NYX - Ongoing Q&A w/ Jackson!

[Grunty]

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!

Thanks for the answer.

[Mercury]

Welcome, Jackson! How incredibly kind and progressive of you to join the forums! I'm sure you'll have a great time, and we all look forward to your tidbits, insights, and general conversation!

[berserkerclaw]

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.

Thanks for answering it's appreciated. I look forward to see the reason from you and Saladin

[Knightpryde]

KIDEN!! She's in my top 10 favourite mutants I'm so glad to have her back even if it's for a small Cameo I need to know how my girls doing

[GokaiBlack077]

Congrats on the gig, Hivemind. Two questions for me:

1) Even though I didn't grow up with this generation of teen mutants, they always captured me as this unfortunate group of children that were defined by the significant loss of their friends (and the survival of mutantkind as a whole) with the Decimation. How much of their goals to integrate mutant culture will be influenced by their lost youth and what connections will they establish now that all of them have been returned by the Five (if they have the time to re-acclimate)?

2) I'm also noticing alot of "foreign invader" vibes with the marketing, which I don't think our cast wants to be labeled by the general public. Related to the changing of Arrako as a civilization Ewing attempted to do with X-Men Red, will our cast try to reconcile certain aspects of mutant culture born from Krakoa or attempt to find new ways to express their identities beyond their time on the island?

[Mercury]

Wild that the first comment out the gate is one that I have to answer mostly with a no comment, but there you go. Mostly no comment.

That said, on a personal note: Julian is a character that Collin and I have long adored - primarily because, like many readers, he is stuck between a desire to live up to Xavier's dream and the real-world reality of living as a member of a persecuted minority. When we were reading Academy X, he was set up to be both "the next Cyclops" and "the next Magneto" - there's not a lot of characters with that kind of troubled, evolving depth. He's also got deep ties to both David and Laura, obviously. So, he sure seems like he'd fit into the larger narrative of NYX, right?

Okay, ordering 10 copies of the first issue now

RIFT! Too excited for you. 🥹

[JacksonLanzing]

Congrats on the gig, Hivemind. Two questions for me:

1) Even though I didn't grow up with this generation of teen mutants, they always captured me as this unfortunate group of children that were defined by the significant loss of their friends (and the survival of mutantkind as a whole) with the Decimation. How much of their goals to integrate mutant culture be influenced by their lost youth and what connections will they establish now that all of them have been returned by the Five (if they have the time to re-acclimate)?

2) I'm also noticing alot of "foreign invader" vibes with the marketing, which I don't think our cast wants to be labeled by the general public. Related to the changing of Arrako as a civilization Ewing attempted to do with X-Men Red, will our cast try to reconcile certain aspects of mutant culture born from Krakoa or attempt to find new ways to express their identities beyond their time on the island?

Fascinating questions, GokaiBlack. Without getting into spoiler territory...

1) Decimation is absolutely formative for this group, but primarily because it gave them a tragedy to overcome early in life. I think it stuck around for some of them and for others, it helped harden them to how truly brutal the life of a mutant can be. No group of mutants gained more from Krakoa - they finally had a community beyond the walls of their school and their few friends/colleagues. How they carry that forward into reintegrating into the "human world" is the focus of our story - but we're really looking forward, not backward. The connections now are born less out of Decimation or even Krakoa, and more out of the circumstances they find themselves in at the book's opening.

2) Part of centering Kamala in this story, especially up-front, is to undercut and answer those "foreign invader" vibes immediately. Kamala has experience as a child of immigrants - and through her perspective, I think we can kill the lie that mutants are "foreign" in any respect. The only people talking that language in NYX are villains. That said, how mutant society, language, culture, holidays, and all the rest survive beyond the island is absolutely the focus of our book, so you'll see growth and evolution of some of those Krakoan cultural institutions as they make direct contact with human societal norms. In fact, David Alleyne will be quite literally teaching a class on the subject - through which many of our characters get to engage with this exact conversation - inspired by Collin's own time as a young adjunct professor at USC.

[GokaiBlack077]

Thanks for the answers! I appreciate the compliment

[H-E-D]

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.

Appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!

[MakubeX]

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.

Thank you for answering my question. Can't wait to read the first issue.

[Factor]

Thank you for opening this space for questions!
I’m wondering if Dust was considered to be part of the main cast? Since she’s been both a NXM and a Champion, I think she’d be uniquely positioned to bring the rest of the cast together as she has connections to all of them. Plus she’s just awesome and rarely gets in depth focus.

[Anduinel]

No NYX questions (I've already decided to pick it up), but just wanted to say, I'm loving the Star Trek book. You guys have managed to make T'Lir my standout fave on a ship full of characters I was already attached to.

[coveredinbees]

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

For now.

Well, I wish I could threaten you with my dollar but we both know I'm going to buy the book anyway. Maybe I'll buy two copies when Kiden shows up.

[Krakoa]

* I love the soap opera aspects of X-Men. Will we see romance in your series?

* No spoilers on for who, but are there any of your cast with new designs in addition to Laura you’re excited to unveil?

[Journey]

I have a question is their any plan to acknowledge Prodigy & Speed’s relationship I know he’s under the assumption David died but that happens off panel so it leaves that situation stagnant. I was just wondering I know Wiccan & Speed both are tricky characters to handle in X-Office due to Wanda & Pietro’s situation, but it’s the most popular ship for David so I would like to see his situation with Tommy addressed.