Last week, a new arc started in X-Factor and let me be the first to tell you that I really like the way this series is heading right now.

If you haven’t been reading X-Factor so far, drop what you are doing (including reading this post, cause there will be some spoilers) and start reading right now. What really sets X-Factor apart from other X-Men comics for me is the personal drama and the different type of “mission”. First, anyone who read my Amazing Spider-Man rant knows that I have a soft spot for personal drama. X-Factor delivers this by the truck load. From Rictor trying to kill himself due to a loss of his powers after M-Day, to Siryn being pregnant with Jamie Madrox’s child, to Layla Miller being trapped in a distopian future after traveling there with one of Madrox’s dups. As for the teams “missions”, their cases are more of a noir style. X-Factor is a detective agency after all, and the writing reflects this beautifully. Reading this series gives you a sense of reading an old detective novel.

Now, with the destruction of Mutant Town, where the team’s headquarters was, at the end of the last story arc, the series is moving in a new direction. In the last issue, Jamie and the team are approached by Val Cooper, X-Factor’s former boss when they were a government sanctioned team. Val asks the team to return to working for the government. Actually, she more demands that the team either join The Initiative or O*N*E, or the team is to be split up. Naturally, the team doesn’t take this lying down. Madrox blows up their headquarters and the team relocates. Oh, did I mention Jamie is now seeing a “vision” of Layla Miller, who he is taking advice from? Oh yeah, cause he is. From her (or perhaps it is just his sub-conscience telling him what he already knows), he learns that Siryn is pregnant with his baby. The team, after a turbulent few issues, seem to have a strong bond again. They move to Detroit and everything seems to be going really well. Until the end, when Val shows up and tells Madrox “this is going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.”

This kickoff to the new arc is very epic and I cannot wait to see where Peter David is going with this new story. I encourage everyone to pick up X-Factor #32 and continue to follow the series. And if you haven’t read the first 31 issues, get ahold of those too and catch up. You won’t regret it.