X-Men Monday #198 – Steve Orlando Reflects on ‘Marauders’ and Teases ‘X-Men Before the Fall: Mutant First Strike’

Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

You’re still reeling from those weekend Fall of X reveals at MegaCon Orlando, and bracing for the creative team announcements to come in the days ahead. But… we are still in the Destiny of X era, where all sorts of wild mutant shenanigans are happening.

Marauders, for example, just wrapped up its second volume and made mutant history — literally. Writer Steve Orlando and his artistic collaborators packed a lot into 12 issues, and X-Fans had a lot of questions. Fortunately, Steve agreed to return to X-Men Monday to break it all down and tease X-Men Before the Fall: Mutant First Strike.

Courtesy of Steve Orlando’s Twitter

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Steve! Our first X-Fan question comes from moonage00daydream, who said both you and Gerry Duggan’s Marauders runs were team books with one character front and center: Captain Kate Pryde. While similar to what was seen in Electric Warriors — which is loved and missed by moonage00daydream — it’s unusual not only for team books, in general, but for X-books, specifically. What were the challenges of writing beyond the usual audience expectations for a team book in the X-line — especially a team book with one lead and a large cast of teammates?

Steve: Team books are always a challenge, first things first! But for a team book in the X-line, with a revered line of books that stretches back for 60 years, the challenge is often about expectations: when to reward them, when to subvert them, and when to challenge them. Most team books do have a de facto lead, the Avengers have a leader, the Justice League has a chairperson, and the Marauders have a captain. The real challenge, again, is with expectations. In the Krakoan era, mutants are trying to push beyond human socialization, human thinking. So we as creators need to try to create mutant thinking, and mutant goals. By definition, since the book’s being read by humans, the real challenge is crafting stories that suit the goal of mutant thinking, but at the same time translate missions and thoughts that are by definition beyond the human capacity for thought in a way that we as creators and readers can still grab onto and engage with them.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: X-Fan Mario B wanted to know how it felt to write an iconic character like Kate Pryde and put her on a bold new path.

Steve: It was an honor to work with Kate Pryde! Pryde of the X-Men was my introduction to mutantkind. I wore that VHS out. And that makes Pryde my own entrypoint character, even though Jubilee debuted soon after and also hits with many people my age. Pryde’s literally been with me from the start when it comes to X-Men. So getting to tell her stories and push her where no mutant has gone before has been exhilarating!

AIPT: When Tempo was announced as a candidate in the first-ever X-Men Election, there was so much talk among X-Fans — and X-creators — of her tremendous potential. Flash forward to today and Heather’s in such a great place, writers like J. Holtham can pick her up and drop her into other series with ease thanks to your work in Marauders. When you reflect on your time with Tempo, what are you most proud of?

Steve: Credit must be given where it’s due — Gerry is the one who kicked off Tempo’s spotlight era. But I was very happy to pick up the baton! Overall, I’m very proud of the work we did defining her abilities, and her unique, sometimes tragic point of view on time — the fact that when she changes something in the past, she’s the only one that remembers what was lost. This brought us her heartbreaking friendship with Jun Tento, once Sumo, a friendship only she remembers due to her and Jun going back in time to save both the MLF and X-Force from being killed. This further creates the tragedy that Jun was later killed by Cable, someone he had just risked everything to save, even if he didn’t know it. That’s some classic mutant soap opera.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

And I am also so happy to bring Theia and Tempo together as a couple — time and gravity have always been related in science. And with Theia being one of the few people Tempo can’t easily affect with her powers, we also got to tip our hats to a similar iconic romantic intrigue from the Krakoan era — Doug and Bei.

AIPT: X-Fan Justin Dixon asked, what exactly does the discovery of Threshold hold for mutants? With the creation of a circuit that basically let them turn their greatest tragedy into a swan song, could it have any more significance beyond just Marauders?

Steve: It certainly could! What it means in the future will be up to future creators. But what it means in general is 10,000 years of unexplored mutant history and adventures. It means a sanctuary deep in the past, free of today’s prejudices, though of course with dangers of its own. It also means the mutants you know and love remain the first generation of mutants, due to Pryde’s end run in time. Apocalypse and Selene still hold their places as the first. Mutation still began as it always has. Without Threshold, there may have been no Okkara, but that’s not where Apocalypse and Selene were born. They’d still have existed. But mutant history, like mutant thought, doesn’t adhere to normal human limitations. Mutant history isn’t linear. It starts where it always has, but it took until now for mutants to see there’s a pocket of history hiding so far in the past that it was previously thought to have come first.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: First, X-Fan Mae wanted to thank you for writing the very fun ride that Marauders gave us. But Mae is also a bit confused about what happened to Kate’s father and all the ghosts of Genosha. Are they gone forever?

Steve: Not at all! Wicked creates ectoplasmic representations of the deceased, but they’re representations. “Spectral clones” if you will. So Pryde’s father and all the humans lost at Genosha are still wherever they went when they passed, just as all the souls of the mutants lost in Genosha are in the waiting room. Wicked conjured ectoplasmic versions of them, with all their memories to the moment of death, so Pryde could get closure as well as consent. What IS gone is a small portion of DNA donated from everyone resting beneath Genosha.

AIPT: X-Fan Krakoa Forever said at the end of Marauders #12, We catch a glimpse of newly resurrected Threshold mutants — and a few familiar faces. Can you tell us more about those interesting mutants? Do they have any role in future comics in the Krakoan era?

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Steve: Those would be spoilers! But I will talk a LITTLE BIT about Xilo and Grove. We know there’s an extinction event in the past — it happened in the real world too. And we know Arkea and Sublime think they’re the first rulers of the planet. That would make sense, since Nova lobotomizes them, and notes it would take ages for them to recover. So, by the time they do eventually regain higher thought, Threshold is gone along with any evidence it ever existed.

The same goes for Grove and Xilo — both with similar powers to regrow or heal as something new (be it flora or fauna). So here, you have the last two survivors of Threshold, both traumatized mentally and wounded physically so severely by the extinction that it takes millions of years for them to heal… and not the same. They’ve both regrown from almost nothing, and the question remains if their memories came with them. Their minds may have returned, but what’s healed may be more like a blank slate.

AIPT: X-Fan Will Foote was wondering… do you think Amass is going to have a big punk rock moment now that they’ve had some time to download Spotify?

Steve: Could be! After he gets through the playlists everyone else in the War College gives him.

AIPT: Of course, we can’t properly reflect on your Marauders run without talking about your artistic collaborator Eleonora Carlini. Eleonora’s frenetic art and imaginative designs helped this volume not just stand out from what came before, but among all other X-titles on shelves. How was it collaborating with Eleonora across this volume?

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Steve: Eleonora is the heart of this book, and I couldn’t have been happier to have worked with her from moment one! Her work is unlike anything else on the stands, with innovative page layouts, unbridled and unmatched kinetic energy and inventive designs. Energy crackles from her every page, and she’s key to creating this book — one that pushed boundaries and questioned what we thought of as impossible, and what we thought of as a story’s end. Eleonora’s been a fearless co-creator, and Marauders would’ve been nothing without her. Her work’s light years ahead of its time.

AIPT: Before we wrap, we need to look ahead to X-Men Before the Fall: Mutant First Strike. You should never judge a comic by its cover, but it looks like you’ll get to write Cyclops and Jean Grey — two X-characters you haven’t had a chance to spend much time with. What’s one thing you love about these X-leaders as a writer?

Steve: They’re icons! And I love how they inform each other — Jean and Scott push each other to be better. They fill in for each other’s faults, and even they’ve got them. Together? They’re unstoppable on the battlefield. And while they’ve certainly had their ups and downs as a couple, I think that all gets put aside when people are in danger. As lovers, they work for their relationship like any couple. But as heroes, they’re in sync. And they’re not to be trifled with.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Finally, Mutant First Strike’s solicitation says a small New England town is hit by a devastating mutant attack. You and I both live in New England… is this a real town our fellow New Englanders are familiar with or a fictional town in Marvel New England?

Steve: It’s a real town! But that being said, I can’t say how many are familiar with it. This issue to me is a subtle allusion to the original end of Doom Patrol, where the team sacrificed themselves to save Codsville, Maine, a small fishing village. Now, that’s across the street at DC where fictional cities are plentiful. And Marvel’s got some too! But they’ve also grounded themselves in real places, for the most part. So here, we’ve got a small New Hampshire town. And I’ll say too, going back to when I read my first comic set in my own home town of Syracuse, I’ve always found it thrilling to work in lesser known, real-world settings.

AIPT: 100% I still get excited anytime a comic has a scene set somewhere close to home. But on that note — Steve, thanks for swinging by X-Men Monday!

X-Fans, X-Men Before the Fall: Mutant First Strike goes on sale June 7, 2023, so be sure to reserve a copy! Here’s an eXclusive sneak peek at two of its pages by Valentina Pinti.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

And a few more eXclusive treats before we go — The solicitation and cover for Immortal X-Men #13, as well as a page from Immortal X-Men #11.

IMMORTAL X-MEN #13

Kieron Gillen (W) • Lucas Werneck (A) • Cover by Mark Brooks

LISTEN CLOSELY.

Time is running out. Fall is here. Doug Ramsey is the voice of Krakoa. It’s time for Krakoa to speak.

On Sale 7/12

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

I guess we’re just in a giving mood this week at X-Men Monday. But don’t worry, we’re saving all the really good stuff for X-Men Monday #200 — coming soon.

Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!