Cullen Bunn's BotA Interview - Laying It All Out

[Silver Fang]

What was his plans for Uncanny?

Any mentions of Emma Frost?

Uncanny wasn't mentioned in depth really. He notes some things with Fantomex getting cut short. Otherwise, most of the convo regarding plans and axed ideas were about Magneto & Blue. I asked about possibly plans for Uncanny on his SM page a while back, but he didn't answer on that. So it's possible he doesn't get into his UXM run much since it's over, and he didn't get to tell all the stories he had planned, in addition to editorial interference. But he can chat about Blue since he wasn't crazy about the book in the first place, and it is currently happening now. Whereas Uncanny is in the past, and he MAY just still be salty at the stuff he didn't get to do, and talking about it could be frustrating.

Other than Fantomex, he just notes that his UXM run was gutted.

I can't recall him mentioning Emma. But he does clarify that he considers Magneto a villain, and that he wasn't writing him to be a hero.

[Tycon]

Glad people enjoyed this interview! Cullen was an absolute bast to chat with and I think he was able to provide insight into a ton of his run.

Yeah, I think him being so transparent really made the interview for me!

Any mentions of Emma Frost?

Only in passing, really. Zack & Adam said that a lot of people were excited for Emma v. Magneto, which Bunn agreed to.

[phoenixzero23]

Whhhaaattt??? Whatever, I'm glad that didn't happen. X-Men have too many ninjas.

Me too. I wouldn't have liked them trying to be ninjas.

[Del torro]

You can tell he really didn't want the O5. None of them really had a personal plot arc that they were developing. Beast? Magic is.... Dropped. Iceman? Romeo is.... Dropped. Angel?......... Huh? Nada. Scott? Jeaaan, bloodst.... Lol droppedbutmydaaadGoAway. Jean? Malice? Jimmy? Lol dropped....but Jot.. .. Lol tease.

Was annoying, but at least they were in a book doing cool stuff and not in limbo. I liked parts of his run (urgh, venom crossovers, urgh jimmy, meh raksha), but looking at what the O5 did there... It's meh.

I enjoyed Magneto, the Sane Emma, Havok, Bastion, Polaris, mothervine, crosstime capers, the future brotherhood, Mojoworld.

Hope the Editors let him write something he loves next time, the difference in quality really shows. And, this run has made me tired of my beloved O5. It's time to go kids.

[Slicknickshady]

Did he mention Eye Boy at all?

[donpricetag]

Yoooo, Marvel's editorial sucks! Was it just Axel's management or are they just innately inept? Great Interview.

[Zthe27th]

Did he mention Eye Boy at all?

No we didn't discuss it. Jordan's answer was pretty definitive last week and I haven't read enough Venomized to speak intelligently about it

[Anduinel]

He talked about his work with magneto, how he didn't wanted the teen O5 and that his plans for blue have changed a lot due to editorial and crossovers. He wanted to make the o5 the new exiles but that changed and his original plans have nothing to do with whatever is happening in extermination

That would have been interesting! But yeah, too bad he was strong-armed into a book he didn't want. Here's hoping JDW keeps his name in the Rolodex.

[Kurolegacy]

That would have been interesting! But yeah, too bad he was strong-armed into a book he didn't want. Here's hoping JDW keeps his name in the Rolodex.

Judging by how at the start of the book they had the plot point of the O5 weren’t still tied to the past and the addition of Jimmy and Bloodstorm both AU characters, you can see where the influence of making them a new Exiles was.

[Knives]

I will miss Bunn so much .

Uncanny and Magneto solo were great moments for me always will thank him for these stories. Too bad marvel had to push the O5 to him instead of continuing Uncanny.

Many times we blame writers for everything that goes wrong in a title but the truth is that many things are not their choice and editorial orders many times end up screwing up an entire schedule .

Imagine you have a whole plan calculated months in advance and suddenly you need to cut a lot because crossovers or big events get priority (unless you are Bendis) it must be very annoying.

[Beaubier]

I feel like Marvel has been wasting Bunn’s talent by saddling him with a book he didn’t want. He’s easily one of the best X-team writers Marvel has, and imo the best writer for Magneto since Claremont. With his attention to continuity and his knowledge of underutilized characters and storylines, and clear desire to create interconnected stories, he could really do great things with the X-franchise as a whole of editorial would just frickin let him tell the kinds of stories that he wants to.

The direction of the X-Men as a whole has been hot garbage for a while now and it’s clear most of the blame lies with editorial. The only thing they’ve done recently that I’m happy with is reigning in Guggy and derailing his wedding plans. The O5 have stuck around way too long and for inconsistent reasons, and IVX was hot trash that stunk of editorial interference. I could go on but it really sucks how my favorite franchise has been handled.

[Knives]

Bunn confessing that he did not want the O5 and would like to continue with Uncanny broke my heart.
Just imagine what we could have achieved .

[Silver Fang]

Bunn confessing that he did not want the O5 and would like to continue with Uncanny broke my heart.
Just imagine what we could have achieved .

I imagine it everyday....and I used to seethe with anger. Now I am still upset, but have released the anger since it was exhausting holding on to.

But Magneto, Monet, Sabretooth, and even Mystique could've really blossomed under Bunn. Mystique & Creed are with Pak now, who has done nothing interesting with Creed in 2 years, and done everything wrong with him in 15 lol. I can't imagine he's gonna treat Mystique well either. Both will be as dumbed-down and parodied as ever.

Bunn had plans for Fantomex, and it could only be better than what Soule did with him. lol

Monet could be doing good things in UXM and instead she's off in limbo after being thrown in an average book that was Generation X in name only.

I miss his Uncanny run. The only character I didn't care about in the book was Psylocke. Didn't hate her, but just eh. And the things he talked about doing when it was running interested me more than anything else happening now. The only book I am following is Exiles. lol And it's off to a rough start. It has aspects & moments I have loved, but is still finding footing & jumped around a lot.

[AbnormallyNormal]

Important lesson: don't instantly blame writer for a poor or underdeveloped book/story. It could well be out of their hands and their intentions might have been a lot more interesting

[CuteClops]

Marvel's editorial is the biggest villain in X-franchise.