Newsweek: On the final day of New York Comic Con 2018, Marvel Comics held a panel with the X-Men creators to give fans a look at future books and stories.
X-Men Editor Jordan D. White accompanied Assistant Editor Annalise Bissa, writers Ed Brisson (Dead Old Man Logan, X-Force), Sina Grace (Iceman), Matthew Rosenberg (Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men), Leah Williams (X-Men: Black), Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler (Age of X-Man Alpha).
The panel of creators dove into the current X-Men books, like Black and Dead Old Man Logan. The conversation also turned to the end of the current X-Termination storyline, the return of Uncanny X-Men and new titles spinning out of it.
Here are the highlights from the Marvel Comics X-Men NYCC 2018 panel:
- X-Men Black: Emma Frost
Leah Williams: “I don’t see [Emma] as a villain, but as someone who is capable of doing terrible things for the right reasons. She’s compassionate and has a brutal heart. This is a love letter to the character.
She’s an anti-hero but more on the heroic side, because time and time again she chose the difficult but right path, like mentoring young Jean. She’s grown so much and has an incredible backstory.”
- Apocalypse Backup Story
A five-part story that runs with all X-Men Black #1 issues.
Lonnie Nadler: “We wanted to show how the mutant messiah thinks and see what he can do. Writing first-person narration in Apocalypse’s voice may never have been done before.”
- Uncanny X-Men
Matthew Rosenberg: “This is a culmination of what’s going on in the X-Men for awhile. If you like Blue, Gold, Red and Astonishing, this is a threat that comes from very close to the X-Men and brings everyone together. If you have a favorite [member of the] X-Men, there’s a solid chance that they will be in there to try and save the world.”
Ed Brisson: “We’re taking a chance to elevate some of the younger X-Men.”
The Four Horsemen of Salvation are Magento, Blog, Angel and Omega Red.
Uncanny X-Men #7 is the return to Age of Apocalypse.
Uncanny X-Men Annual #1 has a cover that features every iteration of Cyclops. The solicit says, “Cyclops: Dead or Alive?”
- Astonishing X-Men
Issue #17 features Havoc is slipping back into a villain.
“It’s tragic and hard to read and this is the moment of truth for him and his legacy.” - Matthew Rosenberg
Dazzler, Banshee, Beast and Warpath will be featured in issue 17
- X-Force
This will spins out of X-Termination.
X-Force is hunting after Younger Cable, after he killed the future Cable.
Deathlok and “Kid” Cable are working with anti-mutant terrorists. X-Force are there to find out what’s going on.
Brisson teases more of Cable’s backstory will be filled in with this book.
- Dead Man Logan
Logan is rapidly dying, but he wants to tie up loose ends before he does.
He is after Mysterio, so what happened to him in the original Old Man Logan story doesn’t happen.
- What If? Magik
This story explores the possibility that Magik didn’t join the New Mutants after she got out of Limbo.
- Iceman
Issue #2 features Emma Frost who needs Bobby’s character and powers.
There’s some weird Mister Sinister stuff in the background, because he’s the big bad of the story.
- Age of X-Man: Alpha
Nate Grey will be in this book in a prominent role
- Highlights from Audience Q&A
Exiles or Blink to show up?
JW: “There are no current plans for them to be involved in the story.”
Fantastic Four crossing paths with X-Men?
JW: “Now that the Fantastic Four is back, it won’t be long until they run into each other.”
Plans for Wolverine’s son or Colossus’ son?
JW: “No.”
Plans for Sunspot?
EB: “As of right now, not in X-Force. He's a character I like a lot, but he doesn’t fit with the story we’re trying to tell.”
JW: “He is featured in a story that hasn’t been announced yet.”
Will Xavier be around?
JW: “He’ll never be far away, but we can’t say just yet.”
Favorite X-Force member?
ED, MR: Boom Boom, AB, LW: Psylocke, LN: Fantomex
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
12 comments:
So Cyclops is really returning, eh? That's nice. With him, Logan and Xavier back, we'll finally have all the mainstream X-Men active at the same time! (yes, I know Cable is dead, but while he is a mainstream X-character, he's always been more associated with X-Force than with the X-Men)
I'm not sure if I like the return of the Age of Apocalypse. It was cool in the 1990s, but it's a setting that feels too dated nowadays. Unless the writing team manages to make it less "hardcore and badass" and more representative of a dictatorship; then it would be nice.
Other than that, nice to know that Emma is still perceived as someone with good intentions, Apocalypse's backup stories could be interesting, and the Four Horsemen of Salvation... eh, not digging the idea so far. And while Betsy was only mentioned as a cool former X-Force member, the acknowledgment itself shows she isn't forgotten by the current writing team, so if anyone was afraid she could fade into the background, I guess that's not going to happen.
@FSaker, agreed. I really can do without the Age of Apocalypse again. In fact, I can do with Apocalypse period. I would be good with therm retiring that villain and him not resurrecting when he dies again.
I thought I read an interview where writers said we’d be meeting a new antagonist soon. I look forward to that. Hell, I’m even looking forward to Magneto’s new Brotherhood. I just hope they are not called “evil.” I think that Marrow and Elixir are excellent additions to that roster and I want to see some dialogue between Erik and Sarah about what he promised her during the Magneto War arc by Alan Davis in addressing his dismissal of the Morlocks’ plight. I think Emma would be a great antagonist to both the Brotherhood and the X-Men. I think I would not miss Apocalypse or Sinister if we never see them again. I would love a return of Madelyne Pryor though.
Which one: the original Madelyne (that was last seen as a member of Arkea's Sisterhood) or the alternate-earth Madelyne that still has the Goblyn Queen powers and walks around with the monster she created from the body of her Earth's Nightcrawler (and who was a major antagonist in the recent X-Men Blue book)?
The covers are so bad. The story looks crap. It's disappointing.
@ Rahsaan Chisolm I'll take Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister over anti-mutant hate groups like the purifiers or the sentinels any day. The x-men have been lacking real villain threats of recent. All the bad guys (Mystique, Sabretooth, Lady deathstrike, and even Omega Red) have prety much become x-men leaving the teams to either fight amoung themselves. I miss the old days when the merry gang of mutants actually fought global threats instead of boring local human terrorist.
I will agree with the return of Madelyne Pryor though. Throw Selene into that boat as well. I'm pissed that Captain America is using her right now.
@FSaker I hope we never see that ridiculous and annoying alternate Madelyne ever again.
@FSaker and @Anonymous, the real Madelyne, of course!!
@Anonymous - Great idea! Since Madelyne and Selene became BFFs in the Arkea's Sisterhood arc, they could become a real deadly alliance.
However, while I agree that the X-Men need strong villain figures, anti-mutant hate groups make perfect sense when we remember the message behind these characters is to show the danger of prejudice and intolerance in the real world. That said, maybe instead of focusing on anti-mutant groups that will vanish or have their key members replaced after a single arc, Marvel should create some villains that really represent a threat to mutantkind and that could stick for years and years. You know, like Cameron Hodge was in X-Tinction Agenda, or Bastion in Second Coming, or Sublime during Morrison's run (before he fell in love with Rachel). In fact, Sublime and his corporation would be terrific villains nowadays.
It's sad that while Marvel is constantly debuting new superheroes, their creative team seems to have a severe difficulty to create interesting new bad guys to balance things. That's not a problem just for the X-Men; it's a problem we can also notice in the books for the Avengers, Spider-Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four and so on...
@FSaker, I like that idea of political/philosophical longevity. How would you and @Anonymoous feel if we had a big, big bad like Cassandra Nova (who I’m digging once again in Red... hated what was done with her in Uncanny X-Force... as she is back to her Morrison roots) and giver her a platform where she aligns with another bigot like Red Skull (loved with Remender did with him in Uncanny Avengers) and they actually run a politicized campaign for office that involves aspects of the carceral system, reproductive rights, eugenics and try to gain legitimacy through elected office by appealing to the worst of humanity which we clearly see can happen? Even though, they themselves are not the face of non-mutated homo sapiens, we have seen irony like that wiyh Hitler who looked nothing like the “Aryan” race he exalted, but who galvanized a whole nation to embrace his world view. We could also have factions like Emma and Magneto’s who oppose both Nova/Skull and the X-Men and then we could also have other factions, like Sunspot’s who use wealth to push a legetimacy agenda for mutants. Actually, I think Emma and Roberto would be great aligning in that way.
@Rahsaan, that's a great idea! And sadly, it's also very close to what is happening in real life in some countries nowadays...
I'm just glad that Leah Williams seems to have a good grasp on Emma. Maybe she can salvage the mess they made, post-Death of X. I feel that often in the X-books, a lot of the more complex, dangerous female characters like Emma and Psylocke get stuck in second gear because of a bias towards "Mary Sue" characters like Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde. Ugh. Coincidentally, I've always hated those "perfect girl next door" characters. They're so boring and contradictory. Give me the damaged, brash, aggressive anti-heroines in the X-books any day. They're a lot more interesting and fun.
@Anonymous, which is why I cannot wait to see Marrow as part of the new Brotherhood of Mutants.
I also hope that we get to see Dr. Reyes during Decimation. I always dug her begrudging attitude toward being an X-Man and her general annoyance with her teammates. Also, holding out hope for thw return of Monet.
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