Comic Books

X-Men Monday #338 – Saladin Ahmed Talks ‘Bishop’

Plus, an eXclusive look at ‘Bishop’ #1 and #3!

May 4, 2026

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

When Conductor of X, Tom Brevoort, made his most recent appearance in this column, back in January’s X-Men Monday #325, he said, “Bishop is still coming. We’re just not quite there yet, and depending on a conversation I’ll have later today, we might not be there still for a little longer, but we’ll see how that goes.”

Well, it sounds like that conversation went well, as an all-new Bishop limited series kicks off June 10, 2026! Written by Wolverine writer Saladin Ahmed and illustrated by Mario Santoro (with covers by Davide Paratore), the story promises to re-team Bishop with his beloved sister Shard and get to the heart of the time-traveling X-Man. Saladin was willing to return to X-Men Monday to share more about what you can expect, so let’s see what he has to say.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Saladin! Before we dig into all things Bishop, I’m curious to learn how the opportunity to write this limited series came about. Is this a story you pitched to the X-Office, or was it presented to you?

Saladin Ahmed: It was a sort of meeting of the minds. Ace editor Darren Shan had a kernel of a concept that involved reuniting Bishop and Shard. And I’ve always been interested in Bishop’s emotional world because he’s so unreadably stoic most of the time. So when the X-Office came to me looking for a “definitive take on Bishop,” it was a match made in heaven.

AIPT: For readers who are just learning about your Bishop limited series for the first time, what’s your elevator pitch?

Saladin: Bishop gets the chance we’ve all wished for — more time with a lost loved one. But when his sister Shard reappears in his life on a timeline-shattering mission, he’s forced to make an impossible choice between duty and family.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: How has it been collaborating on Bishop with artist Mario Santoro, and what can readers look forward to from the limited series’ visuals?

Saladin: Mario is an absolute genius. His ability to move between a sort of broody, emotional realism and dynamic high-octane superhero action is stunning. And the villains he’s designed for the series are BANANAS.

AIPT: We’ll talk more about those villains in a bit. But first, a few questions about the star of this story. What is it about Bishop that appeals to you as a writer? And what aspects of the character were you most excited to explore in your story?

Saladin: A Marvel fan came up to me at a con a couple years back and said something like, “If it’s got a tough guy crying, that’s how I know it’s a Saladin Ahmed story.” Guilty as charged! I love writing a stoic, seemingly unbreakable ass-kicker and asking what breaks them from the inside.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

But it’s also the visuals: I’ve spent the last several years focused on physical brawler heroes like Daredevil and Wolverine, so the visual energy and excitement of a time-traveling guy who can shoot pink energy beams is a welcome change of pace!

AIPT: Like most X-characters, Bishop’s publishing history has taken many wild turns. X-Fan and Battle of the Atom podcast co-host Adam Reck would like to know what you consider Bishop’s main heroic motivation these days, given that he successfully killed most of the time-traveling villains from his future, lost his holographic sister, came to terms with committing genocide in pursuit of killing a baby, no longer has the mantle of Captain Commander of Krakoa, and isn’t on any current X-roster.

Saladin: That’s more or less what Bishop’s asking himself when our series opens! After everything he’s been through over the years, he’s a bit lost. He feels empty despite it all. And a big part of that is because he’s never really made peace with losing his sister. Then, impossibly, he gets her back — and everything goes to hell.

AIPT: X-Fan John Klein III, who loves the way you’re writing Silver Sable in Wolverine, is excited you’re bringing back Shard. John would like to know how it’s been writing her.

Saladin: Thanks for the kind words about Sable, John! Part of what was important to me in this book was to make sure Shard was her own person — someone who’s not simply reacting to her brother, but dealing with her own mission, motivations, and fears.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

That said, the true joy in this book has been writing the brother-sister dynamic between them. The Bishop siblings have deep love for and loyalty to each other despite their sort of oil-and-water personalities. Putting that love and loyalty to the test on the page has fueled some really cool stuff here, and I’m hyped for readers to check it out!

AIPT: OK, now, what can you tease about this Final Brotherhood Bishop will be battling?

Saladin: Without giving too much away, the Final Brotherhood are a sort of answer to the XSE (Xavier’s Security Enforcers), which Bishop and Shard are both part of. The idea is that, just as hero worship of the X-Men led to the XSE, hero worship of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants led to this cult-like group. Each of the Final Brotherhood’s leaders carries the combined bloodlines of two old school Brotherhood mutants. So, for instance, in issue #1, Bishop battles Flamequake, a pugnacious young villain who carries the x-genes of both Pyro and Avalanche.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Mario is *killing it* in depicting these guys, not only in their amalgamated designs, but in the way he’s using body language and facial acting to give each of them their own distinct personality.

AIPT: X-Fan Jack P. asks if you have a favorite Bishop story, or any Bishop stories you revisited when preparing to write this limited series?

Saladin: ‘Favorite’ is always hard to say, but if I were to point to one story that was most influential on me writing this series, it’d be Duane Swierczynski and Larry Stroman’s X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop, hands down.

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

AIPT: A general question from X-Fan Ray N. Carnation — who, in your opinion, SHOULD be on the list of Bishop’s best friends and closest allies among Xavier’s mutants?

Saladin: Interesting question! This may just be a holdover of me writing Wolverine, but I definitely feel like Logan and Bishop could be closer. They’ve both got a weird perspective on time, a hesitancy to talk too much, and bodies on their conscience. It’d take both of them a while to open up, but once they did, I could see them BS-ing about life late into the night.

AIPT: A good segue! Finally, we can’t have you here and NOT ask about that moment in Wolverine #19. How did the idea to shatter one set of Logan’s claws come about, and what about this latest setback in Wolverine’s long life are you excited to explore?

Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Saladin: Well, it obviously affects things like the action in the book. But on a deeper level, this was another instance of messing with a tough guy’s emotions. The loss of the claws is a physical problem for Logan as a warrior, but the deeper damage comes when he has to face what the loss *means* to him. Is adamantium, which was forced on him so traumatically, *really* a part of him? Getting to write that sort of internal wrangling mapped onto crazy Marvel moments is why I love this job!

AIPT: Looking forward to seeing how Logan copes. But on that note — Saladin, thanks for stopping by X-Men Monday!

Remember, X-Fans, Bishop #1 goes on sale June 10, 2026. Below, we can eXclusively reveal a few unlettered pages from the first issue, featuring art by Mario Santoro and colors by Federico Blee.