X-Factor #46 - Marvel

We don't find out much more about Cortex this issue, but . . he's either dead, or . . he's not human enough to call alive. After he gets done getting yelled at by Anthony Falcone, in the future, he gets mad because there's some buzzards picking at the dead Cop laying next to him. "Living creatures. Opportunistic and disgusting. No matter what their kingdom or species. If I still numbered myself among them, I'd likely kill myself." And then there's the little piece of time-travel trivia we get from Vic Doom the science guy, "If you went back in time, killed Hitler, and then returned to your own time, nothing would be changed, because your action would simply create a divergent time stream . . unless you had a chronal variance inhibitor . . my 'Doomlock'. If you possess one, then your actions will impact those of your own timeline. You become an 'invariable'. All actions flow from you. The technology has to be bonded to you. You have to be more machine than man." So, since Cortex went 80 years into the past, I'm assuming that he's some type of machine . . or robot. Also, when we hear Falcone talk, he says that this is all a plan to wipe out the mutants. So, again I'm guessing, I believe that he's after Lenore because she must be having the next mutant birth . . the one that restarts their population. For some reason Jamie must be intimately involved also because he's high on Cortex's list of targets. So we see Rictor and Shatterstar kissing . . still . . a month later. Darwin is trying to stay alive as the Cortex imbued Monet is trying to kill him. Jaime, Layla and Ruby go to see Doctor Doom . . who just happens to be in the same hotel, in the same town that Monet, Darwin and Lenore are at in the past. They're attacked by Sentinels, but Doom sends them into the past. Right in front of Theresa, Monet and Cortex. And Ruby's boyfriend returns . . Trevor Fitzroy. I really like what Peter David is doing with this book. I think he does a fantastic job on team books. And he's really keeping the drama going between all of these characters. It doesn't seem like the typical 'team' paradigm. It'll be interesting to see how this all comes together . . or ends. Marco Santucci is the penciller.