A Very Queer “X-Factor” Comic Book Launches This April!

If you have been wanting to add another X-Men title with queer team members to your reading list, well, you need to keep an eye out for X-Factor. The new comic book series will launch this April, and the premise sounds very interesting.

The announcement about the new X-Factor story was shared (as an exclusive) by Polygon. The upcoming comic book series will be linked to the group of mutants (called The Five) who have now made all mutants immortal.

The Five includes Hope Summers, Goldballs, Proteus, Elixir, and Tempus. They work together to create a clone of someone. The clone or copy even has a person’s past experiences, so the resurrected being is basically (more or less) the ‘original’ person. And that’s why if a mutant dies, they (or, at least, an exact copy or version of them) can be brought back to life.

Anyway, the new X-Force team will consist of Northstar, Eye Boy, Rachel Grey, Prodigy, Polaris, and Daken. For those who might not know, the current roster has three openly queer characters. From what I can tell, Northstar is a married gay man while Prodigy and Daken are on the queer spectrum. 

I don’t think we have ever had an X-Men team book with so many queer characters in it. Remember when I recently mentioned the gays taking over the Marvel Comic Book Universe in 2020? Well, add X-Factor to that queer agenda. Ha!

The team’s job is to investigate as well as confirm mutant deaths. They aren’t supposed to avenge them. I guess, avenging falls under the job responsibilities the X-Force team has.

The role X-Factor will play is an important one. Their confirmation about a mutant’s death is what will prevent The Five from creating duplicates of a mutant who is already alive.

Also, fun thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to have duplicates of powerful mutants? Just imagine two Magnetos! Or how about three Storms to take over the Universe?

The new series is from Leah Williams and David Baldeón.

“We’d already planned on having X-Factor report to the Five for obvious resurrection work reasons,” Williams shared with Polygon, “but I asked [Jonathan Hickman and X-Men editor Jordan D. White] if we could focus a significantly greater concentration on the Five to not only help develop their evolving group dynamic, but also how they come to establish each resurrection protocol.”

According to Williams, Blob will be part of the team down the line.

Also, due to Northstar being married to a human man named Kyle, Williams will use the opportunity to explore such a relationship in the new status quo everyone is in due to Krakoa. Apparently, Williams might collaborate with writer Tini Howard to deliver a story involving how humans live in Krakoa.

Tini Howard is currently writing Excalibur and Strikeforce. In Excalibur, we continue to see Jubilee take care of her adoptive human baby boy. I’m ready to learn more about the dynamics existing between human and mutant relationships and how such bonds are looked at by other mutants and non-mutant beings.

Interestingly, Ororo (a mutant/Goddess) still has a romantic relationship with T’Challa (a human) and she continues to divide her time between helping Wakanda and Krakoa. So, you can see there’s a lot to be explored here.

Also, according to the Polygon interview, Williams has been coordinating with other X-Men writers on the “X-Slack,” which she says became her “happy place,” along with the “‘trash queer squad’ Discord server where Tini Howard, Vita Ayala [Age of X-Man: Prisoner X, Morbius the Living Vampire], and I act like sh*tlord fangoblins freely.”

Yes! Let the Marvel writers make everything queer (while telling interesting stories, of course!). I am so here for it!

The official summary for X-Factor reads:

MUTANTS HAVE CONQUERED DEATH!

By the grace of The Five, the resurrection protocols can bring back any fallen mutant. But such a huge enterprise isn’t without its problems and complications… When a mutant dies, X–Factor is there to investigate how and why to keep the rules of reincarnation. Writer Leah Williams (AMAZING MARY JANE, X–TREMISTS) and artist David Baldeón (DOMINO, WEB WARRIORS) take Northstar, Polaris, Prodigy, Eye-boy, Daken and Prestige into the world of murder and missing persons…

Will you be picking up X-Factor this April? I sure will be!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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