All New X-Factor #19

By Peter David, Carmine Di Giandomenico & Lee Loughridge

All New X-Factor has once again delivered an excellent issue and continues to remind readers just how much they’re going to miss this book. It’s easily been one of the best X-Men titles around and this month’s penultimate issue was no exception as the combined creative team of Peter David, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Lee Loughridge knocked it out of the park again. Now out of the AXIS crossovers, we finally get to see the action focused squarely on the X-Factor team without any involvement from the wider Marvel comics universe.

The issue itself was mainly an action-heavy story with Danger getting the biggest character moment, but Peter David still handled the book well. We focused on the cult from the previous issue and it pitted X-Factor against a more supernatural force that allowed for some pretty interesting story developments indeed, that with David at the helm, failed to disappoint. The action sequences were pretty spectacular and the reveal with Snow at the end was handled pretty well, acting as a nice cliffhanger for the finale, even with there being so few issues left. It might not have time to be developed as fully as it might have if there were more issues available, however we will have to wait and see, and this reviewer is full of confidence that David will deliver.

The character interactions continue to be the book’s highlight and this issue again was no exception, with some great work between the cast that doesn’t feel forced or out-of-place. David’s dialogue is great to watch and there are some nice, in-character moments here allowing the book simply to be more than just an action-packed issue. It’s a well written action packed issue with character moments. We also got to see more of Sunfire this issue and his addition to the X-Factor team was handled very well indeed.

The artwork from Carmine Di Giandomenico is pretty stellar as usual as his pencils are great to see. Over the course of the previous nineteen issues, he, like David, has rapidly developed into a must-read artist and it’s good to see that the fight scenes aren’t confusing and are pretty clear. And when you add the ever-reliable Lee Loughridge into the mix as well, the book looks better than ever with some great characters brought to life on the pages.

All New X-Factor #19 delivers a memorable penultimate issue that will leave fans of the comic desperately waiting for the finale. The writing and artwork continue to be very strong indeed and it’ll be interesting to see how any remaining plot threads get wrapped up in the finale.