Question about Hickman's involvement.

[OceanMachine]

Hi all,
While there is obviously lots of creative talent responsible for the XMen reboot of Hox Pox and after, Hickman's involvement was one of the big selling points that convinced me to dive in.

Do we have any info about how long-term his involvement is supposed to be as the lead on this? I see that he has other projects going/upcoming, which is not that unusual, but is his arrangement with Marvel for him to helm the very beginning of the reboot, or more of a long term plan? Do we know?

Thanks!

[JB]

Hi all,
While there is obviously lots of creative talent responsible for the XMen reboot of Hox Pox and after, Hickman's involvement was one of the big selling points that convinced me to dive in.

Do we have any info about how long-term his involvement is supposed to be as the lead on this? I see that he has other projects going/upcoming, which is not that unusual, but is his arrangement with Marvel for him to helm the very beginning of the reboot, or more of a long term plan? Do we know?

Thanks!

I believe I've read/heard him say he'll be navigating the ship for a few years. Other posters may have exact quotes on the timeline but he's involved for the foreseeable future.

[yogaflame]

Based on his work on FF and Avengers, I'd say a few years is about right. 3-4, tops, like Morrison.

[Vegan Daddy]

Well, he was obviously bored with New Mutants. He wrapped that story up as fast as possible.

[MythicalChicken]

Well, he was obviously bored with New Mutants. He wrapped that story up as fast as possible.

I think it’s more a case he’s in a lot of places at once.

[Iron Maiden]

It's hard to say. I doubt he will be with it as long as he was with the Fantastic Four. His debut issue was #570, which was released in September 2009. When Bendis decided to leave the Avengers titles it was decided at one of those periodic Marvel summits that everyone would switch from their current title and pick a new one. In Hickman's case, he picked Avengers and New Avengers. There has been some talk that he was picked for the role but I've found no proof. When he made the change, he has said in an interview that he had a couple more years of FF plotted out. Essentially New Avengers became a continuation of an arc that began in his "try out" series Dark Reign: Fantastic Four which predates the start of his Fantastic Four run by a few months. The stakes were raised in New Avengers when the Incursions began and eventually it all dovetails into his Secret Wars, which begins in spring of 2015 and ends with issue #9 in January of 2016. So he was writing Fantastic Four stories for just shy of 7 years when you include the Dark Reign FF series. I have my doubts that Hickman will be on the X-Men that long.


He definitely became an FF fan and particularly enjoyed writing Doom. He did this sketch for me back in 2015 at C2E2

[spirit2011]

3-4 years seems like a good guess. Hickman will only get out after finishing his story

[JB]

It's hard to say. I doubt he will be with it as long as he was with the Fantastic Four. His debut issue was #570, which was released in September 2009. When Bendis decided to leave the Avengers titles it was decided at one of those periodic Marvel summits that everyone would switch from their current title and pick a new one. In Hickman's case, he picked Avengers and New Avengers. There has been some talk that he was picked for the role but I've found no proof. When he made the change, he has said in an interview that he had a couple more years of FF plotted out. Essentially New Avengers became a continuation of an arc that began in his "try out" series Dark Reign: Fantastic Four which predates the start of his Fantastic Four run by a few months. The stakes were raised in New Avengers when the Incursions began and eventually it all dovetails into his Secret Wars, which begins in spring of 2015 and ends with issue #9 in January of 2016. So he was writing Fantastic Four stories for just shy of 7 years when you include the Dark Reign FF series. I have my doubts that Hickman will be on the X-Men that long.


He definitely became an FF fan and particularly enjoyed writing Doom. He did this sketch for me back in 2015 at C2E2

That is really cool! And thanks for the insight.

Didn't Hickman say he would only be on New Mutants for a short time? I could have made that up during a recent fever dream though.

[spirit2011]

Hickman said he would rotate 6 issues on other books

[Digifiend]

I agree, he'll probably do three years. Enjoy it while it lasts, as I think he said X-Men was the last Marvel project he wanted to do? Good chance he'll go over to DC after that - maybe as Bendis's successor on Legion of Super-Heroes (since it makes sense that he'd be done by then).

[spirit2011]

I agree, he'll probably do three years. Enjoy it while it lasts, as I think he said X-Men was the last Marvel project he wanted to do? Good chance he'll go over to DC after that - maybe as Bendis's successor on Legion of Super-Heroes (since it makes sense that he'd be done by then).

he already did pitched in 2016 and it went nowhere. Bendis Legion is even a bit similar to Hickman Krakoa

[Vordan]

he already did pitched in 2016 and it went nowhere. Bendis Legion is even a bit similar to Hickman Krakoa

That’s not entirely accurate. From what I understand Hickman didn’t pitch DC or Marvel for a while after Secret Wars wrapped, he just worked on TV/film stuff for Hollywood. But nothing was getting made and even though it paid well Hickman wasn’t feeling creatively fulfilled. So in 2018 that’s when he started talking with DC and Marvel. He was in talks with DC for Legion, but Bendis jumped to DC and Axel got booted and that’s when Hickman got a call from Marvel which basically was them offering him free reign to do whatever the hell he wanted with the X-Men, which was what he ended up accepting.

Now DC just had its own shakeup with a bunch of editors leaving and Dan Didio, the guy who was basically running DC for 18 years being pushed out. Wouldn’t surprise me if DC ends up giving Hickman a similar offer after his X-Men run is done that he got from Marvel. For now though he’s committed to X-Men and I am going to guess he’ll stay put until 2024.

[Rosebunse]

My question is, what was his involvement in the books prior to HoX? Because looking back, it seems like he had to have at least given notes to the previous teams.

[Purplevit]

Probably will leave before X-Men MCU arrival so the franchise will be relaunched together with new movies and new direction.

[Veitha]

My question is, what was his involvement in the books prior to HoX? Because looking back, it seems like he had to have at least given notes to the previous teams.

I think they've said previous writers to hold on until Hickman. Like Rosenberg and maybe Bunn (?) we're saying that they knew their runs were just placeholders and Rosenberg was told to go extreme in preparation for Hickman.