Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #5 Art

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #5 Preview

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #5

Writer: Leah Williams

Art by: Georges Jeanty

Cover by: Razzah

The Story:

The Age of X-Man Concludes!

• Some X-Tremists want to know love.
• Some X-Tremists want to know freedom.
• But some X-Tremists… just want to watch the world burn.

In Stores: May 26, 2019

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #4 Spoilers & Art

Spoilers: As Blob and Psylocke take Moneta into custody, Northstar notices how friendly they got. Jean-Paul runs off alone caught up in his thoughts. The next morning at Department X’s HQ, Northstar comes across Moneta, who’s been reconditioned as lost memories of her transgressions. Blob and Betsy brief the team on their two assignments for the day, and Northstar volunteers to check on an illegal movie theater showing romance pictures. It turns out the theater is run by Rictor and Northstar is a regular movie goer. Jean-Paul uses his position in Dept. X to warn Rictor in advance. Back at the HQ, Iceman decides to follow Northstar. Moneta is left alone and uses her powers on herself to recall what she had been made to forget. At the theater, Iceman joins Northstar and Rictor, and the three of them hang out and drink together, while Jean-Paul opens up about the feeling of missing someone he doesn’t know. Elsewhere, Moneta is attacked by the followers of Apocalypse. While Iceman, Northstar and Rictor comfort each other, Jubilee sets the town on fire and says she now remembers having a child. Northstar also remembers his sister Aurora and husband Kyle, and Jubilee confirms she was at their wedding. They realize memories were taken away from them and suggest rioting.

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #4 Preview

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #4

Writer: Leah Williams

Art by: Georges Jeanty

Cover by: Razzah

The Story:

The Age of X-Man Continues!

• Northstar — the guiding light that keeps the traveler reassured they are going in the right direction.

• If only the name rang true for poor Jean-Paul...

In Stores: April 29, 2019

 

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #3 Art

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #3 Preview

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #3

Writer: Leah Williams

Art by: Georges Jeanty

Cover by: Razzah

The Story:

The Age of X-Man Continues!

• All love is forbidden love.

• Blob knows this. Psylocke knows this.

• The X-Tracts enforce the law. And yet…

In Stores: April 24, 2019

X-Men Monday with Jordan D. White #8

Adventures in Poor Taste!: Hickman recently shared his favorite X-Men characters, so this seemed like the perfect time to ask Comicbook Addict’s (@casterlylion11) question: Who are Jordan White’s top five X-Men?

Jordan D. White: 1. Kitty Pryde 2. Nightcrawler 3. Beast 4. Psylocke 5. Madrox

The X-Tremists Pin-up by Georges Jeanty

X-Men Monday with Jordan D. White #7

Adventures in Poor Taste: We get a ton of Psylocke questions, so for Betsy’s fans, I have to ask Avalon’s question‏ (@braddocklegacy). Are there any plans to delve into Psylocke’s mindset after reclaiming her original body?

Jordan D. White: Yep, there are.

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #2 Art

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #2 Preview

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #2

Writer: Leah Williams

Art by: Georges Jeanty

Cover by: Razzah

The Story:

The Age of X-Man Continues!
As Department X continues its work of purging and revising the ill-fitting elements of society, an encounter with a pregnant rebel begins eating away at the team from within. Cleaning up the minds of the world can be a dirty job…

In Stores: March 27, 2019

X-Men Monday with Jordan D. White #4

Adventures in Poor Taste: X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White will talk a bit more about Marvel’s X-Men plans for C2E2, as well as provide your eXclusive first look at the cover of Marvelous X-Men #5. But first, he’s got a few X-Fan questions to answer!  

AiPT!: Psylocke (@MentalMonarch) had a question about… Psylocke! We’ve seen Psylocke’s new telekinetic weapons but have yet to see the katana. Is it safe to assume that’s not part of her repertoire now that she’s back in her original body?

Jordan D. White: I don’t think she CANNOT form it, but I think it’s not her go-to anymore. I really liked her new sword and shield and would like to see her keep using them for a long time. Let’s hope they stick!

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #1 Art

Inside Age of X-man's 'Horny Cop Gestapo' with X-Tremists

Newsarama: Ahead of Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #1's release this Wednesday, Newsarama spoke with writer Leah Williams about how a mutant utopia can exist without one of the X-Men’s core melodramatic tenets (romantic intrigue … natch), and how mutants find each other in the most unlikely places.

Newsarama: Leah, let’s start with the basics. What can you tell us about X-Tremists and its place in “Age of X-Man”?

Leah Williams: “Age of X-Man” is a utopian mutant society where all love is forbidden. Nate Grey had a tumultuous upbringing, so his vision of utopia removes the family unit from life entirely - including the removal of everything preceding the formation of one. Love, dating, queer identity, even a basic knowledge of sex acts or reproduction - he’s wiped these things from conscious memory to create a real, functioning utopia, meaning, the vast majority of its inhabitants are genuinely and blissfully unaware of turmoil. 

“X-tremists” is the pejorative term that the rebels use for Department X, who are the secret police prosecuting infractions in this world. Up to and including intimacy violations. X-Tremists is a miniseries that answers the question of what’s lost when we take love, sexuality, and family away.

Nrama: You’ve got quite a line-up for this team. How’d you pick these particular characters and what brings them together?

Williams: I wanted characters who would be coming into this already having experiences of forbidden or unconventional love, including queer identity. They don’t form Department X of their own volition, as everything and everyone’s roles in “Age of X-Man” were assigned to them by Nate Grey in curating his utopia, so while canonically it’s his fault for putting a gay French-Canadian anarchist on his horny cop gestapo; that’s conflict of interest is what's by design. I picked these team members because I saw them as the ones who we could really, really have a lot of fun with once they start f&@$ing s#%t up.

Nrama: What are the X-Tremists up against here?

Williams: You’ll see Department X portrayed as villains in the other "Age of X-Man" books, and it’s because they are. What they’re doing is unconscionable. But they’re good people, and what they’re up against is the fabric of this alternate reality - which we start to see unraveling in Issue 1 when they encounter a variable that the “Age of X-Man” world is totally unprepared for.

Nrama: The solicitation for X-Tremists #1 mentions the team fighting “love,” while later solicits mention “forbidden romance” between Psylocke and Blob. What’s going on with this new twist on the old idea of star-crossed mutant romance?

Williams: It’s not actually new twist, I’d say! Just a straightforward forbidden romance. They prosecute intimacy violations by day, but come together in their off-hours in a real and authentic way. Fred’s personality is different in "Age of X-Man" because this utopian society produces conditions that would change a lot about how he, specifically, interacts with the world - and they think they’ve been in "Age of X-Man" for three years. He’s a softer, kinder, Blob and Betsy is aloof, beautiful, and far-removed. She’s feeling emotionally adrift, and his warmth and openness is what draws her in. 

Nrama: You’re working with Georges Jeanty on X-Tremists. What’s it like teaming up with an artist like Georges?

Williams: Oh, it was absolutely thrilling to find out we’d be working together on this. This is a difficult story to tell in terms of sensitive subjects, and being paired with Georges has been amazing. The way he draws each member of Department X is so loving and beautiful that I’ve squealed about things like cheekbones and "purple hair porn” because he nails it every time.

Nrama: What’s your favorite thing he’s drawn for X-Tremists so far?

Williams: I can’t list specific panels without spoiling major events, but in general my favorite aspect of working with Georges is how he adds a really rich cinematography to this story - the way he breaks down emotional beats and knows how to add stillness and reflection on a character’s face, the way he teases out nuance in their expressions, the lushness to the scenery - it’s all breathtakingly beautiful. 

Nrama: 2019 is shaping up to be the year of the X-Men. What makes the X-Men the perfect superheroes for this moment?

Williams: “Age of X-Man” is perfect in particular because its larger themes are specifically about exploring why assimilation is not equality.  Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler are the brilliant architects of this event (and writers of Marvelous X-Men, AoXM’s main title!) and they have purposefully created the perfect sandbox to explore questions of intersectionality within the mutant metaphor. Not only that, but they and the X-office editors deliberately recruited a roster of diverse creators to help flesh it out. “Age of X-Man” is action-packed catharsis.

Nrama: “Age of X-Man” is not a sequel to “Age of Apocalypse,” but something of a spiritual successor. How does it feel being a part of that kind of storytelling tradition?

Williams: It does feel like I’m participating in something grand and rarified - this many people working within the same world can be unwieldy for some projects, but not with us. Writers, artists, and editors - everyone has been amazingly helpful and excited about what we’re doing. We check in with each other, ask questions about what’s happening in each other’s books, ask permission to use a character from someone else’s team, etc, all to ensure that readers get a cohesive world-building experience across the books. We believe in what we’re doing.

Right now, as we’re passing the halfway mark in terms of scripts turned in for these miniseries, we’re looking around at each other like “…I don’t want this to end.” It feels like a sad, sweet, summer camp farewell.

Nrama: Bottom line, what should fans know going into X-Tremists? What makes this story a must-read for X-Fans?

Williams: Each issue focuses on a different Department X team member - I have a strong team and I wanted to spotlight them as individuals while we move forward through the story, to give fans more airtime with their faves and to use multiple POV’s to enrich the story. 

This miniseries is also gonna hurt. It’s a difficult story to tell by nature, because of the role Department X was assigned in this utopian society without their choosing. They didn’t sign up for this, and X-tremists is about the consequences of trying to force heroes into a reality they would never consciously comply with. X-tremists is not about reveling in erasure, it’s about doing justice to how violently relieved Bobby’s gonna feel when he finally wakes up in this alternate reality and the kind of ice-cold anger he’d have once he sees that not only did Nate Grey put him on the secret police, but imagined an armband on him.  

Every issue of X-tremists brings pain and catharsis, increasingly, until we end with a bombastic, jubilant, grand finale.

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #1 Preview

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #1

Writer: Leah Williams

Art by: Georges Jeanty

Cover by: Razzah

Variant Cover by: Ema Lupacchino

Connecting Variant Cover by: Inhyuk Lee

Secret Variant Cover Also Available

The Story: Enter The Age of X-Man!

A perfect world doesn’t just…happen. It needs to be cultivated. That’s where the X-Tremists come in. Psylocke, Iceman, Northstar, Blob, Jubilee and Moneta protect people from threats they won’t even know existed, including the most insidious threat of all — love.

In Stores: February 27, 2019

Age of X-Man: The X-Tremists #1 Colored Preview

Jordan D. White Shares 'The X-Tremists' Preview for #XMenMonday