Matthew Rosenberg Speaks on his X-men run

[Purplevit]

I am glad that Taylor was writing X-Men RED and not Rosenberg. RED wasn`t a great book but it had awesome moments. And RED 11 gave one of the best Gambit moments ever.

[butterflykyss]

........along with two other writers?

yes that part as well!

[Celestialbodies]

Oh thank God, MR declined XM:R he might have ruined Jean before she even had a chance.

But I think I understand Rosenberg a little better, I don't think he was interested in writing X-men stories, he wanted instead to deconstruct the X-men mythos. Problem is he had no long-term plan to fix them which I guess was the point. But while HOX/POX reset everything, there's still a black smudge on the series and his tenure. Every was so bleak and dank but for contrived reasons which is why nothing for me hit, things just happens because Rosenberg has to finish a series that lacked direction and had no future!!

[Luckystar.]

His comments about Jean having her agency are funny considering Jean was only actually Jean in the last issue.

[Mutant X]

Thank god he convinced Marvel to do a small scale event for Jean's return and put Phoenix away. Don't see this fucking firebird for the next 30 years wouldn't be time enough.

Depressed Jean would fit better the situation mutantkind was at that moment but it wouldn't help her popularity.

I'd love to see Dead Souls Part 2 and more of Astonishing X-losers.

But what he did in Uncanny X-Men was unforgivable. He had 15 issues to build a good story, and failed epically.

[spirit2011]

Good ol' AvX. What it was supposed to be was right there for the taking.

I always thought that AvX should have been a Jean ressurrection story. That would had solved many problems

Is it more accurate to say that the men in her life was more of what impeded Jean in the past than the Phoenix?

Yes, it is more accurate

[MechaJeanix]

His comments about Jean having her agency are funny considering Jean was only actually Jean in the last issue.

His take on Jean and the Phoenix is so bad. It removed Jean’s agency through her best stories to say she was manipulated by a toxic force. Hopeless had the Phoenix state in the solo that Jean accepted willingly.

I always found Jean and the Phoenix to be a beautiful thing not an unhealthy relationship. Plus Jean rejecting the Phoenix has been done before, in the x-factor years.

I don’t want to even touch the Rahne story that mirrored trans panic. I have a lot of thoughts about it, but I’m on my phone and I don’t text well. I’m not sure it is worth bringing up because people keep defending and promoting this writer because people don’t care about the trans readers imo.

[Dante Milton]

The execution of Uncanny was just terrible regardless of editorial shenanigans, so Rosenberg gets little sympathy from me.

Only thing that sounds potentially interesting were the original plans for New Mutants, wish they had just let him do a second arc instead of pushing him on Astonishing.

[The Quiet Councilor]

Rosenberg thinks too small. Jean is Phoenix, and Phoenix is Jean. All these stories that further separate them just dilute and diminish the importance of the Phoenix Saga and Jean’s personal mythology. Aaron is the worst offender though. He seems hellbent on appropriating Jean’s legacy for all his favorite male characters. These dudebros just don’t get it.

[Zelena]

Thank god he convinced Marvel to do a small scale event for Jean's return and put Phoenix away. Don't see this fucking firebird for the next 30 years wouldn't be time enough.

I have too the impression that the Phoenix gets involved when Marvel writers run out of ideas…

But what he did in Uncanny X-Men was unforgivable. He had 15 issues to build a good story, and failed epically.

There are two parts in Uncanny X-men, the first half wasn't that bad.

The biggest problem the artists have with their line manager is resisting to the pressure. If they cannot hold up, they may end up doing something that is neither what they wanted nor what their line manager wanted. A sort of chimaera that doesn't make sense.

[tuck frump]

Surprise there isnt a thread for it. He just did an interview with the Battle of the Atom podcast. I listened to it earlier and here are cliffs




Phoenix Resurrection
He is a ig Jean fan and was honored to get to write her return. He was given a week to give the pitch after accepting it but Marvel did not like it. They wanted a bigger story which would have involved the Shi'ar and the cosmic elements of Xmen but MR felt those were more about Phoenix and not Jean, whom he felt was overshadowed by it. Someone said 'so you're writing a breakup story?' and MR said yeah he was bc he felt the two had a toxic relationship and wanted Jean to have agency in her own story. The role of the X-men was that of support group to someone in a co-dependent relationship. The Xmen were there to help her find a home when she was ready to leave the Phoenix. He was able to convince them to write the smaller scale mini instead of space wars. A woman gaining her agency after 30+ years

X-men Red
Marvel wanted him to write Jean's book where she would lead the team. Red and Astonishing X-men were two names thrown around. He declined bc he didnt feel that Jean was in a position to lead a team with where he was going to leave her. He likes what Taylor wrote but its not what he would have done with the character. He liked seeing the seeds of what he laid out and someone taking it and going in a different direction

New Mutants: Dead Souls
Due to the success of Resurrection, Marvel really wanted him to write a team book. He declined Red and wanted to do New Mutants instead. He talks about how it was going to orginally line up with the movie, which then got cancelled. He went with a darker tone bc these characters are no longer kids and wanted to reflect that. His story was supposed to go longer with a second volume. The first team would have been on the run as the stuff Karma got them involved with would have been pinned on them. The 2nd team which was hinted at would have consisted of Shatterstar, Cannonball, Sunspot and Skids and gone after the first team which would have been the villians

Multiple Man
Marvel gave him carte blanche to write almost any book he wanted. They were frustrated with him bc he did not want to do he books they wanted him on. They were hoping he'd do something more proven like X-force or X-Factor that they knew would sell but he wanted Multiple Man. His rationale was that there would be an X-force regardless of he did it but no other writer wanted to do a Madrox book and there wouldnt be one without him. Considering they said he could do what he wanted, he was able to convince them to approve it. Originally there werent going to be any other X-men in the book and it would involve Jamie going to the future and figthing a villianous version of himself and dying to save the day. Editorial nixxed that as they wouldnt allow him to bring him back just to kill him off.

Astonishing X-men
Marvel wanted him to write a new volume after Soule left but Rosenberg said no and wanted the numbering to be a continuation even if his stuff was all new. This run was cu shorter than originally planned. He wanted to end his run with the return of Cyclops. The plot would have involved Sinister and clones. The team would have thought he cloned Scott and Alex would have realized that nah, he was really back. MR also wanted to explore Havok inquiring why Sinister never had any interest in him. BUT at the writer summit, Brisson pitched his Extermination idea first so Scott was revived there

Uncanny X-men
Alot of the plot was his idea bc he had already been working on a number of X-projects and had unused story, unlike Kelly and Ed that didnt have as much unused plot. Year 2 of Astonishing X-men was going to be Legion and X-man going to war and the X-Men sensing the same sense of terror that humans felt being bysandards to two dangerous mutants battling it out. He pitched it and everyone liked it. Its different from what he would have done bc he had 2 other writers.

This got dark in the second half of the book due to editorial mandate. They knew Hickman was coming and they had to clear the board for him. Things needed to be horrific to make his new status quo light in comparison. That was the point of Disassembled but bc of timing/scheduling, all those characters would be in Age of X-man, where things werent exactly bad for mutants. Thats why he got to make things depressing in his run and it was the end of the era that started with Morrison. He touches on Rahne's death and things not working out exactly the way expected

https://www.xavierfiles.com/2019/12/...hew-rosenberg/

So the dumpster fire that was Phoenix Rez was his fault but at least he had the right idea abt Red and how terrible that premise was. Makes u think that not everything is black or white.

[Maestroneto]

https://mobile.twitter.com/XavierFil...16604747309056

lol

[Tycon]

Funny thing is I did listen and this isn’t far off from what was stated in the interview.

[Havok83]

https://mobile.twitter.com/XavierFil...16604747309056

lol

LOL...I said it was cliff notes and posted the actual link to the interview for people to listen themselves. It was never presented as the only info people need to know

Funny thing is I did listen and this isn’t far off from what was stated in the interview.

Thanks. I dont feel I made things up

[DAHX]

LOL...I said it was cliff notes and posted the actual link to the interview for people to read themselves. It was never presented as the only info people need to know

it's only all right when he comes to cbr boards, steal a joke from one of the posters and tweet it as his own on his twitter without linking it back to cbr.