a turquoise flower

from: X-Factor #207
larger image: http://oi45.tinypic.com/bhlgcp.jpg

X-Factor the comic is a spin-off of the X-Men title featuring characters from the X-Men stories. (Just trying to list all the X-Men titles since the inception of the comic in the '60s is enough to make your head spin off [god that was an unintentional pun].)

I have a time hard describing X-Factor beyond that. I first jumped in with like issue #215 and then went back to only issue #200 to get caught up and random two digit issues since then. Another reason why it's difficult is the title changed so much since it was first published in 1986. The way to go about describing it, as I know it in its current formation, is that it's basically a mutant detective agency (that's the simplest answer).

Throughout its 20+ years of publication, the team roster has changed a lot. First it was comprised of the original five X-men - Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman; then these five went their separate ways then came back, then they were mutant-hunters who pretended to be normal people to hunt mutants only to secretly train them to be "normal" and reintegrate them back into society (we can guess how well that went with the mutant community). Then they turned into a government team with all-new members for the first eight years in the beginning of the '90s - with some of the members also in the current run of the series now, Multiple Man, Polaris, Havok, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy; they then changed members again; then they were a Mutant Civil Rights Task Force but that is confusing as all hell even though it was only a 4-issue limited miniseries and finally we come to its current manifestation as a detective agency led by Multiple Man called X-Factor Investigations. -deep breath- Yep, that was a brief summary from Wikipedia, god bless it.

from: Blue Beetle (2006) #25
larger image: http://oi46.tinypic.com/159fkm.jpg

Blue Beetle is Jaime Reyes' taking on the mantle of the alien scarab. While the comic is rightly mostly about Jaime and his quest to be El Paso's superhero, the supporting characters are awesome too (I wish we could've gotten more scenes with Paco and Brenda and how they navigated their relationship; damn cancellations). I fell in love with Brenda from the very first issue. And Paco grows on you too. (He wants to start a *pantless society* how can I not love the guy?! Pants are evil.)

This scene is awesome because the bad alien guys are after Jaime and pretty much every one else associated with him and they're kinda fighting for their lives here and Paco just totally kisses her because he thought she was dead and that he might never tell her his true feelings. asfldfjldkfslfjdsf Their love is an awkward teenage love which I highly approve of because Paco and Brenda are awesome separately but coupled together, they're awesome quadrupled.

So Paco/Brenda ♥♥♥♥

Why is there no Roger/Davenport fic??

Why? Why? Why?

Someone should get on that right away.