X-Factor #51

Name: X-Factor #51
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Feb 1990 · Marvel · 1.00 USD; 1.25 CAD; 0.60 GBP

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Home!”

★ 1st appearance — Charlotte Jones★ 1st appearance — Opal Tanaka★ 1st appearance — Mole

About this Issue

X-Factor #51 is the pivotal 'reset' issue that plants the original five X-Men firmly back in New York after an extended off-world storyline, with Ship's dramatic transformation into a Manhattan skyscraper giving the team its most visually striking headquarters yet and signaling that Louise Simonson was ready to rebuild the book's street-level soap-opera identity. It debuts two supporting characters — police officer Charlotte Jones and record-store worker Opal Tanaka — who would become the central romantic foils for Archangel and Iceman respectively across the following years, diversifying the book's cast and shifting dramatic weight away from the Cyclops/Jean Grey axis. The issue also marks Caliban's first active defiance of Apocalypse as his Horseman 'Hellhound,' setting the three-part 'Home!' arc in motion and keeping the Mutant Massacre's emotional fallout alive as an ongoing narrative engine. Taken together, these threads make #51 the structural foundation on which the final phase of Simonson's X-Factor run rests.

In "Home!", X-Factor returns to Earth as Ship descends into the heart of Manhattan, setting the stage for a high-stakes clash in the city that never sleeps. With Sabretooth on the hunt for escaped Morlocks and Caliban abandoning Apocalypse to track him down, tensions rise as old enemies and uneasy alliances collide. Written by Louise Simonson and illustrated by Terry Shoemaker, with inks by Al Milgrom, colors by Tom Vincent, and letters by Joe Rosen, the cover by Shoemaker and Milgrom captures the moment with bold, kinetic energy.

writer Louise Simonson · artist Terry Shoemaker · inker Al Milgrom · colorist Tom Vincent · letterer Joe Rosen · cover Terry Shoemaker, Al Milgrom

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $0

Flagged key issue — estimate limited by sparse sales.

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

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.8 $85 1 listing

Raw — NM ▾ $5–$24 5 listings

NM $5 NM $6.01 NM $9.98 NM $24 NM $24

Raw — NM- $3 1 listing

Raw — VF/NM ▾ $2–$12.99 8 listings

VF/NM $2 VF/NM $2.4 VF/NM $2.99 VF/NM · Newsstand $3.16 VF/NM $5.5 VF/NM $5.56 VF/NM $8 VF/NM · Direct $12.99

Raw — VF+ ▾ $2.69–$9.4 3 listings

VF+ $2.69 VF+ $7.5 VF+ $9.4

Raw — VF ▾ $1.79–$24 10 listings

VF $1.79 VF $2 VF $2 VF $2.19 VF $3 VF $4 VF $5.6 VF $7.99 VF $9.6 VF $24

Raw — FN+ $2 1 listing

Raw — FINE ▾ $2.45–$2.99 2 listings

FINE $2.45 FINE · Newsstand $2.99

Raw — VG $7.95 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.05–$2,800 40 listings

Verified matches for X-Factor #51 · eBay asking prices, seen 19 days ago

More listings for this title

MINT $13.99 Marvel Comics! X-Factor! Issue #51! $1.15

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 2 total · seen 19 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Louise Simonson had steered X-Factor through the sprawling 'Judgment War' space epic (issues #43–50) immediately before this issue, and #51 functions as her deliberate course-correction — grounding the series back in Manhattan and reintroducing the human-scale subplots the book had largely abandoned during that arc. Penciler Terry Shoemaker, whose work on the title was extensive without ever carrying an official 'regular artist' credit, handled art duties alongside inker Allen Milgrom, with Bob Harras editing and Tom DeFalco serving as editor-in-chief. The issue hit newsstands on December 26, 1989, carrying a February 1990 cover date, placing it squarely at the turn of the decade and at the beginning of a productive stretch for Simonson before Peter David took over the title the following year.

Trivia · 8 facts

Title of story: 'Home!' — Part 1 of 3; cover date February 1990, on-sale December 26, 1989.
First appearance of Opal Tanaka, a Japanese human character who will become Iceman's (Bobby Drake's) romantic partner in subsequent issues.
First appearance of Charlotte Jones, an African-American NYPD officer who will become romantically involved with Archangel (Warren Worthington III).
First appearance of the two Morlocks Chicken Wings and Mole; Chicken Wings is killed by Sabretooth in this issue, while Mole survives and befriends Opal Tanaka.
Ship — the sentient Celestial spacecraft formerly belonging to Apocalypse — lands vertically on the site of X-Factor's destroyed old headquarters and reconfigures itself into a skyscraper, giving the team a permanent New York base after their return from space.
Caliban, now Apocalypse's Horseman 'Hellhound,' openly defies his master in this issue and teleports to New York to pursue Sabretooth, who slaughtered his fellow Morlocks during the Mutant Massacre.
Creative team: writer Louise Simonson, penciler Terry Shoemaker, inker Allen Milgrom, colorist Tom Vincent, letterer Joe Rosen, editor Bob Harras, editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
The issue was reprinted in black-and-white in Essential X-Factor Vol. 4 (2012); as of available records, it has not been collected in a color trade paperback.