X-Factor #25 (Fall of the Mutants)

X-Factor #25 (February 1988)
Rating:  ★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Judgment Day!
Writer:  Louise Simonson
Artist:  Walt Simonson
Inker:  Bob Wiacek

This issue is a fantastic follow up to the prior one.  Non-stop action throughout, and Simonson's art is in top form.  My issue (as you may be able to tell from above) isn't in the best of shape.  A little sun damaged and the spine has creases.  Needless to say, I've had this the longest of any of my Fall of the Mutants issues.  It's also the climax of the X-Factor issues and I actually feel a little stab of pain when I read the destruction of New York.  Unlike most of you (I kid, I kid) I actually remember September 11th and seeing New York undergo such devastation, especially the destruction of the top of the Empire States Building, is harder than it was when I was younger.  Now that the depressing stuff is over with...

The issue starts off with Apocalypse surveying his horsemen's attack on the city.  War destroys buildings, Pestilence kills with a touch, and Famine decays flesh.  Death...well he just flies around and cuts things.  Apocalypse gloats over the captive X-Factor but Beast, with his enormous strength, digs into his platform and crumples a chunk of metal.  He hurls with at Iceman's dampening belt, switching it off.  Iceman's powers go berserk and the sudden cold causes the metal bindings to become brittle, freeing all of X-Factor.  Cyclops fires a blast at Apocalypse but the mutant dodges and Cyke's beam instead hits the power transformer, causing Apocalypse's ship to start drawing power from the city, forcing a chunk to blackout.

Apocalypse then flips a switch that opens a trap door.  Marvel Girl and Cyclops are sucked outside while Beast holds Iceman in.  Once outside the cloaked ship is invisible to them as well and they elect to chase after the screams as Pestilence travels through the subway.  The duo then notice War and Famine and split up to engage the horsemen.  Marvel Girl tackles Famine and although injured, she manages to disable the horseman with the most unconventional of weapons that could only be found in New York:  a hot dog stand.  Famine is suddenly  teleported away.  Cyclops engages War, but his optic blasts are deflected off of War's horse.  Then, in a jump that would make a world class gymnast proud, Cyclops flips into the air and, upside down, fires a point blank optic blast into the mouth of War's horse, destroying it.

Meanwhile, in the ship, Apocalypse fights Beast and Iceman.  Beast throws a large chunk of machinery but Apocalypse easily dodges.  The throw instead destroys something important.  Outside, the ship appears in the sky and starts careening out of control.  It crashes into one tall building, toppling the building.  The ship then starts spinning out of control and takes out another building.  Cyclops and Jean fly up after the ship but are interrupted by Death.  His wings disrupt Jean's TK hold on Cyclops.  She catches him soon after just in time to watch the ship crash into the top of the Empire State Building!

Jean manages to catch the giant antenna, but it takes all of her effort to hold it.  Pestilence goes after the pair, but just then Power Pack (for those of you who read my Mutant Massacre reviews know how I feel about this group of delinquents) show up and the girl who controls her density (can't remember nor do I care about her name) slams into Pestilence, knocking her off her horse.  Katie, the rainbow girl flies after her and grabs her.  But just then, Death shows up and slices the antenna in two.  Jean is unable to hold both pieces and both fall.  In the debris, Katie loses her grip on Pestilence and Pestilence falls to the ground and dies.

On board Ship, Beast and Iceman renew their attack and Apocalypse flips a switch to teleport War and Death back to the ship.  Jean and Cyke both climb aboard Pestilence's horse and use it to ride to Apocalypse's ship.  On board, War engages Beast and Iceman but is quickly defeated.  Cyclops and Jean join the fight quickly just as Death makes his assault.  Then, Iceman has an idea.  As Death is circling above, he sees Iceman raise his arms to attack.  Death wastes no time in slicing apart his former friend/teammate.  The shock of what he has done finally brings him back to his senses.  He turns on Apocalypse and attacks.  The rest of X-Factor attacks en masse, joined by Iceman (turns out it was an ice double meant to trick Death back to normal).  Apocalypse smacks Death to the ground but before War can finish the job, Beast carries Death out of the way.  Iceman then easily defeats War.

Finally outnumbered, Apocalypse gathers Caliban and War and flies out the side of Ship, leaving X-Factor behind.  Suddenly, the ship hurls to a momentous crash.  The back side lands just in front of the Statue of Liberty.  The ship then teeters forward and finally topples on top of the old X-Factor complex.  X-Factor rejoices but then head outside at the sound of police and reporters.  They head outside and announce that the menace to the city has been destroyed.  They also reveal that they, the X-Terminators, are the same people as X-Factor, the mutant hunters.

This issue is so fantastic in so many ways.  It's just the thing you need for the climax of a major story.  it is action non-stop and the victor is never clear until the dust settles.  Never once did our heroes seem in control, going from one disaster to another.  There's very little character development, but you shouldn't expect that in the big battle.  It came before and it will come after.  For now, we are meant to be whisked from one scene to another.
The artwork is fantastic.  The best thing Walt can draw is action and he does this incredibly well in this issue.  Even in the scenes that have 20 things going on at once are drawn incredibly well and each page has so many things happening at once.  The art isn't perfect, but it's definitely enjoyable.
I only have a few complaints about this issue, but they are minor and I won't bring them up.  Overall, this is one of my favorite issues of the entire Fall of the Mutants saga.