X-Factor #10: A Sad Way to Say Good Bye (SPOILER LEVEL HIGH)

X-Factor #10 has a lot of ground it needs to cover as the final issue of the series. Normally this wouldn’t be a cause of concern due to the creative team having shown that they are capable of juggling quote a lot. But in this instance, the pacing and volume of the plot work against some of the very storyline being attempted.

The art team continues to show how great they work together. The characters make a journey through emotions and beats of tension, with the art making sure that the reader is not left behind. As always, the visual representations of powers (including a new one introduced in this issue) are vibrant, detailed, and captivating.

X-Factor series writer Leah Williams and series artist David Baldeon share story crafting duties for this issue while Williams writes the script. And with the many remaining storylines to close, as well as the need to tie into the Hellfire Gala event- there is plenty of story to be crafted. The creative team addresses the tie-in obligations by utilizing the appearances of their character in other titles- Shatterstar’s reunion with Rictor in Excalibur, Daken and Aurora’s confrontation with Wildchild in Hellion’s, etc.- and avoiding telling the same story twice. In between these scenes, Williams and Baldeon are able to tie up most threads in a way that is clean but still open for continued growth of the character. And while the conclusion of Eye-Boy’s power growth was head scratch inspiring, the real issue arose in the conclusion of Prodigy’s storyline. [CAUTION SPOILERS AHEAD]

Williams has been leaving breadcrumbs since X-Factor #5 about the mystery of Prodigy’s death and resurrection. In this final issue, she delivers the final answers. Prodigy strings together the clues left for him and receives his phone from before his death, along with a message from his pre-resurrection self. Rather than seeing the message at that time, we see Prodigy confront the man who murdered him, a serial murderer who targets young, queer, black men.

Between this revelation and the resolution of this conflict, it is a mere four pages before the story moves on to the next plot twist. In these four pages, we also get the reveal of Eye-Boy’s new power and the next step in Daken and Aurora’s relationship. What is not in these four pages is any processing or grieving for Prodigy beyond a single panel where Eye-Boy grants him permission to cry.

The setup for this story could have led to a scene that focused on Prodigy seeking to reclaim his power or obtaining closure by confronting the predator that murdered him and people like him. Or it could have shown how Prodigy is not alone by obtaining logistical and emotional support from his teammates in solving his murder and bringing the abuser to justice. Instead, the story presented as a trauma dump (complete with a brief visual of Prodigy’s dead body) that had more immediate character development implications for the other characters present than Prodigy himself. This was made more noticeable by the immediate return to the Gala in which all the characters are seeming unbothered by the crimes they uncovered.

A lot of speculation can be had about what this storyline could have delivered had X-Factor more issues to tell it. Also to be taken into consideration was the need of the writers to include the big final twist that sets up Trial of Magneto. But the creative team still made a choice to include a sensitive subject despite the space constraints of the issue. The end result, to this reviewer, was not something that fulfilled the potential of the story or showed respect to the subject; instead, it presented as dismissive.