X-Factor #30

Nice to see Willem Dafoe getting work.

^LOL. I've only been reading this title on a regular basis since Messiah Complex. Someone give me the go-ahead to read the series up to this point. Tell me it's been this good or better all along.

I barely care about any of these characters, normally, but Peter David is so good, and the art seems really well-suited and consistent.

I can't give you the go-ahead.  Honestly, I really only read this title because the Madrox mini-series was so good.  This title has been middle of the road average since it began.

This title is great and is absolutely worth reading from issue 1 (actually from the Marvel Knights Madrox: Multiple Choice series that was teh intro).

Also, leave it to Peter David to appreciate the awesomeness of Arcade.

What IS IT with comic books and carnival people???

This is one of the three or four best books Marvel puts out every single month. Period.  Spot on characterizations of some woefully underappreciated characters.  The art has been hit or miss at times, but it doesn't hurt the stories one bit.

judging by the reviews its a good thing i dropped it his week

Damn it I accidentally rated this a 2 :(

@gobo - If you "Remove Pull" in your comics section (on the nav bar beside Profile) you can pull it again and rate it again.

Excellent issue in an excellent series.

 Does anyone remember the last time Arcade actually appeared in anything? The only place I've read him is in Essentials. I love how they updated his look. The cropped hair and the arcade-game socks work really well.

Arcade was the first villain I ever read, and finally I found him threatening in this very book. 

But that last panel...

@flakbait, Arcade appeared in the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale miniseries : Wolverine/Gambit - Victims, which was awesome.  It's also an earlier appearance of Lady Mastermind, before she popped up again in the post House of M X-books.

and @flapjaxx, @ohcaroline is absolutely right!  Find the trade for the madrox series, then start grabbin the early stuff in this series.  I enjoyed it more with Layla Miller and Rahne, but their arcs respective endings were appropriate to this series (not necessarily appropriate for X-Force though, ugh), but I'm sure Layla will be popping up again, since Peter David has made her his own character, the way Bendis as appropriated the Luke Cage family. 

I'm hoping we see more of Layla after the Arcade arc.  As much as I am enjoying this, I can't help but think about whats going on with her in the 'future'.

We also still haven't seen the fate of the other Madrox that was sent into the future. I'm eagerly awaiting both.

This arc has disappointed me and Arcade has always seemed like a rdiculous, not-at-all scary villain. I'm hoping this storyline is just a short post-Messiah Complex pallet cleanser, and the recent quality returns with the next arc.