Leah Williams reveals changes made in X-Factor #10

[Kingdom X]

Also, it's hard to ignore that it often appears to be the books with queer content such as X-Factor, CotA, and Way of X that seem to get their runs cut short, while titles with worse sales are allowed to meander endlessly.

I will say that CotA had really bad sales even compared to the other books you mentioned. I’ve said it before but the X-Office needs to find a better way to release new titles because you can’t sell each book on the idea that they’re building essential parts of Krakoa and then expect me to stay invested when they get cancelled with a quickness. Might be time to whip out some Astonishing, Uncanny, Extraordinary, etc., X-Men titles.

[rcaguy]

I will say that CotA had really bad sales even compared to the other books you mentioned. I’ve said it before but the X-Office needs to find a better way to release new titles because you can’t sell each book on the idea that they’re building essential parts of Krakoa and then expect me to stay invested when they get cancelled with a quickness. Might be time to whip out some Astonishing, Uncanny, Extraordinary, etc., X-Men titles.

These titles didn't sell and got cancelled because it's fairly obvious that they were poorly though out to begin with just like The New Mutants Moive and the basic nonsense about using the resuction process as a primary means of cosmetic surgery was among other things. You really don't want to go anywhere near there and it should be a openly stated policy.

[rcaguy]

Basically the story of how Prodigy died gets squeezed into the last issue. It’s revealed that he was was murdered and sexually assaulted by some random creep and there is an image of his naked corpse in the dude’s basement. The issue got leaked early and people were calling Leah a racist for so casually and exploitatively putting a queer POC through all that. She was endlessly harassed only for us to now find out she didn’t know about the aforementioned panel and her script was somewhat changed (we don’t know how much).

Have any of you ever paid attention to the news? This is something that's actually happend more than once and just not to queers as you put it. Which was most likely the point of it. Intentionly or not they reflected things and events that has occurred in the real world.

[Journey]

Have any of you ever paid attention to the news? This is something that's actually happend more than once and just not to queers as you put it. Which was most likely the point of it. They were most likely trying to reflect things and events that has occured in the real world.

Well that's dumb of them people read comics to escape real world BS.

[Spiderfan001]

Some important parts from the interview:

• X-Factor was canceled because Leah’s pitch for Magneto/Wanda story became very popular at Marvel but they thought the reader numbers for X-Factor wasn’t big enough for this story, so they wanted it as a separate comic.
• it was supposed to be X-Factor issue 15 originally.
• She only learned about the cancellation at issue 9 so as she had to finish the series quickly, issue 9 and 10 was rushed. (Basically it was a last minute sudden cancellation without the chance of finishing her plots properly and without giving her at least 12 issues like normally.) It was a difficult experience for her, she and David Baldeon both cried when they found out of the cancellation…
• “I hope it’s(Trial of Magneto) going to be worth it(the X-Factor cancellation?), it was explained to me as being the biggest thing I’ve participated in.” (So they took away her first ongoing series from her and changed all of her plans to make one big Magneto story…) She can tell already a difference because she never had so much attention before.
• She realized how little control the writers have, she didn't know what the final result would be as there were several artists on the last issue and apparently other writers/editors(?) making changes - there were pages in the final issue she didn’t know about, her dialogues changed, art she didn’t scripted and she only found out about it when the issue was released.
• She had to change her letter at the end of the last issue 3 times, because she was giving away too much of what the previous plans had been and Marvel didn’t want to reflect poorly on this being a last minute decision and wanted to make it look like it was planned all along…
  
  
• The team will stay together as Krakoa’s X-Factor investigation, they ‘just’ won’t have their own comic. (this is different what JDW said in X-Men Monday though? He said the characters have new places/plans separately in upcoming comics, and there might be a chance for having another X-Factor and them to be together again in the future)
  
  Some of the lost plans:
• Shatterstar was supposed to become Krakoa’s God of Battle by defeating the Morrigan and Morrigan become a God of Rebirth and Healing. we saw Shatterstar defeating Morrigan in the comic,but the line that would’ve explained it was taken out (if I understood it correctly)
• Syrin’s new power was gonna be that she could talk to the dead. It was gonna be huge for the investigations.
• Lorna was gonna do a one woman prison breakout at some point.
• Prodigy was gonna ruin that man’s life
  
  
• The Title ‘Trial of Magneto’ wasn’t Leah’s idea, it was a marketing choice.
• The first issue is an oversized issue, 40+ pages
• Leah wants to rehabilitate Wanda’s image with mutants bring her powers into a place of being empowering rather than being a variable.
• Her goal is not to write the next defining Magneto story but to write an empathy engine, to authentically tell a story that’s going to be about healing and catharsis.
  
  
• she’s also transitioning to substack

This changes a few things. basically Marvel screwed her over badly… I feel bad for her, her first ongoing was ruined and the ending was a big mess.

Edit: I should add that she wasn’t talking badly about Marvel. It felt like she wanted to give an explanation about how things work in the business, about the cancellation and the rushed final issue (probably because the mess it was and the backlash it received). She said it is business, it’s Marvel’s IP after all and they can do this(changing things without the writer being involved) and the decisions are theirs. She was talking respectfully the whole time.

1)Makes sense.X-factor wasn't it sales wise and they dirft from their premise a lot.People coming to read Wanda Magneto and the Avengers etc. having everything diluted by X-factor story when they have no idea what is going on is a recipe for disaster.
2)Shame, how they gonna F*ck up that bad
3)Yeah f*ck Marvel Editorial for this, they have been doing this for way too long.Sins past with JMS when it wasn't his story was another example.They aren't writers and shouldn't make these kinds o desicions.
4)Well , good to know they aren'y disbanding.I mean I hope this means when they do appear they will actual stick to their Job.
5)Cool changes specially the Lorna one but her being in the X-men is much better.Specifically for Siryn it sounds cool.

Here's hoping she has better luck at substack

[Kingdom X]

Have any of you ever paid attention to the news? This is something that's actually happend more than once and just not to queers as you put it. Which was most likely the point of it. Intentionly or not they reflected things and events that has occurred in the real world.

Excuse me? I was literally just giving another poster an explanation of the backlash that Leah received. Everyone figured out the connection to Ed Buck almost immediately.

[rcaguy]

It’s fine if you think that and fine if editorial thinks that too, but those cuts should be communicated beforehand and not replaced with other people’s writing that the actual author isn’t aware of.

That's why they are called editors. And if you actually think she wasn't aware of it,well......

[Askani's Flame]

Have any of you ever paid attention to the news? This is something that's actually happend more than once and just not to queers as you put it. Which was most likely the point of it. They were most likely trying to reflect things and events that has occured in the real world.

I agree with you on premise that yes, these things do happen in real life and this is loosely based on a predator in LA. The problem is that as the writer of this cast, and as a queer woman who understands the nuances of dealing with issues for queer and minority, was not allowed to handle this important story that she was trying to tie up. Instead we got random writers and artists who were brought into write parts of a story, some of the most IMPORTANT scenes and narration, who went for sensationalist takes under Leah's name which caused a public backlash and slandering of her name in public. None of this is ok.

But here's the point I'm trying to make, whether or not these things are reflective of what is happening in the world is not the problem. The problem is that fill-in writers and artists who have no business handling a SENSITIVE topic with care and caution, wrote/drew some problematic elements to this story which caused a lot of problems with reader outcry....all under Leah's name and left her to deal with the problems WHICH SHE WASN'T EVEN AWARE OF UNDER THE ISSUE CAME OUT BECAUSE THEY CHANGED WHAT SHE WROTE WITHOUT EVEN CONSULTING HER.

So LSS: yes this happens in real life but that doesn't mean it should be callously written or drawn with no sensitivity for shocks.

[Spiderfan001]

Well that's dumb of them people read comics to escape real world BS.

I..... kinda agree.I like realism in comics but it works best when subtle.Like Spec Spider-man had a story with Minors getting pressured into helping w/ robberies and child loss but the story was always a Spider-man story.or how "The kid that reads Spider-man" is about a cancer patient.
Not the best examples ig but the point is they should be a part of the stories but incorporated organically and not the main-plot most of the times.That's when they work best.

The execution doesn't help either.Almost always the writer beliefs are shoved down your throat, some cases there really is only one correct view but many times specially political charged situations the writers portrays his side as in the right and the other as a complete negative.We should be shown as many angles as you can and let us draw our own conclusions.

And at the end of the day I(and many others I think) read comics to relax and escape, not to be educated by a writer who is not as qualified as actual professionals in a particular case.They aren't qualified to handle such topics and it shows in spades.I mean atleast talk to people who deal with this stuff if you are gonna write it.

So like inclusion in first place isn't good or bad but with prespective limitation and lack of knowledge and bad execution it becomes a no-no.

So I prefer if they did dial back "realism" in some of the comics.

[rcaguy]

Excuse me? I was literally just giving another poster an explanation of the backlash that Leah received. Everyone figured out the connection to Ed Buck almost immediately.

So? What's the big deal?

[Kingdom X]

Deleted 10 char.

[Spiderfan001]

I feel so bad for Leah Williams and wouldn't be surprised if she's done with Marvel after the Trial of Magneto. It's bad enough that there seems to be no communication going on before editorial changes plans on short notice without giving creative teams any opportunity to adjust their stories, but the fact they just let her face the criticism for their handling of the Prodigy plot is so upsetting.

Also, it's hard to ignore that it often appears to be the books with queer content such as X-Factor, CotA, and Way of X that seem to get their runs cut short, while titles with worse sales are allowed to meander endlessly.

Their new books aren't doing so hot in general, they need to find a way to release them better.And Way of X will be back again in another form, right?

I liked X-factor(I feel in love with the Peter David team so this was a must buy) but it strayed way too much from it's premise and was so much fluff I dropped it almost immediately.From what I've seen online in panels and reviews it was the right choice.

PAD's run had queer stuff as well and it sold great so I doubt that is the reason, just that this X-factor wasn't nearly as good as that banger of a run.COTA was pretty bad as well.Bought the first 2 and regretted it, I want a refund LOL.

[Fokken]

Can we all agree to not feed the troll? We're going to run out of billy goats at this rate.
Let their humid cries shatter harmlessly against the underside of the bridge.

[Spiderfan001]

uff, the queerest comicbook in the X-Men comics is treated so horribly...not a coincidence...Just remember everything Sina Grace said about his experience with marvel....

Can someone remind me why we are reading mainstream comicbooks in the first place?!?!

All characters are f*cked in mainstream comics tbh. The sad thing is the characters we love are all part of the big 2.

What did Sina Grace say?From what I've read here seems like the issue was that she had a better pitch with the trial and they didn't want to mix that up with X-factor(which is true, that could be a disaster) and miscommunication and throwing her under the bus to the point she wasn't even aware of changes that happened in the book.Which Marvel has done for ages, the worst was with JMS IIRC, they need better editorial and management.

[loke13]

So? What's the big deal?

That Marvel changed what she had planned for Prodigy without her knowledge and left her alone to face the backlash.