This year, an X-Men revolution is in the works, with X-Men #1 already launched and three headlining series on the way. One of which is Exceptional X-Men by Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero. Launching on September 4, 2024, the series is the last of the three flagships that see to put a stamp on the new From the Ashes era.
It’s a team book featuring Kitty Pryde as the leader, with young mutants joining the fray. The complexity of its characters is robust, from Kitty to Emma to Bronze, Axo, and Melee.
That’s more than evident after talking to Carnero in our recent chat. We dig into how long she’s been working on the project, what it’s like working with Ewing, and even what kind of music each of the team members listens to!
That’s not all. Check out the EXCLUSIVE solicitation and cover art for Exceptional X-Men #2 at the end of this interview!
AIPT: To start, how long have you been working on this project? I’m always curious to find out these things can take months, if not years!
Carmen Carnero: I imagine that planning a relaunch of this scale takes a lot of time, you know, setting up teams, planning the release order, etc, but for me it started at the end of last year when I was doing a couple of issues of Amazing Spider-Man.
I got the pitch with the first issues and character descriptions, loved it, took the job and soon after that I started working on the character designs since we had some time until I finished what I had pending, and once that was done I started on the first issue a little bit into this year.
AIPT: Is there a particular character that you’ve grown to love drawing most after drawing a few issues now?
CC: I know it sounds typical, but I really enjoy the whole team because each one has its own developments and moments that I like to draw. To mention some of these moments, I would go with Emma’s fabulous introduction, Kitty’s scenes of anxiety/doubt due to where we pick up her story, and all the kids’ introductions which are super relatable.
AIPT: Which character did you THINK you’d love drawing the most?
CC: Well, Trista (Bronze) is the first to appear and you see in the lettered preview where she is not allowed to enter a kpop concert with her friends and suffers an altercation with a security guard and discovers her power at that moment.
Then you start to find out Trista’s adorable personality through her interactions with Kitty and you’ll fall in love with her, she’s such a huggable character. She gives me A LOT of opportunity to play when it comes to drawing.
AIPT: You’ve worked with a whole bunch of excellent writers! How has working with Eve L. Ewing so far?
CC: It’s true that I look back and it’s amazing how many talented writers I’ve had the opportunity to work with, and each one has their own style.
Eve manages to make me believe I’m in Chicago when I read a script, it’s always full of references and gets you into the situation (which is appreciated for someone who doesn’t live in the USA). But where I think she is brilliant is in character development and especially the teenagers, our series is very character-focused and that gives you a lot of insight into how each character would react to certain situations. I love how Eve resolves these types of situations and I feel very lucky with the team we have made!
AIPT: Do you have a favorite X-Man? It doesn’t have to be in this book!
CC: Every time I’m asked this question I answer something different and I feel like I have to choose between several people I love very much. As of today and not taking into account that I have the best characters in our series… it would be between Nightcrawler, Rogue, or Laura although I’m sad to leave out several like Magik, Iceman, Jean, Wolverine… very difficult to choose one!
AIPT: If your series was a song, what would it be and why?
CC: Very difficult question because there is an incredibly different mix of ingredients in our series. Depending on who I draw, I play one type of music or another:
- With Kitty I like to play the acoustic songs of Foo Fighters’ In Your Honor because all she wants is calm
- With Emma very powerful soundtracks/classical music.
- With Trista (Bronze) in my head keeps playing Gimme Chocolate by Babymetal because she is both a steamroller and tender.
- Alex (Axo) already has a playlist made by Eve where there is a lot of punk and especially the band Axolotes Mexicanos.
- Thao (Melee) is very impulsive. I see her listening to powerful R&B female singers like Janelle Monáe, maybe? I think it is a very subjective thing and each person will find something different in reading this series.
Check out the solicit/cover for Exceptional X-Men #2 plus a #2 variant by David Baldeon.
EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #2
EVE L. EWING (W) • CARMEN CARNERO (A/C)
AXO VARIANT COVER BY DAVID BALDEÓN • AXO VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY DAVID BALDEÓN
Kate Pryde’s continued attempts at living a normal, non-mutant life go laughably wrong as she finds herself in the middle of a brawl started by a couple of headstrong teens with remarkable abilities – which, of course, they’re terrible at controlling. She’s sworn off being anybody’s teacher, mentor, professor, sensei or anything that reminds her of her old life. But will the White Queen force her hand?
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