Brian Wood expands Psylocke's 'arsenal'

psycwave: "Hi Mr. Wood! You said in an interview that Psylocke might be using an array of "psychic weapons" aside from her knife the last time she used a psychic weapon was when she last used her telekinesis (Chris Claremont had her manifesting telekinetic bats and the like in New Exiles). So are these manifestations of new weapons shows of her now rarely used telekinesis or are the simply more telepathic feats similar to Quentin Quire?"

Brian Wood: "No bats, but yeah, telekinesis. Things that compliment her katana, expand her arsenal. You'll see this right away in issue #1." 

I guess the editors are still letting the writer decide if Psylocke comes equipped with TK or not. What do you guys think? What new psychic weapons would you like to see Psylocke create?

Brian Wood Takes On X-Men

Comicosity: Currently the writer of no less than five acclaimed titles for three publishers — The Massive, Conan the Barbarian, and the brand-new Star Wars for Dark Horse, Mara for Image, and Ultimate Comics: X-Men for Marvel — Brian Wood is making headlines again with his upcoming X-Men. Centering on Jubilee, Storm, Psylocke, Rogue, Rachel Grey, and Kitty Pryde, X-Men will not only be a title jam-packed with fan favorite characters, it will also be the first time a flagship X-Men title has featured an all-female lineup. In an email conversation, Wood talked what brings this new team together, and how character-driven stories (with lots of big action) are the key to pleasing new and old readers alike.

Gavin Craig: X-Men seems to be a title that will appeal to both long-time readers and those who have been yearning for more female-led ongoings in the marketplace. How do you balance the demands of the two audiences in putting together a title like X-Men?

Brian Wood: My gut tells me that what you have to do, all you have to do, is find the core of each character and give them interesting and original stories. New readers can be brought up to date quickly this way and longtime readers will appreciate a classic and familiar approach. You don’t need to info-dump for the sake of new readers, they’re smart enough to hit the ground running. What you can’t do is tell stories based solely on past stories or are so deep in continuity that will ONLY ever appeal to the hardcore fan. I always look at New X-Men #1 by Grant Morrison: a bare minimum of captions and explanation, but it was cool and dense and exciting and also accessible. It was almost impossible to find something to dislike.

I see this here as a real opportunity, as this book more than most has a real shot at reaching new readers. I have a readership of my own that, while not huge, tends to follow me to new books pretty faithfully, and a large number of them are women and this book is perfect for them. Seeing this get written up in places like Wired is another great bit of outreach. All the mainstream press is treating this as something special, and so the burden is really on me to make sure that doesn’t go to waste. If we get a lot of casual buyers when the book launches, I want to hold on to as many as possible. An all-female core X-Men title is a FANTASTIC idea.

GC: X-Men has a fascinating line-up, and focusing on Jubilee is a striking choice given the way she’s so often written as a flighty and sometimes childish character. What drew you to the idea of handing Jubilee the leadership?

BW: Well, I’m not sure I would call Jubilee the leader. Storm’s the leader if anyone’s the leader, but the focus of the first couple arcs is on Jubilee, if you see the distinction. And I certainly don’t see Jubilee as flighty or childish — those are both very negative terms. Jubilee’s young, and she, thank god, has retained a youthful spirit despite some pretty rough life experiences. I see this as a positive, and what I have to do as a writer is to showcase this without going too far and making her seem trivial, or joking around too much. That said, you WANT to see these characters joke and banter back and forth with each other. So that’s the line to walk, right there. Appropriate moments.

Beyond that, everyone loves Jubilee. Even if they are wearied by extended vampirey stories, deep down they love Jubilee. I’m going to remind them of that. A classic Jubilee but not a retro Jubilee.
 

GC: Everyone in this lineup has led an X-team at one time or another. Can we expect this to be a group that will settle into a harmonious team dynamic, or are there likely to be there to be a lot of individual missions and agendas?

BW: This is a team in the loosest sense of the word. There is no formal declaration of their status or the setting up of an HQ and so on (at least not in the near future). This is a team born out of necessity, literally to protect one of their own, and we take it from there. These characters are all friends, all have shared history, and their banding together in a time of need is both natural to them and to the reader. As we go, we’ll have solo issues and side stories in addition to the “big mission” arcs, since all these characters have the stature and the history to drive their own stories.

I’m being vague because we’re still pretty far out and I’d rather wait for some preview pages before I start getting into the details of the first story, but we’ll kick it off with this huge, planetary-level threat and multiple fight scenes and some great high action, to sort of prove the point, to show how well and how effective this group of X-Men can be.

GC: You’ve talked about Chris Claremont and Grant Morrison’s work on the X-Men as being inspirations for this title. What elements do you find most compelling about each of their runs?

BW: The character relationships and dynamics of Claremont and the big concepts of Morrison. I’m not setting out to ape either of these writers, obviously. . . that quote of mine came from a question asking what past X-Men I enjoyed, and those two writers are at the top of the list. I think my run last year on X-Men was pretty well received and I know what worked and what didn’t, but that run should give you a good idea of my “voice” on this new series. But with bigger action!

GC: What has been the most exciting part of working with Olivier Coipel?

BW: Man, just seeing the work coming in! It’s the most exciting and the most frustrating, because it’s almost a torture to wait for it.

GC: Any last thoughts or special teases you can share with the Comicosity audience?

BW: Here’s a tag cloud for the first issue: meteor shower, airport chase scene, metro-north, infestation, psychic longbow, interrogation room, stasis chamber, intergalactic sibling rivalry, pacific ocean floor.

X-Men #1 launches from Marvel Comics on April 10, 2013.

Uncanny X-Force #1 Art

Uncanny X-Force #1 Spoilers

Spoilers: Outside LA, Psylocke and Storm fly together. Betsy tells her about X-Force, while Storm assures she doesn’t want Psylocke to fall into destructive habits again. We learn that Psylocke’s attempt to teach at the Jean Grey School didn’t really work out, so Wolverine had to dismiss her. Meanwhile, Storm’s mind is also not in a right place since she’s working out her anger over her failed marriage. Psylocke tells Storm about an e-mail she received from Puck warning about a drug dealer selling TAO, a drug that makes people suscetible to a hive mind mentality. Psylocke and Storm meet Puck at a bar, and he leads them to an old bank from the 20’s that the drug dealer – the diva of downtown LA - uses to sell drugs and dance. Storm and Psylocke realize it’s Spiral. Betsy doesn’t hold back and attacks Spiral. Meanwhile, Storm and Puck head to the bank vault, since it’s where Spiral hides something. Ororo and Puck find a scared little girl inside the vault, who’s upset Psylocke is fighting Spiral. The little girl mentally orders the people at the club to attack Betsy. Elsewhere in LA, Bishop finally manages to make his way back to Earth 616. In Paris, Jean-Philipe and Cluster steal together, and end up kissing each other.

Wood Has Sublime Plans for "X-Men"

CBR: Brian, you're a huge X-Men fan and I imagine the biggest draw of this book is the cast of characters you're playing with. How did this cast come about? What made you want to include these particular characters in this series? And besides the obvious traits of gender and X-Men affiliation what else do these characters have in common?

Brian Wood: They have history with each other, and that's something that appeals to me as a writer and is also mechanism of the story - they are not a team in the sense of a formalized organization, but they come together in a time of need because of this history they share. As far as the creation of the line-up, it's something of a rambling story, but the shortest version is: this grew out of the "X-Men" run I was doing last year, and it went through a few changes as we, my editor and I talked, but what kept happening was the scope and importance of it kept getting amped up. Originally I think we were just talking a soft relaunch for issue #40 with a couple lineup changes, and then it became a new #1, then a Marvel NOW! title, and so on. And with each step the cast was refined to this point where we have a powerhouse lineup of marquee characters. My one request through the process was to keep writing Storm, and obviously once I heard Marvel wanted Jubilee to have a prominent role, I was absolutely into that as well. The last time I got to write Jubilee was in 2000 [in "Generation X."]

In addition to Jubilee your cast includes members from three different X-teams with very different mandates: Storm and Psylocke of Uncanny X-Force, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers from the Jean Grey School, and Rogue of the Uncanny Avengers. What can you tell us about the initial dynamic of this group? Will the philosophies of the other teams these characters are affiliated with color their perceptions of what they're doing in "X-Men?"

Sure, it's meant to be a book that belongs with the others, it's not off and doing its own thing (like my "X-Men" was last year). Taking one as an example, Psylocke is up to a lot over on "Uncanny X-Force," obviously, and it's going to clash with what she's doing here. She's going to have to struggle to keep it separate, since her role or her mandate here is pretty different. But that just makes for great stories, great character moments. One of the best things, I feel, about my previous run on "X-Men" was how the characters were pulled in different directions, how they had to make choices and pick sides and reconcile loyalties. It'll keep things interesting, and will give readers a more complex character.

Will this team be together when the series begins? And what else can you tell us about your initial arc? From the USA Today interview it sounds like Jubilee's discovery of an orphan baby kicks off a cosmic style epic involving Sublime, a threat from outer space and the future of mankind. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's all true, but a little simplified and compressed, since I think that info is what was put into the solicitation copy. Without giving too much away, Sublime surrenders to the X-Men because he has a serious problem of his own that he can't handle, and the X-Men, being his most formidable opponents, are his best source for help. We get right into that, as he walks onto the grounds of the Jean Grey School and surrenders to Rachel and Psylocke.

Elsewhere, the others are picking up Jubilee who calls in a panic, having travelled halfway around the world to make it back "home" to the X-Men, and yeah, she's got a baby with her. How these two story lines connect is what I'm not getting into just yet, as well as the cosmic thing and the threat to the planet. And the baby, I promise you, the baby is not evil nor does it die.

Let's wrap up with some questions about how the team operates, others elements of your stories, and how "X-Men" ties to the larger X-Universe. First, will this group set up their own base of operations somewhere? And if so what can you tell us about their headquarters?

Well, no HQ just yet. Much of the team is already operating out of the Jean Grey School, and that's where they will sort of group up and get to work. Since a lot of these characters are in other books, I'm not sure I'll be able to formalize them as a discrete team with a home base. Maybe over time, but at first they are a team born out of necessity, friends and colleagues that help each other out in the face of a common threat.

When it comes to personal lives will you be tackling their preexisting relationships from other books like Kitty with Iceman, and Psylocke with Fantomex or are you more interested in developing new relationships for characters who don't really have significant others at the moment?

Right now, this far out, probably the latter more than the former. There's nothing like this planned for the first arc so honestly it's all a little abstract right now when it comes to relationships. But my gut tells me if another writer is dealing with any one character's relationship in another title, I'm not going to horn in on that and take it over. I'd much rather originate something in my own book.

Finally, can you talk about how the formation of this new X-Team will affect the other X-Teams and the Marvel Universe? Will groups like the Jean Grey School, the Uncanny Avengers, and Cyclops' team of X-Men be aware of your cast and have an interest in what they're doing?

They will absolutely be aware -- the very first issue has some SERIOUS stuff go down within the halls of the JG School (and in the labs, with an appearance by Beast). But as far as how the teams will interact or crossover or otherwise be all up in each other's business, it's a bit early to say and not for me to decide on my own. I'm talking to other writers like Bendis and Jason Aaron, so we'll see how we can coordinate things

"X-Men" #1 by Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel goes on sale in April as part of Marvel NOW!

X-Solicits for April 2013

	X-Men #1 Writer: Brian Wood Art and Cover by: Olivier Coipel Variant Cover by: Terry Dodson Variant Cover by: Milo Manara Young Variant Cover by: Skottie Young X-Men 50th Anniversary Variant by: Nick Bradshaw Walking Dead-Pool Variant also available Because you demanded it! The X-Women finally get their own book, from critically acclaimed superstars Brian Wood and Olivier Coipel! An old enemy shows up at the X-Men’s door, seeking asylum from an ancient evil come back to earth. Meanwhile, Jubilee has come home, and she’s brought with her an orphaned baby who might hold the key to the earth’s survival… or its destruction. Against a backdrop of what seems like an alien invasion and an eons-spanning war between brother and sister, Storm steps up and puts together a team to protect the child and stop a new threat that could destroy all life on earth!
	Uncanny X-Force #4 Writer: Sam Humphries Art by: Ron Garney Cover by: Kris Anka Variant Cover by: Ed McGuinness • The first arc comes to a crazy climactic end! • What have Fantomex and Cluster been up to while Bishop has been killing the rest of X-Force?

Uncanny X-Force #1 Preview

Uncanny X-Force #1

Writer: Sam Humphries

Art by: Ron Garney

Cover by: Olivier Coipel

The Story:

Psylocke and Storm lead a new team of outcasts and scoundrels, including fan-favorite Puck, the villainous Spiral, and the mysterious Cluster.

Their first adversary? X-legend Bishop!

In Stores: January 23, 2012

 

X-Women by Kris Anka

This is just a sketch Kris Anka did for fun. Not a cover.

X-Men #1 Variant by Terry Dodson

Sam Humphries on Psylocke's flying car

agentbraddock asked: "I like Psylocke's flying car! Was it all your idea for her to have one? It's awesome!"

Sam Humphries: "RIGHT ON! I love that car too. It was my idea, but it was Ron Garney that made it so bad ass. It's based on a 1924 Bentley. I told him to make it sci-fi, so it could fly too, and he did all the rest."