Issue(s): X-Factor #59
Cover Date: Oct 90
Title: "Yesterday's news"
Credits:
Louise Simonson - Writer
Terry Shoemaker - Penciler
Al Milgrom - Inker
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
We're still in the potentially interesting period where X-Factor are public heroes but struggling with public perception, in part thanks to the anti-mutant backlash that they caused.

Archangel is trying to have some time to himself, but he's approached by a trolly car full of reporters, and some of them fall off while trying to interview him. He catches them, but angrily dumps them in the water when they immediately continue their questions. Trish Tilby is there to catch it all on film. She knows what really happened, but is afraid that if she releases the footage, people will assume that Archangel attacked the reporters, no matter what she says in the voice over. She's just generally burnt out by the responsibility of reporting.

Her editor, and ex-husband, offers to put her on assignment in India. Of course, the Beast happens by just as she's kissing him in thanks, and he gets the wrong idea.

Try not to get any soap in your eyes.

Angel, meanwhile, goes to the home of Charlotte Jones, the policewoman that he's been not quite involved with. You have to love Grandma's reaction to a menacing mutant with blades for wings showing up on her fire escape.

Charlotte's son Timmy has a much more positive reaction.

Angel is allowed in the apartment, and he spends some time getting to know Timmy. Timmy's father was killed in a drug shooting near Tim's school, and Tim was partially paralyzed in that shooting, necessitating crutches and a brace.

Unlike the Beast, Angel has better luck getting closer to Charlotte. And Iceman and Opal also go on another date. The tone of the book is becoming something more lighthearted.

Opal does get a Mysterious Letter in a set-up for a future story, though.

Also in this issue, Scott tells Jean not to worry about his marriage proposal, a nice scene where he's taking the pressure off her without them breaking up.

So this is entirely a soapy downtime issue, but it's nice to see a focus on characters that isn't entirely based on angst. I do like the idea of X-Factor almost having Avengers level trust while at the same time struggling with anti-mutant sentiment. I wish it was something that immediately followed Fall of the Mutants, when they first came out as public heroes, and didn't get pushed back due to Judgment Wars (in part because it was an opportune time in the Marvel universe, since the Avengers were out of the picture around that time). Regardless of the timing, this could have still worked, and it does work to a degree, but i feel like Louise Simonson doesn't really know what to do with the themes now that we're here. Either that or there's the fact that X-Tinction Agenda is coming up, with the Muir Island saga hot on its heels, so there's not much to do with the idea. So we're just left with a few issues like this. And part of the problem is the issue collapses under the weight of its own verbosity.

But it's still a decent downtime issue.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place after X-Factor annual #5.

References:

• Beast makes reference to learning about a future where mutants were feared and exterminated, with a footnote to X-Factor annual #5.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

A good quiet issue before the crossover madness begins.

Some time passes between the annual & this issue where Iceman & Archangel have to recover from the rather severe looking injuries they received in the annual.