Welcome, X-Fans, to the 200th edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

It feels like just yesterday I walked into Sam Goody and made the life-altering decision to purchase a copy of X-Men #39 — but that was way back in 1995! Flash forward nearly 30 years later and I’ve had multiple opportunities to interview that issue’s writer, Fabian Nicieza, and so many other comics icons who have gifted me countless hours of joy as a reader.

But I wouldn’t have so many excuses to talk to said creators without this column and all you X-Fans who support it weekly.

Thank you.

As a token of appreciation, I thought long and hard about what this anniversary edition could be about. I mean, how do you celebrate 200 editions of X-Men Monday? Of course, I didn’t ask that question in public because the answer would have somehow involved Hellion. (And… uh… all the major Hellion stuff is being saved for X-Men Monday #300!)

While workshopping ideas in my head, I ended up drifting back to those early days of my own X-fandom in the mid-90s, when the only way to learn more about Marvel’s mutants outside their monthly series was to read magazines like Wizard, Hero Illustrated, Comics Scene, and Marvel Vision.

What if X-Men Monday #200 was its own mini magazine? We would have a must-read cover story, obviously… and maybe something fun and celebratory… oh, and to add a little variety — a fashion story… and wouldn’t it be cool if we could land an astonishing guest contributor? You get the idea!

So without further ado, here’s your free digital copy of X-Men Monday magazine. We kick off the festivities with Jordan D. White, the X-Men Senior Editor X-Men Monday at AIPT wouldn’t exist without, chatting about the history of the “X-Men Monday” brand, his X-Fan question preferences, and much more.

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday #200, Jordan! For the readers who are unfamiliar, the name “X-Men Monday” and the idea that it’s associated with sneak peeks — where does all that come from?

Jordan: That was given to me by Mark Paniccia, the previous X-Men editor. It was a thing he did on Twitter. Whether he started it, or whether it came from somewhere before him, I’m not 100% sure, but that’s definitely where I got it from. So at the very beginning, that’s what I was doing — just going on Twitter on Mondays and sharing some random preview panels.

AIPT: And in 2019, it evolved into this column at AIPT.

Jordan: Well, it just seemed like a good idea to make it something a little bit more official, to put it somewhere that’s centrally located that people can expect. I mean, obviously I’m still mostly picking out the images and that takes just as much time as before. But all the extra stuff is stuff that wouldn’t be happening. There would be no interviews. That wouldn’t be part of X-Men Monday if we hadn’t brought you guys in. I’ve been really happy because it’s made X-Men Monday a much bigger thing than it was.

AIPT: Speaking of interviews, some creators love doing them and others avoid them at all costs. What made you want to throw yourself at ravenous X-Fans on a regular basis?

Jordan: The reason I love interacting with fans is because I’m a fan too, and I love talking about comics. As you’re especially aware, I can just be asked a question about comics and then talk for an hour without anybody else speaking.

AIPT: And usually you end up talking about Spider-Man.

Jordan: Sometimes Spider-Man, but I like other comics too! I could talk about comics from my childhood, I could talk about the comics I’ve been making, I could talk about comics I made 10 years ago. I’ve done so much with comics in my life that I want to talk about them as much as I can.

So, I’m not on Twitter anymore, but sometimes on Twitter I would just go, “Hey, just ask me some questions.” And since I’m not on Twitter anymore, I really love being able to go, “Hey Chris, you go get some questions.” [Laughs] “I’ll sit here and you bring them back.” 

AIPT: It’s an honor and a privilege to serve, Jordan. How does reaching 200 X-Men Mondays make you feel? That’s a lot of fan questions!

Jordan: That is a lot. I mean, we started this before Krakoa, right?

AIPT: We launched during the Age of X-Man. So, the very first edition of X-Men Monday featured a black-and-white preview image of Sage from House of X #1. The second had Professor Xavier from Powers of X #1.

Jordan: That’s Awesome. That means X-Men Monday has lasted longer than the Krakoan age so far. So we’ll see which one ends first!

AIPT: I mean, hopefully both keep going for a long time! [Laughs] Now, what is your favorite type of X-Men Monday question?

Jordan: Oh, that’s a great question. I love when people ask what’s going to happen in upcoming comics, because I just want to spoil. I’m joking, I’m joking. I’m sorry, everybody. No, my favorite ones are probably the ones that are surprising, fun, and ask me something that makes me go, “Oh…” and then set me off on a flight of fancy.

AIPT: About Spider-Man.

Jordan: Sometimes about Spider-Man! My favorite questions are the ones about Weezer.

AIPT: [Laughs] That’s funny because those are X-Fans’ least-favorite questions. 

Jordan: I know, I know, I’m joking. But the ones that offer up an interesting take on a character and then invite me to talk about it — which sometimes I can, and sometimes I can’t. I joke about the spoilers, but I’m not going to spoil the comics. So sometimes people will ask about a character and I can’t answer too close to what we’re actually going to do. But other times, there’s wiggle room in there and I can expand on what makes a character interesting — or why I think a character is evil and should never be trusted.

AIPT: And what is your least-favorite type of X-Men Monday question? I’m assuming the spoilers questions you just touched on?

Jordan: OK, so that’s a tough. There are multiple reasons why we don’t want to answer spoiler questions. There are two big ones, though. I’m going to go with the giant corporate reason first. We’re trying to do a business here, right? We want you to buy our comics because, you know, businesses need to be profitable.

But on the personal level — like me and the creators — we want you to buy our comics so we can keep making them. We want to keep telling these stories. And if nobody buys them, then obviously, we can’t make them anymore.

The writers and the artists and me — we’re crafting these comics ideally to be revealed in a certain way, which is putting the comic in front of you and turning a page and reading one at a time. They’re timing out their moments. In this moment, you learn this, and then when you turn the page, you see that it’s actually that. So that’s just how we’re hoping you’ll enjoy the comic, and that’s what we think is the best way to enjoy the comic.

That said… the world is weird, man. I know that a lot of comic readers learn comic stories from Wikis, you know? They don’t necessarily read every issue of X-Men ever. They go, “Oh, who’s this character? Let me read their history.” It’s a very different way of reading. So I understand the idea of going, “No, you could just tell me what happens.”

AIPT: [Laughs] I never thought of it that way. That’s fascinating. Here’s a tough one — what would you say is the biggest misconception X-Fans have about you based on your X-Men Monday appearances?

Jordan: Oh man. Well, the easiest and most obvious one that jumps out at me is that my opinion is my professional action. And that’s not the case. I mean, I mentioned to you that I like doing X-Men Monday because I like talking about comics because I’m a fan. So I have the opinions of myself — a human being who is a fan of comics. But that doesn’t mean that I go into making comics and say, “Well, make the comics fit my opinions,” because I don’t view that as my job. I view my job as working with the writers and helping them tell their stories.

I was very open before the Krakoan era about my opinions that over the course of history, Magneto and Emma Frost were villains. They were not good guys, they were bad guys. And when they have served on the X-Men, they were kind of bad guys who sneakily were on the X-Men. Not sneakily, but they weren’t really in their hearts good, right? They are mostly antagonists for the X-books and that’s how they work best. That didn’t mean that when Jonathan Hickman came in and was like, “I’m going to put them and many other bad guys on Krakoa,” I was like, “No, you can’t do that.” This is the story he wanted to tell. Since then, I would say my opinion has changed. The usage of those characters as good guys, generally, has been awesome and extremely compelling.

I mean, they still have their moments of different opinions from me or from the main hero X-Men, let’s say, but I love those characters. I love everything that they’ve done. All the stuff Gerry Duggan and Kieron Gillen have done with Emma, and all the amazing work that Al Ewing has done with Magneto — and Jonathan as well, of course.

So I guess the misconception is that just because you ask me a question about my opinion and I tell it to you, that doesn’t mean that’s what’s going to happen in the comics. I’m extremely willing to be proven wrong by great writers because it means more great stories that I can enjoy.

AIPT: I see both sides of it among X-Fans. I see X-Fans say, “The X-Men editor likes these two as a couple, so they won’t split up and we can breathe a sigh of relief.” And then I see them say, “The X-Men editor doesn’t like this character, so now we’re nervous.” I’m exaggerating, of course, but you’ve said time and time again, your job is to help the creators tell the stories they want to tell.

Jordan: There are a number of things that I have said I don’t want to happen that have happened.

AIPT: Well, Jordan, you know what really makes X-Fans love you? When you drop juicy nuggets.

Jordan: Agh!

AIPT: [Laughs] So I have four rapid-fire questions.

Jordan: Let me prepare…

AIPT: First… do you think wiping out the Brood is a good idea?

Jordan: No. I’m not comfortable with the idea of wiping out the Brood. Here’s the thing — I think this is a really effective debate, but it’s also very fascinating to me because to people on both sides, it is extremely apparent how right their side is. I have not seen a lot of people talking about this going, “Ooh, this is a really nuanced question. I have to think about this.” People are like, “No, obviously the answer is either ‘Yes’ or ‘No.'”

I’ve talked about it with people here in the office and there are people here who are like, “No, clearly you shouldn’t be able to wipe out the Brood.” The fact that there is one intelligent good guy Brood goes to show you should not kill their entire species. There’s the possibility for good there. That’s just not a good way to do things.

And then on the other side… I don’t know if you know this, but in the real world, there are people who are very gung-ho about the idea of eliminating mosquitoes. It weirds me out. Like, obviously I hate mosquitoes. I hate all bugs — including butterflies. I hate all bugs.

AIPT: [Laughs] I get it. I hate worms.

Jordan: And it’s good that I don’t have a genie, because yes, it’s possible I would wish for all bugs to disappear even though that would destroy the planet. So that’s good, because that’s an emotional thing for me. That said, to actually go, “We’re going to have a plan to wipe out an entire species because they hurt us so much.” Like, that makes me uncomfortable because we talk about the value of life, right? We don’t talk about the value of life being contribution. Like, the value of life is itself, it’s supposed to be inherent in the living. So these are living things that we’re going to go, “But what if they just never were ever again?” It’d probably be a better place for everyone left alive.

AIPT: So, for the sake of this mosquito discussion, I’m going to take Cyclops’ role for a second, because the first thing that comes to mind is how every summer, we get warnings about mosquitos in the area carrying deadly diseases. So, anyone could get bitten at random by a mosquito and die. Wipe out all mosquitos and we’re saving countless lives around the globe, right?

Jordan: I would understand doing it. I just don’t want to be the one to make that call.

AIPT: I’ll make the call, Jordan, don’t worry.

Jordan: [Laughs]

AIPT: This rapid-fire question took a very philosophical turn, but that’s the fun of these X-debates. I feel like X-Fans are reacting to the Brood argument in a similar way to the resurrecting-Madelyne-Pryor debate.

Jordan: Can I just point out that that’s one of the places where the thing that I believe didn’t happen in the comics? Like, that’s the debate where I’m on the side of Madelyne’s not a person. I don’t think she’s a real person. I think she’s Jean going through some slightly different things.

AIPT: [Laughs] I’m not touching that one. But before we move on from the Brood debate, will it continue to have ramifications in-world or was it just a one-off argument?

Jordan: There are definitely going to be ramifications. I’ll just leave it there.

AIPT: Next, are any celebrities attending this year’s Hellfire Gala and if so… do I need to be worried about them?

Jordan: Well, it’s been a pretty dire promotional experience for the Hellfire Gala. So I would say yes. But I don’t know that I can say if there’ll be celebrities there as of right now.

AIPT: I’m very worried about John Hamm.

Jordan: You should be worried about the contest winner from Marvel Unlimited! [Laughs]

AIPT: Well, speaking of winners, did X-Fans make the right call in the 2023 X-Men Election?

Jordan: Here’s what I’ll tell you. This was by far the closest one we’ve had. I will confess, those first two, there was no rigging. We didn’t choose the people going, “Obviously this person won’t win.” We didn’t do any of that in any of the three. That said, in retrospect, I think people have looked back and gone, “Well, it was clearly going to be that person.”

From what I recall of the running tallies of the first two elections, I’m pretty confident the winners were in the lead the entire time. That was definitely the case for Firestar, if I remember correctly. And I’m less positive about Polaris, but I think it was the case with her. This year, over the course of the time voting was open, three different people were in the lead out of the six that were running. The final victor was a smaller distance from the No. 2 than you’d think. It was a much, much closer. So it was very exciting on our end because we really were like, “Oh man, what’s going to happen?”

AIPT: It just proves how much every vote counts… and that the more devices you have, the more you can vote for your preferred candidate.

Jordan: [Laughs] We did work to eliminate fraud.

AIPT: Final question: Are there still more Fall of X series in the works we’re not yet aware of?

Jordan: Maybe… which means yes. There is something that has not been announced because it is a super secret.

AIPT: The plot thickens. But we’ll stop there before we stumble back onto bugs. Thanks for taking the time to look back and forward, Jordan, and congratulations on 200 X-Men Mondays!

Now, while we’re talking about super secrets, we obviously can’t say much about the mysterious Hellfire Gala to come. But, we can dig into one of the already-revealed looks with its designer. So please welcome back superstar artist Russell Dauterman to discuss his 2023 Hellfire Gala design for Jean Grey!

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday #200, Russell! Your first Hellfire Gala design for Jean Grey was so good, it was quickly modified into her new regular costume! Did that success with her initial look add any additional pressure when it came time to design her 2023 outfit? Or did that success just translate to added confidence this time around?

Russell: Designing the regular superhero costumes for Jean, Scarlet Witch, and Storm is my career highlight so far — huge bucket list stuff for me! Having done those designs, I felt freed up to do something less superhero-y and more fashion-y with the Gala this year. Especially since Jean’s 2021 look was purposefully super-heroic — she was debuting as co-leader of the X-Men and I thought she should look the part. This year, I tried to be more fashion-forward and less practical.

Thanks for the kind words about that look! The success of it did not translate to more confidence! I’m always nervous about reactions to my work — but I try to do art that I’d want to see as a fan of these characters, and hope others like it too.

AIPT: Your first Hellfire Gala design for Jean pulled inspiration from past costumes (the headpiece and pointed shoulders) and non-costumes (exposing her back ala her Hellfire Club dress). Does Jean’s 2023 Gala look draw inspiration from any past costumes?

Russell: The ponytail is a nod to X-Men: The Animated Series, and the headpiece keeps the iconic forehead triangle that started with Whilce Portacio’s X-Factor costume. And the colors keep the Marvel Girl/Phoenix/current costume palette.

The line of the cleavage and silhouette of shoulders are a little Jim Lee costume, and a little Phoenix-y. Although I have to stress that doesn’t mean Jean’s becoming Phoenix — I know nothing there! Just an aesthetic nod to the Cockrum green Phoenix costume (Jean’s best IMO!), and recognition of an important part of Jean’s history that she’s been reckoning with lately.

AIPT: Before the first Hellfire Gala, you told X-Men Monday that Chadwick Boseman’s 2018 Met Gala look inspired Angel’s outfit. Were there any real-world inspirations for Jean’s 2023 design?

Russell: I wanted a look for Jean that felt glamorous. The design was influenced by 1930s/40s Hollywood fashion, 1920s swim caps and flapper headpieces — plus Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE aesthetic, and Balmain is always inspiring. The biggest inspiration was Rihanna’s crystal look from the CDFA Fashion Awards.  

AIPT: Those shimmering, jeweled headpiece, top, and boots — what material/s did you and Jumbo Carnation use to pull off this striking look?

Russell: My first thought when designing was sequins, but I think Jumbo would do some sort of tiny jewels for a more expensive vibe — the mutant-made equivalent of Swarovski crystals.

AIPT: Well, it looks amazing. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Russell: This isn’t about Jean, BUT I’ve got a few other designs this year — they’re all characters I’ve never designed before!

AIPT: Can’t wait to see who you’re outfitting next — and thanks for helping us celebrate 200 editions of X-Men Monday, Russell!

X-Fans, the time has come for our main event: The all-new, all-different X-Office answering your questions about the upcoming Fall of X era. Let’s see what they have to say.

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday #200, everybody! X-Fan Owen asked, what made you decide it was time for the Fall of X?

Steve Foxe: Well, I live in the Midwest, so the end of August is usually when we start to see the first hints of fall. Just makes sense, really.

Gerry Duggan: The mutants have been winning for a long time… how long did you think the humans were going to take it?

Kieron Gillen: To quote Exodus’ translation of Ecclesiastes: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every gift of mutantdom: a time to be born, and a time to fall.”

Deniz Camp: Does anyone decide to fall? Mostly you just brace yourself and hope you don’t break anything. Except tumblers, I suppose. But I think only Kieron is a Tumblr. 

Al Ewing: If we don’t destroy Krakoa now, it’s going to take over on turn 5.

Steve Orlando: I just figured – nice island the mutants’ve got there. Be a shame if something happened to it. 

Si Spurrier: I got a DM from this one angry, threatening guy who was unequivocal about the Krakoan Era being the work of Satan, and the worst thing that ever happened, and a betrayal of comics’ true fans, fans like him, and that we should keep all our snowflakey nonsense – like, you know, kissing and politics and women having opinions and thoughtful themes and people choosing to love whoever they want to love, disgusting stuff like that — that we should keep all that out of comics where it belongs. And I just thought, you know, if this one random over-entitled white male feels this strongly about it then, damn, he must be right. “Krakoa must fall!” I pleaded to my colleagues. “And us with it!”

Sadly the other writers in the room never listen to more than the first half of any sentence I say, so I think they just took the title and ignored the rest. The good news is, whatever happens now it’s all their fault, and nothing to do with me. You hear me, @STRYFEGRENADEHotboi1992? IT’S NOT MY FAULT. STOP CALLING MY MOM.

AIPT: You deserve an Eisner Award for that answer alone, Si. Next, X-Fan Stevie Hunter’s Constituent Advocate wanted to know how the collaborative process of the X-Writers evolved while working on the Fall of X titles. What’s the vibe in the X-Slack these days with all these new additions?

SF: The term that comes to mind is “end-of-the-world cult.” Jokes aside, as one of the more recent additions, it’s been very inspiring to get to exchange thoughts and ideas with creators I look up to. Everyone has been welcoming, giving, and supportive as we first prepared these books in secret – I started work on Dark X-Men last fall – and then debuted them to the world at large. It’s been one of the most gratifying creative experiences I’ve had yet in my career. 

KG: It’s mainly Al and me scoping each person, wondering if we can lure them into playing Marvel Snap.

DC: X-Men Slack is where writers finally reveal where their ideas come from. (Turns out it’s lonely childhoods.)

SO: Deniz is right — but he forgot to mention both internalized and externalized guilt. The Upstate New York special!

SS: If the X-Room was a real place, its what3words location would be BUBBLEGUM GRAVEYARD RODEO.

AE: It’s a big room, with many fireplaces, many mantels, a Chekhov’s gun on every one, and they’re all pointed at YOUR favorite character, dear reader. Pray we do not load them further.

AIPT: X-Fan Tim Miller knows the Fall of X is going to be dark, but are there any romances that will spring up during this era you can talk about? After all, it can’t be all doom and gloom all the time… can it?

SF: I’ve got at least one couple where one member of the pair would die for the other. And perhaps does!

GD: Yeah. Uncanny Avengers has some really interesting romance angles. 

KG: When I was first working in the X-Office, way back with Generation Hope, Editor King Nick Lowe gave me one editorial diktat: there must be kissing by issue 5. I’ve internalized that one, and no matter how grim it gets, there’s got to be a backbone of kissing, at least in potential. While we’re heading to some shadowy times for them, the Destiny/Mystique relationship is one of the absolute backbones of my run. I’m not going to tear out my own backbone. This isn’t Mortal Kombat. 

DC: You can’t say “Bishop and Cable” without “ship”. I mean, you can, but then you’ve just got “Bi Cable”, which also works. 

EB: Not an answer, but a request. Glob needs love. Someone make it happen.

SO: Talking about it would be a spoiler! But honestly, Iceman would fall to pieces without this guy.

SS: Crashing change of subject: I get all uncomfortable with this interview format, where my name appears once up top then it’s just initials thereafter. Not that there’s anything objectively wrong with it, it’s just that for me it’s a constant reminder that my folks really didn’t think it through when choosing names, and irrespective of what I say a certain subset of historically-minded readers will inevitably draw unconscious associations between me and the most evil paramilitary organization that ever existed.

Mind you, by stunning coincidence, all the flirting and sexytimes in Uncanny Spider-Man — and OMG there are a LOT of those, in fact they’re pretty much constant — revolve specifically around a character with the same unfortunate initials as me.

(No, sorry @STRYFEGRENADEHotboi1992, it’s not a story about Nazis, put your trousers back on.) 

AE: There’s a lot of sizzle in the lead-up — like, a LOT, you’re going to be yelling “kiss already!” at the comic — and when the crap hits the fan and big trouble’s at the door, some people have to say what’s in their heart out loud. At least one stoic big boy is going to be shocked by his secret crush — I can say no more.

Torunn Grønbekk: We, too, have sizzle, but it is of the extremely inconvenient kind. Doubt and stolen moments, all untimely, undeniable, and delicious. 

AIPT: This last came up 99 editions ago, in X-Men Monday #100, but X-Fan bakublade of the Ivory Spire asked if we’ll finally see the Krakoan flag. Bakublade would still like to see the flag — even if it’s on fire.

GD: We’d had a pretty robust debate about what a Krakoan flag would (should) look like, it was a question for me from the jump on the first volume of Marauders for obvious reasons. The Muller skull was the flag that they flew as privateers of Krakoa, and that’s as close as we got. In the end, the group at that time decided that flags were a very human idea and it was one we decided the mutants couldn’t fuck with for that reason. 

AE: The Krakoan flag: 

AIPT: Hm… something about that flag’s color scheme seems familiar… and that tiny triangle at the bottom… Computer: Zoom out.

I mean… if the mutants of Krakoa want to slap Scott’s visor on their flag, I wouldn’t be opposed. 

But enough about flags — let’s dig a little deeper into each of the Fall of X series with their writers.

X-Men

AIPT: X-Fan Bear asked, how has it been writing new X-Men teams every year and how will the upcoming X-Men squad be different? Year 1 got along well, Year 2 was rocky… Year 3 will be…

Gerry: Upsetting.

AIPT: X-Fan Alex_of_X asked, what does Kate Pryde’s new look signal about her — and the team’s — headspace in the Fall of X?

Gerry: There’s a seismic shift after this year’s Gala. We’ve baked mystery into Kate going to back Marauders # 1 – and had a lot of fun with it over the story. Why the sun sets on the Red Queen and Shadowkat returns will make perfect sense in X-Men #25 this August. 

Astonishing Iceman

AIPT: X-Fan Grey was wondering which Iceman we’ll see in Astonishing Iceman. We’ve seen the happy and fun-loving Bobby and the Omega-level, complex Bobby. What will your Iceman be like?

Steve: I’d say the two versions you mention aren’t mutually exclusive! The events of Fall of X mean Iceman’s in danger every time he leaves Antarctica to be a hero. But then again, isn’t adversity where his commitment to finding joy means the most? Iceman will still have his groaner jokes when the time’s right, and he’ll be using his gifts in all-new ways. But when lives are on the line, Iceman’s no laughing matter. 

AIPT: X-Fan Chris G. asked if you can share anything about Iceman’s supporting cast.

Steve: I’ll say this – the Hellfire Gala means Iceman’s going to be reaching out farther than usual for people on his side. But when he finds them, his bond with them will be tighter than ever. Some old flames have died out, some have rekindled. And some are off in LA talking about that time they hooked up with a superhero. We’ll also see Iceman reconnecting with some of his oldest friends outside Krakoa, as well as making new ones – because even being an artificial mutant is dangerous these days!

Wolverine

AIPT: X-Fan Jagger Stachtiaris said Wolverine has obviously had a pretty tough time in his solo book throughout the Krakoan era. Without spoiling anything, how will this era of difficulty that’s coming with the Fall of X differ for Logan specifically from all the hardship he’s already faced?

Ben: Logan has never liked the taste of the Krakoan Kool-Aid. But that doesn’t mean he’s given up on mutantkind. We’ve got a storyline coming up called “The Wandering X,” during which time Logan will be pairing up with some big names from the 616 and doing his best to clean up the mess. 

AIPT: X-Fan Henry McCoy (yes, really) asked, what are you most excited about with where Logan, as a character, is going this year?

Ben: There’s something big and very scary and super violent coming for Logan… but I’m not allowed to talk about it yet.

Realm of X

AIPT: X-Fan Rasputin is excited to have Torunn joining the X-family and said Magik and Dani already have some history in Asgard. What was the inspiration behind diving back into the Norse side of things and what can you tease moving forward about the series?

Torunn: There is something fundamentally compelling about throwing these powerful characters into completely unfamiliar waters (or, rather, unfamiliar woods.) Vanaheim is oh so far from Krakoa, Midgard, and everything they hold dear. Reality is breaking around them, and they are starting to realize that it’s probably – almost certainly – their fault.

AIPT: X-Fan Askani’s Flame said, Typhoid Mary is an interesting and exciting choice to bring into the X-fold. What were the circumstances of wanting to include her and what should we look forward to in terms of her interactions with the other cast?

Torunn: Listen, Typhoid Mary is an unpredictable delight. (She would be the chaotic wildcard of the book, but we also have Curse in our cast, so…) Mary plays an integral part in the story, but she is fighting everyone (including me) along the way.

Invincible Iron Man

AIPT: X-Fan Owen asked, what has it been like integrating Tony Stark into the world of the X-Men, especially for Fall of X?

Gerry: This story is so big that it has its own gravity, and it’s trapped Tony and Iron Man into it. Feilong made his moves, Stark was divested from his company when the hostile takeover happened, but it’s still Tony’s name on the company. It’s his tech that’s been baked into the Sentinels and Tony’s gone to war for less in the past. The goal is always to blow the doors off a book when you sit down, and our goal is to tell the biggest, most dangerous and most important tale in Tony Stark’s life. It’s been a joy and a privilege to collaborate with Juan Frigeri during this anniversary year. I was reading Iron Man off the rack since the mid-80s. We’re taking big swings. We’re turning the heat up on Tony as much as Iron Man and the supporting cast is in for a ride, too. I only commence on stories with ends, and this one is going to be my Iron Man epic. We crush it. In fact, we already crushed it. Darren Shan and I have been tinkering on this for a long time. It’s run the gauntlet of the editorial retreats, and it’s come out the side better. Gonna break armor and hearts. Hope we make new Iron Man fans, too.

AIPT: X-Fan BringTheCuckoos loves what you’ve done to further incorporate Emma Frost into the Marvel Universe. What is it about Emma as a character that makes that so interesting and appealing to you?

Gerry: I’ve gotten to write her more than I thought I would, and I’ve enjoyed every panel of it. I think she’s a wonderful character and the Hellfire Trading Company was a wonderful opportunity to write her into Marauders and she was a huge part of Devil’s Reign X-Men, and that story was an important one for her, if you slept on it, you should get caught up before Fall Of X. As for why I enjoy writing her, I’ve enjoyed all the different facets Emma’s shown off over the years, from black hat, to reluctant hero and teacher and really she’s had a difficult road during Krakoa. Much of its success is due to her hard work, and still the men in her life lied to her, using her. I can’t say much more about what is to come, but I think it’s fair to say that the seismic shift after the Gala this year doesn’t just affect Kate, or the Quiet Council, or Krakoa – it affects the entirety of the Marvel Universe. It’s as big a swing as anything we’ve attempted to date. 

Children of the Vault

AIPT: X-Fan Hedgewitch250 asked if the Children have a culture that will be explored inside their Vault. It’s been shown that they have some parallels to Krakoa, such as their cradle being the equivalent to the mutants’ hatchery Arbor Magna. 

 Deniz: Yes, definitely. I’m very much positioning The Children/The City as an analogue and alternative to Krakoa. We’ll explore their history, politics, and culture, especially as the series goes on. To keep things from getting dry it’s sort of in the background, but it’s there. And the data pages are very much our friend(s).

AIPT: X-Fans Echo and Viszilla were curious to learn which of the Children is your favorite to write.

Deniz: Right now it’s more the dynamics between Children that I’m enjoying. Serafina and a new character, Capitán, have kind of opposing ideologies, so they spark up against each other nicely. I’m also having a nice time with Martillo.  

X-Force

AIPT: X-Fan Alessandro asked, how does the Fall of X affect X-Force as a team?

Ben:  There’s a new team roster, as we now know, and Colossus is serving as a kind of Internal Affairs officer on behalf of the Quiet Council. But we all know that Piotr is being mind-controlled by the Chronicler and Mikhail, so… that whole storyline is about to come to a head in some pretty insane and complicated ways.

AIPT: X-Fan HED asked, what prior comics did you look to when crafting Beast’s inevitable dark turn? HED sees shades of Bendis, Nicieza, and Ellis in your Hank.

Ben: That’s all correct. If you’re leading the equivalent of the mutant CIA, you’re going to be making some morally impossible decisions, and if you’re given unlimited power and no oversight, that’s going to corruptly transform a soul… so I looked to evidence of his sketchy past to see what this kind of position would do to him… and there was a lot of bad behavior to draw from in the canon.

Alpha Flight

AIPT: X-Fan Phil said, given that previous incarnations of Alpha Flight have struggled to find their voice, what made now the right time to bring them back, and closer to the X-line?

Ed: With Fall of X, we’re going to see some very global repercussions and given that Canada is the US’s largest neighbor and only hours from Krakoa, we’re going to be one of the first countries to have to deal with some of these repercussions. 

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything here, but there is going to be massive divide between humankind and mutantkind and given that only half of Alpha Flight are mutants… it’s going to cause some issues. Given our proximity to the US, there’s almost always spill over from any major US event, but it rarely gets reflected in the comics. This has been a great opportunity to play around with that and show the impact.

AIPT: X-Fan Bringthecuckoos asked, who is the Alpha Flight character you’re most excited to write in this series?

 Ed: I love writing them all, I know it’s a cop out answer, but it’s the truth. Puck is always a ton of fun and Guardian just seems to flow easily.

That said, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Nemesis. There have been three incarnations of the character thus far, each building upon the mythology of the last, and I’m really enjoying building upon her/their existing mythology, while adding some very twisty wrinkles. In our story, Nemesis is hiding a secret that’s going to have some serious ripples for the book. Building this mystery and reveal has been one of the things I’m most excited about. I think a lot of people are going to be shocked – especially longtime Alpha Flight fans.

There’s another character that will be appearing in the book who is a very deep cut Alpha Flight member who we haven’t seen for a long time. They’re something I always found incredibly interesting and have been enjoying building up and expanding upon. 

Dark X-Men

AIPT: X-Fan Ross was wondering if you could speak a little about where Havok’s head is at leading into Dark X-Men? Will Alex still be wrestling with his own dark side like in Hellions or will that not be so much of a focus of his story in this series?

Steve: Havok has had a rough go of the Krakoan era, between Hellions, getting forced onto an X-Men squad with his brother, and then quitting the team during Dark Web. I wouldn’t say Alex is necessarily wrestling with a dark side – I think we all know Alex is a hero, despite some stumbles. But part of his conflict in Hellions was his desire to do good among some bad people, and Maddie’s crew is uh… not the most upstanding folks around. Without giving away too much, by the time we pick up with Alex in DXM, he’s hit what feels like a stable place for his role as a hero, a lover, and a man. The question is if anyone with an outside perspective will see those roles quite as stably as Alex does from inside the walls of the Limbo Embassy. He’s also going to have some pretty brutal external conflicts to deal with right from issue #1. 

AIPT: X-Fan Cole Kurth is so excited to see Zero making a return outside of being bio-organic food in the Sins of Sinister universe! With all of the work Kieron Gillen is doing to explore Mutant Religion through Exodus and Hope’s relationship, will the original mutant Judas interact with either of those characters or the other Five Lights? Also, what made you want to include this character in Dark X-Men?

Steve: There are some very key cast members of Dark X-Men who haven’t been revealed yet, but I don’t want to lead anyone on to thinking the Five Lights will pop up here. Zero is branching out from that aspect of his origin and finding entirely new ways to be a gross little techno-flesh art-freak. (Although I do love the Five Lights, and got a chance to briefly write another one of them somewhere else recently!) Beyond just loving what Kieron did on his first go with the X-Men a few years ago, I adore Zero because I love outsider and performance art, the more transgressive and pretentious, the better – and I’m a fan of both Tetsuo: The Iron Man and AKIRA, big inspirations on the character. 

Uncanny Avengers

AIPT: X-Fan James wanted to know, which character interactions are the most fun to write on this new Uncanny Avengers squad?

Gerry: Loving Pietro and Monet. Could write them for 50 issues. Wade and Rogue. Captain Krakoa and everyone. Steve and REDACTED is always fun. The full cast of characters for this book has not been revealed yet. It’s such a fun mix. Hope you enjoy the ride. 

AIPT: X-Fan Resurrection Rite is very excited to see one of their favorite characters Quicksilver back on this team and thought he was a delight under your pen, as well as the No Surrender mini-series following it written by Saladin Ahmed. Resurrection Rite asked, will we see Pietro’s powers and his view on life continue to develop as they did from No Surrender, or more of the ‘Quicksilver Time’ from the mini-series?

Gerry: Pietro has a cool feat in issue 1, and he’s uh… gonna have his hands full in this one. Good time to be Pietro – and how lucky for him he’s not a mutant. Phew! Funny how things work out. 

Uncanny Spider-Man

AIPT: X-Fan Owen wanted to know where the idea for Uncanny Spider-Man came from.

Si: If it turns out well and everyone loves it, it just came to me like a bolt from the blue. If it’s awful and everyone hates it, it was Nick Lowe’s idea.

On a less glib note, this is probably the Marvel title that’s had the most dynamic response from readers — based solely on the announcement — of any I’ve done. The vast majority of it has been wildly excited (or, quite often, “WTF?! I’M IN!” — which in my view is even better). Still — I’ve seen a few of the really shouty angry lonely types gnashing and wailing and skyclawing themselves into venomous little comas over incredulous questions like “why the hell would Nightcrawler dress up like Spider-Man?!” To which I quietly chuckle and mumble under my breath “guys, that’s the stooorrrryyyyy,” before hitting block and going off to swim in my giant bath of money.

Anyway, the point — to get back to the question — is that “the idea,” like all ideas, accreted like the birth of a star: swirling gases and dust clumping into supermassive form. It didn’t just pop up like a Jack-in-the-box. “Hey, I’m bored and out of ideas! Why don’t we just take, I dunno, this blue dude with a tail, and mash him up with, ohhhh, this sticky thwippy guy, LOL.” No. The circumstances which lead Nightcrawler to put on a Spidey suit and fight crime in New York are an organic product of the wider events, the development of his character over the past few years, and then a whole ton of me and Lee Garbett just letting rip on the madness. 

If we’ve done our job right — and we have — it’s both a spectacular jumping-on point which doesn’t require an in-depth knowledge of all the twists and turns of the Krakoan story so far, and a really beautiful meditation on the latest phases of the House of X and its many challenges. 

Oh, and: Mystique. Mystique like you’ve never seen her. Mystique on a jagged path that will lead to something profound.

AIPT: X-Fan Riley Gillard said X-Men and Spider-Man are their two favorite parts of Marvel, and they’ve always wondered this: What about these two different corners of the Marvel Universe makes them work so well together?

Si: Because in both cases what really endears us to these characters is not how strong they are, how hard they can punch, how fast they can run; it’s how unfailingly human they are.

Listen, I have some time for the notion that superheroes serve as a modern take on the mythical morality tale, which was previously the preserve of pantheonic gods. Stories that define the best and worst of human experience. The divine soap opera. These beings, we are told, are not like us: they exist at a frequency that’s higher and louder than the ordinary, and we enjoy their tales not because we can relate effortlessly to them, but because they give us exaggerated, aspirational north stars by which to navigate the waters of the everyday. Fine. 

Except, uh oh, some of the best and most beloved spandexy types simply don’t adhere to those archetypes at all, do they? Here’s Peter Parker, awkward everyman, clumsily trying to keep the plates spinning on his humdrum everyday life while thwipping around and trying to make a difference one good deed at a time. Why? Simply because it feels like the right, responsible, thing to do. (Or did you really think that Peter wouldn’t have grown up to be a good person if he hadn’t gotten spider powers? Now there’s a thought experiment that’ll tell you a lot more about yourself than about Spidey.) And, ooh, here’s the X-Men, persecuted and tormented, trying not to succumb to bitterness and revenge, stumbling through a life that’s torn between the need for self-protection, hopes for a better future and the basic human desire to belong. And, ps, trying to do the right, responsible, thing to do.

To labor the point: I think what makes these things work so well together is that they aren’t stories about beings who are different from us. They’re stories about beings who are very much like us. Just with, y’know, amazing bods. And sometimes tails.

X-Men Red

AIPT: X-Fan Ororosfire asked, what’s your favorite part of the complexities caused by Genesis and Apocalypse’s return? How does the Great Ring feel about it? 

Al: “How does the Great Ring feel about it” is the whole story! So I can’t spoil too much. But what I like about writing Genesis and -:A:- is that even if they’re in disagreement, they still love each other. They’ve been apart for thousands of years, they’ve gone in different directions, evolved different ways, but even after all this time, their disagreements are differences of philosophy rather than conflicts of the heart. It’s fun to try to capture that.

AIPT: X-Fan Sam T asked, what should readers who like Jon Ironfire in Sins of Sinister expect from the Ironfire coming to X-Men Red?

Al: He gets sexier. Like, a LOT sexier, thanks to Jacopo Caramagni. These three issues after SOS are when we solidify his design, fill out his backstory, get a sense of where and who he’s been. He’s coming in hot, he’s coming in raw, and I’m truly sorry, but we’re going to put him through it. We’re going to break his heart.

He really should have trusted the Storm. 

Immortal X-Men

AIPT: X-Fan Szymon said the first year of Immortal X-Men had a very clear (and interesting!) narrative structure — with each issue following one council member; but you’ve said before you’d abandon the structure the second it wouldn’t work anymore. Can you share your organizational idea (if any?) for the title’s second year?

Kieron: Thank you. I did manage to keep it up for all of Immortal, including Immoral X-Men and The Sinister Four special (which I consider absolutely part of my Immortal run). If I can manage it, I’ll try and keep the primary narrator… but I also know that where Fall of X leaves the council makes it really hard. I’ve written issue 14, which does have a narrator… but in a very different way than has been used so far.

That said, I have to say — it’s never been a solely “follow one member” structure. Sometimes it is a focus episode, but as often it’s that the character provides a PoV or just a little shape. The Sins of Sinister issues are a good example — we’ve got Emma, Hope, and Rasputin as our narrators, but they’re all absent from big chunks of the issue.

That makes it easier — I kind of view the PoV stuff as a tool to help tell the story rather than the entire point of the thing. The story is the key thing, and that’s what I try to make decisions to support. I do like it as a spice.

AIPT: X-Fan Tychaion said, let’s say you were Sinisterized in an evil future. What would you look and be like in Year 1000? And how does that make you feel?

Kieron: I think I’d have been dead for at least 990 years, so I’d be a rotting skeleton and incapable of feeling anything any more, unless Magik brings me back as some kind of awful arcane servant, which is the sort of thing +1000 Magik would do.

AIPT: A perfect visual to end on. Thanks for taking the time to field all those X-Fan questions, everybody!

And if all that wasn’t enough to tide you over until the Fall of X begins, X-Fans, how about a few eXclusive preview images from the upcoming era, courtesy of Jordan? So new they’re not even finished — enjoy!

Dropping an all-new Madelyne Pryor image is the perfect segue to X-Men Monday #200’s final section: An original essay by Connor Goldsmith, host of the wildly popular (and excellent) CEREBRO podcast. I, like so many other X-Fans, am a huge fan of Connor’s work on CEREBRO, and invited him to take part in our 200th edition. As the Fall of X approaches, Connor was gracious enough to share his thoughts on the Krakoan era, and the impact it’s had on him and the wider X-Fan community. 

Take it away, Connor.

I was in high school, over 20 years ago, when Grant Morrison took the X-Men in a bold direction that shocked longtime readers. It was polarizing; it was controversial; it was New. I was skeptical at first, as a lifelong Chris Claremont disciple and continuity obsessive, but quickly it became apparent that what Morrison was doing was more important than strict adherence to what had come before: New X-Men brought the mutant metaphor to vivid life, building its minority subculture on the page in a way that had never been previously possible. 

Morrison broke down the barriers that had separated the mutant question from its most salient real-world antecedents — mutants were everywhere now. They were building their own minority neighborhoods in urban centers. They were creating art that spoke to their lived experience and inspired community solidarity. They had given up trying to assimilate or hide, and instead chose to exist openly and thrive on their own terms, with or without human cooperation. They were impossible to ignore — and as their public visibility grew in-universe, reactionary violence against them grew proportionately within the story. It was startling and provocative and alive, in a new way that spoke to the emerging concerns of real-world minority groups in the nascent 21st century. 

After Morrison departed the title, this progress was wiped away by the Decimation, which reduced the Marvel Universe’s mutant population from millions worldwide to roughly 200 characters. Polarizing as Morrison’s run had been during its publication, the X-Men readership was altogether devastated to see the mutant metaphor — and the minority culture and politic it had developed on-page — dragged back in time to not only before Morrison, but before even the vivid and realized wider world of later Claremont.

Obviously, the mutant metaphor is just that: a metaphor. But in its broadness, the imperfect metaphor at the heart of X-Men speaks to so many experiences of difference. Mutants are not real… but I am real. Every gay or queer or trans reader who sees our pain reflected in this story? Is real. Every person who connects the mutant experience to their own experience as a racial, ethnic, or religious minority in this country? They are real. Every disabled person who sees debates about mutant minds and bodies as analogous to struggles in their own lives? They are real. We are real. And in an instant, almost all of us were gone. 

I felt burned by the thing I loved the most. Like I had asked for too much, had dreamed too much — and had been punished for it. Even in a fantasy, for a minority to grow and empower itself and start existing on its own terms was apparently a bridge too far.

I continued to read X-Men comics on and off for the next 14 years, but it was not until Jonathan Hickman and his collaborators brought mutantkind to Krakoa that I felt home again.

Krakoa isn’t perfect, but no nation is perfect. The very concept of nationhood is fraught, and every superpower has its original sins, whether or not Mister Sinister was involved. But to see mutants demand a seat at the table as a people, to see them flourish in greater relative safety than ever before, to see them allowed to build a space of their own where the majority’s opinion of them is not what matters — to see them resurrect their murdered dead with their own hands — made me believe in the power of this franchise again.

Clearly, I am not alone. I’ve been in “X-Men fandom” for nearly 30 years now, and never in my life have I seen this much fan engagement, excitement and enthusiasm. The Krakoan era represents an unprecedented display of community, both within the story and without. A brilliant team of creatives came together to imagine an entirely new way this story could work. The mutants in that story came together as a people, despite all their differences over decades of publication, to build a home they could share. The foundation of their society is the mutant circuit: the idea that solidarity in the face of prejudice is the most powerful resource in the universe. That in coming together, we can break all the rules.

Every day since Krakoa began, I have watched fans debate and discuss and create more than ever before. I’m one of them! Enthralled by the early days of the Krakoan experiment, I started CEREBRO, an independent podcast where in every episode a guest and I cover the history of one X-Men character, through the byzantine maze of continuity that inevitably builds up over 60 years of storytelling. About two and a half years later, CEREBRO nets over 20,000 downloads each week, and is steadily approaching the 2 million total downloads mark. Younger fans who’ve never been into comics before are finding the show — and mutantkind — through TikTok videos made from audio of the podcast. The Discord server, where CEREBRO listeners discuss and debate X-Men comics all day long in a highly moderated and supportive environment, has nearly 4,000 members. 

It’s everything I ever dreamed of as a little gay boy who was afraid to talk to my peers about how much I loved superhero comics. It’s… a lot of people. There are times when I find the responsibility of fostering that space, and encouraging that conversation, immensely daunting.

But then there are the times I get an email that takes my breath away: the people who finally came out to their families because this community made them feel safe; listeners from just about every marginalized racial, ethnic, or religious background one can name, generously explaining to me how the mutant metaphor makes each of them individually feel seen; the young queer people in lonely parts of the country and the world for people like us, who have found enduring friendship and camaraderie because of X-Men fandom; the readers overseas who aren’t able to get comics easily, and use my show to catch up with characters they love; the straight white guys who always identified with the X-Men for their own reasons, but in listening to my guests and reading the Krakoa stories have accessed alternative readings of the text about race, sexuality, and gender that make them appreciate even the classic material so much more; the newbies for whom the exciting new Krakoan paradigm was what finally made them pick up a superhero comic. 

And people like me, who’ve spent our whole lives loving these characters and their world, but didn’t dream again until Krakoa opened its gates. Until Krakoa was for all mutants.

Now the Fall of X is here. As a writer and publishing professional myself, I recognize conflict is the engine of story, and paradise never lasts forever. Chapters must always end, and new stories must always begin. But I hope Marvel Comics sees the unique power of Krakoa, and the freedom so many of us find on its beaches and in its forests even as readers debate it, or interrogate it, or wonder at its vast implications. Whatever great tragedy is to befall the X-Men this summer in the hands of these brilliant writers, I hope Krakoa, in the long term, will endure as a setting in some form. I hope the next chapter of X-Men continues to build on what is possible for mutants, rather than limit their ambition. 

Mutants have come too far to go back again, and there are so many more stories to tell. Krakoa must persevere, because we deserve to hope. We deserve to dream of a place where we can set our own terms, and the people who hate and fear us do not get to control our lives. A place that is ours.

So here’s to the writers, editors, and artists who have given us that dream again over the last four years. Here’s to many more years of bold, innovative X-Men storytelling, wherever that journey will take us. And here’s to the untold passion of the fans, who bring these conversations and this ethos out into the waking world where we live and breathe each day. 

For Krakoa is a people, not only a place. And it’s not a dream if it’s real.

Beautiful, Connor.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and thank you for all you’ve done for the X-Fan community. Seriously, if you’re an X-Fan who reads X-Men Monday and has never listened to CEREBRO, peruse the episode library and start with your favorite character. Connor just reached 100 episodes and up next he’s managed to land the ever-elusive Jonathan Hickman to discuss En Sabah Nur. I can’t wait!

But on that note, we’ve reached the end of our epic X-Men Monday #200 journey. Hopefully this mutant milestone met your expectations. If not, there’s always next week and the week after that, right? After all, we’re officially on the road to X-Men Monday #300 — hope we continue to survive the experience!

Today, though, we celebrate. Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!