Ignore the mild joke in the tweet below where I feigned ignorance that Jonathan is pivoting away from exclusive X-work after Inferno. We’ve known that for a very long time. If you’ve not caught up on the news, click through to Christian Holub’s comprehensive oral history of Dawn Of X, over at Entertainment Weekly and then meet me back here.
Christian Holub @cmholub
We're not done talking about Krakoa on @EW today! I also talked to Hickman, @GerryDuggan @Benjamin_Percy @TiniHoward @zebwells @sispurrier @mymonsterischic @definitelyvita @PepeLarraz about the highlights of the House of X era so far! https://t.co/i4OVbI22Y4Jonathan’s heard the stories that we propose will follow his next comic. If he didn’t like what he heard, trust me…there was a remedy for that. We make plans, we execute them. We think in years not months, and that timeline alone is why pivots are sometimes required.
We all bleed Mutant blood. CB, Jordan, the other editors and our artists, the creators you know about…and the ones that you don’t. Our love is true, our notebooks are full, and Reign Of X is going to blow your hair back beginning with Inferno.
X-Men clickbait is a good business to be in, but we don’t feed that beast. If we’re asking you to pay for story, we’re not giving any of it away. We’re gonna be as bold as we can and work our asses off, the proof will remain where it always has lived: in the pages of the X-Men comics. Life is too short to make bad comic books, and Jonathan and his partners have made some of my favorites.
I’ll always be grateful to them for reinventing my favorite family of any superhero universe. So many wonderful comics have come from it. With many more on tap. I hope his fans all enjoy what he has in store the next four issues.
We won’t talk about what comes next, but if you’re enjoying this era of X-Men comics, my educated guess is you will like what is to come. And you won’t see these stories coming either. So whether you’re keeping your powder dry, or you’re snapping your ankles jumping off the bandwagon, please live your best life.
Me? I’m going to continue to have as much fun throwing the biggest stories at Pepe. It’s been a privilege to work with my fellow writers and all our collaborators in the bullpen, and around the world. We spend a large part of our day not just writing script, but working out ways that all these big ideas and stories interact in their various orbits. Jonathan is leaving Krakoa, but his work ethic and graciousness are not. You’ll here more about the secret series to come. First, survive the flames.
More soon.
Gerry
PS - Here’s one of my favorite panels from X-Men 3 from Pepe and Marte going to press this week. It’s the High Evolutionary’s entrance into the story…and it’s a good one.
Really hope this doesn’t come over as an insult. Because it’s meant to be a compliment. And I’m sure Pepe’s art helped. But reading Planet Sized, I was convinced it was Hickman writing and didn’t even look to the credits. And reading X-Men, I had to repeatedly remind myself it wasn’t. The last time I felt so tricked was reading a Leah Moore Tom Strong story and presumed it was her dad writing it, because it felt just like it, Basically I’m saying I have thoroughly enjoyed what was, and am thoroughly enjoying what is now, and confident of what is to come. Maybe I should have started with that…
Immortal X-Men #1 was, how shall I say it? DELICIOUS. I always think more comics should be about skulking and scheming, less Pro-Wrestling-With-Fancy-Lighting-Effects and more villains plotting and conniving.