Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!
The Krakoan era may be coming to a close but you wouldn’t know it walking into your comic shop as we’ve got another No. 1 issue to discuss! (And in case you missed them, here are our chats about Fall of the House of X #1, Rise of the Powers of X #1, and Resurrection of Magneto #1.) This week, writer Steve Foxe is back to dig into X-Fans’ questions about the first issue of Dead X-Men — featuring the reborn team of X-Men that never got a chance to shine… until now!
Let’s see what Steve has to say.
AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Steve! Finally, you can talk openly about Dead X-Men!
Steve Foxe: Thanks, as always, for having me, Chris! Always an optic BLAST to pop in for some Q&A (sorry for the groan-worthy puns — I’ll try to leave those to the clever Brits).
Courtesy of stevefoxe.com
AIPT: It’s OK, X-Men Monday is a pun-friendly space. Let’s kick things off with a question about those Dead X-Men from X-Fan Askani’s Flame, who said with the issue’s first data page, we see how much value Rachel Summers places on her former X-Factor teammate Prodigy in the success of this mission. Without spoiling, will we see each member of this team get to strut their stuff and show why they were selected as the X-Men prior to their deaths?
Steve: Prodigy is uniquely central to the mission, as the first issue laid out, but I tried to spread the love and celebrate what makes all five of these mutants X-cellent heroes. With no offense to past candidates like Micromax, I think the 2023 election slate was just a pure no-lose situation — every one of the six characters up for consideration has every quality needed to be an A-list X-Man.
The trick of this squad is that I didn’t choose them, but the beauty is that they’re all such icons of the franchise, and they interact so smoothly. I didn’t count out the speaking lines exactly or anything, but I think, out of every team book I’ve worked on, Dead X-Men most equitably shares the spotlight between its core five.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Next, a question about the series’ eclectic settings from X-Fan Keenan. With the team traveling to the dead realities created by the Moira Engine, what was your thought process on developing the broken worlds? Did you want to keep them more in line with how things could possibly go during the main timeline or just do some crazy, off-the-wall alternate-universe stuff?
Steve: Eagle-eyed readers might remember a certain Immortal X-Men page where Destiny had visions of things to come. Some of those visions, like Judgment Day, played out exactly as she foresaw. Others were possible futures… like a wicked vision of a demonic Magik. So a few of the nods are to specifically harken back to that splash page.
For the Moira Engine timeline in which we spend the bulk of issue #1 — and pick up our villain — the idea was to game out a scenario where Orbis Stellaris surges ahead over the other Sinisters. We’ve mostly seen Orbis in the context of outer space, and S.W.O.R.D. was an early Krakoan favorite of mine, so it felt right to lean into that title and some of the other space-bound corners of the franchise.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
It’s always fun to flex wild alt-reality muscles, but the Moira Engines all branch off from a set point in the line’s recent past, so we wanted to have our fun while keeping the deviations plausible.
AIPT: Sorry, Steve. You knew the second you wrote that Dazzler dialogue you’d have to talk about this. X-Fan Michael Anderson pointed out that Alison comments that she isn’t as immortal as she thought she was. Will there be follow-up on this long unresolved plot point that starred in Chris Claremont’s New Excalibur? Will we FINALLY be given the reason why Dazzler can’t stay dead? What can you share?
Steve: What I can share is that Kieron, Jordan White, and I discussed a few ways to address this. I am a huge Dazzler fan, and this has long been a dangling oddity in her history. At no point will Dead X-Men grind to a screeching halt to provide Wiki fodder explaining exactly how and why Dazzler has come back from the dead before in pre-resurrection times, but having Dazzler die so graphically on-panel and then star in a book called Dead X-Men does kind of call for at least touching on it, don’t you think?
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Of course! (And… Immortal Dazzler series when?) Now, X-Fan echo was so happy to see Rachel in what’s probably her most crucial role she’s ever played in an X-Men story. What can you share about how Rachel’s role in this story came to be? Was her inclusion your choice, or did Kieron Gillen plan to incorporate her into Rise of the Powers of X from the start?
Steve: Rachel’s role was actually one of the coolest and most natural evolutions of this project. I’ve been lucky to work very closely with Kieron while developing Dead X-Men, and he’s been wildly generous in playing back and forth to make sure our book works and complements Rise and X-Men Forever as best as it can.
Early on, before Steve Orlando and I got the offer to work on X-Men Unlimited throughout the spring, I had my eye on Captain Britain and Rachel Summers, since I knew my good friend Tini Howard was wrapping up her long and awesome run of Betsy-focused books. It felt wrong to let Betsy and Rachel slip out of the spotlight for this final stretch of the Krakoan era, but they weren’t naturally fitting into anyone else’s plans.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
When the plot of Dead X-Men started to come into focus, I suggested one or both as additions to the cast and, over a few months of planning and writing, Kieron and I ended up making Rachel incredibly central to both of our books. She’s really the tether from Dead to Rise in more ways than one, and I really dig how organically that came about as we both refined our plots. Massive thanks to Kieron for being such a wonderful collaborator and guide.
AIPT: One more Rachel question from X-Fan Jenn, who loved the data page showcasing the dynamic between Rachel and Charles Xavier. Jenn loved seeing Rachel as the strategist (and adorably protective girlfriend!) that she is, but now she’s working with someone who doesn’t fully trust her. And Charles is working with someone who doesn’t fully trust him. How was it crafting that dynamic and is that something we’ll see play out more as the story continues?
Steve: Without spoiling anything, definitely keep an eye on Kieron’s books for how that plays out. I think “Charles Xavier” and “trust” have been very awkward bedfellows for a while now, and Rachel’s an ideal character to press back where some other X-Men might be inclined to fall in line.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: The new Smasher — what a fun treat for fans of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers run! I’m assuming we won’t see this version of Josiah again anytime soon, so what can you share about him?
Steve: Never say never! I’m a huge fan of Hickman and co.’s work on Avengers, and also just a huge fan of legacy characters in general. The main reason that Moira Engine timeline is set 15 years in the future is so I could show Josiah avenging his parents and carrying on their legacy!
I also wanted to find very subtle ways to nod to each of the Dead X-Men’s connections to other characters throughout the other realities we’ll see, hence Josiah and Roberto here for Cannonball, and Mercury and Armor from Prodigy’s generation. I wouldn’t say to look crazy hard for these nods, but they’re in there for my own self-gratification.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: First, X-Fan Iron wanted to say Dead X-Men #1 was an absolute hit of a first issue and one of the best first issues of the era. Now the question: What inspired your take on the Moira in this issue and how did you approach her, as someone who has many many versions of herself?
Steve: Thanks so much, Iron! Hope you dig the rest of the mini-series, too! I think it’s OK to reveal that in the script, this Moira is usually called “Ahab Moira.” When I started considering villains for the series, I searched hard for X-foes who either haven’t become protagonists or already had major moments during Krakoa. Ahab fits that bill, but Rachel had a big, final-feeling standoff with him right before Krakoa, and figuring out a way to loop him in felt too much like a diversion from the meat of the story.
So, instead, I decided to double down on Moira, who’s been at the heart of the Krakoan era, and take visual inspiration from Ahab to give this rotten take on Moira her own distinct look, which was designed by Vincenzo Carratu, who also brought her wicked weapon to life. We’re in the eleventh hour of our macro-story and further exploring the fulcrum of this epic seemed like the best use of my page count, especially since traveling to Moira’s past lives was already the crux of this book.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
What I find compelling about this Moira is that she chose to cling to her humanity, even as she was at death’s door. Now, she’s spent over a decade forcing herself to keep going — to survive by any means necessary — and has been losing her body and mind in the process. This is a desperate, reckless, mean Moira, pushed beyond the more shrewd and cunning version in the main timeline. Plus she has a big ax, which the other Moira doesn’t have! Big axes are cool, yeah?
AIPT: Definitely. Especially when they incorporate a Xorn head. Next, a potential treat for those very patient Betsy Braddock fans, specifically X-Fans Chris Garcia and JB, who were wondering what you could tease about Betsy’s role in Dead X-Men, which we knew expanded (or was the expansion in X-Men Unlimited)?
Steve: Please see that meme of the little girl saying “Why not both?” Betsy’s not a core cast member of Dead — you’ll see a LOT more of her in Unlimited — but Lucas Werneck’s killer cover to Dead X-Men #3 already revealed that we’ll see a certain Ms. Braddock popping up in the pages of Dead, too. As an extra tease for the very dedicated Betsy fans, I’ll say David Baldeon’s take on her is so good.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Before we wrap, X-Fan GenXer4Life has a question that ties into your upcoming X-Men ‘97 mini-series. How do you differentiate writing books in the ‘97 era vs writing current Krakoan era X-Books?
Steve: Let me just say for the record that there was a period of time when I was *simultaneously* working on aspects of:
- Dark X-Men
- Dead X-Men
- X-Men ’97
- [REDACTED]
- And four different X-Men Unlimited arcs, including one that’ll end up being the equivalent of six print comics.
And I did, at times, feel completely insane. Especially trying to remember what had been released, what I had read early, and what was still top secret.
That said, it’s all such a freaking privilege. I genuinely never expected to touch anything X in my career, let alone get to juggle so much. The joy of ’97 is that it’s so self-contained and familiar — I hear the voice actors in my head as I’m working out dialogue. I can picture exactly how these characters bounce off of each other, and Beau DeMayo and his team were super helpful in laying out our parameters and giving me extensive outline feedback upfront. Plus I’ve been reunited with my X-Men ’92: House of XCII collaborator Salva Espin (along with new colorist Matt Milla), so Salva and I have 100 pages of animated action already under our collective belts.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
With Dead, Kieron, Jordan, and I spent week after week sorting out timelines, sci-fi logic, real-world scheduling, who needed to be where, etc., all while I was trying to figure out how this cast would interact with each other and how best to tell a thrilling story that also celebrates these six mutants and pays homage to a hugely impactful era as it reaches its end. And, to make the art scheduling work, we had to lock in who was drawing how many pages each well ahead of time, meaning I had to extensively outline — and commit to — how long each scene could be, with no real room to adjust on the fly.
In many ways, Dead was “harder,” but it’s also enormously rewarding. One’s a cartoon tie-in with a comparatively lighter tone, and the other is a fundamentally classic X-Men adventure with the stakes of all reality ever on the line.
But mostly, I listened to Bjork and weird ambient music before writing Dead, and the Animated theme song before writing ’97.
AIPT: Haha, love it. Finally, what can you tease about Dead X-Men #2?
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Steve: First and foremost, I can tease that Peter Nguyen and Guillermo Sanna join us on art, providing two very different, very cool new takes on this team and their mission. I was so, so grateful we pulled off the art jam we have on Dead X-Men, and I attribute anything folks dig about this book to everyone who drew and colored the heck out of it:
Peter, Guillermo, Bernard Chang, Vincenzo Carratu, Lynne Yoshii, Javier Pina, David Baldeon, Jonas Scharf, and coloring genius Frank Martin have made this book something so exceptional and so different from the other books on the stands right now. Huge thanks to them — and to Jordan and Lauren Amaro for wrangling the scheduling necessary to make it happen!
A crazed Moira is on the loose in the time stream, and she doesn’t care about the consequences of her violent actions. Previously unseen aspects of Moira’s past lives come to light. An X-Man falls. The mission shifts.
AIPT: A Dead X-Man… dies? Only in X-Men comics! But on that note, thanks for taking the time to stop by X-Men Monday, Steve! And remember, X-Fans, Dead X-Men #2 goes on sale February 28, 2024.
For a look at a few things happening a little sooner, here are this week’s eXclusive preview images, courtesy of X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!
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