X-Factor #32

Sep 1988 · Marvel · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.50 GBP

📊 ~45,087 copies sold its debut month

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“The Carbon Copy Avengers”

★ 1st appearance — N'astirh

About this Issue

X-Factor #32 is the first appearance of N'astirh, the Limbo demon who would serve as one of the primary architects of the 'Inferno' crossover — Marvel's first X-book event in which story threads genuinely continued from one title to another month by month rather than running in parallel. N'astirh's debut here, framed as a sinister backroom deal with the hooded Cameron Hodge, plants a narrative seed that would blossom into one of the most consequential X-Men storylines of the Copper Age, touching the corruption of Madelyne Pryor, the fate of infant Nathan Summers, and the transformation of Illyana Rasputin. The issue also functions as the chronological endpoint of the 'Inferno Prologue' arc collected in trade form, cementing its place as the hinge between the pre-Inferno build-up and the event itself.

writer Tom DeFalco · writer Louise Simonson · artist, inker Steve Lightle · colorist Petra Scotese · letterer Joe Rosen · cover Steve Lightle

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $4

CGC 9.8 · 48 in census $61

CGC 9.6 · 7 in census $28*

CGC 9.4 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 9.2 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 9.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 8.5 · 1 in census $20*

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CGC 8.0 · 2 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 none in existence

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The issue was plotted by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco — whose concurrent run on Thor gave him direct motivation to pull the Xartan shape-shifters from the obscure 1963 Journey into Mystery #90 — and scripted by series regular Louise Simonson, who also co-created N'astirh with guest penciller Jon Bogdanove; however, the interior art was actually executed by Steve Lightle (with Lightle also providing inks), while Bob Harras edited the book. The split plotting credit reflects the editorial intervention of the E-i-C inserting a done-in-one alien-impostors plot, yet Simonson used the margins of that fill-in framework to quietly launch one of the most important villain debuts of the late 1980s X-universe.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of N'astirh, the Limbo demon and former student of Belasco, created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove; N'astirh appears in cameo, cutting a deal with Cameron Hodge (also in cameo) in exchange for immortality.
Story title: 'The Carbon Copy Avengers' (cover date: September 1988; release date: May 31, 1988).
Plot by Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco; script by Louise Simonson; guest pencils and inks by Steve Lightle; colors by Petra Scotese; letters by Joe Rosen; edited by Bob Harras.
Main story involves the Xartan shape-shifting aliens impersonating the Avengers (Thor, She-Hulk, Black Knight, Doctor Druid) to attack X-Factor's sentient Ship; the ruse is broken when the X-Factor trainees — Boom-Boom, Rictor, Leech, Artie, Skids, and Rusty — spot the real Avengers on live television and join the fight.
The Xartan Avengers' vendetta against Thor is rooted in their prior appearance as the 'Carbon Copy Men' in Journey into Mystery #90 (1963) — a deep-cut continuity connection fitting given DeFalco was also writing Thor at the time.
Beast is shown comatose following his 'kiss' from Infectia in the previous issue; this subplot threads directly into his forthcoming transformation arc.
The issue marks the first in-series mention of the trainee children departing for boarding school, foreshadowing the beginning of the end of their regular role in X-Factor.
X-Factor #32 is collected in the X-Men: Inferno Prologue hardcover (2014) and its 2021 Omnibus re-release, as well as the forthcoming X-Factor: The Original X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2 (2026).