It’s time to announce and dissect the next five spots from the Most-Wanted Marvel Omnibus secret ballot by TigerEyes. I covered #45-41 in the last installment.

This range includes a healthy handful of debuts, plus two books that have drifted downward from last year – both due to coverage in other mediums.

Marvel has released these oversized omnibus editions for over a decade now, with a staggering amount of their most-popular material now covered in the format – from Silver Age debuts to modern classics. Is your favorite character or run of issues already in an Omnibus? My Marvel Omnibus & Oversized Hardcover Guide is the most comprehensive tool on the web for answering that question – it features every book, plus release dates, contents, and even breakdowns of $/page and what movies the books were released to support.

And now, onto entries 40 through 36! [Read more…] about Marvel’s Most-Wanted Omnibuses of 2016 – #40 to 36

X-Factor – Definitive Reading Order & Collecting Guide

Updated Mar 30, 2025! X-Factor comic books in a definitive issue-by-issue collecting guide and reading order for omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Find every issue and appearance! Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated March 2025 with titles scheduled for release through November 2025.

Marvel launched X-Factor in 1986 as an outlet for the original X-Men team of Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel – and, in a late-breaking decision, the return of Jean Grey.

At the time, the X-Men were at their initial peak of being hated and feared. Public sentiment had turned against mutants. Professor Xavier had just been gravely injured in a hate crime. And, the government had formed its own mutant squad – Freedom Force – to keep the X-Men in line.

As a result, X-Factor launched not as an out-and-proud mutant team, but a team disguised as mutant hunters! In a slight nod to 1984’s hit Ghostbusters, the team suited up in matching jumpsuits and promised to dispose of any mutant problem (though, really they were letting most of their “captives” bunk with them in their own headquarters).

Meanwhile, Louise Simonson slowly built the tension of the comic of Apocalypse while re-establishing (or, really, establishing for the first time) Jean Grey’s character. Rather than a token female and romantic foil, she often became the lead of the book as a multi-dimensional person coming to terms with a cosmic force hijacking her life.

Within a few years the team’s true identities were exposed, but that sent the title into an identity crisis. If it followed the original five X-Men doing mutant things… shouldn’t it just be called X-Men?

Eventually, the line’s editors came to that conclusion, and merged the original five back into the main X-Men flagships with the 1991 launch of adjectiveless X-men.

In their wake, they left the team that would redefine the core X-Factor’s cast for the next 30 years. Peter A. David assembled a gathering of cast-offs including the 6th and 7th X-Men – Havok and Polaris, a little-known Claremontian mutant named Jamie Madrox – The Multiple Man, New Mutants refugee Wolfsbane, an overgrown bouncer generically named Strong Man, and one of the few non-X-Men mutants – Quicksilver.

The book was a surprise hit with fans, less a book about its team being a government-sanctioned squad of heroes and more about them being damaged people who lost the confidence to act heroically of their own accord. David left as the book became increasingly mired in X-line crossovers, but the focus stayed centered on Havok’s team as a rapid succession of replacements gave way to a lengthy run by Howard Mackie. The run later added Forge, Mystique, and Sabretooth as recurring cast members.

After an unrelated, X-adjacent mini-series in 2002, the franchise went dormant until it was revived in the wake of House of M by Peter A. David, back to center the book on a Private Investigation agency headed up by his longtime favorite Jamie Madrox and another unlikely cast of cast-offs. PAD’s 100+ issue run included PAD’s original 90s cast members Wolfsbane and Strong Guy, plus Rictor, Siryn, Monet, and Shatterstar – and, later, Longshot, Darwin, Pip the Troll, and the returning pair of Havok & Polaris.

The run was notable for its comedic take on detective noir, for character-focused stories, and for winning a GLAAD award for Rictor’s coming out and subsequent relationship with Shatterstar. After a brief break at the top of Marvel Now, PAD relaunched the team as a corporate security force lead by Polaris in an oft-ignored run that lasted an impressive 20 issues while other books struggled to pass a dozen.

X-Factor’s next return was under the pen of Leah Williams, who retained the “investigations” angle and Polaris as a cast member, but reimagined the book as Krakoa’s SVU – investigating mutant disappearances and wrongful deaths. It was a fun book filled with big ideas, but editorial tinkering killed it (and scuttled the final arc), shunting Williams and the team off into X-Men: The Trial of Magneto.

Silver Age X-Men – Collecting Guide and Reading Order for Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1-93

The definitive issue-by-issue comic book collecting guide and trade reading order for Marvel’s Silver Age X-Men and X-Men Hidden Years comic books in omnibus, hardcover, and trade paperback collections. Part of Crushing Krisis’s Crushing Comics. Last updated November 2024 with titles scheduled for release through June 2025.

The Silver Age X-Men

The X-Men debuted in 1963 under the pen of the father of the Silver Age Marvel Universe, Stan Lee, and his frequent collaborator, Jack Kirby.

X-Men (1963) is one of the most important key issues of the Silver Age because the team debuted fully formed with a complete cast of Professor Xavier, Cyclops, Marvel Girl AKA Jean Grey, Angel, Iceman, Beast – and, their signature foe, Magneto!

The “Original Five” were lead by Professor Xavier against foes like Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Namor, Unus The Untouchable, The Blob, Juggernaut, the original Sentinels, and many other classic X-Men enemies that are recalled to this day. Issue #4 introduced Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, who would soon migrate to the Avengers to become a part of “Caps Kooky Quartet” along with a third reformed villain, Hawkeye.

The original run of X-Men lasted from issue #1 in September 1963 through issue #66 in March 1970. From there, the title continued exclusively as a bi-monthly reprint book from issues #67-93, republishing prior issues with new cover illustrations.

Those five ears ended in 1975 with the publication of Giant Size X-Men and the relaunch of the title with a new cast in issue #94.

Though no new X-Men material was published from 1970 to 1974, the team was still active at the margins of the Marvel Universe – as seen in occasional guest appearances. That has led this period to be dubbed “The Hidden Years” by both Marvel and fans. Those “Hidden Years” contain contemporaneous Silver and Bronze Age material from the period, as well as later-inserted material.

Since all of that material features the assembled Silver Age team, it is also covered by this guide – distinguished as “Silver & Bronze Hiatus Appearances” and “Modern Age Hidden Years.”

(Making things even more confusing, the “Modern Age Hidden Years” should generally be read first – since it does not include the fuzzy version of Beast!)

Because this era is covered comprehensively by multiple formats, I have not listed the full breadth of single issues collected by story or single issue – there’s no reason to collect this run in that fashion. However, I have included some key issues below to help orient you to major moments in the Silver Age run.

If you want a reading order of every X-Men comic and character in that period (including guest appearances, flashbacks, and retcon stories), see The Definitive X-Men Reading Order, Era #1: Original X-Men.

A note on the title of this series: The official publication name of this title was “X-Men” through the Silver Age and beyond. The title was not formally changed to “Uncanny X-Men” until the indicia of issue #142. However, Marvel routinely refers to the entirety of this 1963 – 2010 volume as “Uncanny X-Men,” as on this Marvel Unlimited entry for issue #1. As a result, my convention on Crushing Comics is to always refer to the entire series as “Uncanny X-Men,” even prior to the indicia change.