Era #4, Part 18: Igniting Inferno

Grade: C

New York City begins to feel the effects of the weakening wall with Limbo. A stifling heatwave strikes the Big Apple and inanimate objects begin attacking people. Inferno has been building in both the New Mutants and the Uncanny X-Men since the Fall of the Mutants. This collection puts the final pieces together.

[3-Stars] X-Factor #33 - "For All the World to See"  The kids go cloths shopping to prepare for boarding school. Despite the weirdness gripping NYC, a bigger story grabs the news, however.  The Alliance of Evil is back and violently protesting the Mutant Registration Act. They quickly draw the attention of both X-Factor and Freedom Force. Beast is back to help, and he is back to his old self -- blue, furry, and smart.

[3-Stars] X-Factor #34 - "Death!" Dark Angel's search for Candy Southern leads him to a trap set by Cameron Hodge and the Right. Demons join the battle as part of a Hodge's deal with the N'Astirh. Hodge provided the demon the location of an special orphanage with 13 mutant babies in exchange for immortality and power.

[3-Stars] X-Factor #35 - "Go to the Orphan Maker!" Scott and Jean's search for his son leads them to a special orphanage in Nebraska where Scott grew up. They arrive as a new threat has also infiltrated the secret laboratory housing mutant babies. She uses a band of "saved" children she calls The Lost Boys (and Girls) lead by the Orphan Maker to help her in her misguided quest to rescue even more mutant children. Demons arrive to make a bad situation worse.

[3-Stars] Uncanny X-Men #239 - "Vanities" Mr. Sinister laments the death of his enemy, the X-Men. As he examines each one, we learn a little more about the team before the Inferno starts. Storm and Wolverine learn that Jean Grey is still alive while Maddie gets much closer to her brother-in-law, Havok.  

[3-Stars] X-Terminators #1 - "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" Rusty turns himself in to the US Navy for going AWOL. Artie and Leech arrive at St Simon's to begin their education. They meet another lonely, orphaned boy, Taki, who learns that he is also a mutant. Rictor, Boom Boom and Skids are enrolled at a nearby prep school, the Phillips Academy. N'Astirh begins his search for 13 mutants babies. One of the demons, Crotus, kidnaps Artie and Leech mistakenly assuming they are infants (big eyes, small and bald). Taki is unable to stop the abduction, but he decides to do something when the adults don't believe him. He finds Rictor, Boom Boom and Skids and the four of them bust Rusty out of federal prison. 

[3-Stars] X-Terminators #2 - "Speed Demon!" Finding new uniforms and calling themselves the X-Terminators, the kids head towards New York City to find X-Factor. Crotus is close behind after he mistakenly assumes that Taki's computer skills to spell check actually means to check magical spells. Meanwhile, N'Astirh's other demons are much more successful in collecting mutant babies for their master.

Era #4, Part 17: X-Factor #27-32

Grade: C

The mutants of X-Factor are now considered by many to be heroes after their exploits saving the city during the Fall of the Mutants. With fame (and a large alien spacecraft) comes a new set of threats.

There are a few notable things that come out of this run. We learn that Apocalypse's ship is a sentient being who becomes part of the team (and part of the X-Men mythos). It looks like we finally get to the end of the year long subplot in which Beast lost his intellect and became "dumb" (let me stress "finally" -- man did that drag). Cyclops starts looking for his lost son, and the kids learn that they will be sent to a boarding school. We don't see much of "Dark Angel", but that will soon be remedied.

[2-Stars] 27 - "Gifts" The sudden fame includes a lot of Christmas gifts from grateful citizens for the X-Factor wards. They choose to donate them to the other children in much more need. Meanwhile, Jean visits her parents letting them know she is alive.

[3-Stars] 28 - "Countdown" X-Factor's new headquarters comes alive causing damage to the surrounding community and threatening X-Factor and the children. The ship is sentient and friendly, but it reveals that it's previous master, Apocalypse, still controls it with malicious instructions -- and ticking bomb ready to explode.

[3-Stars] 29 - "Fame!" X-Factor holds a press conference to calm fears about Ship and the danger it poses. A new villain has her eyes set on the Ship. Infectia can make ordinary people into mutants for a short period of time, and she sends three of these powerful "Anti-Bodies" to take Ship by force.

[3-Stars] 30 - "Kiss of Death!" Scott and Jean go to Dallas to learn what they can about Scott's missing son from Freedom Force. Infectia takes the opportunity to target Iceman in a new plot to take Ship. Beast and the kids try their best to foil her plans.

[3-Stars] 31 - "Kiss Off!" Infectia is nothing if not persistent. She doubles her efforts to kiss Iceman in order to make him one of her "Anti-Bodies".

[1-Star] 32 - "The Carbon Copy Avengers" Xartan aliens mimic the Avengers and determine that their biggest threat to world domination is X-Factor. I am not sure anybody has seen the Xartans since Journey Into Mystery #90 (March 1963), and I kinda wish I didn't see them here. This story is as silly as it sounds, and if wasn't for the story continuation, I would've thought this was just a fill-in issue. We learn that Beast is in a coma (as opposed to being dead) as a result of their battle with Infectia.