Story was a transition, but was at least freed from the burden of other stuff in the universe. Enjoyed it.

Probably my least favorite X-Factot story, mostly because I usually have problems with stories of groups disintegrating until they face something that's too big for them on their own. It always strikes me as a little tone-deaf.

This is the Burn It All Down point in David's X-Factor run where he wipes out the status quo: the location, the team members, the B and C stories, and prepares to take the story in a different collection.

This is probably because the entire X-franchise was moved around after X-Factor, and David's intial premise no longer made sense in that universe.

Unfortunately, the way David moves X-Factor out of their previous situation is clumsy. Arcade has never been an interesting villain, and he makes very little sense as the agent of destruction brought in by an excommunicated Purifier.

It's still worth reading if you're a fan of David's X-Factor run, and it's still better than most of the X-books of the era.

Still a great series. Hoping to be able to find the next volume somewhere.

Annnnd another great volume. This volume serves as a good finale to all of the events leading up to this. We get a resolution to all of the plot threads, the team dynamic changes, characters evolve or move on with their lives, and pieces fall into place. It serves as much as an ending and as a beginning for the next set of arcs. Jamie seems to have matured a lot, and it shows here. His dupe's time in the dystopian future seems to have affected him a lot. Wolfsbane moves on to X-Force. Monet seems to ease up a bit, Rictor acts out but overall seems to have changed a bit, and Strong Guy is good ol' Strong Guy. The Layla issue (collected in the second complete collection, but not here) was great, and shows more of her time in the internment camp, as well as how that future will turn out after the events of Messiah Complex. The Quicksilver issue (this is is collected here) provides a nice redemption story for Pietro. Overall a very cathartic volume. Feels like a natural stopping point, but also a good prelude to the new status quo of X-Factor. I'll be taking a break from this run for now, but will be definitely coming back to finish it.

To quickly address the art, most of these issues are handled by Valentine De Landro, who's a great artist on par with the others that came before him. I did just read Bitch Planet, which also features his work, so it was nice to see him again so soon. His line work is very elegant and clean, and while I feel he works better with brighter color schemes, the noir look still suited him well.

All in all, this is a strong 9/10. Great conclusion to this big 6-volume epic. I will be definitely reading the entirety of this series eventually.