X-Men Monday #242 – Foxe, Orlando, and Sevy Talk ‘X-Men Unlimited'

[JB]

https://aiptcomics.com/2024/03/11/x-...men-unlimited/

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Steves! Excitement for your X-Men Unlimited run is high and a lot of X-Fans submitted questions, so let’s kick things off with X-Fan Chris Garcia, who said this arc has been great at juggling multiple characters and giving proper spotlight to each of them. How did you go about pitching all this — or was it pitched to you?

Steve Orlando: As it happens, Foxe and I both had experience working in the Unlimited format. In my case at least, I’d put in a lot of time on X-Men Green as well as Who Is The Scarlet Witch, and I’d been pretty vocal about really getting into the vertical comic strip format. So, when the time came to do a parallel Unlimited series for Rise of the Powers of X and Fall of the House of X, I’m not surprised our names came up. That said, while the pitch was to us to develop a parallel run, the story of that run was pretty much wide open. And that’s how we came to work up our External Threat. And hey, Foxe and I got an Eisner nomination together (on Rainbow Bridge from Aftershock), so our XP is strong as a package deal.

Steve Foxe: Since Steve Jr. covered the broader how and why, I’ll add that the sprawling cast evolved as a way to feature some of the characters and concepts we knew wouldn’t have a print book during this final stretch of the Krakoan Era. Since we started developing this while we were each writing Fall of X titles, we had a firsthand view of the spring 2024 line shaping up, and I felt that there was a pretty big New Mutants-shaped void. As we kept building out the scope of the story – which ends up being roughly six print issues, give or take – we began pulling in parts of Excalibur, X-Corp, Marauders, and more to really pay homage to the entirety of this saga as it began in House of X and Powers of X back in 2019.

AIPT: We’re going to get into some individual character questions in a bit, but first, X-Fan Chenny wanted to know which characters you’ve enjoyed bringing into X-Men Unlimited who haven’t had a chance to shine in the various Krakoan era series.

Orlando: I think it’s pretty clear how much I enjoy working with Thunderbird, going back to his rebirth in Trial of Magneto and the utter blast I had working with Nyla Rose to write Giant-Size X-Men: Thunderbird. Thunderbird and I see the world in very similar ways, so he’s always fun to have on board. And yes, I was also very excited to finally get to do a bit with El Aguila! That guy’s got a ton of potential, and his costume was designed by Dave Cockrum – one of the GOATS!

Foxe: Aside from Carmen Cruz, a.k.a. Feint, who I was excited to write one more time following Dark X-Men, I’d have to say our villains – the Externals. Because they come from a certain part of the ‘90s, a lot of readers have… divisive opinions on them, and their Krakoan story mostly involves being literal set dressing. It’s been fun to explore their personalities, watch one of our killer collaborators, Phillip Sevy, give a few of them visual refreshes, and see how much trouble they can cause when they (mostly) all work together.

AIPT: X-Fan Askani’s Flame said Betsy Braddock came out swinging in X-Men Unlimited with a voice that’s more certain and powerful than we’ve seen recently. Would you say all the events happening in the U.K. and the world have brought out the “gives no *****” Betts? And how much fun is writing her this way?

Orlando: I definitely think the events in the U.K. and the world, in general, have put Betsy in an imperative position. But it’s been a blast to watch her flex her power and agency. And as a special note, it’s been an asset having some fellow X-Writers on speed dial to ensure Betsy’s British lingo is as on-point as possible.

Foxe: I think our Betsy follows pretty closely on the heels of the transformative work Tini Howard did on the character across Excalibur, Knights of X, and Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain. Betsy, in whatever form, has been a nuanced and quite spicy character for decades, and Tini helped establish Betsy as a leading lady for a new era. Fall of X pushed a lot of characters to their limits, and Betsy – who not only has responsibilities toward mutantkind, but to the United Kingdom as a symbolic crusader – really got a raw deal trying to tolerate the antics of Orchis and the British government. She’s been enormous fun to write and a huge asset to the cast dynamic.

AIPT: Love that. X-Fan The Technopriest is a big fan of the work you’ve all done with X-Men Unlimited and has a question regarding Thunderbird. How old do you see John being in relation to the rest of the X-Men Unlimited cast he’s interacting with? John was meant to be young when he joined the army, it’s pretty much established that he lied and enlisted in the Marines at 17, spent two years deployed, and came back. Now he was resurrected immediately after he died (from his perspective), so he shouldn’t be older than 21, but that clearly would put him around the same age as Jimmy and the X-Forcers. Any thoughts?

Orlando: I think it’s entirely possible he’s in his early 20s, physically, as you suggest. That’s the wonder of Krakoan Resurrection – after all, Somnus is pushing 90 mentally but was reborn in his prime. But with Thunderbird, he was clearly hardened by his time deployed in war, regardless of his age. And as someone with close family members who fought in the same war as Thunderbird, I’ve seen how that can harden even a young soul. So while Thunderbird may be in his early 20s, those are absolutely city miles he put on before his initial death.

AIPT: X-Fan Vicky said there’s been a lot of discussion online after the release of the X-Men ‘97 trailer with certain people complaining about how the X-Men have never been queer — so it feels good to have Rictor and Shatterstar back. This is a gay couple that writers tried to make canon since the ‘90s and that developed naturally in the pages of X-Force. What do you think makes them work together so well since then and what is your favorite thing about this couple?

Orlando: They’ve certainly had their ups and downs, but I enjoy their perseverance through all the wild twists comics can throw at a couple (including Shatterstar and Longshot finding out they are in a way both each other’s son and father, in a way, due to timey wimey occurrences). I’m a strange person myself, even if I’m not from Mojoworld and I don’t have swords of any kind (though I do own a dagger from a somewhat infamous 1990s movie – guess it and get a NO PRIZE!). So I’ve also always identified with Shatterstar, and seeing him and Rictor work in general has long pleased me.

Foxe: Personally, one of the reasons Ric and ‘Star resonated with me when their relationship was committed to the page is that they’re messy. They both have baggage and hangups, they each have ex drama, they fight through some major incompatibilities, and they keep finding their way back to each other. Nothing bores me more, as a gay reader who’s been out for over 20 years at this point, than frictionless, simple, boringly happy fictional gay couples who get together and hardly experience ups and downs. We deserve our fun messes, too!

AIPT: Finally, there are many more X-Men Unlimited chapters to come, which appear to feature Gambit, Feint, and other beloved X-characters. So what can you tease?

Orlando: Foxe will have more, I’m sure. But for me? It’s all been building to CRULE VERSUS THUNDERBIRD, round two baybeeeeeee!

Foxe: Hmm, what to let slip… how about the fact that X-Corps has a whole roster of reinforcements we’ve yet to even tease on the page? We’re not done pulling out your faves for one last blow-out!

Some External character designs.

[JB]

This week's eXclusive preview image!

[JB]

[JB]

One of my favorite X-Men Monday editions with lots of questions from fellow CBR friends. It's really nice to hear how much fun the team is having working together. Their shared email thread sounds like a joy.

Loved all the Rictor talk! I'm thrilled to see Rictor "pull off some pretty big stunts before we’re done" as I think the upgrade in his powers has been one of my favorite things about this arc. Also looking forward to all the X-Corps reinforcements that we haven't seen yet.

AIPT: X-Fan Nora wanted to know if there was anything you really wanted to tackle in X-Men Unlimited but couldn’t find the space for.

Orlando: Oh, there’s always more. Always more! Honestly, as we rethought the Externals, I came to be really interested in every single one of them, and wish we had even more time to explore them. Hey, maybe there’s time to do that in another book…

Don't tease us like that, Steve! If by the grace of all that is holy this spins out to a print book I will die of joy.

[Solitaryhawk]

Thanks for sharing! The enthusiasm from the two Steve’s regarding Rictor and Shatterstar was a welcome read for this Monday.
I'm looking at the inked page samples and it's such a shame how the panels are chopped for the vertical strip Unlimited format. I really wish it would have been the 6 print issues of a regular run. Still, I’ll take what I can get.

[Grunty]

It's somewhat amusing that despite being the older and supposed to be more important, storied and powerfull character, Absalom new design makes him look like he is ripping off Marrow (to the point where it seems the writer felt the need to adress the similarities in story) who is essentialy treated like a runt most of the time.

Like an aging rock star trying to modernize his gimick by ripping off an indie band he saw in the 90's.

[Uncanny X-Man]

This was a very fun interview and the creative team's enthusiasm is absolutely infectious. They're all such big fans of the X and it really shows in their work. I would be 1000% down for an X-Corps ongoing by the Steves at this stage, it's a concept that works in any era really and they certainly have the writing chops to make it work as a regular book.

[vbeacon]

It's strange that they did such a deep dive into External lore and completely forgot that Absalom didn't die in Excalibur?

But otherwise, so cool so see that they're having fun with such wide possibilities for casts.

[JB]

This was a very fun interview and the creative team's enthusiasm is absolutely infectious. They're all such big fans of the X and it really shows in their work. I would be 1000% down for an X-Corps ongoing by the Steves at this stage, it's a concept that works in any era really and they certainly have the writing chops to make it work as a regular book.

You're absolutely right, it's a concept that can be everlasting regardless of what's going on in the overall status quo. The Steves are really working hard to make sure all the characters have different voices and it's really working for me. Like you I've never really been interested in the Externals but now I'm really plugged in to their development and looking forward to seeing X-Corps take them head on.

[Nicoclaws]

You're absolutely right, it's a concept that can be everlasting regardless of what's going on in the overall status quo. The Steves are really working hard to make sure all the characters have different voices and it's really working for me. Like you I've never really been interested in the Externals but now I'm really plugged in to their development and looking forward to seeing X-Corps take them head on.

I mean it could frame Unlimited X-men. Like, it's always been these weird mashups and obscure characters and light stories. With a more settled background like X-corps, they could tell the same stories with a whole range of characters, while leaving the impression that it's one big story. They would have to keep the same writers and vary very little with the artists though, to make it feel coherent.

[JB]

I mean it could frame Unlimited X-men. Like, it's always been these weird mashups and obscure characters and light stories. With a more settled background like X-corps, they could tell the same stories with a whole range of characters, while leaving the impression that it's one big story. They would have to keep the same writers and vary very little with the artists though, to make it feel coherent.

This is a great idea, on ongoing narrative for Unlimited. The floating island base allows for mobility and all kinds of stories. The roster can keep changing with maybe a few core characters as mainstays.

[Nicoclaws]

This is a great idea, on ongoing narrative for Unlimited. The floating island base allows for mobility and all kinds of stories. The roster can keep changing with maybe a few core characters as mainstays.

Like a smaller Krakoa.

[JB]

Like a smaller Krakoa.

That can turn invisible so it's less likely to be constantly attacked lol

[Nicoclaws]

That can turn invisible so it's less likely to be constantly attacked lol

Yeah but I mean Krakoa WAS a good playground for Unlimited. I think they started wrong with it by giving WOLVERINE the first arc. They should have make like a "visit Krakoa" arc. And then make their little stories about Krakoan inhabitants. I think on a smaller, more defined scale, X-corp could work like that. Just don't give Wolverine a solo arc in it.

[danielsan52]

My question got answered!

AIPT: Now, I’m happy El Aguila came up naturally because X-Fan Dan Elliott actually wanted to thank you Steves for bringing in El Aguila and asked if there are any more plans for him.

Orlando: I would LOVE to work with El Aguila more. I think he’s got a ton of potential, and would love for him to appear again. WILL he? It all depends on panel space, but he’s got love from me either way. I really hope he can appear at least once more to enact revenge on Orchis.

Foxe: And I’m so happy Alternate Steve got to include him.