X-FACTOR #61: Betrayal! (X-Tinction Agenda Part 6)

X-Factor mounts a rescue mission on their rescue mission to rescue Wolverine's rescue mission!

Originally Published December 1990

We begin with Cameron Hodge -- who began this caper relatively unhinged but has devolved into a lipless, drooling maniac (at least when Jon Bogdanove draws him) -- crowing over his latest capture of invading mutants. In this case, he's added New Mutants leader Cable and member Sunspot, X-Factor's Jean Grey, and the "X-Men?"'s Forge and Gambit to the ranks of captured mutants soon to be transmogrified into mindless slave drones. That's all well and good, but he takes Wipeout to task for... doing his job too good, possibly erasing Forge's ability to monkey with cybernetics the way Hodge wants him to.

Hodge and his goon squad captured these heroes while they were in the process of planting bombs around the Citadel, which was either a brilliant fake plan to get themselves caught and thus deploy their real plan, or a terrible real plan that went horribly awry and leaves the team's still-free allies scrambling. I'm never sure with these comics, but thanks to telepathic mutants in the employ of Genosha, Hodge knows the whereabouts of all the bombs (as well as Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Cannonball and Banshee, who all remain at large.) 

Jean attempts to appeal to Hodge's sentimental side.

When Magistrate Summers -- formerly the X-Man known as Havok, now a free mutant willingly working in the service of the Genoshan government -- reminds Hodge to be careful with the merchandise, the Commander tosses Forge over to him for Alex to carry like a sack of potatoes.

When one of Alex's fellows ribs him about his standing, he snaps -- in a phrase that perhaps inappropriately (or at the very least, darkly) recalls baseball legend Jackie Robinson -- as a mutant in the Genoshan service, he has to work three times as hard as anyone else.

When the prisoners pass a drugged-up and dazed Rahne in the hallway, they call out to her and get beaten down for their trouble. In the scuffle, Cable breaks free and takes his swing at Hodge, despite not having use of his mechanical arm.

Surprisingly, considering Cable's bona fides as a military man, tactician and man of action, this goes fucking poorly.

The Genoshans throw Jean into a special cell with a familiar friend...

That's right, there's Logan, bereft of his mutant healing factor and bleeding to death in the dark. The two share a tender moment...

Which becomes a very tender moment indeed.

As it turns out, this is all part of Hodge's machinations -- having had access to the Xavier files via his association with X-Factor, he knows that Jean and Wolverine have always had feelings for each other, but Jean never acted on them out of faithfulness to Scott. But seeing him so vulnerable and near death was sure to get the two of them in the mood which will absolutely kill Cyclops when he finds out -- psychological warfare at its best!

What's more, the Genoshan Forces are moving in on X-Factor's hideout in a warehouse at the edge of town, ready to bring the pain. Unfortunately, when they arrive they find it's not quite as expected...

Back at the Citadel in the President's office, while Hodge debates the finer points of their uneasy alliance with Moreau, Magistrate Summers arrives with news of the trap and the deaths of several many Genoshan soldiers. As the baddies scramble for their countermove, all the glass in the place shatters...

Which can only mean one thing, King...

Er, sorry, wrong fandom.

In actuality, it's Archangel (of X-Factor), Cannonball (of the New Mutants) and Banshee (of "Seriously, are these the X-Men?") coming screaming in like the angel of death... which is, after all, what at least one of them is.

Warren is a little surprised to find Hodge here at the center of all this, because the last time they tangled, Cameron came up a little short.

Like, a head short.

Because he was decapitated.

In the chaos, a giant, truly impractically large and gaudy statue that is apparently in the President's office is felled, crushing Cannonball, but barely missing the President herself thanks to Hodge's assistance. President Reneau, for her part, can hardly believe the audacity it would take for insurgents to violently attack the seat of Government. Unthinkable and unforgiveable, everyone involved in such an attack should be tried as criminals, as enemies of the state.

I may be referring to something unrelated.

Downstairs, Cyclops and Iceman infiltrate the Citadel disguised as Mutates bringing in an injured cohort.

Cue Iron Maiden

The invaders rout the Magistrates, until as usual Cyclops comes face to face with Alex. Their powers still don't work on one another so Scott aims for his gun -- no dice, however, as Alex boasts that his weaponry has been reinforced against mutant powers blasts of all sorts with technology provided by The Right organization... Cameron Hodge's group.

As Cyclops gives a half a second to wonder what Hodge has to do with all of this, once again it comes to blows. Cyclops is able to snap his brother up in a reverse bear hug and growl his origin story into his brother's ear until he remembers the truth.

Just as Alex starts to get some clarity, who should slither stealthily up completely silently and sneakily, but giant killer robot-bodied bad guy Cameron Hodge. Hodge his nebulous abilities to put a whammy on Cyclops, and Alex defiantly swears that he will never believe anything said by that lying, no-good piece of gene trash mutant there.

This pleases Hodge, but little does he suspect... a ruse!

Further Thoughts:

The miscalculation with a crossover like X-Tinction Agenda -- which would be repeated for years until the found a new model for crossover events in Age of Apocalypse -- was that it is a single nine-part narrative that played out across three titles that were being done by three different creative teams. The writing is relatively consistent even if Louise Simonson (handling two of the titles) isn't Chris Claremont. But reading it as intended means rotating between Lee, Liefeld and Bogdanove (or if you like, Lee & Co, Liefeld & Co., and Bogdanove & Co, which here and elsewhere involves additional pencilers). We've already heard some feedback about how unwelcome Bogdanove's contributions are in this context, and I assure you, once I've worked out how to travel through time and gain influence with Marvel Editorial, I'll see to it that he's replaced on the job.

You know you've got a problem when your work is compared unfavorably to Rob Liefeld.

Now, this blog is not about saying what art is good or not -- if a particular talent has made it to this position one can assume his work is valued by someone who knows what they're doing (although I'll find opportunities to dispute this later in the history of the X-Men) and my concern is how well it contributes to the telling of a story. I was ready to personally say that I think Bogdanove's style -- which involves a particular type of detail, and a particular way of dropping details out of the picture -- might be more welcome in a more deliberately off-beat context, say an underground comic or a lesser-known mainstream property. But then I found out that after this he drew Superman for nearly a decade, so what do I know?

Ordinarily, it would seem like a good thing to have an unconventional aesthetic on a spinoff, a second-tier superhero book that needs to distinguish itself with an identity apart from its parent title. (Where would New Mutants be without Bill Sienkiewicz's brief but memorable contributions?) but at this particular point in time, X-Factor is directly coterminous with the usual top-selling property from Marvel, and it kind of needs to look like it. I actually think the art team here did a really good job with the Wolverine/Jean reunion (a very tasty moment for any artist to sink their teeth into) but beyond that I'm not going to stick my neck out to praise him. You just can't always swim upstream.

This panel of Storm will haunt your nightmares though