X-Factor #30 - Marvel

I read this last night before I went to bed . . and maybe it's just me, but is Arcade . . lame as hell, or what? Even when I saw him in the Uncanny title, way back when when I first started collecting books, I thought he was a bit over-rated. I wondered how such a goof could continue to give the X-Men so many problems. Then this story-line, where Arcade was hired by some mysterious gentleman to take out X-Factor . . I'm thinking, wouldn't it have been cheaper just to spend your money on a gun, or chainsaw, or even a really fast car or something? So who does it turn out to be? Doom? Magneto? Maybe even Monet's father . . or therapist . . or somebody else even remotely connected to some kind of story-line that's occurred in this book? No! The perpetrator was . . . Mr Taylor. Excuse me? Who? Exactly!! Who indeed. Apparently this was the guy that sponsored Rictor's membership with the Purifiers, so, when it turned out he was a undercover spy . . . . Mr Taylor was let go. Boo-hoo! At least they didn't kill him. So what does this guy do? Well, obviously . . as if it wasn't expected . . Arcade's fool-proof plan failed. So this guy spent his money, and didn't get the revenge he was looking for. So he decides . . . to kill himself. Arcade's plan was fool-proof . . but, just in case the fools were smarter than he anticipated . . he set up an exit strategy where he escapes, and after Taylor's heart stops beating . . that's why he tries to kill himself with the poisonous coffee . . the whole building will explode. This is another fine predicament that our stalwart heroes have gotten themselves in to. The artwork by Valentine De Landro was . . ok. Nothing great . . nothing terrible. But Peter David's story? Apparently he's not sure what to do with this team while they're stuck in the limbo of . . X-Men? No X-Men? . . X-Men? No X-Men? . . and this story, to me, just seemed like it was taking up space. Don't get me wrong . . I love these characters. I just feel like we're a little aimless right now. Maybe that's what Peter was trying to make us feel. If so? Mission accomplished.