Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!
It’s no secret that every X-Men character has at least one die-hard fan. That’s a big reason why the X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic on Marvel Unlimited has been such a hit with X-Fans — especially since writers Steve Foxe and Steve Orlando kicked off their lengthy run in X-Men Unlimited #106. From Sunfire and Firestar to Thunderbird and Captain Britain, everybody’s getting time to shine in a scrolling format. So, it was only fair that X-Fans got to check in with the Steves — along with Phillip Sevy, the artist on several of X-Men Unlimited‘s chapters — and ask about Rictor, Shatterstar, and other fan-favorites.
Let’s see what they have to say.
Steve Orlando, Phillip Sevy, and Steve Foxe
AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Steves! Excitement for your X-Men Unlimited run is high and a lot of X-Fans submitted questions, so let’s kick things off with X-Fan Chris Garcia, who said this arc has been great at juggling multiple characters and giving proper spotlight to each of them. How did you go about pitching all this — or was it pitched to you?
Steve Orlando: As it happens, Foxe and I both had experience working in the Unlimited format. In my case at least, I’d put in a lot of time on X-Men Green as well as Who Is The Scarlet Witch, and I’d been pretty vocal about really getting into the vertical comic strip format. So, when the time came to do a parallel Unlimited series for Rise of the Powers of X and Fall of the House of X, I’m not surprised our names came up. That said, while the pitch was to us to develop a parallel run, the story of that run was pretty much wide open. And that’s how we came to work up our External Threat. And hey, Foxe and I got an Eisner nomination together (on Rainbow Bridge from Aftershock), so our XP is strong as a package deal.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Steve Foxe: Since Steve Jr. covered the broader how and why, I’ll add that the sprawling cast evolved as a way to feature some of the characters and concepts we knew wouldn’t have a print book during this final stretch of the Krakoan Era. Since we started developing this while we were each writing Fall of X titles, we had a firsthand view of the spring 2024 line shaping up, and I felt that there was a pretty big New Mutants-shaped void. As we kept building out the scope of the story – which ends up being roughly six print issues, give or take – we began pulling in parts of Excalibur, X-Corp, Marauders, and more to really pay homage to the entirety of this saga as it began in House of X and Powers of X back in 2019.
AIPT: We’re going to get into some individual character questions in a bit, but first, X-Fan Chenny wanted to know which characters you’ve enjoyed bringing into X-Men Unlimited who haven’t had a chance to shine in the various Krakoan era series.
Orlando: I think it’s pretty clear how much I enjoy working with Thunderbird, going back to his rebirth in Trial of Magneto and the utter blast I had working with Nyla Rose to write Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird. Thunderbird and I see the world in very similar ways, so he’s always fun to have on board. And yes, I was also very excited to finally get to do a bit with El Aguila! That guy’s got a ton of potential, and his costume was designed by Dave Cockrum – one of the GOATS!
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: Aside from Carmen Cruz, a.k.a. Feint, who I was excited to write one more time following Dark X-Men, I’d have to say our villains – the Externals. Because they come from a certain part of the ‘90s, a lot of readers have… divisive opinions on them, and their Krakoan story mostly involves being literal set dressing. It’s been fun to explore their personalities, watch one of our killer collaborators, Phillip Sevy, give a few of them visual refreshes, and see how much trouble they can cause when they (mostly) all work together.
AIPT: Phillip Sevy? The same Phillip Sevy who asked, who is the better artist to work with between Nick and Phil? And why is it Nick? ;)
Orlando: I guess that would depend on who I’m working with as I stand between Nick and Phil?
Foxe: What a sneaky way to prompt us to talk about our outstanding alternating art team! We lucked all the way out landing Nick and Phil for this story, and it’s been a real joy to watch them not just bring the scripts to life but to encourage and push one another onward. We have an email thread that’s got the whole team together, so Nick and Phil can share references and read the other’s scripts, and it’s just a nonstop love-fest with these two, which is just about as perfect as you can hope to find with collaborators. The extra rad thing has been tailoring certain chapters to their individual strengths and interests, like giving Nick a story involving mech designs or tossing Phil the most ‘90s of showdowns. Fully a dream team in play here, including our all-star colorist, Yen Nitro!
AIPT: Well, now that Phil’s joined the conversation — Phil, you’re drawing so many different characters throughout this X-Men Unlimited arc. As an artist, is that an exciting challenge? An intimidating one?
Courtesy of Phillip Sevy and Marvel Comics
Phillip Sevy: You don’t sign up to draw X-Men comics without hoping you get to draw a million characters — lol. It’s a very exciting AND intimidating challenge. The X-Men character bench is DEEP. If I’m able, I always try and figure out what the physical differences between the characters are. How tall are they and how much do they weigh and how does that compare to another character? How might they move different? With this book, since there are so many characters that come at you so fast, I haven’t had as much time — but there are basic shortcuts that you can use to capture a character. Thunderbird — big guy, cocky, aggressive. Shatterstar — lithe, flirty, agile. Betsy — powerful, annoyed, a presence. Etc. Keeping costume details correct when you’re drawing a gaggle of characters can be really hard. Thankfully I have a giant reference folder I have open constantly.
Courtesy of Phillip Sevy and Marvel Comics
AIPT: Speaking of that reference folder — not only are you bringing so many characters to life, but you’re also illustrating some very obscure mutants from X-history, such as Gideon, Nicodemus, and Absalom. What has your research process been like? (And Absalom has never looked cooler, by the way!)
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Sevy: Thank you so much! The Externals have been very fun. The Steves came in with a definitive take and approach on them, so it gave me a direction to take when drawing them. Early on in the process, we had a list of characters we wanted to give a refresh to in regards to their costumes — most of the Externals were on that list. Beyond a read-through of their character histories, I took the aspects each embodied and tried to figure out if there was a way to show those in their new designs.
For Absalom, he had just been killed for the External Gate (see Excalibur (2019) #11 and #12), so I wanted to show how the trauma of that event was manifesting in how he was surrounding his body in a protective manner with his bone growths. And as things get more dangerous, those growths grow. For Burke, someone who sees the future, he wears a blindfold now, so his vision is focused — Fortitude being his core focus.
AIPT: Very cool insight, Phil. And here’s a look at those External designs, courtesy of Phil!
Now, I’m happy El Aguila came up naturally because X-Fan Dan Elliott actually wanted to thank you Steves for bringing in El Aguila and asked if there are any more plans for him.
Orlando: I would LOVE to work with El Aguila more. I think he’s got a ton of potential, and would love for him to appear again. WILL he? It all depends on panel space, but he’s got love from me either way. I really hope he can appear at least once more to enact revenge on Orchis.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: And I’m so happy Alternate Steve got to include him.
AIPT: X-Fan Nora wanted to know if there was anything you really wanted to tackle in X-Men Unlimited but couldn’t find the space for.
Orlando: Oh, there’s always more. Always more! Honestly, as we rethought the Externals, I came to be really interested in every single one of them, and wish we had even more time to explore them. Hey, maybe there’s time to do that in another book…
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: With a cast this sprawling, you always end up falling for individual characters and wishing you could have written more of them. But, truthfully, we started from a really detailed outline and have deviated very little, so there’s not much of a, “Oh, if only we could have…” feeling. Could I write more Shatterstar, Mirage, Jamie Madrox, Wiz-Kid, etc.? Yeah, almost endlessly. But we’re telling the full story we set out to tell.
AIPT: X-Fan Askani’s Flame said Betsy Braddock came out swinging in X-Men Unlimited with a voice that’s more certain and powerful than we’ve seen recently. Would you say all the events happening in the U.K. and the world have brought out the “gives no *****” Betts? And how much fun is writing her this way?
Orlando: I definitely think the events in the U.K. and the world, in general, have put Betsy in an imperative position. But it’s been a blast to watch her flex her power and agency. And as a special note, it’s been an asset having some fellow X-Writers on speed dial to ensure Betsy’s British lingo is as on-point as possible.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: I think our Betsy follows pretty closely on the heels of the transformative work Tini Howard did on the character across Excalibur, Knights of X, and Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain. Betsy, in whatever form, has been a nuanced and quite spicy character for decades, and Tini helped establish Betsy as a leading lady for a new era. Fall of X pushed a lot of characters to their limits, and Betsy – who not only has responsibilities toward mutantkind, but to the United Kingdom as a symbolic crusader – really got a raw deal trying to tolerate the antics of Orchis and the British government. She’s been enormous fun to write and a huge asset to the cast dynamic.
AIPT: Phil, I’ve loved your rendition of Betsy Braddock. Not only has that helmet never looked cooler, but I feel like every time we see her, she’s accompanied by crackling psychic energy (whether around her head, fist, or sword.) What do you love about illustrating Betsy?
Sevy: I’ve tried to use the helmet in a way that illustrates her power. When her helmet is off, she’s Betsy and she’s a bit more vulnerable. She’s showing you her face and what she looks like. I draw her a bit more feminine in those scenes. When her helmet is on, it’s go time. I use that as a reason to draw her more aggressive and masculine. She’s in battle and at war.
As a character, I very much connect with how Betsy’s identity is internal, and her external representation isn’t always reflective of who she is — so trying to show different sides of her (feminine, masculine, soft, aggressive, etc.) in how I depict her is the fun challenge. And also, I came into X-Men with the Jim Lee Psylocke design — so it was psychic knives and all that. So when I got a chance to draw her impaling Absalom’s head with her dagger, I was like “9-year-old me is SO happy right now.”
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Love that. X-Fan The Technopriest is a big fan of the work you’ve all done with X-Men Unlimited and has a question regarding Thunderbird. How old do you see John being in relation to the rest of the X-Men Unlimited cast he’s interacting with? John was meant to be young when he joined the army, it’s pretty much established that he lied and enlisted in the Marines at 17, spent two years deployed, and came back. Now he was resurrected immediately after he died (from his perspective), so he shouldn’t be older than 21, but that clearly would put him around the same age as Jimmy and the X-Forcers. Any thoughts?
Orlando: I think it’s entirely possible he’s in his early 20s, physically, as you suggest. That’s the wonder of Krakoan Resurrection – after all, Somnus is pushing 90 mentally but was reborn in his prime. But with Thunderbird, he was clearly hardened by his time deployed in war, regardless of his age. And as someone with close family members who fought in the same war as Thunderbird, I’ve seen how that can harden even a young soul. So while Thunderbird may be in his early 20s, those are absolutely city miles he put on before his initial death.
Foxe: Other Steve has family members who fought in the Siancong War?
AIPT: First, X-Fan Pame needed to say that she loves that her man Rictor is back. Pame has missed him so much and he couldn’t look better, hence her question. He’s been around since the late ‘80s and has been part of many X-teams — the New Mutants, X-Force, X-Factor, and recently Excalibur. So what are your favorite Rictor stories and what do you enjoy the most about writing him?
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Orlando: I was a BIG big fan of him in X-Force as a kid, for sure. But for me, I think he really came into his own in the Peter David/Ryan Sook (and later, a variety of artists) X-Factor run. Coincidence that that’s the book that cemented him and Shatterstar? That’s part of it, sure. But honestly, everyone got such depth in that run, it’s also the run that really made me love Siryn, Strong Guy, and any number of other characters who appeared.
Foxe: I’ve got to echo Steve Two here – I was the right age for the PAD & co. X-Factor to become my definitive version of a lot of characters, hence why Madrox and Layla are part of this story. But Rictor always interested me as a kid, too, because elemental powers are such a layup for reader appeal. I loved spotting him in the Genoshan episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series and I had the Toy Biz action figure that you could wind up and shake slightly to simulate his mutant abilities. Ric’s fun from the very beginning of his existence because he was such a little punk at a time that the New Mutants were, more or less, pretty straight-laced. Ric and Boom Boom and the other younger cast members introduced in the first X-Factor volume helped set the template for how rowdy and multifaceted younger X-casts would become.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
I dig writing him now because he’s still got a bit of edge to him, but also this new dimension of really trying to focus on and improve his powers, thanks to his tutelage under Apocalypse. You’ll see Ric pull off some pretty big stunts before we’re done.
AIPT: X-Fan Tania B has loved the different ways you’ve been depicting Rictor’s powers, Phil. What were some of your inspirations for how you’ve been capturing them?
Sevy: The Steves have just given me great direction on Rictor’s power manifestations! When I was a kid, he made earthquakes, more or less. At least, that’s what my memory held onto. With his druidic evolution under Tini Howard, his expanse of powers has allowed us a wide range of power interpretations. In X-Men Unlimited #128, I got a chance to draw him forming hands from the ground and slamming them into Nicodemus. That idea was totally a Steves call, but it was really cool to figure out how to make that work, visually.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: X-Fan Vicky said there’s been a lot of discussion online after the release of the X-Men ‘97 trailer with certain people complaining about how the X-Men have never been queer — so it feels good to have Rictor and Shatterstar back. This is a gay couple that writers tried to make canon since the ‘90s and that developed naturally in the pages of X-Force. What do you think makes them work together so well since then and what is your favorite thing about this couple?
Orlando: They’ve certainly had their ups and downs, but I enjoy their perseverance through all the wild twists comics can throw at a couple (including Shatterstar and Longshot finding out they are in a way both each other’s son and father, in a way, due to timey wimey occurrences). I’m a strange person myself, even if I’m not from Mojoworld and I don’t have swords of any kind (though I do own a dagger from a somewhat infamous 1990s movie – guess it and get a NO PRIZE!). So I’ve also always identified with Shatterstar, and seeing him and Rictor work in general has long pleased me.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: Personally, one of the reasons Ric and ‘Star resonated with me when their relationship was committed to the page is that they’re messy. They both have baggage and hangups, they each have ex drama, they fight through some major incompatibilities, and they keep finding their way back to each other. Nothing bores me more, as a gay reader who’s been out for over 20 years at this point, than frictionless, simple, boringly happy fictional gay couples who get together and hardly experience ups and downs. We deserve our fun messes, too!
AIPT: Before we wrap up, Phil, what X-artists have inspired you?
Sevy: Hoo-boy — all of them? Lol. Jim Lee’s X-Men made me go, “This is what I’m going to do the rest of my life.” When I was younger, Joe Madureira and Chris Bachalo blew my mind. As an artist, Stuart Immonen’s All-New X-Men is some of the best X-Men has ever looked. Stuart is the best mainstream artist of all time and deserves WAY more recognition than he gets. Just an absolute powerhouse of an artist. I have a page of his art from that series literally inches from me, as I type this.
But X-Men has been blessed with a cornucopia of riches for art. Paul Smith, John Romita Jr., Pepe Larraz, Frank Quitely, John Cassaday, to name a few. I have the entire Chris Claremont run (plus a lot of ’90s classics) in omnibus form right behind me. If we’re on a Zoom call, they’re like the angels and devils on my shoulder. X-Men art made me want to draw comics. And now I get to be an X-Men artist. It’s surreal and amazing and I’ll never take it for granted or not be eternally grateful to draw in the little corners of the X-World that I’m able.
AIPT: Speaking of Phil’s X-Men art, here are a few of Phil’s pages to give a behind-the-scenes look at how these comics look — pre-scrolling format.
Finally, there are many more X-Men Unlimited chapters to come, which appear to feature Gambit, Feint, and other beloved X-characters. So what can you tease?
Orlando: Foxe will have more, I’m sure. But for me? It’s all been building to CRULE VERSUS THUNDERBIRD, round two baybeeeeeee!
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Foxe: Hmm, what to let slip… how about the fact that X-Corps has a whole roster of reinforcements we’ve yet to even tease on the page? We’re not done pulling out your faves for one last blow-out!
AIPT: Excellent! On that note, thanks, Steve, Steve, and Phil for stopping by X-Men Monday to discuss X-Men Unlimited! Before we wrap, here are a few eXclusive preview images, courtesy of X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
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Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!
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