In the wake of the conflict in Otherworld, battle lines are drawn, and terrible conclusions are come to in X-Factor #4, by writer Leah Williams, artist Carlos Gomez, colorist Israel Silva, and letterer Joe Caramagna. Part two of X Of Swords, this issue is basically a long-winded way of setting stakes for the upcoming story, emphasis on long-winded.

Apocalypse and his team return from Otherworld with casualties. They're rushed to the Healing Garden and Rockslide's dead body in tow. Saturnyne closes the External Gate between Krakoa and Otherworld in their wake. From there, a lot happens, but the jist of it is this- Rockslide's resurrection goes wrong because he died in Otherworld. Polaris uses his remains to build a gate so the Krakoan champions can go to Otherworld. Cypher and Krakoa figure out some of the champions from the prophecy that Saturnyne placed in Polaris's head.

So, this issue is forty-three pages, and it uses every single one of them to draw things out as far as they can go. Honestly, does anyone else believe that Marvel isn't padding these crossover issues' page lengths as an excuse to raise the price? There is not forty-three pages worth of story in this book. Hats off to Leah Williams, though, because she stretches out what she has with gusto. It's obvious she's trying to fill page-space, but she's doing her best to keep it entertaining, and it does work to an extent. The whole point of this issue is to set-up the stakes, and it does that, but it takes forever to get there. If you're already reticent about X Of Swords, this issue isn't going to convince you that it's worth your time, especially if all of the issues are going to be five dollars a piece. Is Marvel trying to get people to trade wait and kill the LCS? Because the rather cynical way they price stories like this and then charge a lot less for the trade, which is sold in more places than just comic stores, is rather telling.

Since this is X-Factor, Williams tries to throw some page time to Polaris, a member of this book's actual cast, and it sort of works. Her sad sack dialogue boxes reveal a bit of the way Williams sees her- a woman broken by her life trying her best- and works best because she could have saved Rockslide from what happened to him, but she didn't. She feels completely ineffectual, and readers get that feel from her on every page until the end. It's one of the bright spots of this cluttered, drawn-out book.

Another bright spot is Carlos Gomez's art. It's cartoony and has a J. Scott Campbell quality to it. It's nicely detailed, and while the faces aren't completely perfect, it's still pretty good. Israel Silva's coloring gives the whole book a lushness that fits the Krakoan environment.

X-Factor #4 is bloated. It gets across what it's trying to, but it's obvious that there's not enough story for all of the pages. Williams does an admirable job of not letting the cracks show, and the art by Gomez and Silva is pretty good to boot. All things considered, it could be worse.


Grade: C