X-Factor (Vol. 1) #32
“The Carbon Copy Avengers”
Plotter/Edditor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Scripter: Louise Simonson
Guest Artist: Steve Lightle
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Colorist: Petra Scotese
Cover: Lightle
Editor: Bob Harras
Published by: Marvel
Released: May 31, 1988
I'm happy with the *51 logo designed by Nathan Arnold, so I decided against replacing it for my 200th post. Instead, to mark the milestone, I elected to go with one of my favorite comics of all time.
X-Factor #32 doesn't appear to have been a milestone at all when it was released. In fact, it seems like a fill-in issue, with regular writer Simonson scripting a plot by DeFalco and Lightle taking over penciling duties from Simonson's husband, Walt. And yet, it's a foundational piece of my fandom. A look at the actual issue itself below ought to give you an idea of how many times I read it!
As you might expect of an issue of a series focused on the five original X-Men, who I believe were no longer posing as mutant hunters at this point, the issue opens with a splash page featuring the Avengers and New York Mayor Ed Koch.* The team and a sans-armor Tony Stark are donating the grounds of Avengers Mansion to the city, which doesn't jibe with current continuity.
Some suspicious-looking dudes in matching trench coats and hats with apparently yellow skin are among the spectators who surround the team, whispering derisive comments about the heroes. They move off to the side and teleport aboard a spaceship, where they're revealed to be aliens, Xartans specifically, intent on getting revenge on Thor for defeating the leader's dad a long time ago and forcing the rest of them to turn into trees. I could have sworn there was an asterisked note saying when this happened, but either someone altered history and removed it or I was wrong. The Marvel Fandom wiki, however, tells me it happened in Journey Into Mystery #90.
Anyway, these guys seem like yellow Skrulls, with scaly chests instead of ridged chins, as they shapeshift into the four Avengers they observed – Thor, She-Hulk, Black Knight and the Sorcerer Sufficient himself, Dr. Druid!
They make their way to Earth in a ship instead of via teleportation, which gives them time to notice another spaceship over the Atlantic Ocean. That's the sentient HQ of X-Factor, known as Ship. Aboard, X-Factor's Iceman, Marvel Girl and Cyclops are watching over a comatose Beast, who has reverted to his less hirsute form after a run-in with Infectia, a villain who seduced Iceman, speaking of things that don't jibe with current continuity.
The kids keep trying to break through the defenses Ship puts up to keep them safe. Meanwhile, the head Xartan himself, Lord Zanto, enters the fight in a form specifically designed to counter the X-Factor trio's powers. Rictor convinces Ship that they're the varsity's only hope, since the new arrival isn't set up to stop them.
The argument works, and the kids' intervention turns the tide. Of special note is Artie using his image generation powers to conjure up Dr. Strange and intimidate the fake Druid, who also seems to know that that particular Doctor isn't the top mystic in the Marvel Universe.
Soon, the only attacker left standing is Thor, who Boom-Boom KOs by attaching one of her energy time bombs to his hammer as it returns to his hand. On the last page, she's explaining to the others that this clearly means she could take the real Thor one on one.
Revisiting this issue for the first time in years was a lot of fun. The story seems somehow smaller, but I could still remember why I loved it so much.
Even though it was a fill-in issue, there were plenty of references to the ongoing story, as well as events in the Avengers' title. I didn't know the specifics – and still don't, although thanks to Marvel Unlimited, I could go back and finally see the Infectia story myself – but I had a pretty good grasp of what was going on, and I knew it was part of a larger tapestry. Despite those threads, it was also a one-and-done story, rather than part 4 of 6 or something like that. I got my dollar's worth and then some despite not picking up any other issues of the series for more than a year.
This was my introduction to Boom-Boom, and even though I've read many issues with her since – from her debut in Secret Wars II to her tenure on X-Force and her more modern party girl portrayal – her victory over not-Thor is the moment I most associate with her.
This issue brought together more than a dozen characters, some I knew and some I did not, in an all-out comic book battle. I call comics like these “kitchen sink issues” because of everything going on, including the kitchen sink and, most importantly, fun. I hope to share more of these foundational issues in the future, in between my ongoing coverage of NFL SuperPro and #DollarTreeCinema, of course.
* - I suppose a rather mundane figure compared to more recent chief executives like J. Jonah Jameson and Wilson Fisk.
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