X-Men Monday #233 – Jordan D. White Reflects on 2023 and Teases 2024

Welcome, X-Fans, to the final uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT of 2023!

And Merry Christmas!

What do you get X-Fans who already have 60 years of continuity? You gift them a giant-size edition of their favorite weekly X-Men interview column, featuring not just our annual end-of-year conversation with X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White but a few special guests as well!

Let’s kick things off with the long-awaited results of the 2023 X-Men Monday Survey. They… were wild.

I’ve been running end-of-year surveys since X-Men Monday launched in 2019 and I’ve never had any problems. I guess 2023 was the year a few X-Fans decided to try their hand at election meddling. First, it was overzealous Jean Grey fans, spamming the Google Form thousands of times to ensure a Phoenix-fueled victory across categories. Then, the same things happened for all things Emma Frost and the White Queen reigned supreme.

Anyway, with 12,088 responses — naming Invincible Iron Man X-Fans’ favorite X-series of 2023 with 69.2% of the vote — it was clear the survey had been compromised. Yes, something like this is always a popularity contest, but it had to be fair to all the X-Fans who replied honestly. So I created a new survey with cutting-edge security measures in place… which means folks had to enter their name and email address to participate. I realize that may have limited the number of responses I received, but I believe the more modest 1,269 responses I received were honest — and a testament to a certain X-Woman’s fanbase’s ability to mobilize behind a common goal.

So without further ado, here are the top 3 results for each category, along with some words from the creators behind these favorites.

Favorite Ongoing X-Series of 2023

1. X-Men – 45.2%

2. Immortal X-Men – 24.7%

3. X-Men Red – 22%

Gerry Duggan: I’m very privileged to be collaborating with so many wonderfully talented folks on my favorite comic book ever. Truly a dream gig. There are a lot of killer X-books out there at the moment, and I’m very gratified at this result. Hope you enjoy the comics we have coming your way in the next few months, we’re working very hard on them. On behalf of all our freelancers and Bullpen around the world — we thank you so much. Buckle up for the end. 

Favorite X-Mini-Series of 2023

1. Jean Grey – 59.7%

2. X-Terminators – 6.9%

3. Children of the Vault – 4.8%

Louise Simonson: I was a little trepidatious about possible reader reaction to the Jean Grey mini-series — a character study in which Jean, one of my absolute favorite mutants, is dead (again), trapped in the White Hot Room, hallucinating, convinced that the disaster that has befallen mutantkind is her fault and that she must do something to fix it. So I’m delighted so many X-Fans gave Jean Grey a chance. And I’m especially thrilled that they chose it as this year’s favorite X-mini-series. X-readers are so knowledgeable about the stories and so passionate about the characters, that it’s particularly meaningful that they appreciate the story Bernard Chang and I told.

Bernard Chang: As an avid collector of comics during my teenage years in the ’80s, with the X-Men titles being on the top of my pull list, the Jean Grey mini-series was a dream come true. The gift was already the opportunity to collaborate with one of the industry’s legends, Louise Simonson; colorist, Marcelo Maiolo; along with the rest of the creative/editorial team at Marvel. I’m always appreciative when our passion in the story and craft resonates with the readers. Thank you and Jia You!

Favorite X-Character of 2023

1. Jean Grey – 54.9%

2. Storm – 8.4%

3. Emma Frost – 6.5%

Gerry Duggan: I knew it was a mistake to kill Jean. But what a death, right? Every X-Men writer’s dream is to give Jean a good death. We swung for the fences. RIP, Jeannie. We’ll never see you again. Jean was so much fun to write. What a gift. 

Breakout X-Character of 2023

1. Mother Righteous – 53%

2. Madelyne Pryor – 14.7%

3. Jon Ironfire – 7.7%

Si Spurrier: There’s a personality type I’ve always found particularly poisonous. It’s a person who might come across on the surface as perfectly charming. They’re interested, they ask questions, they don’t appear to be egotists or narcissists in the standard pattern. They might even seem unfathomably generous. It’s just that whatever interaction you have with these people, however much of yourself you pour into the relationship, somehow they will always be the center of the story. Only their feelings matter. You can feel loved by them, supported by them… and hence never quite stop to realize that the emotional spotlight has never once been pointing at you.

That’s Mother Righteous. You might think she’s a supporting character in your story, but the moment you thank her? The moment you acknowledge that you wouldn’t be where you are, if not for her help… suddenly she’s the starring role, and you don’t even get a credit.

As she herself put it: “I am the worm that eats your heart.”

Kieron Gillen: I just loved seeing her come together. Si did great work in conceptualizing and defining this abusive void of a parasite and then Jamie McKelvie came along to give another instant-classic Jamie McKelvie design (the negative space heart is some next-level stuff). Superhero comics are always in need of great new villains,  so I was delighted to see her hit so hard, and delighted to get a chance to play with her.

Favorite X-Couple

1. Jean Grey and Cyclops – 55.2%

2. Destiny and Mystique – 11.3%

3. Emma Frost and Tony Stark – 7.3%

Gerry Duggan: Emma got the message so hard, she actually went and married an Avenger. Scott and Jean deserve this recognition by the fans. We gave them good times and bad, and then worse times, but that’s our job. To send doom. And sometimes Doom. Thanks, X-Fans. We appreciate you. 

AIPT: Thanks to all the creators who provided an “acceptance speech” — and, of course, thank you to all the X-Fans who participated in this year’s survey (twice, in some cases). Your personal favorites may not have been among those listed above, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less special.

Now, let’s sit down for our final end-of-year chat with outgoing X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White.

Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Jordan — and Merry Christmas! First, as we wrap up 2023, where are you at in your Marvel journey? Are you currently editing any X-Men titles or, since you work several months ahead, have you already moved on to your next gig?

Jordan D. White: Both. I’m not done with all of my X-Men work, but I’m also starting to work on other things as well. So, as you’ll see in Timeless [on sale December 27] and the teaser Marvel released, X-Men is relaunching in July 2024. My last issue of X-Men comes out in June. So I haven’t finished work on that yet — we’re still a little bit off from finishing work on that. 

But with that said, I have already begun working on Venom and Hulk stories. Although I think, for the most part, my Venom and Hulk books won’t be coming out until after I’m done with X-Men. But there might be one or two issues that overlap.

AIPT: You’ve been teasing your work on the Venom and Hulk books on social media, but since there’s been no official announcement, it’s nice to have that confirmation for all those wondering what’s next for you.

Now, something I still see X-Fans talking about to this day is what happened between the end of the Uncanny X-Men: Disassembled era and House of X #1. And Jonathan Hickman made it clear in X-Men Monday the X-Office wouldn’t be going back to fill in those blanks. So my question is, since the final Krakoan era stories are being wrapped up, can we expect the end of the Krakoan age to tee up what comes next on the page? 

Jordan: Well, I don’t feel like it’s my place to talk about that. I feel like how much we want to say about that sounds like a decision for Tom Brevoort to make. There’s some stuff coming out that will tee it up, but again, I just don’t want to say too much.

We are working together. We are not in any way in opposition to each other. We’re working together to make sure everything works.

AIPT: That was going to be my next question — how much visibility do you have into what Tom’s doing?

Jordan: Tons. I’m removed from it in that it’s not my book, but I’m aware of what they’re doing. We are doing everything in our power to definitely not get in the way of that, and they’re doing everything in their power not to get in the way of what we want to do, and make them both work together seamlessly. 

But I want to go back to what you were saying… people are still talking about what happened between Disassembled and now? Like, first of all, we got lots of flashbacks in House of X of them prepping stuff. What more do you need? You want more pages of comics of people going, “So we’re moving to an island?” “Yep, an island.” “Where are we going to live?” “In plant houses.”

AIPT: [Laughs] I saw a tweet recently that mentioned the gap between eras. I think there are fans who do want to see Cyclops inviting Wolverine to live on the Moon with him and his family, and so on.

Jordan: Honestly, that’s great. This is the best opportunity for fanfiction. We have absolutely no plans right now to explore that in any capacity. So have at it, fanfic folks. Have a good time, make your headcanon for what happened.

Listen, I’ll never say never, because my hope is that sometime down the line, when a generation of creators who loved this era and fell in love with this era, come to comics and want to revisit it, who knows? Maybe at that point, they’ll go, “Here’s the Krakoa -1 mini-series. We get you more in-depth on how everybody is prepping for the big move.” Generally speaking, there is a window there — I’m not going to lie — there’s a window given where we left everybody. But pretty much all the big stories were wrapped up, and I don’t know, it’s never seemed like that big of a leap to me. It’s mostly shoe leather.

AIPT: In 30 years, in X-Men Legends volume 30, Jonathan Hickman will return to tell us how the Summer House came to be.

Jordan: Well, sure. Except that, he’ll reveal something that will turn it all on its head and make you want to reread the entire series all over again because it changed everything.

AIPT: Well, Jonathan mined the X-Men’s continuity for things that would define the Krakoan era, so you’re right. In 30 years, a new writer could say that something major happened between Disassembled and House of X #1 and it created the new villain of the era or whatever.

Jordan: That’s great. I love it.

AIPT: Before we move on, it’s good to hear you and Tom are working together as you transition between eras.

Jordan: They’ve got a great crew working on it. I’ve read the very first issue that’s going to be coming out. Not the whole thing, just the script. And I have another script for another series here that I’m planning to read. I just haven’t gotten around to it, even though I know the plans.

AIPT: OK, let’s dig into those survey results to get your reactions. First up, X-Fans’ favorite X-series of 2023.

1. X-Men – 45.2%

2. Immortal X-Men – 24.7%

3. X-Men Red – 22%

Jordan: I mean, listen, that makes a lot of sense. X-Men is the main book of the line, right? Immortal X-Men is a huge deal, but it’s the politics book rather than the superhero book. And at the end of the day, the X-Men’s roots are in superheroics, not politics. So it makes sense to me that X-Men would win.

X-Men Red is an amazing book that I love every single thing about, but also not exactly a traditional superhero book. A lot of world-building and almost fantasy. I mean, it’s definitely a little sci-fi because it’s on another planet, but also almost a fantasy novel. But again, all three of those books are amazing books. 

AIPT: Next up, X-Fans’ favorite X-mini-series of 2023.

1. Jean Grey – 59.7%

2. X-Terminators – 6.9%

3. Children of the Vault – 4.8%

Jordan: Wait, wait, wait. Can you say those numbers again?

AIPT: Jean Grey, 59.7%, X-Terminators, 6.9%, Children of the Vault, 4.8%.

Jordan: That’s such a huge jump between X-Terminators and Jean Grey.

AIPT: Well, every mini-series of 2023 was listed, so X-Fans split the vote among everything else.

Jordan: Yeah, I guess we did do quite a few. Because you hear X-Terminators was the runner-up at only 6% and that’s very shocking.

AIPT: [Laughs] It’s clear we need to mobilize the Jean fans for actual elections. Jean fans, help save democracy next November.

Jordan: I’m so glad the Jean fans were happy with the Jean Grey mini-series. That is a great one. Marvel has done a number of these retro books or nostalgia books where a classic creator comes and revisits a character that they’ve worked on before. A lot of the time, those projects are 100% self-contained and take place during an older run. This book obviously has its roots in that kind of a project, but rather than have it be just a Jean book set back then, it was a deliberate choice to tie that in with what’s going on with Jean now. And we did that because we knew that we had this situation where we were killing her off and going to be bringing her back in the White Hot Room. So the editor, Sarah Brunstad, went to Louise Simonson and said, “Here’s the situation we’ve got. We want to do this series that explores Jean’s life and choices from this vantage point beyond death.” And I’m really excited that Louise was willing to play ball with that because it turned out great. It was a real fun exploration.

And Bernard Chang absolutely drew it amazingly. He’s a wonderful artist. I worked with him a little bit back on Children of the Atom. And then I’m working with him again on Dead X-Men. So yeah, everything about the book turned out great. I’m so glad the fans loved it.

AIPT: And then we’ve got two very unique mini-series.

Jordan: I am so proud to hear that X-Terminators came in No. 2 — that’s extremely heartening. I’ll be honest with you, it’s a book that did not sell as well as I would have hoped it would. It’s a total gonzo, madness fest. But I love every second of it. And it’s also a book that you just want to give to someone and say, “Hey, read a fun X-Men comic.” They will enjoy it. I’ve given it to a couple of different people who aren’t regular readers, one of whom was my wife. We got the trade paperback in and I said to my wife, “Hey, check this out.” And she adored it and thought it was such a blast.

Obviously, it’s extremely light on continuity — but it does fit into continuity. And again, it’s just completely violent and awesome revenge-girl bonding. It owes a little bit to Death Proof, the Quentin Tarantino movie, but also just that general kind of grindhouse revenge film vibe that we were going for with it. I’m so proud of it. 

Children of the Vault is a book I didn’t edit — Sarah Brunstad did. But I was there for the genesis of it — doing a story about the Children of the Vault because when Krakoa goes away, they’re no longer able to keep them contained. But then the development of the actual story happened between Sarah and Deniz Camp. I read the issues as they would come in and I was blown away. I just absolutely loved them. It was such a well-written book. And again, I think it’s one that’s slipped under the general population’s radar, but I think it’s one that makes a really great impact when you read it. Absolutely great stuff.

AIPT: Now for X-Fans’ favorite X-character of 2023.

1. Jean Grey – 54.9%

2. Storm – 8.4%

3. Emma Frost – 6.5%

Jordan: Wow. Well, listen, Jean had a great year. I mean, I say that and she died, but she still had a great year because I think she had a really strong showing before that. She had a great showing at the Hellfire Gala right through her death, honestly, because she had a great moment in dying. Then again, the mini-series and her return have been really fascinating.

I would love to once again tip my hat back to that Brood debate, which I love. Every once in a while I still see people making fun of it, but it’s so hilarious to me because every single time, everyone thinks it’s a completely moronic debate because their side is so clearly right. And they’re on different sides from each other. Jean, in my opinion, was 100% right. Not everyone agrees. So many people are like, “No, obviously Cyclops is right.”

AIPT: And what comes next for Jean?

Jordan: Well, she’s going to be in X-Men Forever. She’s a really important character to the X-Men — let me just say that. So if there’s some sort of big thing going on with them, I would say there’s a good chance she’ll be involved in some sort of really big X-Men story.

Honestly, as much as I love Jean, I would probably say Storm had a bigger year than Jean because Storm absolutely kicked ass in Sins of Sinister. I think she was astonishingly awesome in Sins of Sinister. Then, X-Men Red has been such a wonderful showcase for her as a character. She has been able to kick ass, take names, and be amazing, but not in a way that feels indulgent.

I’m just going to be 100% real with you. Storm is a character that has not in the past been one of my favorite characters of all time. Like before this era, I liked her fine, but she wasn’t one of my favorites. I love her now. She’s so amazing in X-Men Red. And it’s because all of her big victories feel earned to me and feel like they really illuminate who she is as a person — and why who she is as a person matters. And that will continue in Resurrection of Magneto. She is basically half of that book.

Emma has had a great year too, because I think she had a very unexpected showcase, much to the dread of some of her fans — her being in Gerry’s Invincible Iron Man series, married to Tony Stark. But I think it’s been great for her. Gerry, going all the way back to Marauders, has done a great job writing Emma and continues to do so. It’s been wonderful.

AIPT: Also, a strong showing for X-Woman. Not an X-Man in the top 3.

Jordan: I didn’t even think about that but you’re absolutely right.

AIPT: OK, on to X-Fans’ breakout X-character of 2023.

1. Mother Righteous – 53%

2. Madelyne Pryor – 14.7%

3. Jon Ironfire – 7.7%

Jordan: You know what? This is great. Now, that’s fascinating because — I don’t mean this in a dismissive way — but there’s no clear Jean connection to Mother Righteous.

AIPT: No no, she’s dragging her around on that chain.

Jordan: Well, I feel like Jean fans aren’t in love with her for that. I mean, yeah, they’ve appeared in some of the same books, but they haven’t interacted that much up until the very end. I think she’s just a really fun and exciting character that built slowly over time. 

When Si introduced her in Legion of X, it was done in such a way that I think people weren’t looking for who the Sinisters were yet. So she kind of snuck up and appeared more and more until we eventually revealed that she was the fourth Sinister. And then, obviously, Kieron has taken the reins with her since Legion of X ended and has done a ton of great work with her. I feel like both of them did a great job of capturing a different kind of voice for her — a very fun and fanciful, but still very threatening voice. I loved the X-Men: Before the Fall: Sinister Four one-shot with her and Dr. Stasis, exploring their relationship.

Madelyne — we’ve talked about this before, but she’s a character who at the start of the Krakoan era I felt we did not need in our comics. Why do we want to bring this character back? Zeb Wells is why. He turned me around because he had a really great story with her. Zeb told a great story with her that was picked up by a number of people since then. Vita Ayala did great work with Madelyne, and then Zeb again in Dark Web. Finally, Steve Foxe has been able to follow up on that in Dark X-Men, which has been such a blast.

I’m going to reveal a little thing. When I came to Steve, one of the things I pitched to him that didn’t go as far as I had pitched — and I think to the happiness of some of the fans… they will probably be mad at me when I say this — but I was like, “OK, I want you to bring back Madelyne. And I think what’s important about Madelyne,” I said to him, “Was that even if she’s on the side of good, she’s still a person who is very unique and has her own way of looking at things.” Which is — let’s be real — a little bit damaged, a little bit broken, and a product of the terrible things that have happened to her. So even if she’s a good guy, she’s a very dark good guy, right? And what I said to him was, “Her and Havok went off together and it would be really great if, when we see them again, he is — for Game of Thrones fans — like Reek.” [Laughs] Which, if you saw Game of Thrones, that’s like, this character who was destroyed emotionally and psychologically and completely subservient to this horrible person.

Steve didn’t want to go that far.

And Jon Ironfire is a great addition. Al Ewing had such a fun idea — that we should introduce an awesome, badass character in Sins of Sinister and see them carried out for thousands of years of story to their oldest point and then after we get back, introduce them into our comics as the youngest version that exists so far. He got to be really neat in X-Men Red, like those last two issues where he gets to fight all of the White Sword’s guys and kicks all of their asses. So those are all great choices.

AIPT: Alright, final category — X-Fans’ favorite X-couple of 2023.

1. Jean Grey and Cyclops – 55.2%

2. Destiny and Mystique – 11.3%

3. Emma Frost and Tony Stark – 7.3%

Jordan: Again, all great choices. Scott and Jean are such an important part of the Krakoan era. Going back to the end of the X-Men Disassembled era, one of the big moments at the end of that was them finally getting back together in life, which was a great moment. So we knew in the Krakoan era that they were going to be together. And I think it’s been great for both of them as characters that whole time. The fact that they got to have a little family in the Cable book — it was such a blast watching them as a family unit. And even though they had their fight, I mean, let’s not forget that while they did fight over the Brood thing quite a bit, they decided each other was worth it.

Right before all the tragedy happened at the Hellfire Gala, they were going to step aside and take time to work on their love and marriage and stay together — because that’s important to them. They’re obviously extremely important to each other and I think they’re a big part of the X-Men in many ways.

AIPT: Do you think they’ll have a happy ending?

Jordan: I guess it’s still unclear if she’s dead or not. Her situation is actually very weird right now. So you’ll have to see how that works out. Great question, though. Maybe he’ll die too, then they can both be dead.

AIPT: Then he’ll get a chain.

Jordan: [Laughs] No, you’ll have to see. But Mystique and Destiny had some very big recent moments. But they’ve also had their problems because they’re both not the best people on Earth and are willing to do bad things. They’re also not the best partners on Earth. They love each other very much, but they’re not always honest with each other. And sometimes they can do things that are quite mean to one another or possibly even cruel, I would say. As wonderful and fascinating as X-Men: Blue Origins was, it’s also a little heartbreaking because of how sometimes their love can be very beautiful and other times it can be very horrible. So it’s a very interesting — and in some ways, kind of realistic — relationship.

AIPT: And finally, Emma and Tony — the relationship people were terrified about… and then voted for.

Jordan: Because I think that’s the charm of it, right? It’s a thing that neither of them wanted. It’s a thing that none of the fans wanted. But with the two of them being trapped in a relationship by circumstance, it actually starts to make some sense. And so we’ll see how that one turns out. 

AIPT: We were just talking about these two — but I feel like Mystique and Destiny being Nightcrawler’s parents is the latest in a string of victories for long-time X-Fans in the Krakoan era. Rachel is now canonically queer, Mystique and Destiny are officially married, and now we have Nightcrawler’s true origin finally revealed. How do these types of character changes work? And to what do you attribute these changes? Creators’ passion and willingness to fight for them? Changes in society that make them easier to make canon?

Jordan: I mean, every single one of those things is vital. I think changes in society are what allowed for the change from the decision being, “No, definitely not, we cannot do that,” to, “Yes, we can do that.” But I do also think that, yes, creator passion for them and willingness to fight for them are also essential. Because if you don’t have those things, then you will not get the change without fighting for the change.

So, you know, in the X-Men: Blue Origins example, specifically, I believe it is something that Si brought up at some point, like, “I really think we should consider this.” I was very hesitant. Honestly, the main reason I was hesitant was because I feel like the jury is in on it. We know who his parents are now. We saw a story. It’s not a very beloved story, but it was also relatively definitive, given the way it was told — it seems pretty clear that it’s true and decided. And there have been stories since then that followed up on it, and the ship had kind of sailed. I didn’t know if it was worth trying to dig that up. But Kieron chimed in, going, “No, I think it’s a good idea too. Here’s why.” And the two of them made a case for why it would work, here’s how we would make it work, and why it’s valuable.

It being the original creator’s intention is meaningful but it can be the only thing. I mean, the original first thought of Wolverine’s origin was he was s talking Wolverine and we’re not going back to that.

AIPT: [Laughs] Bring it back! It just takes the right creator.

Jordan: [Laughs] And so once they had made that case to me, Sarah did the work of talking to folks about it and everybody was on board and we went for it. I’m really happy with it because I think it’s a great story. And I don’t think Si did it in a way that doesn’t invalidate the previous stories. It very much acknowledges those previous stories and goes, “Here’s why the thing said in those stories isn’t true, but also here’s why those things were said.” 

AIPT: X-Men more than any other Marvel franchise seems to have so many things that aren’t officially canon that so many X-Fans talk about as if they’re fact. It’s fascinating.

Jordan: Yeah, I think it’s the fact that Chris Claremont was the main creative vision for about 20 years worth of X-Men stories and that he was always interested in pushing the envelope and trying new and sometimes crazy, revolutionary things — some of which were shot down. And in the time since then, he has not been shy about talking about them and acknowledging them publicly. So you’ve got a beloved creator who has said, “I was trying to do this and I wasn’t able to.” Some of the time, they weren’t done for story reasons. But some of them were because society wasn’t ready to accept them.

And in those cases, especially, I think we are in a very different place and people get very excited about the idea of there being no reason not to do them now. Now, we’re not going to do it for the sake of doing it — we’re going to do it because there’s a story that’s worth telling. But I’m very happy we’ve been able to find those places so far.

AIPT: Well, as a long-time fan, it’s very cool to see and you should all feel proud about what you’ve been able to do. I know it means a lot to many X-Fans. Now, what can you tease about the final months of the Krakoan era?

Jordan: Fall of the House of X and Rise of the Powers of X are both huge stories that are both wrapping up really enormous things that have been set up for a very long time. And they will come together to be the end basically of the Krakoan age. Alongside them, we’ve got Resurrection and Magneto, which is amazing character work by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio. We’ve got a follow-up to Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant with Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace. We’ve got Dead X-Men, which is going to be jumping all over the place in a very unique and fun way with multiple artists. We’ve got a great Cable series with Fabian Nicieza coming back to Cable, and Fabian’s written more Cable than any other writer in comics history. 

And then X-Men Forever, which wraps up a lot of stuff from Immortal X-Men and ties into Rise of the Powers of X as well.

And while all that’s going on, you’ve got Sabretooth War crashing in a big way in Wolverine. We originally had said there was going to be three volumes of Victor LaValle’s Sabertooth story. Well, instead it ended up with two volumes and then a big giant blowout in Wolverine itself. This is the big confrontation. It’s going to be massive, it’s going to be huge, it’s going to be fun. And wrapping up at the same time, X-Force is going to close out the Beast story. Right at the start, the series began with Beast versus Logan — literally that book began with two of them having differing philosophies on what Krakoa is and what it means for mutants. And that played out across the entire series until right now. So the fact that they’re finally getting to pay that off is really great.

AIPT: OK, I need three characters X-Fans will be talking about in the months ahead. Go!

Jordan: I would say the biggest ones are probably… I mean, listen, Xavier is still pretty important. Cyclops is still a big deal. And probably Jean, too. Like, all three of them are pretty big deals.

But it’s hard because there are so many runners-up. I mean, again, I just told you that Resurrection of Magneto is such a huge, amazing character showcase for Storm and Magneto. They get so much love there. And there is one other character that I really don’t want to name. Because again, it’s not that this character hasn’t shown up a bunch, it’s that I just don’t necessarily want to reveal who they are.

AIPT: Well, beyond X-Men, what did you love in 2023?

Jordan: Well, OK, you’ve caught me at a time when I literally cannot say anything but Bruce Springsteen. All I’m doing right now is listening to Bruce Springsteen constantly. Like, I am going crazy, listening to so much Bruce Springsteen. I didn’t listen to Bruce Springsteen before — I mean, I’ve heard the songs. He’s got a lot of hits. But Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott started doing a podcast called U Springin’ Springsteen On My Bean? and I went, “Yeah, I like Bruce Springsteen, let me try listening to some of these albums they talk about.” And as they’ve been going through them week by week, I’ve been adding the albums to a playlist, and now it’s all I want to listen to over and over again. Much in the same way I did at the beginning of the pandemic with R.E.M., and partway through the pandemic with Weezer.

AIPT: You and I have talked about this before off the record, but I’ve never listened to much Springsteen. If X-Fans are in the same boat, what album do you recommend?

Jordan: If you want to listen to a Bruce Springsteen album to see if you like it, the most accessible one is probably Born to Run. It’s either his best album or his second-best album, depending on if you think it’s better than Darkness on the Edge of Town. They’re both great, but Born To Run is probably a little bit easier to jump into. It’s got the song “Born to Run” on it, which is amazing. If you’re interested in Bruce Springsteen, that’s what I recommend.

AIPT: So, which X-Men character do you think listens to Bruce Springsteen?

Jordan: Oh! OK, so it’s weird that I’m saying this and I’m going to say it in a way that’s a little bit insulting, even though I like Bruce Springsteen, but getting hard into Bruce Springsteen is like the most dad thing I could do musically. It’s like, “Oh you’re 44 now? Why don’t you sit down and listen to Bruce Springsteen?” So I want to say Cyclops. And also, Bruce has a lot of songs about socially conscious stuff and people having hard lives and I feel like Cyclops can relate to all of that.

The other big thing is that my 6-year-old son got me into Minecraft. So I play a lot of Minecraft now as well.

AIPT: Springsteen and Minecraft — that’s quite the combination. Finally, what’s your Christmas and New Year’s message to X-Fans, Jordan?

Jordan: Well, Merry X-Men as always.

Whenever I think about X-Men fans and the holidays, I cannot help but think back on the Merry X-Men Holiday Special that I did, which I still adore because we did it in the style of an advent calendar with all stories that take place on every day of December, from the 1st to the 25th. It was a super good time and if you haven’t checked that out, I do recommend it.

It has some delightful stuff, including — well, here’s a little behind-the-scenes tidbit. There was a story that had to get pulled at the last minute. I’m not going to talk about that. But when I say the last minute, I mean on the Friday when we were supposed to be sending it to press, a decision was made: “You cannot run this page.” So I got on the phone with Chip Zdarsky and I said, “Chip, I need you to write and draw a one-page story for the X-Men holiday special. It takes place on this day of December, and I need it by Monday. Can you do it?” And he was like, “Absolutely.” So Chip’s page was created right over the weekend. 

AIPT: That’s amazing.

Jordan: Yeah, he’s a class act all around.

AIPT: Very nice. Well, on that note, thanks for your time, Jordan. And as we wrap up, I’m remembering that this is our final end-of-year conversation for X-Men Monday.

Jordan: It is. I think we’ve joked about it off-mic, but we’ll have to make Venom Vednesdays or Symbiote Sundays.

AIPT: I have to learn who this Venom guy is…

Jordan: [Laughs]

AIPT: Finally, X-Fans, as is tradition, Jordan has provided a batch of eXclusive preview images from so far in the Fall of X’s future, they’re not even finished yet!

Until next time, X-Fans, I hope you have a safe and exceptional holiday season. See you in 2024!