X-Men Monday #116 - Al Ewing Talks and We All Listen

[Devaishwarya]

https://aiptcomics.com/2021/07/26/x-...ing-interview/

The best XMM interview in forever...or at least, since Si Spurrier's.

He really, really knows his stuff. And showed that vast range of knowledge in his thoughtful and insightful responses.

A high-light for me is the following:

AIPT: Going back to this week’s S.W.O.R.D. #7 — X-Fan @ororoswind said this will be the first time you extensively write Storm. Can you talk about your relationship with the character and what you were the most looking forward to exploring? What are some of the key defining traits of the character you hope to bring forward with your portrayal of the new Regent of Arakko?

Al: If I tell you that my first exposure to Storm — and a whole bunch of other Marvel Heroes — was in the U.K. reprints of Secret Wars, the original, that should date me pretty exactly. (And those British reprints barreled right into the sequel, so it’s where I got my love of Spider-Man teaching cosmic entities to defecate.) Real U.S.-sized American comics were harder to get hold of then, so by the time I got into Claremont X-Men and got what I’d consider my proper introduction to the character, she was powerless and beating up Cyclops in the Danger Room. And I don’t care what retcons said about that fight later — Storm won it hands down, no mitigating circumstances or “oh, subconsciously Cyclops blah blah blah.” I read it with my own two eyes. I was there. Storm won.

Now, obviously, those unpowered days are long gone — I’m thinking up new weather stunts for Storm daily and taking suggestions from other X-Office members on cool things she can do with her powers. (And some old classics — I do enjoy the occasional judiciously applied bolt of lightning.) I want to stress that I am writing a very powerful version of Storm, with the goddess cred she got from the Black Panther run, so fans don’t panic too hard when I say that my core sense of the character springs largely from that particular issue and time period — the strength of will she showed to not just be in the X-Men with no powers, but to lead them. I can’t really express how cool that was, and how cool it made the X-Men seem, that the actual, factual all-caps LEADER OF THE X-MEN had no mutant powers at all, but was still unquestionably the best person for the job. She’d proven it, they all knew it, end of story. It’s not just informed how I think of Storm, it’s informed how I think of all superheroes — that they’re so much more than the powers.


To reiterate for the nervous — Storm is absolutely going to be using her incredibly powerful weather manipulation abilities in various exciting and visually satisfying ways. But I plan to do the best job I can on all the other stuff, too.

...and that we're going to be getting more Arakkii!!!

Storm Doom S 07 art.jpg