X-Men Monday #293 – Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing Talk ‘Giant-Size X-Men’ 50th Anniversary Event

Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

50 years ago, the X-Men experienced a secondary mutation that not only changed the franchise forever — but saved it. I’m, of course, talking about Len Wein and Dave Cockrum’s Giant-Size X-Men #1, which introduced the world to Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Krakoa, and so many other characters and concepts that would redefine comics. To celebrate this mutant milestone, Marvel will release five one-shots all written by NYX co-writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing: Giant-Size X-Men #1, Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1, Giant-Size Age of Apocalypse #1, Giant-Size House of M #1, and Giant-Size X-Men #2.

Those are some pretty historic events and there’s a lot on the line. Fortunately, Collin and Jackson were willing to return to X-Men Monday to shed some light on their Giant-Size X-Men event, the incredible artists they’re working with on each one-shot, what’s at stake for Krakoa, and more. Let’s see what they have to say.

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Collin and Jackson! So, how did the idea to celebrate Giant-Size X-Men’s 50th anniversary by sending Ms. Marvel on a tour of X-Men history originate?

Jackson Lanzing: So, as do a lot of the core ideas in the X-Men Office, this came right from the mind of Conductor of X, Tom Brevoort. Tom came to us with the basics of this already squared out — which were that we’re going to send Kamala Khan back in time and we’re going to see her do it through five events: Giant-Size X-Men #1, Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1, Giant-Size Age of Apocalypse #1, Giant-Size House of M #1, and then finally, Giant-Size X-Men #2, which would wrap it all up together. There was also the idea of Adam Kubert drawing Giant-Size X-Men #1 and Giant-Size X-Men #2, which was so exciting that we said, “Yes.”

I think the core of it was a really exciting opportunity to jump in with some of the greatest artists in the Marvel canon and getting a chance to really dive into these periods of X-Men history that we love as fans — and that Kamala loves sort of from afar as we continue along the journey that we’ve been taking her on since NYX #1. She’s encountering, understanding, and evaluating her place in the X-Men canon as the newest mutant and as a mutant who came into it after already being a part of the Inhumans, Avengers, and Champions communities. She’s had all these other experiences. So, how is X-Men different? Why is X-Men different? Why are mutants important? Why are mutants different? And why does this realignment of Kamala in her own heart and in the wider Marvel Universe mean something for the X-Men at large?

So, I think in large part, the purpose of the story is very much what we’ve been telling since the beginning of NYX, just blown up to 11 and put on the biggest canvas possible, which is to say, how does Kamala Khan become an X-Man? 

Collin Kelly: Jackson absolutely hit it all on the head. I think the places where we got to play are the ramifications of all those moments. Especially considering that each of these grand stories was a series or mini-series that we had to distill into singular stories. So we did have to pick and choose, and some things that people might really love aren’t going to make the cut, but the things that are the core of each story, we were really interested in highlighting and bringing back to life.

AIPT: This week’s first X-Fan question comes from Dusklight, who says ingraining Ms. Marvel in mutant history is such a novel idea and Dusklight is incredibly excited to see how that works out! How and why were the specific events in X-Men history chosen?

Collin: So these events were decided primarily because they all have huge anniversaries this year. This is a celebration of all of those milestones. So yes, there are other incredible stories. Absolutely. But just in terms of the timing and the way they all kind of came together, it was almost like all the planets had aligned and this was the story that effectively demanded to be told. And luckily, it really does highlight these crucial moments that will help shape Kamala’s perspective and, through her eyes, help redefine and reinterpret what these events really mean.

Jackson: It’s the 50th anniversary of Giant-Size X-Men #1, it’s the 45th anniversary of “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” it’s the 30th anniversary of “The Age of Apocalypse,” and it’s the 15th anniversary of “House of M.” Beyond the mechanical nature of, “Hey, these are a bunch of numbers that make sense,” it was our job to figure out what it is about each of these events that ties a story together. How can you take the events of any of these individual moments and tell one concrete emotional story for Kamala? That’s been the exciting part of this for us.

Anybody who knows our work knows we sort of start from character and then build a plot out. Our books are rarely as plot-driven as they are character-driven. And then sometimes, I think to a fault, we’ll be much more interested in what a character is feeling and going through than we are in the machinations of the big bad, or whether a fight is awesome. We’ll make that fight as awesome as possible, and we’ll obviously always go for the jugular on a villain, but if we can land the emotional context of a book, that’s really our goal. We want you to feel something. We want that character to feel something that feels true.

So with this, it was, OK, here are five insane, huge stories that we cannot possibly contain in 30 pages. How do we go back to those experiences and find what’s valuable about them, but then make them each track along a story for Kamala? And I think what the big bad is up to is also crucial to this story. The way that these events are coming together and the why of this we’ll find unfolding through our villain, who is ultimately the catalyst for this adventure and how it unfolds.

AIPT: Oh, we’ll get to the big bad in a bit. But you mentioned how some of these events were quite long when they were coming out — and some of them, like “House of M” — included a lot of characters and side-plots. It’s why X-Fans like HOXOR asked if Betsy Braddock and Rachel Summers might appear in Giant-Size House of M. I would assume this assignment involved a lot of re-reading.

Jackson: Absolutely. And I mean, the “House of M” event is an easier one for us because Collin and I’s story is that we met when we were college-aged kids going to the comic shop together. And the event that was coming out during that period was “House of M.” So “House of M” is an event that Collin and I read together and discussed. We collected all of the tie-ins and were part of the core Marvel readership during the Brian Michael Bendis era. So “House of M” was an easier one. Returning to that was more of a, “Oh, right, that’s how it goes.”

“The Age of Apocalypse” is something that I only read for the first time five years ago. It’s not a thing that lives rent-free in my head. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is something that we’ve both read several times, but we both had to return to it and really discuss what part of that story we were adapting, as that story is far too expansive to be contained inside of something like this because of what Chris Claremont brings to table. And then, Giant-Size X-Men #1 is a classic. We’ve all read it a bunch of times. It’s a fundamental historical piece of the Marvel canon, right? 

But again, looking at what happens in that story, you have about as many pages, but that’s a book that’s mostly concerned with covering the beginnings of a bunch of characters and getting them through an adventure as quickly and efficiently as possible. This story had to be about introducing those same characters, wrecking that adventure, and then finding a whole new way to put that thing back together with Kamala at the center of it. So, inevitably, it requires a lot of remixing, a lot of re-reading. I think we’re probably the foremost experts on these events now, having to go through them way too many times. And I’m only going to say that in a written interview, so that no one challenges me on it, ever.

AIPT: [Laughs]

Collin: As for the Betsy of it all, I think one of the important things about realizing all of these events is that they were a status quo shift that allowed all of your favorite characters to experience what that status quo now was. So it is replete with incredible characters going through shocking and wonderful stories that do not fit in 30 pages. So, to all the incredible X-Fans out there who absolutely are begging for their favorite to show up, some of you will be happy, and some of you will be disappointed, but please know that we love all of them equally, and this is really just purely a matter of page space.

AIPT: I didn’t even mention X-Fan Justin asking about the Academy X kids.

Collin: It’s very important that fans of the “House of M” event understand that “House of M” means nothing without “Decimation.” The Academy X kids are my children. I love them to pieces. And “Decimation” was an absolute body blow to every one of those kids, who up until then had been living a delightful Harry Potter experience in their little houses — and suddenly, their entire world crumbled. So to us, that is incredibly important, especially how many of those characters would then flood into our NYX story. But “House of M” is, in particular, a body blow, and we are not shying away from that trauma.

AIPT: It’s funny, you mentioned reading the “House of M” tie-ins as they were coming out. I started collecting X-Men comics right before “The Age of Apocalypse” kicked off, so I was very much trying to figure out what was going on from one issue to the next. It’s similar to what Kamala goes through.

Jackson: And Kamala is not intending on going back into X-Men history. This is a thing that happens to her — it’s not a thing she wants to do. So as she’s lost inside of it, she’s trying to figure out how to both survive the experience and also allow X-Men history to survive the experience.

That’s the fun of the book for us in a lot of ways — Kamala coming into these stories halfway through them and having to be like, “Alright, what’s an ‘Age of Apocalypse?’ Why is there a statue there? Why is there a floating island of humans?” And I think that allows us to hopefully bring the reader along who hasn’t read these stories. What we’d really love is for this to be a way into each of these stories for new readers, the same way they are for Kamala. And then you can go back and read the original story and understand exactly what it is that Kamala is trying to save, and what she has, by nature of her presence, disrupted.

AIPT: That’s great. And these one-shots promise to pair Ms. Marvel with Jean Grey, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, and others. X-Fan ReddDayspring is curious to learn which dynamic between the classic X-Men and Kamala Khan you were most excited to write.

Jackson: I have always been excited about getting Kamala back to a place where she can have a conversation with her friend Cyclops. I always think that the core relationship between her and teenage Scott from the Champions days is a fun little artifact of that loop. But one of the things that Scott left behind was a little trigger in his brain that, whenever he encounters Kamala, he can treat her like a friend. He can remember enough to know what’s going on there. So in the present, they’re not getting a lot of chances to interact for obvious reasons. Scott’s kind of on a wild one in Alaska, and Kamala is on her own journey of sort of normcore self-reflection over in NYX. These are not two books that are going to interact and overlap very heavily, even in larger overlapping stories like the just-announced X-Men: Hellfire Vigil.

But I think that getting those two in a room is something we’ve always wanted to do. Scott’s one of our favorite characters at Marvel, bar none. I just love that character. We’ve been wanting to write him for a long time, so we get the shot to do that — and to do that at a point that is so dramatic for him. When Kamala finds Scott, he’s already lost his friends, he’s lost Jean. He is quite literally kneeling in the middle of the mansion grounds, firing his optic beams into the sky and roaring.

He’s having a bad time. And for Kamala to be able to walk into that and not have to spend a bunch of time going, “Hey, so I’m Kamala Khan, I’m from the future.” He can just look at her and be like, “Oh my God, Kamala,” and they can hug and we can just shortcut all the rest of that so we can just focus on what these two mean to each other and where those emotions are going to lead them in the story. 

Collin: And I think there’s something really wonderful about Kamala and Jean — not only because of the continuity of Ms. Marvel and Marvel Girl. When we meet Jean and Dark Phoenix, she’s not very old. None of the X-Men are very old. So they’re much closer in age to Kamala’s experience. She’s almost experienced more than Jean at that point, and they have this really strong, empathetic bond that was really shocking to write. Jackson can attest that the original scenes between those two were way too long, just because they had so much to talk about. But I think people are going to be really surprised by how much those two share, and what the ultimate ramifications of that might be.

AIPT: OK, back to that big bad. Legion is one of X-Fan Phil’s favorite X-characters. How did you decide to use him for this story? And what informs your approach to writing him?

Jackson: OK, first, he’s one of our favorites, too. One of our first sort of mentors and guys we looked up to in this industry was Si Spurrier, a writer who we met early on in our days at Boom. When we were just starting out, he gave us a lot of advice, was very kind, and open with feedback. He’s a very different writer than us, but I think he’s often looking for the same confluence of emotional catharsis and big, weird, wild ideas. And that friendship, I’d say, has led us down a path now of reading all of his Legion work over the years. X-Men Legacy is a book that sits high on my shelf of X-Men titles.

I love what he’s done with Legion over time. And by the end of Krakoa, it kind of felt like, for lack of a better term, Si had kind of left the character in a fully repaired state. He had left the character in a place where not only had he sort of separated himself from his altars in a way and had become his own sort of person, but he had installed himself into Krakoa’s subconscious as this afterlife, right? This physical place, and this mental space, for all those who died and didn’t resurrect. And that’s kind of like a period at the end of the sentence that is Legion, right? That’s the end of that character unless you do something with him next.

And with Krakoa fading into the White Hot Room and evacuating from our reality, did Legion go, too? What happened to him after that? What happened to his altars? How did that work out? What emotional scars are left behind from that? Those are questions we’ve been asking since we started in the X-Office. How do you get him back to a place of either being a hero or a villain, or both? As we started to talk about what kind of characters with the power scale and emotional connectivity to the X-Men would feel valid, he was high on the list.

And even though Kamala and Legion are extraordinarily different characters, they were wildly similar from a subtextual perspective. Now we’ve got a conversation that can happen between these two characters. We’ve got not just an engine for a bad guy and a good guy, but an engine for a bad guy and a good guy to sit over a campfire and talk about why they’re good guys and bad guys. Now we’ve got X-Men. Now we have a Magneto and Charles — they don’t hate each other, but are fundamentally on the opposite side of a philosophical divide. Can those two fighting across X-Men history come to some kind of catharsis?

AIPT: You mentioned Krakoa fading into the White Hot Room, and the solicitation for Giant-Size X-Men #2 mentions the fate of the White Hot Room is at stake. Should fans of the First Krakoan Age be picking up these issues?

Jackson: Yes, yes, yes. They should. Krakoa fans should be tuning into this event. The first issue is all about going back to the beginning of Krakoa and reexamining its first appearance in light of what Krakoa has become to the X-Fanbase over the last decade.

Collin: Especially because Kamala knows exactly what Krakoa will become. The fact that we’re bringing those together — if people don’t think we’re going to play with that, they don’t know who we are.

Jackson: And then in terms of stakes, the solicit for Giant-Size X-Men #2 spells that out pretty strongly. The stakes of this story are the life and death of Krakoa. So if you’re concerned about the coming of a potential Second Krakoan Age, that’s what’s on the line in this story. We sort of start from an emotional stakes perspective, but from a very physical, straightforward stakes perspective, that is what’s on the line. And, you know, all of X-Men history.

AIPT: No pressure. Next, X-Fan Koita wants to know how it was working with such amazing artists on these one-shots and how you approached writing each issue to play to their strengths.

Collin: Knowing what they are individually going to bring to the table is super important in terms of tuning the story. But honestly, across the entire board, it’s get out of their way. When you’re working with an absolute killer’s row of talent with this much skill and experience under their belts, we wrote a lot of this fairly looser than we normally do to give them the space to be the visual storytellers we all know they can be.

Jackson: Adam Kubert is not a guy you have to tell how to draw something. What you have to do is give Adam enough that he’s going to be able to make meat out of it. Then, as Collin said, get out of his way and let him run. He’s an all-time artist, so for us, largely what we had to do was imagine how something would look drawn by Adam Kubert and then draw from that imagination and try to write a page that’s going to inspire the master.

And then Rod Reis, what he’s doing on Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga — no one is prepared for it. I think it’s the best work of his career. He’s doing a fully painted ’70s X-Men extravaganza. This thing is of its own time and as classic as it can be, while also being incredibly character-focused. I think the Jean and Kamala conversations are as impressive and beautiful as the destruction of the Shi’ar fleet at the hands of the Phoenix. We’re getting such scope and scale out of what he does.

C.F. Villa on Giant-Size Age of Apocalypse is an incredible talent. All you have to do is get out of his way. We gave him a bunch of incredible action and conversation pieces and he nailed it. With Giant-Size House of M, I think Francesco Manna is really relishing getting to do those Bendis-style scenes where there are 30 people. We never get to write like that. That was such a joy. 

AIPT: So much to look forward to. Speaking of, with NYX coming to an end this month, can X-Fans expect more X-stories from the Hivemind following the end of the Giant-Size X-Men event? We know you’re part of X-Men: Hellfire Vigil.

Jackson: This actually is kind of our swan song. We’ve told the story that we intended to tell with Kamala. I think we all would’ve loved NYX to go a little longer — that’s just how these stories work. But we’re really proud of where it landed and we’re really proud of how it ended, which people are going to see any minute now, and which hands directly into Giant-Size X-Men #1. So the Giant-Size one-shots are in some ways also NYX #11 – 15. Just, none of the other characters are there. It’s just Kamala’s story.

For Hellfire Vigil, we wrote the first five pages. That was beautiful getting to lead that story, sort of set the tone for it, and really show what NYX was building to, which was always the Vigil. Because again, as Krakoa fans and fans of the Hellfire Gala, we really didn’t want to let that go. And that wasn’t just us.

But after that, we are free and clear from the X-Office. I don’t know what the future holds. You never know, they could call us tomorrow and we could be talking about a book. But for now, our efforts are really just making sure these stories are as strong and as awesome as possible. Then we’re going to spend some time on some creator-owned work, I think. It’s been a long few years, working almost exclusively at DC, Marvel, and on Star Trek at IDW. So getting a chance to step outside of that and play with our own toys for a little bit is really exciting for us.

AIPT: That is exciting. Looking forward to that. Is there anything else you’d like to say before we wrap?

Jackson: I also want to go right at the criticism that we hear a lot on NYX and Giant-Size X-Men, because I think that it’s the kind of criticism that, if I were a fan, I would also probably level, which is why are we stuffing Kamala Khan into the X-Men? Why are we pushing her back in time to all these stories that people love? Why are we going back rather than looking forward? And I think that that’s a really valid concern. I think that when people say, “Hey, make new stories.” I say that all the time. I would prefer we make new stories. This is a new story. It’s not a retread, it’s not a rehash, and it certainly isn’t a synopsis run of X-Men events. If you’ve read Giant-Size X-Men #1, nothing about that is going to prepare you for the story of our Giant-Size X-Men #1 except for foreknowledge of what it used to be.

The same is true of Giant-Size Dark Phoenix and Giant-Size House of M. And the final story in Giant-Size X-Men #2 is a full, original story that takes place in the present that is informed by everything that has come before. This is not just like plugging her in and going, “Now Kamala Khan was there all along.” That’s not what this is about. This is about exploring a new story with her at the center. And then at the same time, the emotional context of that is brand new and really important for Kamala.

Kamala was a mutant before we got here and we volunteered for the job. Our question to Tom Brevoort was, “What are you doing with Kamala? We know you just made her mutant — are there plans?” And when the answer to that was she’s not on any of the core teams, we said, OK, well if you are going to make this character a mutant, then the best thing we can do is give her great story that’s going to make that a value add, not just for the X-Men, but for Ms. Marvel, the character. I’ve been reading her since her first appearance. I love this character and I would love to help integrate her into the mutant line, but also allow her to show why she’s an individual and why she brings something to the table for the X-Men and isn’t just a person we’re adding because X, Y, or Z. This is now a character who has an outside perspective that matters to the rest of the X-Men, and that can help open them up.

Collin: And to our fans of NYX, we love you, we thank you for reading along and for spreading the good word. For folks who felt it wasn’t quite the stories that they wanted, please know that every one of those stories is something that we were incredibly passionate about. We’re always going to be really proud of that book, and with Giant-Size, we’re telling an authentic, emotional story that comes from our hearts. As we mentioned earlier, everyone has a different thing about X-Men that they absolutely love, and when they don’t get that thing, sometimes they can get a little peckish. That’s OK. We’re those guys, too. We love these stories, we love these characters, and we really appreciate everyone who’s come on the ride with us and we’re genuinely excited to take them onto the next journey.

AIPT: A great note to end on. And I have to say, NYX has been one of my favorite current X-Men series, so I’ve appreciated all the thought and care you’ve poured into it and will be sad to see it end. So thanks for that and for stopping by X-Men Monday! 

Alright, X-Fans, we have a lot to get through before we wrap this week’s edition. So, deep breath…

Giant-Size X-Men #1 goes on sale May 28, 2025. As you already saw, we revealed three eXclusive, unlettered Adam Kubert pages from it throughout the interview. And here’s Lucas Werneck’s variant cover for the one-shot…

Giant-Size Dark Phoenix Saga #1 goes on sale June 11, 2025. We revealed one eXclusive, unlettered Rod Reis page above, but here’s one more stunning page…

And the issue’s Lee Garbett variant cover…

As well as Stephanie Hans’ variant cover…

That enough? No?! You want more?! Alright, let’s go!

Giant-Size Age of Apocalypse #1 goes on sale June 25, 2025. Here’s Tony Daniel’s variant cover…

And finally, Kael Ngu’s variant cover to the same issue…

Giant-Size House of M #1 is on sale July 16, 2025, and the epic concludes in Giant-Size X-Men #2 on July 30, 2025.

In the next edition of X-Men Monday: Writer Amy Chu makes her X-Men Monday debut to discuss her upcoming Emma Frost: The White Queen mini-series.

Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!