Comics The TB (X-Men style) (Spoiler Warning)

[Dwarf lord]

I really like Magneto or a new guy will be cool too.

 

[Dwarf lord]

 

[Dwarf lord]

 

[Dwarf lord]

 

[doc ock rules!]

Alpha Flight and Uncanny X-men look great. I think I'm going to pick up both titles. Uncanny looks like it will have one of my favorite characters as the main character. Alpha Flight used to be about a single woman, didn't it?

 

[Dwarf lord]

Nope

 

[doc ock rules!]

Will they be showing a diverse group of heroes in Exiles? Do you think they will they team up with a lot of other people?

 

[Dwarf lord]

What you see on the cover is what you get.

 

[Roughneck]

Bishop's first name is actually Lucas. And I'm not sure if it was mentioned earlier but his Grandfather is actually Gateway.

 

[Dwarf lord]

I hated that. Just because they are both African american doesn't have to make them related

 

[Gandalf]

explain to me why there calling it reloaded, because ever since claremont is coming back it's like the x-men version of the matrix.

 

[N_z0]

Gateway's not African-American. And now so is Bishop, if we're going by the revelation in X-treme.

 

[Almighty Pejo]

They're Aborigines, aren't they?

 

[Dwarf lord]

Claremont invented him so i guess it's true

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

Originally posted by pejo
They're Aborigines, aren't they?

hooray! The first cool thing about Bishop

 

[Almighty Pejo]

And sadly, probably the only cool thing about Bishop.

 

[Dwarf lord]

That's sad he had so much potintial

 

[Roughneck]

BY african-American I think he was just being polite about saying Black.

And it is being called Reloaded. Hmmmm Last time Claremont came back it was called Revolution. Hmmm

 

[Dwarf lord]

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King made a clean sweep last night and I thought you all would like to know about it

 

[Lord Blackbolt]

speaking of awards.....I hope everyone votes in the P32 art contest. The winner gets their stuff published....so pick the best one.

I personally liked # 19.

VOTE HERE

 

[Roughneck]

Reading that little preview of Alpha Flight I don't think I will like it. I will read the first arc for sure. I love Clayton Henry's art and I have never had a problem with Lobdell in the past but......... Was that chick's name "Womangirl" And What the hell do they mean 90% of Canada's population lives in 10% of the land. Canada isn't China. That is just completely wrong.

 

[mightiest_mortal]

I love how in Canada they have just as many guns as in America but dont shoot each other with the same vigour that the Americans do (anyone seen bowling for columbine?)

The previews il probably get all of the X-titles (as i always do (apart from Extreme))
latest Exiles arcs been shaping up well
and ive been liking Uncannys latest arc.. WOW look at that art
Angel looks AWESOME

Bishop i used to think was seriously cool.
back when he first joined he was well funny.. when he used to rip into gambit every opurtunity and not trust anyone.
since onslaught tho hes just been one of the happy family and has NO personality other than being a cop.

 

[Dwarf lord]

accually Bowling for Columbine is just Propaganda. America is alot better than that guy portrayed us to be

 

[Dwarf lord]

If Cerebro had exploded there wouldn’t be a bigger mess of mutant information flying everywhere (give yourself two X-points for getting the joke, but keeping the laughter inside if you’re in public). Marvel’s May solicits have hit in Previews and you can’t swing a dead Brood queen without hitting a mutant title.

Alright – we’re done with playing the X-nerd in-joke game…

Anyway, we headed up to the top to talk to the two guys who have their respective fingers on the pulse of Marvel’s mutants, Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and X-Men group editor Mike Marts. From them, we’ve got an insiders’ view of the Reload and all that it means.

But this is only the start. Over the next few days, we’ll have a Reload feature a day with a new creator, focus on a title, or just stop and think about mutants. It may last a week…maybe two. Like Marvel, we’re not going to let a good thing go if it means it’s putting people in the seats.

Onward with the start of it all…Joe and Mike.

Newsarama: Starting things off, globally, how would you describe Reload, both why it was necessary, and what it encompasses?

Joe Quesada: First of all, I think it’s funny that people keep referring to it as “Reload,” like it’s some storyline in and of itself. I’ll take it though – it’s fine. If people want to talk about it under that header, that’s fine. Mike – why don’t you field this one?

Mike Marts: “Reload…”

JQ: See – there it is again…

MM: It’s really a combination of so many different things happening at the same time. Obviously – the biggest of all is Joss Whedon coming over to write Astonishing X-Men for us with John Cassaday, and of course other things like wanting to congratulate guys like Chuck Austen and Salvador Larocca who’ve been doing good work for us for a long time, as well as things like bringing Alan Davis into the fold and the desire to get the characters back into costume.

All these things kind of came together at the same time, and that told us that it was the time to do something big – so why not “reload” the entire franchise, and start off with new ideas, new creators, new series, new characters, and new storylines, and do it all at the same time.

JQ: We also can’t say enough about Grant Morrison’s role in revitalizing the X-Men world. Obviously, when Grant left, we had big shoes to fill, and we’ve been very, very blessed in being able to fill those shoes, but also, I think that Grant did a great job of redefining the franchise in a lot of ways, and almost sort of cleansing the palate for fans of the overwhelming storylines and gigantic crossovers that X-fans were sort of getting tired of for a while. I think that Grant did a great job with that, as well as bringing in new characters, and creating a whole new feel for the book.

This is just the next step in that evolution. I know that Joss for example, was a really big fan of what Grant was doing on the book to begin with, so I a way, a lot of what we’re going to be seeing has its roots there as well. But also, it’s not like we ignore the fans when they write to us. We understand that there was artistic instability within the books, and an overall sense that artistically, the books were not on solid footing. We wanted to address that by bringing in people who, obviously, have a tremendous fan following both inside and outside of comics, and who also bring certain stability to the book. That’s why someone like Chris Claremont is so important to the X-Men franchise. He’s also coming up on an anniversary with the X-books pretty soon, so we felt that the team of Chris and Alan Davis would be a wonderful combination to answer the concerns of a lot of X-fans.

NRAMA: What anniversary would that be?

MM: 2005 will be the 30 year anniversary of when Chris started on the X-Men.

JQ: That’s a long time to be associated with a franchise. Even though he had some time off, in the eyes of X-fans and much, if not all of the industry, he is the X-Men.

NRAMA: Joe – going back to listing out the books. Starting with Astonishing, how did you get Joss to commit? For a long time, there seemed to be this undercurrent that everyone wanted him to come to their house to write a comic story…how did you land him?

JQ: I’ve been very blessed in this industry, and the thing with Joss is just another example of it. It was very serendipitous, and I look at it as one of just those…blessings. It was last year at San Diego – I had just gotten there, and had just heard the news about Grant Morrison going to DC. I knew he was leaving the X-Men books, but I didn’t know he was leaving Marvel as well. So I was really pretty bummed by the announcement.

Marvel didn’t have a booth at San Diego, so I was doing a signing at the Wizard booth. Gareb Shamus happened to be there, and we were kibitzing a little, and somewhere in there, I started to wonder who could fill Grant’s shoes. I remembered having a conversation with Joss several years ago, when I first started as Editor in Chief, about brining him on as an X-Men writer, and Joss saying that the timing was no good, but he’d love to do it some day, and that some day it would happen.

NRAMA: And that happened to be the day?

JQ: Yes it did. I was sitting there, thinking about having that conversation with Joss, and when I look up, Joss is standing there in front of me. My first thought was, “What the hell?” And then my second thought was to start thinking about Salma Hayek.

That one didn’t work, so I started talking to Joss.

Joss and I started talking, and finally, I just pulled him literally behind the Wizard booth, and told him that Grant was off of X-Men, and asked if he wanted to write the book. I saw this light go on behind his eyes, and I knew right then that I had him. There might have been a crack in his schedule where he felt like he could fit it in – I don’t know what it was, but there was definitely a gleam where he felt that he could do it.

From that point on, it became a negotiation. We spoke and e-mailed, talked and talked, and here we are – two months away from the first issue.

And the Salma Hayek thing still hasn’t worked.

NRAMA: So sorry. During the past few years, in many ways, Grant’s New X-Men really set the tone for the franchise and the line, with several of the themes he started in New X-Men reverberating through the other titles. With all of this creative restarting going on in May, is there one series that you would point to as the pace car for the X-franchise for the next while?

JQ: I think that, obviously, Astonishing is going to be the flagship title just by virtue of the fact that Joss is going to bring in the regular X-fan, the lapsed X-fan, as well as Joss’ fans in general will want to check it out. I see this very much in the same way as when Joe Straczynski took over Amazing Spider-Man. We really thought that the Spider-Man franchise was dead, because Amazing was selling in the 50’s and 60’s. Then, when Joe came on, almost overnight, new, but just as importantly, lapsed Spider-Man fans came back, because Spider-Man had buzz, and was good.

NRAMA: So you’re not happy with the X-Men numbers or quality?

JQ: Oh no – not at all. It’s not that X-Men wasn’t good, but I think that Joss is going to bring back some people who may have given up on the X-Men even before Grant took over, and for whatever reason, weren’t really willing to give it a chance at that time. I think we’re going to see that take the lead, but ultimately, what we want to give readers with these three different books is a different experience within the context of each book. Chris writes a certain style of X-Men book, and that’s where Alan fits in beautifully; obviously, Chuck writes another type of X-Men book, and Salva is the perfect guy for that; and with Whedon and Cassaday’s sensibilities – I think people can see that will be different as well.

And also, a book that I’m looking forward too a lot is the New X-Men book, which is the graduation of the New Mutants book, and allows the characters to really move into the front of the X-Men universe. There’s some really exciting stuff going on in there, so I don’t want to let that one be downplayed at all.

MM: I think also, since we’ll have these four, core X-Men books now, you’ll see a nice balance of characters on the rosters of each, whereas before you could maybe make an argument that Grant had all the cool characters or what have you. Now, the balance between the characters is much better, and each book is cool in its own way because of that.

NRAMA: But we’re still going to see Wolverine everywhere, right?

MM: Oh, why not?

NRAMA: With Chris on both Uncanny and Excalibur, how much did he contribute to the overall re-envisioning of the franchise in the post-Grant world? During his earlier runs, Chris did have the “grand map” of everything, so it seems that to bring him back on the core would suggest that there’s a larger, cohesive vision here…

JQ: Right now, all the creators are really playing nicely together, and are being really considerate about what’s going on and the casts that are in each book. Chris knows exactly what is going to happen in Uncanny, and he had this plan for Excalibur which we really worked on and is a wonderful plan. So basically, the other books will steer clear of stepping on Chris’ toes and what he’s doing. So, in that respect, sure, Chris made a roadmap for where he is going, and Joss has his, and Chuck has his. We’re making sure that everyone stays on their respective roads, and only intertwine when it’s really necessary.

But right now, it may actually seem more coordinated than it really is, but it really is coordinated.

MM: Yeah – there’s no real forced interaction on the writer’s parts – if they decide that they want to share certain storylines, that’s up to them, but we’re allowing them to do their own thing. Hopefully in the same sandbox, but separated by enough distance so they each can build their own really cool castles.

NRAMA: Along with the creators, probably the biggest change that’s caused buzz is the return to the costumes – not even a flirting with the idea, but a full-on everyone back in spandex. Why?

JQ: It’s funny – about a year ago, I was reading the X-books, and though, “It’s time.” It was time to go back to the costumes – just a gut feeling. It was then later, during one of our corporate creative meetings where Avi Arad was on a conference call with all of us, and we were discussing the creative future at Marvel. We were talking about how the books were doing, how the movies were doing, and just basically, where all the franchises were going, and Avi all of a sudden said, “Maybe we should bring them back into costumes.”

It was just one of those moments where we were all feeling the same thing at the same time. The leather suits ran their course – they were cool, but now it’s time to move on. And look, superhero books have been known for years for changing the costumes and looks of their characters, and sometimes, keeping things fresh means stepping back and looking at what had worked earlier.

I can only go by my own personal taste, but I feel that the next swing will be to get superheroes back into their costumes, and head out into big, colorful action adventures again. That’s kind of where we wanted to get the X-Men franchise going.

NRAMA: And the creators were all for this?

JQ: Yeah – when we talked to Joss and John about where they saw Astonishing going, they both told us they wanted to get them back into costumes. So it was something that was in the air. I think the fans are ready for it.

NRAMA: One thing that was listed with the May solicits, and Joe, you’ve often said this is your own demon that you don’t like but could see winning out – variant covers are back, at least with Astonishing X-Men #1. It’s just Astonishing, right?

JQ: Yeah – just Astonishing.

NRAMA: Was this a battle that you lost? After all, you’ve made some very strong statements that you didn’t want to see this, and had criticized DC on occasion for bringing the issue of variant covers back to the table…

JQ: I didn’t put up too much of a fight when it came into the discussions this time, because it’s already out there. I can’t argue with the philosophy, other than to be very, very cautious about it. To be very honest, I’m not the only one at Marvel that feels this way. We decided to do a variant. This is not going to be a regular program for us. We felt that this book was special enough that we wanted to do it.

You may see one more variant down the road later this year, but it won’t become a regular program for us. I understood the reasons for doing it, and I’m fine with it. I’m not crazy about alternate covers, but again, something like this in small doses isn’t bad. If we were going to start this up as a continuous philosophy, I’d be a little more tense about it, but, in the end, you can’t fight city hall. There are alternate covers out there already, and the companies doing them are making money because they’re alternate covers. The problem comes when these become the norm, then there’s a problem.

So, nobody here is intensely crazy about it, but we realize that it could be a fun thing, as well as a revenue builder not only for us, but also for our retail partners, so we’re giving it a try.

NRAMA: To kind of wrap things up, let’s hit the books in a stream of consciousness way, giving the high concept and a little more than what’s already out there…let’s start with Astonishing. What’s the core essence of it?

MM: I think Joss summed it up well in that two page sample of his script that came out in the catalog where he said the X-Men are out to astonish. Much like Grant’s book was, this is going to be the hip, cool place to be for X-Men fans. We’re going to see a lot of new ideas happening here.

NRAMA : Uncanny X-Men

MM: Uncanny is the book that appeals to classic X-Men fans. We’ve got veteran X-Men creators Chris and Alan – guys that you can depend on who are really playing their best game now with us. Anyone who’s been a long-time X-Men fan will want to be here.

NRAMA: X-Men

MM: This is the book I think that will appeal to people who loved the X-Men movie. This is the high action book; this is the soap opera book, where we see the characters in interesting situations playing off of one another – things that both Salva and Chuck are strong at.

NRAMA: New X-Men: Academy X

MM: The next step in the evolution of the New Mutants. Once of the things with New Mutants is that while it’s always been a strong book with strong characters, it’s always had the perception of being a junior title, but why should it be? These are the X-Men of the future, these will be the “new” X-Men, so this is our attempt to try and treat them this way. We’ve got extremely strong concepts coming in from Christina and Nunzio, and Randy Green’s artwork is just great.

NRAMA: Excalibur

MM: There’s a lot of secrecy surrounding this book, so I don’t want to give away too much, but this is going to be Professor Xavier’s book in the beginning, but shortly into the series, we’re going to have a surprising twist. We’ve been working on this for a while, and Chris is doing something special here.

NRAMA: District X

MM: Definitely the sleeper book of the entire launch. This is a concept and a book that we’ve been batting around here for quite a while, and I think we were really just waiting for the right writer to come along, and we found that in David Hine.

JQ: This book rocks so much.

MM: It really does, and it’s going to surprise a lot of people. David was such a find for us, and we’re so happy to haven him. David Yardin is doing excellent work on it as well. It’s a little different – it’s not your usual superheroes in spandex type of book, it’s just more street level. It’s under eth Marvel Knights banner, and you’ll see why when it hits.

JQ: Also, if you’re a fan of Grant Morrison’s sensibilities, this is the book that will continue that. The weirdest mutants you’ve ever seen in your life are created by David in this book. They’re beautiful and repulsive at the same time.

NRAMA: Exiles - will that see a change in tone with Tony Bedard coming on board?

MM: Not so much a new tone. Tony’s been doing some great stuff down at CrossGen, and right now we’re about five issues into it, and he’s carrying the book along in the same great flavor that Judd Winick established from the get-go, and is staying true to the characters and concepts. We have a great artist in Miziki Sakauraza as well. Jim Calafiore will still be helping out from time to time.

NRAMA: Weapon X is getting a slight change in direction too, right?

MM: Frank remains on board as writer, and Tom Mandrake is coming on as the artist. We’re doing a little something different with that book in that we’re tearing down the cast and concentrating a little more on the characters who are or were directly involved with the Weapon X program – Fantomex, Sabretooth, Wolverine, and the rest.

NRAMA: Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men 2004. What’s going to be in this aside form the schematic of the X-mansion?

MM: That’s it. Just that. Nothing else. Carstock covers and the picture of the mansion.

NRAMA: That sentence just caused 20 angry posts.

MM: Alright – much like the Marvel Universe of old, we’ll be running full dossiers on the characters, full biographies, powers, histories – everything that the fans have been asking for since the last time we did it. So we’ll have that for a lot of the core team members, as well as a lot of the concept work for the whole “Reload” event.

NRAMA: Will the Marvel Universe be ongoing, quarterly, on any kind of schedule?

JQ: If ya like it, write in and ask for more.

NRAMA: The other titles are going to be continuing with their regular teams and arcs…one that was missing though – Joe, what’s going on with NYX?

JQ: We’re late. As simple as that. I’ll take full blame for it. When it comes out, it’s going ot be awfully good.

NRAMA: With what we see in May, is this the only big X-push for 2004, or will there be more?

MM: This is definitely the biggest X-push in the year. We’ll be following up in September with some more X-projects, but what’s coming in May is what will set he stage for the next few years.

JQ: What, this isn’t enough?!?!

Actually – don’t let Mike steer you wrong – there is more X-news coming later in the year.

NRAMA: One of the pieces that came out already – Bryan Singer writing 12 issues of Ultimate X-Men…on the books for later this year.

JQ: Down the road a little bit, but yeah – he’s on.

NRAMA: Wrapping things up, can you compare the franchise in a little, “then and now?” That is, Grant’s tone was about this, and now the tone will be more about…, or can things be summed up so succinctly?

JQ: I think Grant’s arc was really about bringing the franchise into the 21st century – modernizing the franchise, cleansing the palate of the old way things used to operate, and now this particular reload is taking that and grounding it. Showing the fans what these characters can really do, while working our damndest to keep stable teams on the books so the fans know what to expect and have a comfortable place to land week in, week out, month in, month out.

 

[Dwarf lord]

Here is some stuff about Weapon X

Remember all those tantalizing bits and pieces dropped by Grant Morrison during his last “real time” New X-Men run – all the goodies about Weapon X, Weapon Plus, and those files Wolverine read on the satellite just before it exploded? If wondering what those were about is keeping you up at night, or even being just an itch in the back of your head, Frank Tieri and Tom Mandrake’s Weapon X is where you’re going to need to go to have those itches scratched come May.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Currently, while the book is a tad behind schedule, the stories over the next two months are what Tieri calls “both a natural and unnatural progression to where things start with Reload in May.

“A lot of people have been calling the book New X-Men: Supplemental, because we’ve introduced John Sublime as an adversary [one of Morrison’s recurring villains from New X-Men who seemed a little too adept with genetic and mutant manipulation], and have picked up a few threads about the entire Weapon X program that Grant had laid down in New X-Men.

“The one thing that ‘Reload’ does for us, more than anything is that it allows us to show something Sublime only hinted at – a connection between himself and Weapon X,” Tieri continued. “We’ll see what that is in the storyline that starts in May. Overall, the main purpose of the Reload arc for us is to serve as a ‘unification bout’ to use a boxing term. For once and for all, we’re going to unify Barry Windsor-Smith’s Weapon X; Grant Morrison’s view of Weapon X, Weapon Plus; and my concept of Weapon X. For once and for all, we’re going to clear that up, which is what the title of the arc is all about : ‘War of the Programs.’”

To kick off the arc and set the stage, Tieri said that he has to dip into the past just a little. “We’re going to have to go back to the early days of the program and see what inspired the program, as well as the connection between three men in particular: the Director of the current Weapon X program, John Sublime, and the Professor from the Barry Windsor-Smith’s story. We’re going to see how they have shaped the Weapon X and Weapon Plus programs to date, and then…it’s war. It’s going to be the literal war of the programs. Weapon X will be taking on Weapon Plus. May the best man, mutant, enhanced mutant, or whatever the hell else is in there…win.

“And of course, we’ve got Fantomex, Wolverine, and Agent Zero caught in the middle.”

The story set during the BWS Weapon X era won’t be the only dip into the past, although Tieri’s second one won’t go so far back. Just a few months, actually – to New X-Men #145. In particular, Tieri’s going to play with the scene where Wolverine was reading computer files on the Weapon Plus orbiting satellite while the place was going to hell fast, Weapon XV was questioning the meaning of life, and Fantomex and Cyclops finally had to drag him to safety.

“During that assault on Weapon Plus where Wolverine was viewing secret files on Weapon X while the battle was going on all around him, he saw something,” Tieri said. “Afterwards he made a very peculiar comment, saying that he knows now what he is, and everything else that he’s been told is a lie.

“We’re going to find out what exactly it is that he saw. We’re going back to a period of the original Weapon X for an untold tale of Wolverine. We’re going to actually see what it was that he saw in those files to think that everything - everything he knows about himself is a lie.”

As for those who might say Tieri’s doing a little coattail riding in regards to Morrison’s ideas and concepts…well, Tieri might just agree with them, with a few caveats of his own. “As for us picking up ideas and concepts from Grant’s New X-Men, well, sure - we have an obvious connection there, so we thought it would be foolish for us not to pick up on it. But also, Grant’s a great, great writer, with ideas just falling off his pages. Sometimes leaves ideas behind that, while he may be done with, others can really pick at and play with and explore the scope of the tree that grew from the seeds he planted. So what we’re doing really is clarifying things – particularly after the first issue of our ‘Reload’ arc, people will understand the connection between Weapon X and Weapon Plus.”

Not to be overlooked, Tieri has a new artistic collaborator coming onto the series with May’s #23 – veteran artist Tom Mandrake. “Oh, Tom is just great – and might I say that not only is he one of the most underrated guys out there, but also that what he’s doing with Weapon X blows everything he’s ever done out of the water,” Tieri said. “I think he brings a dark and disturbing tone to the art that something like Weapon X calls for. We’re very excited to have him on board.”

And while May is still two months away, Tieri still has a lot of ground to cover before he’s ready for “War of the Programs.” As mentioned above, the series is currently behind schedule, but is slated to hit all the issues (#19 through #22) so that the new arc can begin, as scheduled, in May with #23.

For those coming in late, currently in the series, the “Defection” storyline has wrapped, with Chamber now inserted as a member of the program after his initiation of seemingly “killing” John Sublime. The coming arc, “Countdown to Zero,” Tieri plans to wrap up many of the threads that have been spun during the previous year, including the reveal of Agent Zero’s true identity, and his relationship with Maverick, as well as the ultimate end of the road for Chamber’s hunt.

“Wolverine is running the ‘black ops’ mission that put Chamber with Weapon X in the first place,” Tieri said. “Chamber’s mission from the start has been to gain access to the program, and learn, conclusively, whether or not the rumored mutant death camp, ’Neverland’ actually exists.

“As far as Agent Zero – after the ‘Underground’ arc, Marrow had escaped from the Weapon X program, and went with the remaining members of the Underground. One of the things she’s done since is that she’s tricked Cable and orchestrated her way to being the new head of the Underground, and is now calling it Gene Nation.

“Agent Zero’s been on the hunt for her, so we’ll see that confrontation, and once and for all, we’ll learn Agent Zero’s identity. Maverick will also be involved, so we’ll find out just who Zero is, and whether or not he had any relationship with Maverick.”

And in #22, it’s a “Meanwhile…” story. “We haven’t seen what happened to the rest of the fugitives of the Weapon X program, and in #22, we’re going to see what they’ve been up to,” Tieri said. “It’s an interesting little story, and it will give a sense of what role the Director will have in the upcoming war between Weapon X and Weapon Plus. We’ll also explore his relationship with Wolverine a little bit.

“All in all, we’re really shaping things up to be a book you’re going to need your seatbelts on – fast action, pretty gritty storylines, and some explorations of stories and concepts that fans have been waiting years to lean about.”