AiPT!: Welcome to the all-new, all-different X-Men Monday at AiPT!–just in time for the column’s 25th edition! Hey, comics love to celebrate those milestone issues, so you better believe a column about comics on a comic book website’s going to do the same. It’s our milestone 25th X-Men Monday, with special guests Gerry Duggan, Benjamin Percy, Bryan Edward Hill and Tini Howard!
AiPT!: Such eclectic picks–love it! Now, who is your favorite X-Men character and why?
Tini: Half of my brain is like ‘how dare you choose’ and the other half is like ‘Rictor.’ Part of why I love him is because he’s spent an extended period of time without his powers, where he became sort of the audience-viewpoint of what it was like to be a de-powered mutant during that time. I love that his powers are simple, but vague and fun to play with–his connection to the Earth can be very scientific or very mystical. I like that Rictor is someone we’ve seen as super vulnerable–on the page we’ve seen him go through breakups, a coming out, a passionate reunion or two, possible fatherhood, losing his powers, depression, a crisis of faith… Maybe it’s ’cause I was raised Catholic and also had a coming-out story, but he’s always been my #1.
AiPT!: What X-Character are you currently having the most fun writing?
Tini: I’m not regularly writing Kitty Pryde, but I wrote her for a few sentences, and maybe it’s the amazing work Gerry is doing in Marauders, but she just sings right now. It’s hard to not have a blast writing Kitty. Currently, at this very moment, I am writing a very fun Rogue scene. Betsy is my favorite to write but I wouldn’t describe her as fun right now. We’re working through some stuff. She’ll be OK.
AiPT!: Why should X-Fans and non-X-Fans give your new Dawn of X series a shot?
Tini: It’s hard to read House of X and Powers of X and look at the Excalibur cover and mission statement and wonder how it’s gonna fit in. But it does–pretty beautifully if I say so myself. We’re merging the spirit of Excalibur with the Dawn of X. There are swords and kissing and a lighthouse and the legacy of the Braddocks–who are, person for person, one of Marvel’s most powerful families, I said one of, settle down, Summers fans–carries on.
AiPT!: Working on an X-Men comic is something many of comics’ greatest writers and artists have done. What does working in the X-Men universe–with these iconic characters–mean to you?
Tini: We’re getting to establish a new status quo for the X-Men. We’re building a nation, a culture and an entirely non-human way of life. That’s honestly my favorite stuff–when we’re all together brainstorming: what is human and what is mutant? What can the superior shed and leave behind, and how can they improve, not just genetically, but culturally, spiritually. That’s what I’m about.
“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.
