X-Men Monday #305 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Pornsak Pichetshote Talk X-Men at FAN EXPO Boston 2025

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

And now for something slightly different! Once I was granted a press pass to FAN EXPO Boston 2025, I started to think about what I should do there for this column. Could I go up and down Artist Alley and talk to every creator tabling who ever touched X-Men? Sure — but I’ve also done that. Not just at FAN EXPO Boston, but also at Terrificon and New York Comic Con! Are there even any creators left to talk to?!? Then I thought, what if I just talk to folks who haven’t written X-Men stories for their thoughts on the franchise?

So that’s what I pitched to Eisner-nominated writer (and accomplished musician) Phillip Kennedy Johnson (The Incredible Hulk, Hellhunters, Action Comics, Batman and Robin, and more) and Eisner and Harvey-winning comics and television writer Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian, Man’s Best, The Horizon Project, and more) on the show floor. Shocking no one, these two terrific talents had X-Men opinions! (Doesn’t everybody?)

I really enjoyed our conversations and, honestly, based on what these two told me, I’d love to read Pornsak’s take on Cyclops and an extended exploration of Wolverine by Phillip. Read on to see if you agree!

AIPT: Welcome to X-Men Monday — FAN EXPO Boston 2025 edition! Phillip, what was your first X-Men eXperience?

Phillip Kennedy Johnson: Wow. I remember getting really excited by those first Jim Lee issues and the Joe Madureira era. I had the “Phalanx Covenant” crossover, and it was just mind-blowingly cool.

AIPT: Loved those foil covers.

Phillip: Yeah, so cool, but the story too. I really liked the story. But the animated series would have come out before then, right?

AIPT: Yeah — and then running parallel.

Phillip: Around that time, I was devouring the show like crazy. Back then, if you weren’t an X-Men fan at that age, you were just human shit — sorry to curse. Around that same time, Jim Lee, Joe Mad, “Fatal Attractions” — it was all my favorite Marvel stuff by far. I stuck with it through “Age of Apocalypse” and loved all that. Then, not long after, I got really serious about music. I think I continued to subscribe to Wolverine and Batman, but then I went to college and wasn’t reading for fun for a while — it was all about studying.

When I came back to comics, many years later, I found this amazing store.

AIPT: Third Eye Comics? [Laughs] I just watched your edition of The Stacks.

Phillip: The very first thing Steve at Third Eye put in my hands when he found out I was a ravenous comic and X-Men reader was Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday. He ripped the plastic off with no expectation I’d buy it — he just wanted me to see it as a fellow nerd. Seeing how far the art form had come was really powerful.

AIPT: What was your first X-Men eXperience, Pornsak?

Pornsak Pichetshote: Oh my god, probably an issue of Classic X-Men, back when I didn’t realize they added new material — especially those first 10 issues, where the new panels were inserted in between the pages. That was probably my first experience.

AIPT: X-Men is such a unique franchise that covers so many themes — what is it about “X-Men” that appeals to you, specifically?

Pornsak: I mean, certainly the theme of marginalization, being an outsider, having that be an analogy for racial strife. Those are the ones that really stand out.

Phillip: I think X-Men is one of the most important books on the shelves, always. As important as Superman. Writing Superman has been such an honor, and it carries this weight of responsibility that matters to me because you’re not just writing adventures. You’re writing stories about how best to be human, how best to treat others, how to care about others and show care to people, and that it’s OK to have great power that can be used with ultimate compassion and humility.

X-Men and the X-books carry similar weight. It’s a story about being the other thing that’s feared, hated, and scapegoated, and it’s such a crucial message that so many people need to see. As a kid, I liked X-Men because it was cool, and I identified as an other just as a lonely, confused kid without a lot of friends. But there are others who identify as that thing. I’ve met so many people who have never read a comic, but they still love the X-Men. The X-books are the only kind of comics that carry a weight of responsibility that can relate to Superman.

AIPT: Who is your favorite X-Men character?

Pornsak: I mean, I’ve got a soft spot for Cyclops. I know it’s controversial.

AIPT: Not at all. He’s also my favorite, so I’d say that’s the right answer.

Pornsak: A lot of people don’t like Cyclops.

AIPT: Those people are wrong. What do you find appealing about Scott?

Pornsak: It’s part of the angst — a good mutant and a good hero has great angst. There’s something great about Cyclops, where literally everything he looks at gets destroyed. I love that as a concept and grist to the mill that fuels the character.

AIPT: Favorite X-Men character, Phillip?

Phillip: Wolverine. It’s his status as the ultimate survivor. He’s not the leading man type that some of them are, but the guy who can survive anything and never give up. He doesn’t have the flashiest powers compared to some — he doesn’t have reality-altering powers. His powers allow him to protect himself as an organism. He’s just so compelling as the guy who has gone through so unbelievably much.

I’ve got this headcanon to Wolverine that he’s much, much older than the origin dictates. My mind rebels against the idea he’s only a couple hundred years old. I feel Wolverine is this endless companion to humanity who will always be there. And even though he’s one of the consummate X-Men, the X-Men will be a relatively short chapter in his life as he perceives it. So he’s the ultimate survivor. He’s bigger than all of us, just in longevity and the ability to survive literally anything, physically or psychologically.

AIPT: What’s your favorite X-Men story?

Pornsak: I mean, this is totally a cop-out answer, but Chris Claremont considers his whole run one huge novel, so I’ll say the whole Claremont run, read from beginning to end, as a novel.

Phillip: “Age of Apocalypse” is powerful. You know, there’s a certain kind of comics fan trying to recapture the greatness of the stories of their youth, but really, what they’re trying to capture is the way those stories made them feel as young readers, having their minds blown. “Age of Apocalypse” is one of those formative stories for me. The scope of it was so amazing — it just framed the legacy of Charles Xavier in such a clear way. Also, it was so exciting to see such different takes on the characters. That was a really amazing reading experience as a kid. Back then, I’d never seen a comic store and didn’t until years later. I was able to buy that comic in Target or off a spinner rack in a drug store and still get this amazing, powerful story.

There were moments in “Fatal Attractions” that carry great weight for me. After Wolverine gets his adamantium pulled out, on the way home, the plane’s falling apart and Charles is trying to prevent him from going into the light. Logan is saying he’s going to go, and Charles says, “Logan! It’s death!!” “Logan says, Chuck, don’t you think I know that?” I don’t know, it’s such a powerful moment. There are such beautifully written beats in that story. I remember it being really powerful.

AIPT: Would you ever want to work on an X-Men story?

Pornsak: It would depend on the book, but yes, absolutely.

Phillip: I would be incredibly honored to write an X-book of any kind. I certainly have a take on Wolverine I’d love to tell. I have a take on X-Force I’d love to tell. But to write an X-book, I’d have to think long and hard over whether I’d even take it, because there are entire populations of readers that understand so well what it’s like to be the other. I want to make sure those books are always written by people who understand that, and I would have to make sure I do those books justice.

When asked to write John Stewart in Green Lantern: War Journal, I had to really think if I’d take it or not. There are a lot of readers of John who need him to not only be awesome, but also feel seen and understood on the page.

If I feel like I can honor the X-Men’s most devout readers and help them feel seen, then I’d be honored to write it. But I would not take it lightly.

AIPT: And finally, what other work of yours should X-Fans check out?

Phillip: My Superman work, just because it’s a similarly weighty story about things that really matter in a way that X-Men stories really matter. I try to write all my stories with great respect — I try to write the version that carries weight always. So, Superman for that reason.

AIPT: I loved Hellhunters.

Phillip: With Hellhunters, I loved writing Wolverine. All the characters on that team are so great. It’s one of the Marvel books I’ve enjoyed the most.

Also, when I wrote Extreme Carnage, I brought out the Friends of Humanity in a way I thought was appropriate. I remember them being compelling bad guys as a kid, and in the current climate, they seem very relevant. I brought them in again in a very relevant way. That was a series where I wrote the first and last issues alongside Steve Orlando, Clay Chapman, and Alyssa Wong. I’m very proud of it. It’s the symbiote universe meets The Manchurian Candidate. I hope X-Men fans appreciate it.

Pornsak: Right now, I’m working on Exquisite Corpses, which is a James Tynion IV book about a bunch of serial killers who descend on a town. They’re bankrolled by the 13 families running all of America, and whoever wins gets control of America for the next five years. But it really follows the people in that town.

And it’s been out for a while, but The Horizon Experiment.

AIPT: Featuring Vita Ayala, J. Holtham, and Sabir Pirzada of X-Men fame.

Pornsak: I would love to see Tananarive Due work on an X-Men book.

But I would love people to check out The Horizon Experiment, which features potential pilots for new series. The idea is I asked a whole bunch of creators to give me a protagonist of color set in a very popular genre and set the story in some way that if you changed the background of the characters, the whole story would have to change. So from that, we have a Chinese superspy, a muslim exorcist, Evil Dead for black nerds, a reverse Indiana Jones who steals from museums to bring artifacts back to their cultures, and an East African werewolf secretly living in Miami.

AIPT: There you have it, X-Fans — summer’s not over yet, so there’s still time to add to those summer reading lists. But on that note, thank you, Phillip and Pornsak for taking the time to talk X-Men with me!

No eXclusive art this week, X-Fans, because, you know, these guys aren’t working on X-books! But actually, I do have something for you from the show floor…

That’s right: X-Fudge! If somebody doesn’t share this on #XSpoilers, I’ll be disappointed.

Anywho, in case you missed it, I also reported on Wolverine voice actor Cal Dodd’s FAN EXPO Boston panel, which featured some details about the next season of X-Men ’97. Finally, keep an eye out for two more interviews from the convention: Artist Simone Di Meo discussing his upcoming Jeph Loeb collaboration, X-Men of Apocalypse, and writer Tini Howard reflecting on her work with Betsy Braddock and Rachel Summers, as well as her upcoming series Marian Heretic.

Until next time, X-Fans, stay eXceptional!