Monday, April 19, 2010

Interviews: "X-Men" and "New X-Force"

Gischler: My desire is that the cast of characters will be a combination of both big name and lesser known characters. I think we'll see a wider cast of characters for the first arc, while we're getting situated. Then the following arcs will kind of narrow things down to a core cast. I don't want to say that we're holding auditions for the first arc, but it almost is like that. We've got the whole team and everybody is available for that first arc. Then in following stories we kind of whittle things down to the people we see every issue.

Plus, since the book is a part of the X-Men line, there's a good chance that we'll see characters rotate in and out from story to story. So new faces might come and go, but that will be along side the core cast that we see every month.

Axel Alonso: "Our story will pick up with a suicide bombing in San Francisco’s Union Square. But this is not Al Qaeda—this is the opening shot of a war," he writes. "Vampires are descending on the Bay Area, commanded by their, let’s just say, enigmatic leader, and mutants appear to be their target. What follows is a war on several fronts, as the X-Men defend their home from a threat unlike anything they’ve ever faced. There will be twists and turns you can’t see coming, and there will be some permanent status quo changes."

Gischler: Vampires are the adversaries in the first arc, and the way we're approaching the bloodsuckers is going to be pretty cool. But that's just the first arc. Vampires don't define this new X-men team. The X-men have been fighiting for survival for a long tim, but this is the X-Men team the represents a new era. This team engages the Marvel U more in a proactive, mission-oriented way. Since the X-Men will be engaging the Marvel U more fully in this title, yes you're going to see the guest stars. The particular situation or villains they face will help dictate which guest star is most appropriate for a particular arc.

Remender: The new X-Force team has a network of people looking out for Apocalypse's rise and could be faced with the moral quandary of being able to execute the immortal villain as an infant. "One of the members of the team has had operatives hunting for signs of the return of En Sabah Nur for years. We open as the operative discovers what he's been seeking. Turns out when the rest of the world is celebrating the defeat of a tyrant, humanity entering a new 'Heroic Age' is the first big signpost of the Age of Apocalypse. X-Force is reformed with one objective: kill Apocalypse."

Remender: X-Force will now be Wolverine and a team of the toughest X characters ever assembled. Logan will be a co-captain, serving with one of the other members, for reasons readers will soon discover. This adds a wonderful internal conflict and drama in this new band of X-Men. These are the hardcores of the X-family; these are the heroes who have most frequently walked the line, made the distasteful yet necessary choices. They’ve stained their souls for the greater good and just as it seems they’ll be able to heal from the work, they are tasked with their most critical assassination ever. Meet the all-new all-different X-Force this July.

Remender: I think people will be excited about who it's going to be. It's all A-list characters. Because of the initial threat and because of what they're dealing with in the first arc with the imminent, looming Age of Apocalypse, it appears the Heroic Age is a lamppost for the Akkaba Society to start building up their plans to begin the Age of Apocalypse. This is preordained business and blah blah blah. The idea is that the team is necessary and that the team is also of a caliber to deal with Apocalypse – a mega-level threat. Not that the last team wasn't, but they're all heavy hitters on this team.

23 comments:

Dr. Doom said...

Both sound really good! I can't hardly wait!

Anonymous said...

The more I look at the the x-Force Image the more I´m onvinced that the team is Wolverine, Deadpool, Magneto, Psylocke and Fantomex. He says their all X-Men so that excludes Elektra thanks god!

Anonymous said...

IT could be Magik over Betsy but Betsy is the more likely one i think. Magneto would be perfect but how can it not be Angel with this whole Apocalypse storyline.

The x-men were only just under attack from mutant zombies of their resurrected friends and old villains how is a bunch of boring cliché generic vampires better.

centurion said...

I'm thinking Betsy will be a member of the new core "X-Men" book, and may make guest appearances in X-Force. In theory Betsy could play frequent cameos in X-Force, or even be the teams resident telepath, but I feel she is a better fit for the "X-Men" book at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Someone in the last comments section suggested that crouching buddy there may actually be Shatterstar rather than Deadpool. Although Deadpool is cool, I would actually think it pretty interesting if it was Shatterstar.

Anonymous said...

vampires are SO LAME. twilight ruined vampires.

J77 said...

The good thing about Betsy being in the X-Force is that with a cast of about 5 characters she would certainly get some quality panel time and not be relegated to the background and having lines like "as you wish".

As for vampires I don't really care that much for them.

Anonymous said...

I forgot about Elektra being in the mix, I bet it is her. Which sucks because that would take away some attention from Psylocke. She was included in that who are the x-men series, so they have to put her somwhare I guess, and this is the most logical place, a team of heavy hitters. I mean, Fantomex is not an "xman" either nor is deadpool, so the "they are all x-men comment "does not hold here".

Anonymous said...

for the last time...elektra was featured in the WE ARE THE X-MEN teasers that represented the new X-MEN comic book....that will feature the vampires in the first arc and many MU guests.....more present in the hole MU....
If the guy is shattestar than the other is archangel....but otherwise, apart from logan, there is gonna be only one former member so if he´s Deadpool the other one is likely to be Magneto or a caped flying A-Litsers....and Psylocke IS a havy hitter, a-lister in the X-Universe nowadays, plus a katana is her trademark and she has a sash...Magyk doens´t and have a bigger sword. And fantomex and deadpool ARE X-Men at the moment.....just read the comics and the interviws carefully people before throwing arguments!

Anonymous said...

I have a hard time believing that the silhouette is Elektra. The character is holding a katana/sword not a sai. Elektra's iconic weapon which she is seen with in almost all her visuals is the sai. The katana is Psylocke's weapon of choice (outside of her Psi-blade). Plus, from the article, the creative team mentions "duality" of character and being a "heavy hitter." Psylocke definitely has duality of character, we saw that explored in the Psylocke mini where she had to decide on what ground to kill Matsu'o. As for being a heavy hitter, an entire page in X-Men was devoted to showing that she was a heavy hitter when questioned by Colossus.

For the flying silhouette, I think it has to be Angel...remember the writer states that one other character has a direct connection to the previous X-Force team and a connection to Apocalypse. Magneto doesn't fit the bill.

Anonymous said...

The author states in the article that "these are the hardcores of the X-family" (referring to the new X-Force), so I think we can definitely remove Elektra from the mix. I agree with the previous posters...people should read the articles before throwing out silly conjectures.

Anonymous said...

I'm really interested in finding out who the other co-captain of the squad will be. The teaser articles from the author mentions a countering force to Wolverine. Someone on the team who tries to make sure the team doesn't become a purely vigilantly execution squad. When I first read the promos about the new X-Force and assumed Angel would be involved with helping to track down Apocalypse, I thought he would naturally be the co-captain. Now, after reading the comments by the author, I'm thinking Psylocke may be the calming co-captain of the squad.

She isn't afraid of killing, but is more reserved about doing so than Wolverine or Angel, Fantomex, and Deadpool for that matter (if that's the team line-up).

This may be Psylocke's opportunity to shine as a character and as a leader...

Anonymous said...

omg, if someone suggests one more time that the female silhouette is Elek-suck, I'm gonna yell. She's one of the guest stars, the silhouette has no bandana, Elektra is not a mutant, and no Sais. Plus, why would they get excited about anybody so boring as her.

As someone said above, Magik has a big sword, not a katana, and no sash thing.

If it's Warren that would make sense, honestly I didn't read X-Force regularly so I didn't know Deadpool had a former connection to it, so if Shatterstar doesn't have a former connection to it and the bird guy is not Warren than I guess it's Deadpool.

However, when they said that one of the members has operatives on the lookout for Apocalypse, I can believe that to be Magneto or Warren but I dunno.

All I know is vampires is a totally uninspired idea - this totally wreaks of OMG, Vampires are popular now, let's get the kids to buy X-Men by putting them in the comic!

Yes, Twilight ruined Vampires. OMG, has anybody here watched TrueBlood??? That is a FREAKING AWESOME show. Too bad Twilight makes it sound crappy just because of the vampires, but don't be fooled - Trueblood is a.w.e.s.o.m.e.n.e.s.s.

FSaker said...

Yup, the X-Force team will most likely be Logan, Psylocke, Fantomex, Deadpool and either Magneto or Nate Grey (I'm hoping for Magneto; Nate Grey sucks, but since the first arc will deal with Apocalypse, we may get the fake Cable boy since he has more connections with Apocalypse).

About the new X-Men series, I guess (and hope) Gischler will use a rather different team than the one Fraction uses in Uncanny (although both will most likely have Scott, Emma and Logan). So I guess Betsy won't be a regular member in both teams, she'll probably be a regular character in either X-Men or Uncanny.

But she'll definitely be in the Mutants vs. Vampires arc (which I hope is a good arc, because the idea could lead to either an epic fun story or to an epic failure).

Anonymous said...

I think you're right about the Nate Grey thing... but I believe they did say there will be other characters after the initial arc, so hopefully they only brought in Nate temporarily so he could die in sacrifice in order to ensure Apocalypse's downfall. That would be a good way to get rid of him for good, he is such an uninspired creation. Um, codename 'X-Man'? That's so stupid. The only thing that makes me hope it's not him is that they said every character is A list, and from what I can tell an A-lister Nate Grey is not.

But I do hope it's Magneto instead.

Yup, I hope the vampire thing is at least fun and interesting since they're using a pretty generic premise to begin with.

Anonymous said...

Its obviously Angel. Aren't u guys reading the interviews? Angel is the one who's tracking down Apocalypse. Its so obvious. Thw writer himself even said that with the exception of Wolverine, it's an ALMOST new team, which means that one other member is from the old X-Force.

Anonymous said...

They said that besides Wolverine, it's basically a new team with only one other member having had a connection to X-Force - this is not the same as being a member of X-Force and would contradict the idea of it being a new team.

However, the silhouette certainly looks like Angel, and Angel certainly has a connection to Apocalypse such that he would be motivated to track him down - also, I think Angel is cool and I would prefer if it was him or Magneto. But I'm convinced it's not Angel

Also, no I did not read the interviews thorough but I gathered that much from the quotes. I sure hope you're right though.

Anonymous said...

It IS Angel.

Anonymous said...

The guy is right. Remender said: “With the exception of Wolverine this is an almost entirely new team” which means some other member was from the old X-Force: Angel. :)

Anonymous said...

Um, no, I'm pretty sure it's Vampiric Jubilee. You can tell by the obvious fangs in the silhouette. Either her, or Professor X who grew wings as a secondary mutation since his genes got frustrated with the wheelchair. Plus, you can totally see the wheelchair in the silhouette.

Anonymous said...

I hate to break it to you, but the guy flying in the sky is: Elektra. The fact that she has no hair is just because of her bandana. And those wings? That's actually just the rest of her hair. She got so busy she hasn't had time to go to the salon and it grew. She can flap her hair now to fly. Don't blame her, it was the Hand.

Anonymous said...

I fail to see how can anyone say it's not Angel. Have you seen the white wings and white gloves? It is him.

Or Elektra and Xavier. Good point.

Anonymous said...

White gloves? Hot. Sorry I don't actually follow the comics as closely as I'd like to but yeah, those two things sure look like his wings, and that's such his body posture. But there is still the strong possibility that it's Xavier's new Shiar wheelchair that comes with a flying option if you hit the right button. I'm referring specifically to what Remember said, remember?