X-Factor #31 seems to conclude the Arcade storyline, although this isn't the sort of book that runs in clearly defined arcs any more.

Most of this storyline has been about X-Factor disintegrating and then having to fight the most (intentionally) pointless villain in the X-books' repertoire.  It's basically an exercise in the team hitting bottom.  And this issue sees that through to its conclusion, as Mutant Town gets torched in Arcade's back-up plan.  With the book's setting now dismantled, there's nowhere to go but up.

Now, some of you will say that this is just a series that's been badly derailed by the X-books' wider agenda.  That could well be right.  But one of Peter David's strengths has always been an ability to work around almost anything that the editors can throw at him, and turn it into a good story regardless.  He wrote most of the stories that got any real mileage out of M-Day, and he's making this direction change work as well. 

Besides, the Mutant Town concept hasn't really worked since M-Day.  So unless that story was going to be imminently reversed, I don't have a problem with moving on to something else more workable.

Now, having said all that...  This is an issue with plenty of good moments and plenty of good ideas, but which somehow ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts.  David is always great with his dialogue.  There's a neat subplot with a depowered mutant comedian, pointlessly ploughing on with jokes that are now utterly useless (though the gag gets a little irritating by the end).  And Pablo Raimondi produces a wonderful double-page spread of the district in flames.

Still, the cover, and the solicitations for upcoming issues, suggest that this is supposed to be the total destruction of Mutant Town, and to be honest, it doesn't quite pull off that sense of scale.  That's where this issue falls a little short.  Which is a shame, but there's a lot of good stuff in here, regardless.

Rating: B

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