X-Men Monday #225 – X Me Anything With the X-Office

Welcome, X-Fans, to another mutant milestone — the uncanny 225th edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

Wow. 225 installments. That’s… what? Eight anniversary editions spread throughout the Krakoan era? Let’s break it down.

X-Men Monday #25, where we got to know the Dawn of X creators who would go on to establish Krakoa’s foundation.

X-Men Monday #50, where X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White discussed the then-recent C2E2 X-summit and the upcoming X of Swords (right before a global pandemic changed everything).

X-Men Monday #75, where the X-Office talked all things X of Swords.

X-Men Monday #100, where the X-Office teased the upcoming, first-ever [modern] Hellfire Gala — and we learned Victor LaValle would be joining their ranks.

X-Men Monday #125, where Head of X Jonathan Hickman made his final X-Men Monday appearance and reflected on his time with Marvel’s mutants.

X-Men Monday #150, where the X-Office kicked off the Destiny of X era.

X-Men Monday #175, where the X-Office answered questions about all things X as the mysterious Sins of Sinister event approached.

X-Men Monday #200, where… well, a lot happened in this one. It’d take too long to summarize it all — just click the link in case you missed it!

And that brings us to the edition you’re reading right now. What’s it about? You’ll soon find out. But as the Krakoan era approaches its conclusion, let’s take a moment to appreciate that through X-Men Monday, the X-Office, and all the X-Fans who have submitted questions since House of X #1 went on sale, we have thousands of words worth of behind-the-scenes commentary on what will go down as one of the greatest X-Men eras of all time. That’s pretty cool — and the era’s not even done yet!

Personally, I’m excited for that day in the distant future where the Librarian binge-reads every edition of X-Men Monday to better understand the Krakoan era and wonder why so much time was spent discussing Weezer.

You’re welcome, Librarian. Now, let’s get this party started.

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday #225, everybody! Let’s kick off this mutant milestone by turning things over to X-Fan Bambi, who wanted to thank you for all of the love and effort you’ve put into these stories thus far. To celebrate the 225th edition of X-Men Monday, Bambi wanted to take it back to Uncanny X-Men #225, which happened to be the start of the original “Fall of the Mutants” storyline. What are your thoughts on this iconic event, and how did it inspire or help shape the Fall of X?

Steve Foxe: Well, speaking for Dark X-Men, it is one of the reasons Warren Worthington has uhh… a rough time in the book — and why he has a golden skull mask, just like his original Death mask. I don’t think “Fall of the Mutants” was top of mind for most of us while conceiving this era, but it did help inspire that nod, at least. Sorry, Warren fans.

Al Ewing: I remember the X-Factor side of things very well — Apocalypse really coming into his own there as the Big A we’ve come to know and love. So I guess we’re paying homage of a sort, however, many years later, by having Apocalypse play such a big part in the events of the Fall… and helping pave the way for what comes next.

AIPT: As we head toward the conclusion of the Krakoan era, does this final chapter have an official name? Are we still in the Fall of X? Or are we entering what will be referred to as the Fall of the House of X era?

Jordan D. White: I would say that Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X are the end of the Fall of X era, in the same way X of Swords was the end of Dawn of X and Inferno was the end of Reign of X. Meaning, like… at the start of them, we’re all still in the Fall of X era, it’s going through them and getting to the end that gets us out. 

Kieron Gillen: Conversely, I would say this is the last drinks before the bar shuts dance on the tables set fire to the curtains era.

Al Ewing: I think we’re in the Fall of “Of”. New X-eras will have new names, and I look forward to seeing what they are.

AIPT: X-Fan Cathal said it can sometimes feel like superhero comic status quos are forced to wrap up quickly, but Cathal’s enjoyed how intentional the road to the end of the Krakoan era has felt. The current story feels like it’s been building and building since at least the second Hellfire Gala, with the dominos starting to fall now. How far back was the Fall of X and climax of the Krakoan era settled upon as the end goal?

Kieron Gillen: I’m doing my squinty face here. A baby joined me in this period. My memories are fragmentary. Apparently, I wrote most of a Marvel event at some point in the last few years, but I don’t believe it, as that sounds deeply unlikely. I remember reading Gerry’s outline for his X-Men run just as I arrived, and that had what became Fall of X and Fall of the House of X firmly embedded in it. As such, at least the general narrative shape of this has been in place for as long as I’ve been in the office. I think. I am an unreliable witness. I’m an unreliable everything. 

Leah Williams: It was always the plan — I remember my very first creative summit meeting; sitting in a conference room with everyone as we listened to Jonathan Hickman overview his long-range plan that would be years in the making. It was always constructed to this end. I was awed at the scale and scope of it, and that such massive storytelling could be planned that far in advance and carried out. Not in terms of specifics within the books, mind you — but the inevitable Fall of X. 

Steve Foxe: And I clearly haven’t been around as long as Leah was, but I can confirm this was all pretty much set, give or take a month, by the time Jordan approached me for Dark X-Men in the fall of 2022. I think there’s a tendency among readers to think publishing plans can be really reactionary, but in my experience, a lot of it’s already determined. 

Al Ewing: There was definitely something on the table when I arrived — that was around the planning for the first Hellfire Gala, give or take, and as I recall there were a few pieces in motion even then. It’s hard to recall with precision just what came into being when, but I will say that there’s one major moment coming in Fall that I’ve been hearing Gerry pitch in one form or another since my very first X-Meeting at C2E2, back in the before-times. You’ll know it when you see it.

Jordan D. White: Yeah — for sure, there are parts of this that have been baked in since the very beginning, and then the collaborative nature of it all has meant it’s kept evolving and had new things added in at every step. So there are elements that are very different from when it was first discussed, but there are some parts that have made it through the whole time intact.

AIPT: Naturally, that Mark Brooks promotional image revealed at New York Comic Con has X-Fans talking and — of course — speculating. As many have pointed out, not everything in these teaser images ends up making it into comics. So how do these promotional images come about? Is the idea to include key characters plus a few red herrings (looking at you, Bill the Lobster)? Is Mark free to just go wild? Honestly, if Cyclops doesn’t end up sitting like that in an actual comic, readers might riot.

Kieron Gillen: Don’t underestimate Jean’s seating power here either.

Steve Orlando: USUALLY I’d say they come about with me sending a list of Z (X) – listers who PROBABLY don’t NEED to be on the poster, but who I’d kill for Mister Brooks to draw.

Steve Foxe: The Zombie X-Babies spread in last year’s X-Men Annual was my attempt to finally check X-Babies Havok off the list from that first promo! But yes, we do suggest relevant characters, and then Mark puts his spin on them, too. It’s fun to see readers guess what should be taken literally and what might be a red herring. 

Jordan D. White: There is reasoning that goes into these images, and sometimes the actual details are more literal than others. In that first image at the top of it all, we had some very specific things – Moira on the bench, Cerebro, new characters. But some of the things were just reflecting the long history of the X-Men. Like the lobster – I think David Gabriel requested him, if I recall correctly.

AIPT: Speaking of comic book crustaceans, X-Fan Ian Jackson asked, what are the chances we’ll finally see Bill the Lobster before the end of the Krakoa era?

Steve Orlando: He’s vying for space in my heart with Mudbug.

Kieron Gillen: We’ve been saving him to be Namor’s steed when the prince of Atlantis finally turns up.

Jordan D. White: Didn’t Magneto eat him? 

AIPT: Staying on characters for a bit, X-Fan Leah Beekeeper wanted to know which creator’s work with a specific character blew you away in the Krakoan era?

Steve Orlando: AS one of the creators, I still want to answer and spotlight a few things. For one, the revelations about Apocalypse under not just Jonathan’s hand, but those of the entire office, have been a game-changer for me. Not that I didn’t like him before, but he’s become so much more dynamic and rich in the Krakoan era. I also think the character work Vita Ayala and Charlie Jane Anders did with New Mutants was wonderful from top to bottom — the cast was always huge but each personality was distinct and compelling. And I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten me so into Sabretooth as Victor LaValle. I could go on!

Kieron Gillen: There’s been so much smart character work in the office, I’m going to go for the best dumbest character work in the Krakoan age — Leah’s Boom-Boom was basically a glitter Ramones, in the dumb-smart aesthetic, with a real undertones-y heart beneath the punk-pop. 

Leah Williams: Kieron!! That was so expected. I’m making the simp emoji face irl. I also have to spotlight Kieron’s iconic character work within Immortal X-Men, the inception of which I had the privilege of witnessing firsthand when Kieron joined the X-Office. And I don’t think I ever missed an opportunity in the Slack to hype Kieron up about it. Tini Howard did incredible work with Betsy Braddock in Excalibur and Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain and solidified so, so many important new heights for her. Lastly, I have to shout-out Zeb Wells for making me feel big feelings about characters I’d never cared about before in Hellions. Zeb’s scripts are so fucking funny that I have snippets from just the panel descriptions burned into my brain to this day.

Steve Foxe: Seconding Hellions, especially the revamp of Greycrow into such a COOL sleeper hit from this era. Nothing about that cast should have worked and yet it’s such a blast. 

Al Ewing: I’m a big fan of Tini’s work with Rachel Summers. Also Vita’s character work in New Mutants was absolutely brilliant. But to take it right back to the earliest days… Jonathan’s reimagining of Nimrod made quite an impression.

Jordan D. White: There are so many, but right now, I will call out Al Ewing’s work with both Magneto and Storm as being wonderful. They are both huge beloved characters that I am not always drawn to, yet Al was able to make me completely love reading about both of them, and I am not just saying that because he is going to be writing them both in Resurrection of Magneto. From the start of S.W.O.R.D., I was really blown away by how much Magneto resonated for me, and when Storm joined the title, the same was true. Honestly — every character who appeared in S.W.O.R.D. or X-Men Red for even a moment was handled with astonishing skill, be they Earth Mutant or Arakkii. 

Gerry Duggan: I think every time we let the artists drive we were rewarded. Hellfire is probably the most obvious example, but there were a lot of other ones big and small along the way.

AIPT: Is there an X-Men character you never realized was so popular until you started working on X-Men comics?

Steve Orlando: I’m happy to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Mammomax hive. 

Kieron Gillen: I’ve been here before, so nothing was much of a surprise, and back then everything was a surprise. I think the one that struck me this time was that there are a lot more Polaris fans than I remember. I’m lucky, in that all I write are unpopular characters. And if they’re not unpopular, I’ll work on making them so. 

Steve Foxe: Not one character in particular, but the passion fans have for D-listers always makes me smile. We’ll get tweets very earnestly asking (or sometimes demanding) why [character who’s appeared five times ever] isn’t getting a starring role somewhere. The X-line is bigger than it’s ever been and there’s still barely room to fit all the A-listers! The cool thing about Krakoa putting ALL the toys back in the toy box was making them available for use again, but there are only so many pages published a month!

Gerry Duggan: I was handed the election idea to implement when JH left the building, and it was a good reminder that every character has its cheering section. 

Al Ewing: I think the biggest surprise was probably Forearm. I knew Wiz Kid would go over, I knew Peeper would go over, I knew pretty much any X-character had a deeply intense fanbase — but I wasn’t prepared for the reaction to Valerio Schiti putting a beard on Forearm. Suddenly, out of nowhere, everyone wants his fifth arm. Incredible scenes.

Jordan D. White: I will always remember “fondly” the time when I took over the X-Men books, declared that I was going to write songs about characters and allowed people on Twitter to chime in with who I should write about… and Maggott won by a lot. So I wrote a nice Maggott song and then kindly asked that the fans not do that to me again… only to be forced to write a song about Adam-X.

AIPT: X-Fan Mungho wanted to know if there’s anything good in Beast’s future. Mungho said please, just give us Beast fans some scrap that this will turn out OK, even if it’s just “It will turn out OK”. 🙂

Mark Basso: Beast seems OK now, what do you mean?  He’s doing what’s best for mutantkind, what could be wrong with that? Are you saying there’s a time Beast wouldn’t have taken this road to get there…?  That’s interesting. ;)

Kieron Gillen: Something good in Beast’s future? Maybe reprinting Steve Sanders and my S.W.O.R.D. run? Beast was fun there, before all the mass murder and all that, and before Abigail’s mass murder and all that. At least no one has turned Lockheed into a mass murderer yet, or I’d suspect a grudge. Unit, of course, came pre-mass-murderized. 

AIPT: X-Fan Sam T asked if the idea for Dead X-Men came after seeing fan reaction to this year’s Hellfire Gala, or if it was the plan all along?

Gerry Duggan: We’ve not made any creative decisions by “fan reaction”, and if we did I don’t think we’d still be working on X-Men comics 6 years after we commenced. The Hellfire Galas are bottled lightning. They’re what happens when a couple dozen artists, editors, writers, and executives are all moving together towards the same goal, and the result crushes. They nourished different parts of the business, and I stood in one this past summer. The best X-Men comics are when their backs are against the wall, and that’s why this year’s Gala will be an immortal comic. As for the team that never was, they got to be of course, and they were always going to get to be. Just to be a candidate for the team was an instant ticket to elevation.

And on a final thought about fan reactions – the only reaction that has any meaning is purchasing the book. Comic readers are actually the secondary market. Vote with your dollars, pre-ordering a comic is ensuring its survival. 

Kieron Gillen: Others will fill in on the details, but finding a place for them in Rise of the Powers of X has been one of the best things about the process. Foxe is cooking.

Steve Foxe: Kieron has been wildly generous with making sure Dead X-Men fits into the stories he’s telling. As Gerry said, the book was planned prior to the Gala and any fan reaction – I had already been asked to write it – but it was affirming to see that there was a real passion to see those five candidates in action together. Readers had to wait a bit, but I can tell you the result is going to be a very big, very classic X-adventure with those five leading the way.

Jordan D. White: Yeah – we’ve talked about this before, but every year when we do the votes, just by nature of being spotlighted in that way, at least SOME of the characters end up getting more story showcases – one of which is that we’ve done a “Secret X-Men” story the first two years. This year, when we first came up with the idea for the vote, we didn’t have the Dead X-Men book planned yet, but we knew that we would somehow find a way to do something with them. When the plans came together and gelled into Dead X-Men, we were thrilled – I think it’s the biggest showcase the “losers” of the fan votes have gotten so far, which I guess is appropriate considering what they had to go through. But yeah – as said before, we were making those plans before the Gala issue came out.

AIPT: There’s a lot of concern about the various X-babies (not to be confused with THE X-Babies). X-Fan Ympus said with Jubilee dead, who’s taking care of Shogo? And what about all the babies under Stacy X’s care? Then, XPetFan said with his moms off fighting separate battles, who is watching Amazing Baby!? 

Jordan D. White: Shogo is still living in Otherworld being raised as a dragon by the fae. Not what I would want for my child, but to each their own. The babies that were under Stacy’s care… you know, I would assume they are STILL under Stacy’s care in the desert/Atlantic Krakoa oasis in the White Hot Room. Amazing Baby… my GUESS is that with no one to look after them, Amazing Baby ran off into London, ate a child, and is wearing their skin and living as a little British human. But that is just a guess.

Kieron Gillen: I’d agree — anyone who isn’t explicitly shown on Earth is almost certainly in Krakoa in the White Hot Room. It’s really a living community. 

Tini Howard: Amazing Baby’s moms took him to a dog park in a ‘verse where none of this icky “Fall of X” is happening. They’re dressing him up as the T-1000 for Halloween. 

Leah Williams: What Tini said! Amazing Baby endures, don’t worry. <3

Steve Foxe: Maddie has a strict no-babies policy at the Limbo Embassy, sorry!!!

AIPT: Now, the question that gives X-Fans new reasons to speculate in these anniversary editions — who are the characters to watch as the Krakoan era comes to a close?

Gerry Duggan: Everyone is on the table. 

Steve Orlando: I’ll say, regarding X-Men Unlimited, that some of the original New Mutants will be playing a big role. Moonstar and Sunsport lead a big push in the book, with the Proudstar brothers, especially John, right beside them.

Kieron Gillen: Xavier. Jean. Moira. All endings and beginnings, and vice versa.

Steve Foxe: Fans who’ve patiently been waiting for more Rachel and Betsy, your time is coming. And the X-Men team that never was is going to show everyone why they deserved their spots.

Al Ewing: Storm, Magneto, Apocalypse. Each getting their moment. And as Steve says, keep an eye on Sunspot… though someone’s going to take that advice and regret it.

AIPT: Finally, we’re still a few months away from the official end of the Krakoan era — but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a somber vibe sweeping through X-Fandom. Krakoa — and the inventive and thought-provoking stories it produced — have had a tremendous impact on so many X-Fans. At the same time, the sobering reality of ongoing comics is that… they keep going. And to quote a recent Gerry Duggan newsletter:

“Endings are precious. You don’t always get to write the magic words…

…The End.”

So, with all that said, I’m curious. How does it feel to have the rare privilege as modern comic creators to actually put a period on something you played an active role in building from the ground up?

Kieron Gillen: I’m a little atypical here — I didn’t have an active role in building it from the ground up.

I came in when Jon left. As such, I was always aware that my job was trying to end this story as elegantly as I can. My thing is… I always try to write the end of my runs as a full stop. It doesn’t matter if you carry on reading or not. If you read what I showed you, you get a story. I’ll take you on a journey and give you a compelling emotional place to step away from those characters. Whether you step away forever or step back next week, that’s the goal. 

So I’m doing that as it’s the story I’ve been writing… but it’s also me finishing the story the assembled Krakoan hive mind put in motion. There’s a lot of looking back and seeing things to reincorporate in these final issues — Rise of the Powers of X is both the climax of the era, but also a sequel to the first Powers of X. I want to do it well, not least because I’m sure Jon would laugh at me if I did it badly.

Leah Williams: I’ll be a little atypical here as well in that I don’t have a role in this conclusion, but I did come on board in the very early days. It’s impossible to put into words just how life-changing this experience has been for me, and I remember very distinctly the awareness of just how special it all was, and how magical. Not a second went by when I wasn’t aware of that, while also knowing that nothing so perfect could last forever. Sometimes it felt like a criminal amount of fun working with these folks. It was encapsulated lightning — being able to work with all of these amazing creators within a shared sandbox for a title line that still has a devastating hold over my heart, and it’s been one of the greatest honors of my life.

Tini Howard: Every run, every era, every story ends. They’ll always be there on your shelf to pull out and re-read and return to Krakoa any time. In getting to write Apocalypse-as-scholar and teacher during this era I often used him as the mouthpiece to really galvanize and nail home things about mutantkind that I thought were important, so I’ll say it as he says: “They can never kill us. They can never keep us apart.” 

Steve Foxe: One of the last articles I wrote when I worked in comic-book journalism was the announcement that Jonathan Hickman was taking over the X-line. I never could have guessed, when I hit publish on that piece, that I’d be here at the end, several hundred pages of X-comics under my belt, helping to contribute to the finale. I’m humbled and grateful to have a small role in this defining era of my favorite franchise – not just in comics, but period.

Al Ewing: It was one of the best groups I’ve ever been part of and it probably kept me sane at certain points of the pandemic. When you get to end something and look back on it and be proud of it — especially when you were able to contribute a piece of a larger whole — it’s always a privilege. We’re bringing the plane in for a final landing, and I think it’s going to be a good one, and if I can mangle the metaphor a little – you’ll step out, look back, and see just how big and gorgeous and intricate every loop and dive and spin was. I think those who were part of this X-Office will remember this beautiful thing we made and how good it felt sometimes to make it. 

Jordan D. White: Editors changing titles is usually not news that readers care about, and it also doesn’t always happen at the ends and starts of things. When I came onto X-Men… yes, we knew that there was a relaunch coming (the Uncanny run with Disassembled in it) and there were vague rumblings that Jonathan Hickman might be doing some sort of X-project for us, but I came on while Blue, Gold, and Red were all still running, seeing out the end of Mark Paniccia’s plans for those, for Extermination, for Return of Wolverine. So, honestly – the fact that I am able to see through the end of the Krakoan era as editor of the line is something a little unusual and for which I am really thankful. We made something really special here, both in the stories and in the community of creators we formed along the way, and I am extremely proud to have been a part of both. 

Gerry Duggan: I got to be one of the first fans of House of X and Powers of X and then was privileged to begin collaborating on story in 2018 – an unheard of length of time in modern superhero comics. We serviced as many characters as we could with the biggest swings we could muster, and it’s not over yet. We’re always out to break hearts, but I think we’ve saved some of our biggest surprises for the mic drop. Grateful to everyone that supported us as we wrote our dream jobs. 

AIPT: Any readers shedding tears right now? (It’s OK if you are!) But don’t worry. Krakoa — and the era we’ve come to love so much — isn’t over yet.

As we wrap up, first, a GIANT-SIZE thanks to everybody who took the time to be a part of this anniversary edition of X-Men Monday! And thank you, Jordan, for providing more than the usual amount of eXclusive preview images from upcoming Fall of X stories!

Destiny, already reading the next anniversary edition of X-Men Monday. Anything good in there, Irene?

Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!