Interview: X-Men writers Gail Simone, Jed MacKay & editor Tom Brevoort

[JB]

I think with Sinister, the easiest thing to assume is he manipulated events with the Moira clones to get into the council(and there is plenty to suggest on panel, it is a logical assumption)I mean at this point Enigma could have prompted Xavier and Moira to seek out his clone. It is forced and contrived writing by Hickman , but Gillen gives extenuating circumstances(although nothing less is expected of Sinister's biggest fan)

Indeed. Sinister being in his position was needed for Enigma to come online as the Sins timeline resulted in one of the four Dominion attempts. In fact after today's Rise of the Powers of X I've come to realize just how instrumental Enigma has been in a lot of things.

[Rev9]

The whole argument was that the listed Council members thought that mutants were gods and above lowly humans. Mutant supremacists. Even if she was focused on her own people (who needed her and relied on her leadership for their well-being), she didn't exhibit supremacist traits.

Yeah, she wasn't standing up to Apocalypse's words. But no one else was, either. They knew to sit back and see this play out. After all, it was Aero's decision to go through with this. And who's going to stop things and take time to tone police during all of this? The fact that she doesn't say anything to show she agrees with Poccy before, during or after this is pretty telling on what she thinks. They don't need to dedicate limited panels to have her state the obvious, that racism is bad and Apocalypse isn't a nice person.

As I said it's a numbers game in House of X 05, Storm's choice of words and the aura around celebrating the space mission X-Men returning again points to her being in the 'pro' column.

[Rift]

As I said it's a numbers game in House of X 05, Storm's choice of words and the aura around celebrating the space mission X-Men returning again points to her being in the 'pro' column.

As I've said, it's About Storm not being a supremacist. Forget about the number of tiny little quotes that you can intepret a certain way. She's very blatantly not a supremacist 99.999999% of the time, nor was she being written as one. Acting like a couple vague quotes invalidates how she's regulsrly written.

[Rev9]

As I've said, it's About Storm not being a supremacist. Forget about the number of tiny little quotes that you can intepret a certain way. She's very blatantly not a supremacist 99.999999% of the time, nor was she being written as one. Acting like a couple vague quotes invalidates how she's regulsrly written.

I was responding with the original poster's comment and list of those who put themselves or mutantdom above humanity on the QC in mind. I was simply pointing to panel evidence of Storm fitting in the 'pro' camp. My focus is not how she has been written (which I agree with you had no hint of exceptionalism) ,but how she will be written going forward.After Krakoa, that remains to be seen.

[Rift]

I was responding with the original poster's comment and list of those who put themselves or mutantdom above humanity on the QC in mind. I was simply pointing to panel evidence of Storm fitting in the 'pro' camp. My focus is not how she has been written (which I agree with you had no hint of exceptionalism) ,but how she will be written going forward.After Krakoa, that remains to be seen.

Alright that's fair. But I will say that the original person's point was that the Council was heavily dominated by mutant supremacists, and that they counted Storm as one. Even with all the evidence, she is very much not a supremacist, so the poster's point about her is wrong.

[Keno]

Sounds like nostalgia written all over it. Brevoort proving me right that he still holds onto the nostalgia world building and storytelling

[Devaishwarya]

Yeah, those kind of people never rise in democratic politics in real life.

I think Hickman was batting for the sky with the initial Krakoa concept, and I would have loved to see his version all the way through. That said, it's pretty clear from interviews that he, and Marvel editorial, always saw the Krakoa experiment ending in failure. That's why they put all the evil villains on the Council. So it would be easier to accept the failure. I think that's also why they minimized Storm on the QC so much, and had her off on the side in Arrako for most of this **** show: so the filth wouldn't get on her too much(Scott even washed his hands of the whole lot of it from jump, and now will be championed as the great new leader for the new age). Let Sinister and Mother Righteous and Exodus and Mystique and Destiny and Moira take the fall. No one was doing anything with them before anyways. (Xavier will be put in jail and think about it until the next writer wants to use him.)

I mean, look at real world countries. Mired in inefficiencies, corruption, war for profit, scandals, etc. etc. The model has not worked well. And pure democracy, even in the way perhaps only a mutant country could actually pull off[immediate telepathic voting for all citizens], isn't necessarily better. Most people are kinda stupid, or at least, to be more generous, have a very narrow perspective. If you asked everyone what's the best solution for problem xyx, the most popular response is not necessarily going to be correct or feasible or even address the problem. In essence democracy is rule of the mob. People can be compassionate and thoughtful. A mob almost never is.

So maybe that's the pearl hidden in the muck of this From the Ashes dud of a concept: governments/fictitious nation-states can not save you. Only your own actions, in direct conjunction with your like-minded tribe, is real. Save your selves!

Insert: Oscar Awards standing ovation

And one for BobbysWorld.

It's like Brevoort was lurking in all those "Krakoa is a Cult" threads that popped up every other month or two, instead of actually reading/understanding the stories being written.

I would have loved some attempt at righting the many obvious wrongs that came up. That after the "Moira Reveal" the writers might have course-corrected somewhat and we could have had a Mutant Nation actually growing and thriving against the odds and despite what others may think and feel and do (as with many nations and minorities in real life), where they would still have to fight to keep that Island Life safe and alive (as ALL other heroes do in the MU).

But...I also understand that that was never the intent. Which is the real shame...that their "vision" of mutant life and existence will never be anything other than "hatred and fear".

And as I've said before...After reading 60 years worth of rinse-repeat "hatred and fear" that get exponentially greater each era, I'm good. I'm waiting to see what the Phoenix and Storm solos bring but I'm not jumping on/into the Brevoort Era.

[gonnagiveittoya]

As I've said, it's About Storm not being a supremacist. Forget about the number of tiny little quotes that you can intepret a certain way. She's very blatantly not a supremacist 99.999999% of the time, nor was she being written as one. Acting like a couple vague quotes invalidates how she's regulsrly written.

Hickmans writing for Storm doesn't count for Hickman's run?

[ARkadelphia]

Wait until it's revealed that Julian is actually Doom's ancestor, thus explaining where Victor got his power. All that stuff about Cynthia von Whatever? A distraction, a ruse to hide that his power comes from an X-Gene.

Because "Keller" is a German name, and German is one of Latveria's major languages. We know the X-Men had access to time travel, and if you buy the theory that Hellion also fathered the first mutants of Arakko, then it's possible his time travels also brought him to Latveria. In this essay I will

Julian IS Doctor Doom. Julian McMahon that is.

[gonnagiveittoya]

The same timeline where all the mutants became Sinister slaves and were then driven to extinction as part of Sinister's attempt to become a Dominion? What's your point? We all know the QC was a trash government... that's why they were about to step down.

Are you saying that the average mutant needs to ingratiate themselves to humanity because of an AU where they were also victims of the same supervillain's evil plan? Has mutantkind not already "paid the price," for all of the missteps of Krakoa though the aforementioned deportation, imprisonment, experimentation, and general violence done on them during the FoX?

It's really disingenuous to try to separate Sinister, co-head of Krakoa, from Krakoa

[Rift]

Hickmans writing for Storm doesn't count for Hickman's run?

IIRC, she's not an actual supremacist for the majority of the actual run, and she isn't one in any of the other Krakoan books running for the past 5 years. If you have to list very specific (and dubious) instances to claim she's pro-supremacy, and not her overall behavior, then the list is flawed.

Julian IS Doctor Doom. Julian McMahon that is.

Amazing, thank you. Glad to see he was able to get over being cruelly vanquished by a bunch of witches.

[BobbysWorld]

Hickmans writing for Storm doesn't count for Hickman's run?

The era was not Hickman's run though. His run was integral to it, absolutely, but his takes were not the only ones that matter. Are we actually supposed to look at the several years of highly acclaimed work done with Storm and then look at Storm characterized quite differently in the bare handful of scenes where Hickman wrote her for more than a line or two of dialogue.....and say yeah, obviously Hickman's handful of mostly group scenes that happen to include Storm should be treated as the definitive characterization for her this era?

[BobbysWorld]

It's really disingenuous to try to separate Sinister, co-head of Krakoa, from Krakoa

You cited an alternate future that was prevented from coming to pass by mutants themselves to argue that see, humans were right about Krakoans all being bad and supremacists after all, on account of the stuff they did in a timeline where they were forcibly brainwashed and altered on a genetic level against their will as the literal premise for why they were all like that in that future....

And you think actually no its OTHER people who are being disingenuous in this thread?

[ARkadelphia]

Amazing, thank you. Glad to see he was able to get over being cruelly vanquished by a bunch of witches.

They roughed him up good, but then he got into the plastic surgery racket and he’s feeling much better now.

[D.Z]

Even though it's the same timeline, I wonder if Charles messing with young Moira's mind in the past changes at least some things.