NYX - Ongoing Q&A w/ Jackson!

[Mutant X]

Hi, Jackson.
Question: what does this new series inherit from Quesada's original NYX, apart from the name and Laura?

[H-E-D]

How are you dealing with Kamala Khan moving to NYC, considering Jersey City was such an important setting to her titles that you could call it a character of its own?

On that point — of the five characters confirmed for NYX, none of them are actually born-and-raised New Yorkers. Laura comes the closest, given the prior volumes of NYX. Are NYC-native mutants going to feel a certain way about these out-of-towners moving in?

Might we see a revival of the “Mutant Town” concept from the Morrison era? Maybe it’d be called Krakoatown, like Chinatown.

[Grunty]

It seems that the primary buyership of regular Marvel super hero comics in the US (after the comicbook shops who order them in first place) and therefor those who sustain their sales short and longterm, are male between the age of 30 to 50 and mostly collectors and hobbiest, who became buyers in the 1980's to early 2000's and mostly buy books based on an internal logic of "value" or because they have done so for decades based on a personal routine and attachment to the IPs.

Which is of course not to say that buyers from other demographics don't exist in significant number, but that their buying power is apparently more limited compared to the previously mentioned one.

Meanwhile despite the general popularity of Marvel properties and characters, it seems very few of these fans are readers, let alone buyers of these comics in significant enough numbers to make them sustainable and therefor capable of financialy surviving for long.

Rather they are fans of or through the various other entertainment products based on the Marvel properties. Meaning movies, tv shows (animated or life action), video games and of course merchandise... lot's of merchandise.

If these assumptions are considered true and the majority of what can be expected to be the potential buyership/audience of this book are a known and limited quantity, what can this title offer to appeal to them?

[coveredinbees]

Does Kiden still use ecstacy? Will you touch on Zebra Daddy's tragic backstory?

[JacksonLanzing]

What's the differences or similarities with the original NYX's series? Any of the characthers of the vol 1 will show up anytime soon?

Ultimately, we're very different writers than either Quesada or Liu - so I'd expect there are far more differences than similarities between our run and both of theirs. NYX has a bit of an edgelord reputation - it's the book where Marvel characters get shot and take drugs and things get brutal. Especially in the aftermath of Krakoa, Collin and I aren't super interested in playing that song; this NYX is a more optimistic celebration of community and heroism, even as hardship and tragedy threaten those things from the outside. We have at least two full-time superheroes on our roster in Kamala and Laura, so that's going to inherently change the kind of book NYX becomes. And in terms of characters, for now, we're centering the ones we've announced. However, Kiden Nixon fans are going to get a kick out of some things in issue #2, I think.

How was the process to choose the characters for this line up and what can we expect for them?

We came in with a pretty solid idea of who we wanted to see on the team. This was a situation where we were asked to pitch any book we wanted on the new line - and NYX was our one pitch because it's exactly the kind of X-Book we love to read, filled with characters we felt had plenty of story ahead of them. Each issue of NYX moves to a new perspective - so there's a kind of "anthology" quality to the book, even as it tells a wider story across the series - and that means that we were looking for the kind of characters who could anchor a full issue. That was really our one criteria for selection - that and Anole, who is Collin's favorite character and who we could not possibly do without.

I think there's only one character out of our big asks that we didn't get - and it was only because Quentin Quire was already on the X-Men! Damn you, MacKay!!

And the last one, there's some Academy X characthers there, amazing! Can we expect more of them showing up between issues? fingers crossed for Wind Dancer, Dust, Wallflower... haha

You'll absolutely be seeing more members of Academy X, though perhaps not unchanged from the last time you saw them.

[MythicalChicken]

Okay, ordering 10 copies of the first issue now

Please god don’t manipulate rift into buying 10 copies of this because if Hellion doesn’t show I shudder to think what will happen to these boards.

[JacksonLanzing]

Hello, Jackson. Quick, simple question. Is Laura still hanging out and taking care of her brother and sister; Daken and Gabby?

When our book opens, Laura isn't hanging out with anyone. Her family is still out there and her feelings toward them are unchanged, but she is on a mission and it has consumed her. If Kamala is the mutant superhero of NYC, Laura Kinney is its dark mutant avenger. We're looking to push her into new story territory - we feel similarly about her to how we felt about Bucky Barnes when we first took on CAPTAIN AMERICA. More on all that in issue #2.

[JacksonLanzing]

Hi, Jackson.
Question: what does this new series inherit from Quesada's original NYX, apart from the name and Laura?

I think what we inherit most of all is an intention to tell more "human" stories within the mutant community. We are definitely centering a bit more of the superheroic experience, but utilizing it to try and dig into the internal life of these characters. Anything more than that might be a bit of a spoiler, but suffice to say, we're aware of the legacy we're inheriting here and are always looking for ways to honor, utilize, and question it.

[JacksonLanzing]

How are you dealing with Kamala Khan moving to NYC, considering Jersey City was such an important setting to her titles that you could call it a character of its own?

On that point — of the five characters confirmed for NYX, none of them are actually born-and-raised New Yorkers. Laura comes the closest, given the prior volumes of NYX. Are NYC-native mutants going to feel a certain way about these out-of-towners moving in?

Might we see a revival of the “Mutant Town” concept from the Morrison era? Maybe it’d be called Krakoatown, like Chinatown.

To start: we're not moving Kamala to NYC. She's still living with her family in Jersey City - she's just taking classes in the city and engaging for the first time with the city's wider mutant community. So part of the point is that she's a bit of an outsider who is learning the ropes, all while being the closest thing NYC has to a mutant superhero. But her home life will not be forgotten - in fact, Aamir and some new elements of Kamala's family are a big part of our story.

That's a great point about the NYC native mutants. You'll see some exploration of that exact idea in issue #3.

As for Mutant Town... stay tuned. Places like that don't pop up overnight... and the building of community can be a dangerous experience.

[CGAR]

This will probably be too spoilery, but there are other mutants from Gen X and New Mutants that didn’t get as much love during the Krakoa era: Magma, Skin, Husk, Blink.

Will this other generation make cameos or appearances?

[berserkerclaw]

Hey Jacksonon speaking of Laura was it you or editorial that made her dress as Wolverine and will we see Laura reasons for that seeing how Logan is still alive?

[JacksonLanzing]

It seems that the primary buyership of regular Marvel super hero comics in the US (after the comicbook shops who order them in first place) and therefor those who sustain their sales short and longterm, are male between the age of 30 to 50 and mostly collectors and hobbiest, who became buyers in the 1980's to early 2000's and mostly buy books based on an internal logic of "value" or because they have done so for decades based on a personal routine and attachment to the IPs.

Which is of course not to say that buyers from other demographics don't exist in significant number, but that their buying power is apparently more limited compared to the previously mentioned one.

Meanwhile despite the general popularity of Marvel properties and characters, it seems very few of these fans are readers, let alone buyers of these comics in significant enough numbers to make them sustainable and therefor capable of financialy surviving for long.

Rather they are fans of or through the various other entertainment products based on the Marvel properties. Meaning movies, tv shows (animated or life action), video games and of course merchandise... lot's of merchandise.

If these assumptions are considered true and the majority of what can be expected to be the potential buyership/audience of this book are a known and limited quantity, what can this title offer to appeal to them?

I'll be honest, Grunty: I don't take that assumption as true in the least. If that were true, books like Ms. Marvel would not have become the sales juggernauts they became.

But as a 38-year-old male Marvel collector who became a buyer in 1999, I'll meet you halfway on this to answer your point: NYX is the story of Marvel's most storied superhero location, New York City, as it adapts to the epoch-defining diaspora of mutants in a post-Krakoa world. It is the only X-book to take place in New York State, the traditional home of the X-Men, and centers new storylines and contexts for Ms. Marvel and X-23, two storied Marvel characters, as well as Prodigy, who fans got to know on Gillen and McKelvie's landmark run on Young Avengers. We also have a big, classic 90's X-villain in the book that we've yet to announce. Suffice to say, if a thing happens to mutants, it will resonate in NYX - and if something big happens in NYX, it will be impossible to ignore in the wider Marvel universe.

We're the community-centered X-Book in a line of superhero titles, where nearly any character can appear and take the spotlight for 20 pages. I think we'll have plenty to offer folks like me - and hopefully even more to offer folks who look, act, identify, and read differently than me!

[JacksonLanzing]

Does Kiden still use ecstacy? Will you touch on Zebra Daddy's tragic backstory?

Neither Kiden nor Zebra Daddy are going to be focuses of the book.

For now.

[JacksonLanzing]

This will probably be too spoilery, but there are other mutants from Gen X and New Mutants that didn’t get as much love during the Krakoa era: Magma, Skin, Husk, Blink.

Will this other generation make cameos or appearances?

Too early to say, I think. We're focused on our cores right now - but there's PLENTY of room to grow.

[JacksonLanzing]

Hey Jacksonon Laura was it you or editorial that made her dress as Wolverine and will we see Laura reasons for that seeing how Logan is still alive?

That was 1000% a Collin and Jackson call. The reasons for it will be clear in the story - and also reflective of some decisions Saladin and Martin are making over in WOLVERINE. The new costume is an original design by Francesco Mortarino, our amazing interior artist, and I can't wait for folks to see how he renders it. It's bad ass.