X-Men Monday #223 – X Me Anything With Jordan D. White

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

The Fall of X is in full swing and New York Comic Con 2023 kicks off later this week on October 12. It’s a busy time for Marvel’s mutants, but X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White was able to carve out some time for another round of X Me Anything (his first since May 2023). We managed to cover quite a bit — and reveal quite a few sinister secrets — so let’s get started.

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Jordan! First, the Mammomax in the room. Since we last spoke on the record, Marvel’s VP of Publishing and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort announced he would be taking control of the X-Office and the X-Men line at an undisclosed time in the future. This raises many questions we’ll learn the answers to in time, but for now, is there anything you’d like to say in response to the news?

Jordan: Well, obviously, I can’t share much. What’s going to happen with Tom Brevoort’s X-plans is not my news to share. But what I can say is that what he said is true — we’re finishing our Krakoa plans — all the stuff that me and the folks working on Krakoa made — we’re seeing those plans through to their completion — the same completion they would’ve seen if none of this had happened and I had been planning to continue as X-Men Editor. So I’m really excited about that. I’m still thrilled about these plans and I’m really thrilled that we’re able to make them happen, and can’t wait for you all to see what we have planned.

Beyond that, I’m also really excited to see what Tom’s going to do. Tom has never edited X-Men, and a great way to shake X-Men up to try to get something new out of it is to give it to somebody who’s never done it before, and who has a different point of view on it. It’ll be really exciting to see. Timeline-wise, I can’t say anything.

I will say you’ll be learning a bit more about our current X-Men plans very soon. You could probably look at a calendar and guess when and where, so check out New York Comic Con. You’re going to get more details on those things. And yeah, I can’t wait for you all to see what we have planned. We’ve been working on this stuff for such a long time, and it’s great to see it finally come to fruition.

AIPT: We’ll talk more about NYCC at the end of the interview, but for now, I just want to be clear so we can avoid the eventual comics conspiracy theories. The Tom plans have zero impact on what was already planned for the Krakoan era?

Jordan: No, no. They are going to be playing out exactly the same way that we had been planning them.

AIPT: That’s good to know, and thank you for sharing all that. OK, let’s dig into some X-Fan questions. First up, X-Fan ConglomeNERD asked if there were any titles planned for Fall of X that didn’t make the cut.

Jordan: Tons. All sorts. There are a lot of concerns that go into whether a book gets made — some of them are creative, some of them are financial. Some of them are, “Do we have a creative idea?” And some of them are, “Do we think we can sell it?” Some of the ones that didn’t happen are for sure bummers to me. There are things that we had hoped to do.

Hm, do I want to say any of them?

AIPT: Oh, you need to give me at least one.

Jordan: Oh, gosh. Well, there was an idea that was much more directly focused on what happens with new mutants who manifest during this time that we didn’t end up doing. There was the question of whether we do a book set entirely inside one of the Orchis prisons.

There was a really great space one. We had a few ideas for things that took place off Earth that didn’t happen, but there was a really great space one that I shouldn’t say too much about. What I’ll say is it involved the New Mutants going off into space and what happens to them in space, which would’ve been pretty sweet. I was kind of bummed that we didn’t end up doing that, but again, we ended up with some really great ones that have really thrilled and surprised me.

Obviously, I’m super proud of all the ones I’m working on, but I’ll say some of the ones I’m not working on are so amazing. Every issue of Children of the Vault absolutely knocks my socks off. It’s such a great series. And while Si Spurrier has done great work his entire time with the X-Men, I think Uncanny Spider-Man is the best stuff he’s done for us. Every issue I’ve read — and I’ve read many more of them than you folks have read — is amazing. No pun intended.

AIPT: Uncanny Spider-Man #1 was such a terrific debut issue. I’m looking forward to discussing the series with Si in a few weeks. Next, X-Fan Frederico Nader asked if the latest elected X-Men team will get a chance to shine sometime soon. “It’d be only fair!”, Frederico said.

Jordan: It would only be fair. Now, what would make you think that we wouldn’t do something with them? Like, don’t we always do something? Don’t we always have some sort of plan? There actually is a very specific plan for where those folks are going to appear next. And it is not a small appearance. It’s a pretty big and relevant appearance. It just hasn’t been announced yet, so I can’t tell you too much. But plans are underway. Things are being drawn with those characters in them as we speak.

But, they’re dead! How can they possibly do anything? And resurrection isn’t working. What are you guys going to do?

AIPT: Well, speaking of their death, X-Fan Misha Samsonet asked if we could please keep Cannonball dead for a while.

Jordan: That’s so mean. The guy has a kid!

AIPT: I need to be fair and balanced, Jordan. X-Men Monday must represent all X-Fan opinions, right?

Jordan: That question had to be asked. He just had a great showing with the rest of the team in X-Men Unlimited recently. I thought his chapter was great. He got to help people out in the flood story, which was really nice and about family and heroism. Really great stuff. And again, he’s got a kid, he’s got a wife — they’re so sad that he’s dead and you’re going to wish that on them? Again, there’s no way… I don’t know how he could come back. There’s no resurrection right now. I know I just said they’re going to be spotlighted, but that doesn’t make any sense. So I’m probably wrong.

AIPT: Well, at least one X-Fan is very happy about that. For Misha Samsonet, this is probably the greatest X-Men era — because Sam’s dead. Now, let’s shift gears from death to love. X-Fan Josh knows you can’t really tell us a lot right now, but any little teases about what the future holds for Cyclops and Jean Grey as a couple?

Jordan: So, obviously right now, Jean was killed at the Hellfire Gala and Scott was imprisoned during the Gala. That was such a terrible moment for them because they had just decided to focus on their relationship and they really got that pulled right out from under them. 

In the books that just came out last week, we have learned that there is a little bit more connectivity than it might’ve seemed between Jean’s appearances in the Jean Grey book and her appearance in Immortal X-Men, and that many of the missing mutants are in the White Hot Room. What exactly does that mean for her? And for them? That’s still something to be explored. But what I’ll say is that she definitely died. Those mutants walked through a gate. Are they dead? What does that mean? But Jean definitely died.

So I don’t know. Death has not been able to keep the two of them apart in the past. Will it now? Can she get better in time? And meanwhile, Scott’s sitting in a prison. He’s booby-trapped right now, he’s got his eyes stitched up. You’ll get a little bit of a hint as to what’s in store for Cyclops at that convention we mentioned a moment ago.

AIPT: Love to hear that. Staying on Jean for a second, X-Fan Lily was wondering, would you say Jean Grey is an important character in mutantkind’s future?

Jordan: Oh yeah. Super, super important.

AIPT: Back to love, X-Fan Bobby said relationships in comics can be tricky, so how do you manage characters that get together vs. those that break up rather quickly? Is it gauged by fan reaction or mostly writer interest?

Jordan: Now, I feel like that’s a false choice. You’re leaving out some options. The closest of those two is the writer’s interest. But the actual answer is, you know, the story. So, the writer has an interest in telling the best story possible, and that’s ideally what they’re doing with the relationships. Sometimes you want to tell a story about characters being successful in a relationship, and sometimes you want to tell a story about them breaking up.

AIPT: Bobby mentioned fan reaction. How much does fan reaction even play a role? And let’s set Spider-Man aside…

Jordan: Yeah, let’s talk about Spider-Man. No, I don’t think fan reaction plays a role in the sense that, “Hey, what is it the fans want? All right, let’s do that.” Fan reaction only plays a role in the sense that when you’re writing a story, you want to know if it’s landing the way you want it to or not, right? So if you’re writing a story, the goal of which is to make people care about a couple, and they care about a couple, great. The fan reaction is what you were hoping for. If you want them to care about a couple and they hate them, then you’ll go, “Oh, let’s examine how we’re doing on that and maybe change our approach.” Or vice versa, if you’re writing a story about people breaking up and you want people to be sad about it, then the fan reaction might be negative in that fans are going, “No, why would you do this thing?” But in some ways, that’s the goal of the story

So there you are. It’s not the case that writers come to me and go, “Hey, so I was thinking Jubilee and Blob should become an item. What do you think the fans will think?” And I’m like, “Hmm, you know what? Fans aren’t going to be keen on that. Let’s not do it.” Instead, the writer comes to me and goes, “Here’s the story I want to tell about Jubilee and Blob becoming an item. Here’s how it’s going to play out, blah, blah, blah.”

I should have said Psylocke instead of Jubilee because that actually happened.

AIPT: I was going to say, Blob is very successful with the X-ladies. One more relationship question before we move on. X-Fan Sebastian Galindo wanted to know what you think of Rogue and Gambit’s marriage. Personally, Sebastian loves it.

Jordan: It depends on what you want from them, you know? So, those are characters that I like. I like both of them quite a bit. If I’m being fully honest, I like one of them a little bit more than I like the other. But I’m also not crazy about either of them — I’m not like a super fan of either of them — so I don’t have super strong opinions about “Here’s when they worked best” and “Here’s the thing that they should be doing at all times.”

The difference between your typical X-character and your typical non-X-character is that a random superhero in the Marvel Universe is more likely to have a solo book. Most of them are solo characters who have to work on their own. And taking a character like that and giving them a permanent relationship, like a marriage, has a lot of difficulties behind it.

I’m not saying there are no stories about married people, but I think they change the stakes and they change what kind of story you can tell kind of fundamentally. However, on the X-front, mostly they’re not characters who we tell solo stories about. Mostly, they’re characters that are told about in a team context. And I feel like that gives us a lot more wiggle room to do things with those characters that you might be less willing to do with a solo character. So you’ve got characters who you go, “You know what, let’s allow those characters to be married.” It just means you’re probably not going to have as many stories where everyone is flirting with Rogue or “Who is she going to choose” stories anymore. If we tell a story about Rogue’s relationship, it’s going to be about her relationship with Gambit and whether it’s working or not, and how they’re going to make it work. And it’s the same with having children — it’s slightly more likely and more acceptable for an X-character to have a child than it is for a non-X-character because to some extent you can go, “Well, that character can become a parent character rather than the whole book is now about a parent.”

AIPT: Our friend Cannonball did both.

Jordan: Exactly. But then he died.

AIPT: Yeah, I’m so glad he’s dead.

Jordan: So, with Rogue and Gambit, I can understand people who feel strongly in both directions, because obviously their romance is super fun. And to see it be paid off and you can go, “You know what? It worked for those two. Look at those crazy kids, they’re in love.” And sometimes they lie to each other and then they fight, but I feel like that can work.

But that’s not to say I don’t understand the other side, because again, there are people who love different things about those characters. I mean, is Gambit still going to flirt with everybody? Yeah, but he’s probably not going to kiss as many ladies as he might’ve back in the day. And wouldn’t it be great to give Gambit his own series where he’s going around the world stealing things and romancing women in every port? Yeah, but it’s probably not going to happen while they’re married. Anyway, I think they’re great, I think they’re fun, I love that they have cats together.

OK, so the character I like slightly more than the other is Gambit because I see some cool potential in him that I always want to do more stuff with. And is it a concern that it might dull his edges a little bit to have him as a married guy? Yeah, maybe a little bit. Maybe it shapes the kind of stories you want to tell with him. And the ideal story that I might want to tell with Gambit might not be the one that we would tell when he’s married. 

AIPT: Makes sense. And while Remy is your favorite of the two, several X-Fans actually sent in Rogue questions. In fact, this next question gets submitted a lot, so I’m finally going to ask it. Dave, Haley, and S wanted to know if it’s possible for Rogue to get a new costume since she is one of the only characters that didn’t get a new look in the Krakoan era.

Jordan: No, I’m sorry. It’s not possible.

So the answer is yes, it is possible. I mean, ask yourself this question: If we are going to give her a new costume in our plans, do you want me to tell you? Or do you want it to be a cool surprise that happens?

AIPT: They need to know so they can finally get a good night’s sleep, Jordan.

Jordan: You’re going to see her wearing something different at some point. I know that for a fact. But I don’t want to tell you anything more about it.

AIPT: Alright, we’ll take it. Next, let’s chat about some X-characters who don’t get as much time in the spotlight. X-Fan Stephen wanted to know if Spiral will ever return. Stephen would like to see her character explored.

Jordan: There are no plans for Spiral right now. I mentioned her to someone recently as a possible character to use and it just didn’t end up working out. I think again, we’ve got so many characters and only so many issues to cover them all in. She’s fun. Poor, poor Rita. I mean, she’s a weird character. I think her last appearance was when she was a talk show host in X-Factor. So she’s probably still streaming in the Mojoverse, getting top ratings.

AIPT: X-Fan Bambi said Karma covers a lot for representation as a queer, disabled, Southeast Asian woman. After Vita Ayala’s beautiful story with her in these past few years, are there any future plans for her character (hopefully in a bigger role)?

Jordan: I can’t say there are huge plans for Karma right now, but you’re right. She is a pretty great character and she does represent a lot of things, which is a lot to put on her. But yeah, she’s a really fun character. I don’t think there are huge plans for her right this second, but with a character that cool, I’m sure she’ll be back in the spotlight very soon. 

AIPT: And you knew it was coming. Our buddy, X-Fan Rift, wanted to know where Hellion is during the Fall of X.

Jordan: Great question. Where’s Hellion right now? Well, the odds say he’s either in the White Hot Room or dead. If he was not in either of those places, we would’ve seen him, right? He would’ve been out there fighting Orchis very publicly. So he could be out in that desert in the White Hot Room trying to help make a society run with no resources. But the other option is he’s dead. And that’s a bummer. So let’s pretend he’s in the White Hot Room, and I know you want him to be on panel in the White Hot Room, but trust me, he’s like, just a little to the left and he’s doing very important things. He’s helping those crops grow with his telekinesis. 

AIPT: So if Hellion’s in the White Hot Room, you’re saying there’s a chance he could one day host the Phoenix Force, right?

Jordan: Oh, absolutely. You never know.

AIPT: OK, it’s time to talk about Betsy Braddock. This next question came with a note addressed to me, expressing that, given the uncertainty regarding Betsy’s future, her fans need a clear answer regarding her situation. I was also told an honest assessment from you would be beneficial to not just her fanbase, but this very website. A chance to impress my AIPT overlords? How could I say no?

So the question, from X-Fan Nate Grey: How do you, as an editor, perceive what worked and didn’t work for Betsy Braddock in the Krakoan era? Despite headlining three different books, two of them were short-lived and didn’t make as much of an impact as other titles in the line-up. Consequently, Betsy has spent months in comic book limbo. What do you think could be done to course-correct this and elevate her once more? 

Jordan: OK, do you want me to start with my joke answer? She’s just had a modeling gig and she’s been super busy. She booked a new gig and she was like, “I understand Orchis and all that, but this photoshoot isn’t going to wait. I need to go do this.”

OK, now that you hate me because I made that joke, I’m sorry. Yeah, listen, we’ve already talked a lot about how many X-characters there are. I’m going to kind of reiterate what you just said to make sure I understand it.

We tried three different series about Betsy. And if I’m reading correctly into your interpretation, you’re saying some of those books didn’t do as well as you assume Marvel would like, and your concern is that we are going to put that on Betsy and not other factors that could have made the book not sell well, which obviously also presupposes other things, like that Betsy herself does sell books in a vacuum and that we have to be honest with ourselves about the fact that we didn’t tell a good enough story about Betsy to give her the showcase that she deserves to sell the books that she needs to sell. And with a different creative team, with a different writer, with a different artist, we could make a book that will craft towards the purpose of highlighting and showcasing Betsy in the best possible way.

I mean, I’ve talked many times about how much I love the character of Betsy Braddock. So I hope that you know that I’m a fan of that character. That’s a character I like and care about. But I don’t know that your supposition, that she is a character that needs to be focused on, is necessarily accurate. Yes, she was focused on because we made a choice. We wanted to tell a story about her becoming the new Captain Britain. And we played that story out in Excalibur, then we played that story out a bit more in Knights of X, and then we played it out more in Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain. Obviously, our hope was that Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain, for example, would continue to sell, and that it would become an ongoing series that would be still running to this day. Yes, that is why we did not say, “Let’s make sure she’s in Realm of X, let’s make sure she’s in any of the Fall of X books,” because the hope had been, ideally that book will continue into Fall of X. And that’s where you’ll see what she’s doing. So you were correct about that part of it, but she had that attention on her because that was a story we wanted to tell, and we told it for as long as we were financially able to tell it. And now we are not currently.

I will tell you that, unlike some of the characters we’ve talked about today, I do know where Betsy is going to appear next. I know two different places where Betsy’s going to appear next. She is a character that we care about. And honestly, the fact that she was as important as she was for so many issues does make it a little strange that she has not appeared. But that’s how the cookie crumbled, unfortunately. I wish it had gone differently. We have plans for where she’s going to be next. We will see her again before the Krakoan age is through for certain.

AIPT: And it’s Steve Foxe writing Betsy. He talked about that here recently.

Jordan: Gerry Duggan did tease that Steve Foxe is doing something that will involve her.

AIPT: And Rachel.

Jordan: Yes, though Steve’s not the only one. There are other folks. Anyway, yeah, she’s going to be back. But with Betsy, like, I don’t know what you want… I mean, I think I do know what you want me to say…

AIPT: Based on some of the other questions I’ve seen submitted over these past few months, I believe there’s frustration that when a beloved character like Betsy’s series abruptly ends, there’s no backup plan to get her to the Hellfire Gala or worked into an event as important as the Fall of X.

Jordan: Of course, of course. I mean, we didn’t have a backup plan for Betsy, because again, as much as I love her, it’s Betsy Braddock. She’s not the most important character in the X-Men. If suddenly we had nowhere where Wolverine was showing up, yeah, we’d probably have a backup in place. If suddenly the book that Cyclops was showcased in stopped happening, then yeah, we’d probably go, “Well, we can’t not do Cyclops.”

I don’t think Betsy has reached that status. And this is a tricky one, because I’m extremely glad that we separated Betsy and Kwannon. But I also think it’s possible that the continued existence of Kwannon as Psylocke has hurt Betsy in the sense that she became most popular when she was Kwannon and the trappings of what she looked like and her ninja status. And I understand Betsy retains that, absolutely. I’m not taking anything away from what is great about Betsy. Again, I love Betsy. But to the people who aren’t die-hard Betsy fans, some of them are more interested in seeing Kwannon because that’s what they’re expecting. 

And I know some Betsy fans would say that’s because she’s Captain Britain. I think they were more interested in seeing Kwannon than they were in seeing the “X-Men Disassembled” version of Psylocke as well. I still think it’s an extremely positive thing that we made her Captain Britain. I stand by it. And again, I know that’s not what you want me to say either, but I still stand by it and I stand by those books. I edited Excalibur for many issues of it, and I’m extremely proud of those issues. It was then taken over by Sarah Brunstad and she oversaw the rest of Excalibur and then the other two series. And she does great work as well. And it was a pleasure to work with Tini Howard and she does great stories for us.

So I stand behind the work we did. I wish that they had gone over better. I mean, with all books, there are things you could have done better. So I’m sure there are things we could have done better. And I’m not going to litigate those things here. I’m not going to enumerate things that I wish we had done right now. But I do stand by the work we did. It was what we did in the moment and I’m proud of it.

AIPT: Well, I appreciate the candor, Jordan. And hopefully, so do Betsy’s fans. As we wrap up, let’s look ahead to NYCC 2023 later this week. We’re going to learn more about Resurrection of Magneto, Fall of the House of X, and Rise of the Powers of X. Or is it ’10’?

Jordan: This one’s just ‘X’.

AIPT: Interesting. So what can we look forward to?

Jordan: You’re going to find out more about all of these three books at the panel for sure. You’re going to see some art at the panel. You’re going to hear from people who are working on them. And I can’t say much about them beyond that. Are there other books being worked on? Yes. But I don’t think any of them are going to be announced at the panel, but shortly thereafter. There are other things that will be connected to these that you’re going to hear about as well.

AIPT: Will we find out what “The New X-Men” teaser was about, or is that still November?

Jordan: I don’t think you’re going to find out about that.

But all three of these books are great. All three of these creative teams are killer. Fall and Rise are a big, big deal. And Resurrection is so mind-blowingly cool.

I mean, if you’re fans of the X-line currently, probably just hearing the creative teams, you can guess some cool things about them. You know what kind of awesome, crazy, big-action stuff Gerry can bring. What kind of mind-bending, cerebral stuff Kieron Gillen can bring. What kind of, well, both Al Ewing can bring for sure. And what great art Lucas Werneck can do. He’s been doing it in the X-Office for ages, but this is absolutely amazing work that he’s doing. R.B. Silva, we’re so thrilled to have back on this book. We’ve missed him since he left us, but we’re so thrilled to have him back. He’s doing amazing, amazing work. And Luciano Vecchio did such great work on the Hellfire Gala that we were really thrilled with. And the work he’s doing here is even more awesome. Al is giving him crazy things to draw and he’s drawing the crap out of them.

All three of these books are going to be super, super great.

AIPT: OK, finally, I’m going to give X-Fans a chance to learn more about these three books by doing something they don’t want to do. Give me a Weezer song that captures the vibe of each of the three new books.

Jordan: Oh man. I feel like I’m bad at these, but let me think hard about this. Let me look on my phone at Weezer playlists.

AIPT: When you picture the books, do they each have a specific vibe?

Jordan: They have very distinctive things going on in them and they’re very much connected.

[X Minutes Later…]

Jordan: Resurrection of Magneto I would say almost positively is “The Deep and Dreamless Sleep”.

Fall of the House of X is “Run, Raven, Run”.

Rise of the Powers of X is “What Happens After You”.

AIPT: Alright, good picks, all from SZNZ. And X-Fans, just know Jordan spent countless minutes poring over Weezer lyrics before settling on those songs. So don’t just rock out to these tracks — take notes and discuss! Weezer appreciates you. =w=

But on that note, thanks for a great conversation, Jordan! I’m already looking forward to the next one — once we know a bit more about what happens after the Fall of X. But for now, X-Fans, let’s take an eXclusive look at some of the Fall of X panels coming in the not-too-distant future to a comic near you, courtesy of Jordan.

No new X-Men Monday next week. We’ll all need a break so we can fully process all the NYCC reveals. And X-Men Monday won’t be at this year’s NYCC, but here’s the one time we were there, in case you missed it the first time!

Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!