Issue(s): X-Factor #79, X-Factor #80, X-Factor #81
Cover Date: Jun-Aug 92
Title: "Rhapsody in blue" / "Belles and whistles" / "Belles of the ball"
Credits:
Peter David - Writer
Jim Fern / Larry Stroman - Penciler
Al Milgrom - Inker
Suzanne Gaffney - Assistant Editor
Bob Harras - Editor

Review/plot:
One of my favorite things about Peter David's X-Factor is his depiction of Quicksilver. He really looks at a character with super-speed, and the reflexes and mentality to match, and thinks about how that might work beyond just being able to run circles around super-villains. The bigger idea is how it justifies his characteristic crankiness, and, arguably, even bouts with madness and/or villainy, since he's super-impatient with a world that is so much slower than him. But at the beginning of this issue, we see another aspect of that side of him when he gets annoyed at two Madrox dupes playing Chopsticks incessantly on the piano and decides to give piano playing a try himself.

I also like that a point is made that Quicksilver is playing classical music in contrast to the Motown that Madrox likes. I'd like it even better if Quicksilver was playing something from the Baroque period. Because i think a limitation on Quicksilver's ability to do something like this is that he's learning on the fly by trial and error and is playing by rote, and that doesn't necessarily mean that he should be able to put any feeling into it. So he's better suited to a style of music that is all about the precision, playing the notes correctly, instead of playing from the heart, like Motown or, say, improvisational jazz. Which isn't to say that Quicksilver couldn't also have true artistic ability, but if that were the case i would think that his tastes would be a bit different than an ordinary-speeded person. In other words, i could imagine Moonlight Sonata making him just as impatient as everything else in the world does. Maybe he'd like the Turkish March better, or speed metal.

This story does have a musical theme beyond this opening scene. Quicksilver and Madrox are sent to investigate a woman that is wanted in connection with a murder. She's called Rhapsody, and she has musical powers.

Quicksilver and Madrox have to deal with bigotry among the locals.

We see a little bit of how Quicksilver might have wound up on the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Rhapsody does not surrender when she's approached by the X-Factor mutants, and she uses her powers against them.

Some of Madrox's dupes manage to avoid listening to the music...

...but Rhapsody convinces Madrox that she's not a bad person, and Madrox convinces Quicksilver to help try to clear her. I like this little exchange (although i wish the art were better; fill-in art by Jim Fern on issue #79).

To help Rhapsody, Madrox and Quicksilver investigate the offices of Harry Sharp and Dick Roper, whose names are apparently not meant to be vulgar puns. Sharp is the man who Rhapsody is accused of killing.

They find no evidence that Roper was really responsible for Sharp's death, and that's because it turns out that Rhapsody really did kill him.

Meanwhile, Polaris is attacked in the street while shopping. Issue #80 opens with a dream sequence from Rahne while she's waiting to visit Polaris in the hospital. It's based on the Saturday Night Live sketch and film, Wayne's World.

The credits say that the idea for the segment was from Myra David, Peter David's wife at the time.

Polaris' attacker was Cyber (from Peter David's Wolverine story in Marvel Comics Presents #85-92), although X-Factor don't learn his identity right away. He was trying to intimidate X-Factor into not taking a case providing witness protection for Marilyn Maycroft, who is a member of a group called Hell's Belles. Maycroft is testifying against the group on drug charges. The Hell's Belles all turn out to be mutants (or at least super-powered), and Maycroft is also a mutant, named Shrew.

I'm not going to cover all of the Belles, because this story is their only appearance and they're not that interesting. But here's Cyber, the Belles' "mentor".

Cyber poisons Strong Guy with his claws.

Cyber offers to provide X-Factor with an antidote if they'll turn over Shrew. But instead, Val Cooper has a government scientist develop an antidote. Strong Guy isn't too happy with Val taking chances with his life, but Havok gains his trust by poisoning himself and then taking the antidote.

So X-Factor (including Madrox and Quicksilver, who have returned at this point) go after Cyber and the Belles.

Cyber winds up getting knocked into a subway train thanks to Shrew.

Notice Cyber shrugging off Havok's attack. I mean, his arms are coated with adamantium, but not all of him, right?

I'm not quite sure what happens to the Belles thanks to Stroman's unclear art, but i guess they all get knocked out and arrested. It turns out in the end that Havok was only pretending to have taken the poison.

Even taking Stroman's style into account, some of the art in his two issues are not looking that good. And he's off the book after these issues.

Setting up an ongoing plot in this series, a mutant arrives at New York harbor, announcing that he's one of several refugee mutants.

Peter David is really strong on character, which in these issues balances out some not so strong plots and some not so great art.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I'm no great fan of Jim Fern, but at least his art can tell a story.

In 1992, Peter David's writing the best X-book seen in years. He gets back to mutants alongside society and their attitudes about each other, with an impressive spectrum of unique characters. Pietro's piano lesson is my favorite downtime scene from this run, at least, the one I and other fans recall fondly. This insight illustrated a very relatable and fun sort of speculation, and so made me appreciate one of my generally less favorites in Quicksilver.
Great characters open conversations!
This may not touch their look under Dale Keown on Hulk, but I do appreciate the storytelling effort. There is a Walt Simonson influence in there, you think? It's not the second coming of Claremont Byrne, but I love how little surface resemblance this run bears that one-crackling with the best 90's take on what Marvel did in the 60's.

Re:Cyber- I think the idea is his entire skin is coated with adamantium. Don't ask me why Alex didn't try blasting him in the eyes or teeth, though.

Peter David wrote an even better Quicksilver in the latest interaction of X-Factor a couple of years ago. I still regret that we lost the character and then the book. Pietro was never any more interesting character than there.

Unfortunately, "Rahne's World" is a forerunner of Peter David's later bad habit of lifting way way waaaayyyy too many things from whatever TV show or movie he just saw.

I think Jamie's appreciation for Pietro's playing of "Moonlight Sonata" has more to do with the pleasure of seeing someone play an enjoyable piece of music. That's why a lot of skinny high-schoolers and college students pick up a guitar, after all. Most of them don't get any good, but they get attention.

I don't know enough about music to comment about the Baroque period, but I agree Pietro would not be about putting any feeling into his playing, and any semblance of that would be because he's playing by rote and by ear. I.e. he's trying to remember/guess at the tempo and the correct notes, and isn't getting it exactly right, but is close enough.

And for convenience sake, everybody in the room either recognizes the piece or at least the beauty and doesn't condemn it as boring elevator music. It's Rhane's favorite song (and Black Bolt's.) [???]

It does make you wonder why Pietro didn't do this sort of thing before, other than the fact that he didn't have PAD writing him. Just think of how many skills he could master whenever he has a few free minutes, whether he's serving the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Avengers, X-Factor or Crystal. It probably is what inspired PAD to do something similar with Madrox years later.

On one episode of the Flash this season, the Harrison Wells of Earth-2 needs an assistant but unfortunately, the science of his world is different from the science of Earth-1. So he just hands Barry a book and Barry picks it up in a few minutes. That's different from this, though, in that the laws of physics were presumably the same on both worlds and Barry is skilled in the science of Earth-1- the problem is the nomenclature, exact theories, etc. would be different.

Since issue 82 shows Polaris comming back from hospital shouldn't this entry be moved to after Mys-Tech Wars?

The Mys-Tech Wars ends in a cosmic reset so it doesn't really matter. In other words, Polaris might have been released from the hospital just prior to Mys-Tech Wars, and then time resets and she's released again at the start of X-Factor #82.

The real question is whether or not i should list Polaris and X-Factor in Mys-Tech Wars at all. As noted in Mys-Tech Wars #3, it's said that some characters, including X-Factor, are coming in from alternate dimensions (and Polaris is in her old red costume). I assumed that the "real" characters are meant to be in the story but overlaid by their alternate dimension counterparts, but that may not be the case.

You meant "Polaris is in her future red costume"...

OK. Let's assume I buy your explanation:
Polaris was released from a hospital (without bracelets on broken jaw we all can see in X-Factor 82, but not in Mys-Tech Wars), Mys Tech Wars happens, reset for 24 hours.

Question: shouldn't that mean Myst-Tech Wars heppens not longer than 24 hours prior to X-Factor 82 and should be moved later?
Unless time reset somehow prevented Polaris from getting out of hospital again, and she was left there for a longer time, and They added those bracelets.

Can that be explained too?

Seriously, people here are happy with those far fetched explanations? Cause My OCD doesn't buy it. I would just moved that damn thing.

The time between X-Factor #81 and Mys-Tech Wars isn't defined, Polaris may have had all that stuff from #82 happen off-panel before Mys-Tech Wars, we just didn't see it, and when the reset happened we had the luxury of seeing it.

Once fnord is done with a year, he'll take all the "far-fetched explanations" he can get to avoid changing placement, because remember, he has to do that with his physical comics too and he can't be sure moving it won't screw something else up he's forgetting.

Couldn't he just... I don't know... check If he can move it? Skimm through those comics? Re-Read them even?
Ask people who read through what he did here to confirm?

There are people reading through this, right? Someone's using it to read?
And could double-check that for him?

And If for some reason he does not have time to check If it breakes something why not take a chance?
If it's broken now (If it wouldn't be I would not send my post) and he has to come up with far fetched explanation worst thing that would happen If he moved it would be breaking it somehwere else, which would require him to figure out other far fetchecd explanation.

So by moving it he can either fix it (which is improvement) or change one mistake into other (which is not worse - error is an error)
So there is no way to make it worse, but there is a chance to make it better. For the future people reading through this project.

Of course I might not understand what is the purpose of this project.
I always assumed it;s some kind of community service.
And as such as always assumed main goal for it should be to make reading the most reader-friendly experience possible for people using this list. Far Fetched explanations when there is no need for one does not help with that...

And I always assumed that it's not service but fun, that it's fnord's rather than mine, and that he can organize and explain any or all of it however he likes while I count myself lucky and grateful that he's doing it at all since it's an absolute blast.

But that's just me.

Fair enough

Right on, brother.

If you read enough comics, you can't expect things to be seamless. If you just want to read all of X-Factor's appearances or all of Polaris' appearances, and nothing else, you can place Mys-Tech Wars where-ever you want to accommodate that. If you're reading every single Marvel comic, you've got a hundred other characters in Mys-Tech Wars to consider, ones who probably have situations similar to Polaris', and it's unavoidable that it maybe doesn't fit as neatly between two books as you'd wish. And to move it just for Polaris, means that there might be problems with the Avengers or the X-Men books. Problems like Hercules' beard, Sersi's costume, who is Thor and so on. And, Mys-Tech Wars "resets" at the end, so it doesn't really matter at all to X-Factor. You can have Polaris go back to whatever she was doing before because Mys-Tech Wars basically rewound at the end. She got out of hospital before Mys-Tech Wars, but it was reset back to the point where she was in hospital. That is far less convoluted than allowing for Sersi to swap back and forth between costumes or Thor letting Eric stand in for him one last time or something like that.

@AF just FYI: I never suggested to move Mystech Wars anywhere.
X-Factor 79-81 connects with absolutely nothing else. If it was moved to after where Mys-tech wars are now It could only help, cause it would shorten the time between X-Patriots arrival and X-factor response.
And Val Cooper yelling at Madrox about Rhapsody situation would also make more sense If they were moved closer together.

But OK. If You don't need that kind of improvement do do it.
But please, don't explain to me the basics of how different Marvel comics connect with Themselves.
I would never suggest anything I am not 100% sure is possible, is not breaking anything and is actual improvement.

If not For You or fnord to use than for people reading comments. Maybe it will help Them orginize those stories in Their heads, after the reading. Maybe They prefere that to far-fetched explanation...

On the side note: What is the purpose of having "Chronological Placement Consideration" section If You don't see that "N/A" probably means You can safely move that around? In at least some kind of limited way...

OK, one more thing to be clear: For someone not reading closely this discussion It might look like I suggested moving Mys-tech Wars, which I did not.
That was to challenge fnord's far-fetched explanation about reset (As evidenced by words "Can that be explained too?")

My initial suggestion was to move X-Facotr 79-81 to AFTER Mys-Tech Wars. It breakes nothing, makes all the sense in the world. it's only disadvantage is it would require 5 minutes of double checking.
On my end it's all about that situation.

Till next time, next unnecessary far-fetched explanation...

There is a very strong argument to be made by in-text narration that the Polaris in the Mys-tech wars is from a parallel universe. I think Fnord's explanation and placement makes the most sense for something that isn't entirely clear and that isn't that much of a problem.

I also think it's good to not be curt or demanding with fnord. It's his project, his rationale, and his time. We're lucky to be a part of it and I hope it continues. Let's be nice.

If You read old Green Lantern story from the 90's where Hal Jordan was recreating Corpus You would know everyone needs someone to challenge his decision from time to time.

Cause If everyone around tell us how great we are and how fantastic our work is we, people, tend to believe that and that sometimes leads to lower quality of work.

So let's pretend fnord is Hal Jordan, You are his Brik or Kworri, and I will try to do my best playing Aa. Ok?

fragsel, stop cluttering up this entry with your nonsense. You can continue your meltdown in the forum if you can't contain yourself.

To counter the "strong argument to be made by in-text narration that the Polaris in the Mys-tech wars is from a parallel universe", for what it's worth, that is true of Mys-Tech Wars #3, but we also see her and X-Factor in Mys-Tech Wars #1 where there's no denotation or suggestion they are anything but the real deal, they're shown casually alongside scenes of other teams.

I wish I could hit the cosmic reset button to go back to 1991 or 1992 and make the 99’s Marvel UK books never happen.:)
I really liked David’s X-Factor in the 90’s. Wish it lasted longer. It’s funny, but I kinda remember Larry Stroman getting a lot of accolades for his art on X Factor. I liked it, but I don’t think I liked his stuff on any other books, though.

@Mquinn1976: The thing about Stroman is, on a purely visual level, it's abstract and stylized and ergo cool, but the storytelling is just not there. I cant help but think that a better visual storyteller would've made David's run not merely good but something special. Like his Hulk run. -- If also, I suppose, they hadn't ticked him off with perpetual crossover interruptions. But that's another story.

(Quick question as an aside: anybody have any recommendations about David's return later on? I quit collecting for the second and "final" time during Fatal Attractions. I'm pretty completist about reading through Acts of Vengeance, but from then on I'm just interested in reading good stories. Is PAD's second run a good one?)

@Matt: If you're referring to the Madrox-centric X-Factor that started with the Madrox mini-series in 2005, yes, in my opinion it's quite good. But be warned, you have to pick up a LOT of books to get the whole story. There are two volumes of a "Complete" collection that reprint the first 32 issues, plus the mini-series, to give you a good taste of it, but then you'd have to pick up Messiah Complex and about 20 slim individual collections (or the original floppies) to complete it.

I'd basically agree with Andrew, although he's obviously read a lot more of PAD's second run than I have. I just picked up issues or collections here or there. Some good stuff with intelligent, coherent stories. They aren't as gut-bustingly funny as the first run, and I'll admit they didn't grab me enough to be a consistent reader. "The Invisible Woman Has Vanished" is a great book, but it's really the only one that sticks in my mind.

And with the exception of the 'Lorna and the Scarlet Witch realize they're sisters so they go out and get drunk' issue, I found PAD's third run to be really bad. Horrible art, characters I had no interest in, just overall pointless.