X-Factor #5

Life starts to go back to normal on Krakoa… or what approaches normal on an island of mutant superheroes in X-Factor #5, by writer Leah Williams, artist David Baldeon, colorist Israel Silva, and letterer Joe Caramagna. The war is over, and this issue explores that as well as some of the plotlines left behind from the days before.

It's kind of hard to synopsis in any traditional manner because it's really more about the feelings of the piece. Calling it a piece is actually quite fitting, as the issue's title is "Suite No. 5: First Movement Finale; After A Summer Of Allostatic Overload". Williams layers many different plotlines throughout this issue as if she's writing music- dealing with the Five and their return to resurrecting after Rockslide's botched attempt, the return of Windshear to the fold and the return of her powers, Daken and Jeanne-Marie getting closer, the realization of what has happened to Rockslide, a bittersweet aside about the loss of students between Emma Frost and Dani Moonstar, and so much more. It all blends together like a well-written symphony, soaring to ecstatic highs, layering in the sadness, the love, and the sheer humanity of the characters- the emotions each plotline engenders swirling together before it all comes to a shocking and ominous ending.

Williams does an amazing job of capturing so much emotion in every plotline, varying the feelings, making it all count. She's also weaving in the themes that she'll play with in the future- rescuing Adam-X and Shatterstar from Mojoworld, the team caring for Rockslide, Daken, and Jeanne-Marie's relationship, and so much more. She hits all the right spots in this issue. This really feels like the finale of the first movement of this book. It culminates everything the first four issues puts out there and leaves a stable groundwork for future stories to build off of.

The ending is a shock as well, a new mystery for the team to unravel. This issue does a great job of making readers want to come back. It sets up everything so adroitly that one who reads it has no chance but to come back. The first movement of the symphony is over, but the skill of the orchestra has been shown.

David Baldeon's art might not seem like the best art for a story like this. Its cartoony quality would give the one the impression that it wouldn't fit a story like this, but it does. Baldeon's character acting is top-notch in this one; he gets across exactly what Williams is trying to say with her script and adds to it. He's a great collaborator for her.

All in all, X-Factor #5 is a wonderful comic. It feels like a well-tuned orchestra ending their first performance and leaving the audience begging for more. Williams does a lot of great things in this issue and, with the help of Baldeon's art, weaves multiple plotlines and emotional beats throughout the book, setting things up for what's to come. If this issue is any indication, X-Factor is going to be a great book.

Grade: A