Can we please take a minute to celebrate how awesome the original X-Factor were?

I remember getting this card, before I had any idea about the continuity, and being baffled as to why the OG X-Men weren't on the team anymore.

I was already a Cyclops fan - based on the few CLASSIC X-MEN issues I'd read, but the trading card clued me into the fact that he wasn't on the current team - and neither were the others. So, I instantly became an X-Factor stan.

And I know I talk about Claremont's X-run a ton - and my unapologetic love for it, and junior series THE NEW MUTANTS - but I don't sing the praises of X-FACTOR enough. ESPECIALLY Louise and @WalterSimonson superb run.

So much epic stuff happened while they were at the wheel - from the introduction of Apocalypse, Angel-to-Archangel, and - generally speaking - a recalibrating of the series that brought it closer to Claremont's flagship. Just great action, characterization, and beautiful art.

What do I mean by recalibrating? Well, the first batch of X-Factor issues, by Layton and Guice, are serviceable and fine - but they definitely don't feel like core X-canon, IMHO. The idea that the original X-Men would pretend to be mutant hunters feels...off.

It's not bad, again - these are top flight talents. But the concept behind the team - the WHY of the reformed original X-Men - needed some massaging, and that's what readers got in the SImonson/Simonson run.

Definitely worth the reread! Louise Simonson's work, in particular, should really be celebrated more. Walt is, of course, a master - and I believe he was writing/drawing his unbeatable THOR run at the same time? Crazy.

Anyway, thanks for riding along this random trip down comic book memory lane.

I should also note that one of my first pieces of prose fiction was a short story that involved X-Factor coming to the Danger Room and kicking the current X-Men's collective ass. I think I was 10?

(Also v. excited for @mymonsterischic's upcoming relaunch - totally different roster, but the concept sounds awesome) https://www.polygon.com/2020/1/13/21060674/marvel-comics-new-x-men-series-x-factor-leah-williams