Not The Music One, Looking At X-Factor

I had thought about tackling the X-men books for my latest volume analysis. However, even sticking with the main team books, looks like a pretty big task. What even constitutes a main X-men book? Does Uncanny Avengers count? Anyway, I was reminded recently how much I like books that are off in their own little corner. So I decided to do an analysis on one of those: X-Factor. It started off as a main book with the original X-men reuniting after the return of Jean Grey. Once it got to the government team (starting with Peter David, in my opinion, the best X-Factor writer), it started mostly doing its own thing.

• X-Factor, vol. 1, #1-149, Annual 1 - 9 (February 1986 - September 1998). #1 - 70 is the original X-men (Angel (later Archangel), Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl), #71 onwards is the government team (starts with Havok, Multiple Man, Polaris, Quicksilver, Strong Guy, Valerie Cooper and Wolfsbane). The book took a four month break in 1995 (between issues #111 and #112) for the Age Of Apocalypse crossover book "Factor X". Issue #-1 was published between issues #135 and #136

• Mutant X #1-32, Annual 1999 - 2001 (October 1998 - June 2001). Continues Havok's story from X-Factor as he gets thrown into an alternate reality where he joins the Six: Fallen (a version of Angel), Brute (a version of Beast), Marvel Woman (Madelyne Pryor), Bloodstorm (a version of Storm), and Ice-Man.

• X-Factor, vol. 2, #1-4 (June 2002 - October 2002). Mini-series. 

• X-Factor, vol. 3 #1-50, 200 - 262 (January 2006 - November 2013). Coming after the events of House Of M. X-Factor Investigates agency led by Jamie Maddox. Peter David puts a noir spin on the series. Starts with Multiple Man, Strong Guy, M, Wolfsbane, Rictor, Siryn and Layla Miller.

• All-New X-Factor, #1-20 (March 2014 - March 2015). All-New Marvel NOW! Peter David again. Art by Carmine Di Giandomenico. A corporate-sponsored team. Polaris, Quicksilver, Gambit, Danger, Cypher and Warlock. 

• X-Factor, vol. 4, #1-10 (July 2020 - June 2021). Part of Dawn of X. Leah Williams writes it. They investigate all mutant deaths. The initial cast comprised Daken, Eye-Boy, Northstar, Polaris, Prestige, and Prodigy.

• X-men Legends, #5-6 (July 2021 - August 2021). Peter David and Todd Nuack revisit X-Factor for a story that takes place between X-Factor, vol. 1 #75 and #76. 

As a general rule, Peter David's stuff is what to look at. Both his original run and the newer stuff. The newer noir stuff did great things with some new cast members. In addition to older members Guido, Wolfsbane and Multiple Man (as team leader), the series did great things with Siryn, M and Rictor. Along with the intriguing new character Layla Miller.

The exception to the Peter David rule is Howard Mackie's Mutant X which is a fun alternative timeline romp.  Havok gets blasted into a reality where he leads a team called The Six. The team is made up of Marvel Woman (Madeline Prior), a vampire Storm called Bloodstorm, a nastier Angel called the Fallen, an Ice-man still affected by Loki's curse and a more deformed Beast called Brute.

Punisher: Other Than Garth Ennis

I had fun compiling last week's post so I thought I'd do something similar this week. I've chosen a character I got into due to my best friend: The Punisher. Punisher was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr and Ross Andru as a Spider-man villain, who was going to be a hero later on. Conway also helped design the character's distinctive costume. Conway, who had developed the habit of sketching out costumes ideas for artists, had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design and blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication. Gerry Conway had come up with the name the Assassin but Stan Lee felt the name would not work for a character that would become later on. He suggested a name he had used for a relatively unimportant character (one of Galactus' robots): The Punisher.

Now most people would agree that the best Punisher stories comes from Garth Ennis. I'd agree. I thought, to be different, I'd give you some non Garth Ennis story selections. I'm gonna through in a synopsis of each too. However, if you want to try Garth Ennis, I'd suggest the MAX series. I particularly enjoyed In The Beginning and Kitchen Irish. These are collected in Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 1, which also includes Punisher: Born #1-4. I also enjoyed the From First To Last trade which collects Punisher: The Tyger, Punisher: The Cell and Punisher: The End.  These stories are also collected in Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 4, which also includes The Punisher, vol. 7,#50-60 (Long Cold Dark and Valley Forge, Valley Forge) and Punisher Presents: Barracuda #1–4. I guess I'd recommend those complete collections. 

Here's a list of Punisher's main titles:

The Punisher, vol. 1, #1-5 limited series (January to May 1986). Steven Grant, with art by Mike Zeck and Mike Vosburg.

The Punisher, vol. 2, #1-104, Annual 1-7 (July 1987 – July 1995)

The Punisher War Journal, vol. 1, #1-80 (November 1988 – July 1995). Features early art by Jim Lee.

The Punisher War Zone, vol. 1, #1-41, Annual 1-2 (March 1992 – July 1995). Starts out with some John Romita Jr art.

The Punisher, vol. 3, #1-18 (November 1995 – April 1997). Marvel Edge. All issues were written by John Ostrander.

The Punisher, vol. 4, #1-4 (November 1998 – February 1999). Marvel Knights. Also known as The Punisher: Purgatory, it was written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, with art by Bernie Wrightson. 

The Punisher, vol. 5, #1-12 limited series (April 2000 – March 2001). Marvel Knights. It was written by Garth Ennis, with art by Steve Dillon. 

The Punisher, vol. 6, #1-37 (August 2001 – February 2004). Marvel Knights. Garth Ennis wrote all but six issues.

The Punisher, vol. 7, #1-75, Annual 1  (March 2004 – October 2009). Though often referred to as The Punisher MAX, it was initially published as The Punisher, and changed to The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX with issue #66. Written by Garth Ennis up to issue 60.

Punisher War Journal, vol. 2, #1-26, Annual 1 (January 2007 – January 2009). Written by Matt Fraction.

The Punisher War Zone, vol. 2, #1-6 limited series (February to March 2009). Marvel Knights. It was written by Garth Ennis, with art by Steve Dillon.

The Punisher, vol. 8, #1-21, Annual 1 (March 2009 – November 2010). The series was retitled Franken-Castle with issue #17. Written by Rick Remender.

PunisherMAX, #1-22 (January 2010 – February 2012). MAX Imprint. It was written by Jason Aaron, with art by Steve Dillon.

The Punisher, vol. 9, #1-16 (August 2011 – September 2012). It was written by Greg Rucka, with art by Marco Checchetto.

The Punisher: War Zone, vol. 3, #1-5 limited series (October 2012 - February 2013). It was written by Greg Rucka, with art by Carmine di Giandomenico.

The Punisher, vol. 10, #1-20 (February 2014 – July 2015). It was written by Nathan Edmondson, with art by Mitch Gerads.

The Punisher, vol. 11, #1 -17, Annual 1 (May 2016 – October 2017). It was written by Becky Cloonan, with art by Steve Dillon and Matt Horak.

The Punisher, vol. 12, #1-11 (November 2017 – July 2018). It was written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Guiu Vilanova.

The Punisher, vol. 13, #1-16, Annual 1 (August 2018 – October 2019) with one annual (2019). It was written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Szymon Kundranski.

After all that, I'm wondering which character has the record for most volumes. Maybe an investigation for another time. Anyway, I said I was going to give you guys some story recommendations of a non Garth Ennis nature. I think there is some nice variety. I particularly like Punisher: Noir.

• The Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988) Frank Castle joins forces with a bunch of assassins to take on a mobster who fixes things for a price. This one was a recent discovery. I found the ideas fun. Weird to say for Punisher. Beautiful looking art particularly the colours by Julie Michel. Notable to me as an early Punisher story written by a woman. I looked writer Jo Duffy up and she had quite the Marvel bibliography in the late 80s and early 90s including short runs on Star Wars and Wolverine. Artist Jorge Zaffino later worked on Punisher: Kingdom Gone. 
• Punisher: The Prize (1990) While on a stakeout, Frank Castle learns that a volatile weapon will be up for grabs on the Black Market. Punisher teams with an American journalist to blow the lid on this story, but they’re inadvertently pulled into a criminal underbelly of thieves, cutthroats and stone cold killers. Recently recommended by a friend. Good build up and a fun pay-off. Written by Chris Henderson. Art by Mike Harris.
• Punisher: Noir #1-4 (August–November 2009) It's the Roaring Twenties and mobster Dutch Schultz's iron-fisted reign is about to meet its greatest challenge in the form of a man sporting a familiar skull symbol and a gun in his hand. Because once the Punisher hits the scene, the mean streets are about to get a whole lot meaner. The art really captures the noir feel and there is some clever character ideas in the 1930s versions. Easily my favourite Punisher story. Still waiting for a sequel. Written by Frank Tieri with art by Paul Azaceta.
• Space: Punisher #1-4 (July–October 2012). Punishment is a dish best served-in Space! Exactly what it says on the tin. The Punisher is after a space mob. Whacky space versions of various characters. I love how out there the story is. Frank Tieri at his insane best. The villain reveal was brilliant. Beautifully painted by Mark Texeira. 
• Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 6 (2017) Collects Punisher MAX X-Mas Special, Punisher: Naked Kill, Punisher: Get Castle, Punisher: Butterfly, Punisher: Happy Ending, Punisher: Hot Rods of Death, Punisher: Tiny Ugly World, Untold Tales of Punisher MAX #1-5. Frank Castle's relentless war on crime continues! It's Christmas, and the Punisher is checking off his naughty list! Frank gets creative to take down snuff filmmakers! In the United Kingdom, he takes on some of Earth's hardest soldiers, the SAS, and unleashes his war wagon against a biker gang! But when a hit woman releases her lurid tell-all book, will the Punisher be her salvation, temptation...or damnation? Plus: stories from the murky world that exists in the Punisher's shadow, starring an opportunistic psycho, a frantic father, a mild-mannered accountant and the young son of one of Frank's victims. An interesting and diverse collection of stories. Written by Rob Williams, Jonathan Maberry, Jason Aaron and Valerie D'Orazio. Art by Esad Ribić, Shawn Martinbrough, Juan José Ryp, Laurence Campbell and Roland Boschi.

Legion (I'm) Lost, Where The Devil Am I?

So as am want to do at times, I was trawling through Twitter late the other night and I spotted a link to an article discussing the "TMK" Legion run. Now, not being familiar with Legion continuity, I had no idea what TMK meant. It turns out it relates to the run written by Tom Bierbaum, Mary Bierbaum, and Keith Giffen (Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #1–29), which started Five Years Later. The Legion has disbanded in a darker run which is said to be influenced by Watchmen. I'd never gotten into the Legion. I think it was fact that they had enough characters to fit one of George Perez's patented character packed pieces that put me off. That and I knew that there was at least three reboots. The Five Years Later concept intrigued me though. However, my brain was never going to allow me to start at volume 4 so I ended up on ComiXology investigating the other volumes. I looked at the tail end of volume 3 and saw writer Paul Levitz had a run on it. Okay brain, we will start with his run. Okay? This is where my Legion naïveté really kicked in. Paul Levitz, as far as I can see, wrote all of volume 3 (63 comics and 4 annuals) and a good chunk of volume 2. This particular run (I know he had a previous one but I have gone down that rabbit hole) goes all the way back to volume 2 issue 284 in fact. They named his run "The Paul Levitz era" on Wikipedia so I should've known better. His run does begin with a notable storyline, The Great Darkness Saga (issues 287; 290–294; and Annual 3) so maybe I will start there if I ever dive in.

What is the point of all this you say? Well it kind of highlighted for me one of the barriers to entry for new readers: continuity or just the volume of back material. Even a comic book veteran like me is put off by the amount of stuff that has gone before and after that volume 4. To highlight this, I completed a list of books for you where the Legion were the leads or co-leads. It is not an exhaustive list but I think I got the main run. The Legion got their first real cover billing when Superboy became Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in 1973 (issue 197), a book that dropped the "Superboy" part in 1980 when Superboy went back to his own time. Volume 5 had a run as "Supergirl and the", perhaps a nod to this era. I haven't read volume 7 but I believe the current Superboy is involved with that. Anyway, heres the list:

• Legion of Super-Heroes #1–4 (reprints from Adventure Comics) (1973)
• Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #197–258 (1973 - 1980)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 2, #259–313, Annual #1–3, Tales of the Legion of Super-Heroes #314–325 (#326–354 are reprints of Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3)  (1980 -1989)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 3, #1–63, Annual #1–4 (Baxter series) (1984 - 1989)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 4, #1–61, Annual #1–5 (1989 - 2000)
• Legionnaires #1–81, Annual #1 - 3 (1993 - 2000)
• Legion Lost #1–12 (2000 - 2001)
• The Legion #1–38 (2001 - 2004)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5, #1–15, Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16–36,  Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 5, #37–50 (2005 - 2009)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 6, #1–16 (2010 - 2011)
• Legion Lost vol. 2, #1–16, 0 (2011 - 2013)
• Legion of Super-Heroes vol. 7, #1–23, 0 (2019 - )

So if you ask me to recommend something, I'd be at a loss. I'd have to go on reputation or my experience with a creator. Maybe I'd say The Great Darkness Saga or Five Years Later. I'm more likely to recommend a writer. Dan Abnett had a run (there's two trades available and it has Legion Lost with art by Olivier Coipel). Mark Waid started volume 5 (with Barry Kitson) so that's probably worth a look. I think a friend checked out the run at the time it came out and I may have read it. Paul Levitz returns for volume 6. The current run (volume 7) is Brian Michael Bendis (with Ryan Sook and Jordie Bellaire). I have taken a break from Bendis (I sometimes tire of a particular writing style) but it has been a while and I love Ryan Sook so I might check that out at some point.

I thought I might complete the above analysis with a character I am familiar with (or at least I used to be): Daredevil. Here's the list for the main series:

• Daredevil Vol. 1, #1–380 (April 1964 – Oct. 1998)
• Daredevil Vol. 2, #1–119 [#381–499] (Nov. 1998 – Aug. 2009) Note: With issue #22, began official dual-numbering with original series, as #22 / 402, etc
• Daredevil #500–512 (Oct. 2009 – Dec. 2010) Original numbering resumes.
• Daredevil Vol. 3, #1–36, #10.1 [#513-548] (July 2011 – Feb. 2014)
• Daredevil Vol. 4 #1-18, #1.50, #15.1 [#549-566] (March 2014 - Sept. 2015)
• Daredevil Vol. 5 #1-28 [#567-594] (February 2016 - December 2017)
• Daredevil #595-612 (2017 - 2018) Original numbering resumes.
• Daredevil Vol. 6 (2019 -)

A bit more straight forward except for, probably to the annoyance of collectors, Marvel's constant need to go back to volume 1 numbering. No reboots make it easier too. I got on board the Daredevil train in 1999. A friend discovered that Dublin had comic shops and got me a copy of issue 1 of volume 2. (I have a letter in issue 13 of that volume, which was during a David Mack run. I'm a huge fan of that guy). With the help of trades and back issues, I was able to pick up some of the classic storylines. Growing weary of superhero books and big events, I checked out somewhere near the beginning of Mark Waid's run in volume 4. However, I can give you a lot of recommendations from the stuff I've read.

• Frank Miller's first run Vol. 1 #158-161, #163-191
• Daredevil: Born Again Vol. 1 #227–233 (Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli)
• Ann Noccenti's run Vol. 1 #238 to #291 (John Romita Jr pencils and Al Williamson inks #250 to #282)
• Fall From Grace Vol. 1 #319 - 325 (D.G. Chichester and Scott McDaniel)
• Parts of a Hole Vol. 2 #9–15 (David Mack)
• Daredevil: Yellow #1–6 (Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale)
• Wake Up Vol. 2, #16–19 (Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack)
• Brian Michael Bendis' run Vol. 2 #26–50, #56–81 (With Alex Maleev)
• Daredevil : Dark Nights #1-8 (Lee Weeks (1-3), David Lapham and Klaus Jansen (4-5), Jimmy Palmiotti and Thony Silas (6-8)

One of these days I'll get back on that train and continue my run. I also have to go back and check out Last Rites (volume #297–300) as it is critically acclaimed. It is written by D.G. Chichester (Fall From Grace) and has art by Lee Weeks. Actually, I think I might check out D.G. Chichester's entire run (#292–309, #312–332, #338–342, #380). Just looking at his issues, I have read 380. I picked it up as it was the last issue of volume 1. I have another reading recommendation outside of the Daredevil comics: The Devil Is In The Details. It is a collection of essays on various aspects of Daredevil. You can check out an interview with editor Ryan K. Lindsay on the highly recommended Man Without Fear website. I hope this was fun and / or helpful. I had fun putting it together. I might return to it for other series I am familiar with.