This week sees the launch of the All-New X-Factor, wherein Peter David takes control of a new batch of X-characters now that his longtime friends at X-Factor Investigations – Jamie Madrox, Layla Miller, Monet St. Croix, Guido, Siryn, et al are all onto other things. This time, we’ve got an unstable Polaris, her half-brother Quicksilver, a skeptical Gambit, the stalwart team of Cypher and Warlock and even that odd duck named Danger all coming together to become a full-on corporate crimefighting team. Serval Industries gets the rights to the name X-Factor, and they’re in the business of superheroes. Just what might that mean? Well, Crave Online talked to Peter David to try and find out.
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CRAVE ONLINE: You’ve pulled together a very interesting team for the new X-Factor, and when discussing rosters, we always imagine the X-writers have to get together like kids trading baseball cards to decide who gets to play with which characters. What were the difficulties, if any, in assembling your team, and did you have to slap-fight anybody for Quicksilver?
PETER DAVID: No real difficulties. I worked with Jordan D. White who gave me a list of characters available for use, and I was most please to see that Quicksilver, at least for the time being, was on it. I simply chose individuals whose personalities I felt would mesh well with each other
CRAVE ONLINE: In X-Factor #260, the set-up issue for this relaunch, we saw Polaris backsliding towards her more unhinged state, as she attempted to deal with the aftershock of finding out she killed her parents by getting plastered and attempting to shoot her brother. How are Lorna’s (and Pietro’s, for that matter) stability levels going into this, and how will they affect the team dynamics?
PD: Lorna is going to be fighting her internal demons insofar as leading the team goes, and there will be many questions raised as to if Pietro’s loyalties are really with her or not. I think Lorna is really the one with stability issues, and those definitely will play a part as the series progresses.
CRAVE ONLINE: Serval Industries sounds very intriguing. Where on the ‘corporate morality’ scale might they fall? More Stark Industries, more Roxxon, or more Alchemax?
PD: You’ll just have to wait and find out, since that’s a major question, particularly insofar as Gambit is concerned.
CRAVE ONLINE: What can you tell us about Serval Industries? I understand there’s a Google influence involved – and since Google’s been buying robotics firms and developing that weird secret mystery barge floating in the San Francisco Bay, they feel vaguely nefarious themselves.
PD: There’s a lot I could tell you, but that would be giving away key plot points. So I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait and find out.
CRAVE ONLINE: Speaking of Alchemax, as the creator of Spider-Man 2099 (which I loved), now that Miguel O’Hara is plausibly stuck in the present day and working in disguise there in Superior Spider-Man, do you feel any itch to get your hands on him again?
PD: Absolutely. I’d love to write Miguel again. He’s one of my favorite characters that I created. That’s why I had so much fun writing the video game “Edge of Time.”
CRAVE ONLINE: I’d love to see it. Back to X-Factor – Serval gets a hold of Polaris when she’s seemingly hit rock bottom… which sounds like part of a typical corporate strategy of ‘buy low and sell high.’ Can superhero teams be sold like sports franchises here?
PD: Apparently so.
CRAVE ONLINE: Will there be other corporate-sponsored superhero groups as well, potential competitors for X-Factor that they’ll have to fight… or maybe just outperform out in the free marketplace?
PD: There will indeed be competitors, although I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s going to be superhero groups. If, after all, you’re a villain, what better way to do business than enter the marketplace and try to get in from the inside out?
CRAVE ONLINE: Cypher seems like he might get the chance to shine in a corporate environment, as his language gift should prove incredibly useful in day to day business and international expansion and such. What capacity will he serve in, and what’s his relationship with Warlock like these days?
PD: His relationship with Warlock is estranged initially but we manage to bring them back together pretty quickly. They’ve always worked well as a team, but Doug remains haunted by visions of his future that won’t go away, and he’ll have to deal with that. Doug will definitely be pulled into the inner workings of Serval, although whether that’s a good thing or bad thing remains to be seen.
CRAVE ONLINE: Danger is absolutely a wild card here, and a highly dangerous one at that. How does she fit into the mix? And, at the risk of sounding like the fans who constantly whined about when Deadpool would show up since you were using Siryn at the start of the previous X-Factor run, will there be any follow-up on Danger’s weird relationship with Madison Jeffries that was set up in Si Spurrier’s delightfully weird X-Club miniseries?
PD: No immediate plans for Madison Jeffries, sorry. I hope the fans won’t be disappointed by that. Danger is considering this latest endeavor part of her eternal learning process with how to deal with human beings, and I especially think her relationship with Warlock should be interesting since they’re both looking from the outside in on the human and mutant races.
CRAVE ONLINE: I’ll be honest – Gambit has always been my least favorite X-character. However, your penchant for delivering unique and compelling takes on characters, as well as getting him out of that ugly, ugly old costume, might be able to turn me around – a feat you managed with Shatterstar, which I’d previously thought impossible. What do you plan to do with Gambit to freshen him up?
PD: Much of his interest stems from not knowing anything about Serval and worrying that Lorna may have gotten herself into a situation that she doesn’t understand. He’s going to be something of a commentator on the entire Serval structure and will be having some definite dust-ups with Serval CEO Harrison Snow, the guy who he really doesn’t get.
CRAVE ONLINE: So that’s the rationale for perennial outsider Remy LeBeau selling out and going corporate?
PD: I don’t think he thinks of it as selling out. He sees people he likes going into a situation that he doesn’t trust and he believes that he is capable of pulling them out of it if things go horribly wrong
CRAVE ONLINE: How did the new-look uniforms come about? Was that all Carmine Di Giandomenico, or did you work with him closely on that?
PD: I was sent samples of stuff as Carmine produced them and voiced my opinions on different aspects, but it was mostly him. And I think he did a great job.
CRAVE ONLINE: And finally, you’ve had classic issues in both of your prior X-Factor runs where Doc Samson psycho-analyzed the teams. Any chance Ol’ Leonard can come back from the dead to shrink the heads of the new team? Seems this cast could use it.
PD: No plans that I know of.
