Jim Lemoine
Mar 10, 2003, 02:34 am
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/New_Mutants.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/New_Mutantst.jpg" align=left alt="New Mutants #1 preview"></a> by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean, X-Fan Correspondent
Home to some of the top creators in the comics industry, X-Fan welcomed aboard New Mutants co-writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir last week. In this special installment, DeFilippis and Weir go into detail on what fans can expect from the return of Moonstar, Karma, Wolfsbane, and Magma in New Mutants. Chuck Austen, David Finch, and Chris Giarrusso also sound off on some of their upcoming projects.
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promot.jpg" align=right alt="New Mutants promo sketch by Keron Grant"></a>New Mutants co-writer Nunzio DeFilippis explained the conception of the team's costumes, as seen in the promo art in his The Grind Stone (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=156) forum.
"The costumes won't be coming up just yet. {Artist} Keron {Grant} designed them, and we like the designs, but right now, we're looking at quite a few issues before they become a factor. The new kids are students, the returning characters are teachers - so there's no need for costumes. When the costumes appear, there will be a story reason for them. As for why they're spandex, not leather... well, they're not really spandex either. At least not in the body-hugging sense. All 4 returning characters have jackets in the design, and the pant legs on all the outfits hang loose. There's also some metallic coloring in the color sketches."
"The thing is, Keron's experimenting right now, because the costumes are a ways off. We like the general designs (and we told Keron we really liked the jackets), but when the story takes us to costumes, we'll be talking with him about a final determination, based on what looks best and what fits the story."
DeFilippis and co-writer Weir also went into some detail about members of the original New Mutants team who will be returning in the new series.
DeFilippis on Moonstar: "There are no real code names at the get-go. The returning characters are teachers, so generally, Dani will be 'Dani' to her friends and 'Ms. Moonstar' in class. With regards to Dani... We're focusing on Dani's illusion powers - she can project non-fear based illusions, but does so less often. The illusions can be visible to as many or as few people as she focuses on. She's been shown in past issues projecting an illusion that scared off people by the dozen, and been shown using personal illusions. So we figure she can do both. The telepathic ability to connect with animals has not yet come up. We haven't removed it, but it's not yet been a story point. It will become a factor when Rahne returns, because it was part of their special bond."
"The psychic energy projections will probably play out as a more focused form of the illusions. This way, it stays consistent with the baseline powers, but doesn't disregard what she's been shown doing. The bow and arrow motif is gone. She may project other psychic damage-inducing projectiles, but we're sticking to those being in illusion form."
Weir on Moonstar: "As for Dani's bow and arrow, part of it was a desire to get back to the basics. As we said before, we're not going to disregard the bow and arrow power, but we're reconceiving it in a way that folds it back into the illusion projection."
DeFilippis on Cannonball and Sunspot: "Well, we went into this knowing who was off-limits, so we never had a chance to make plans for them. The structure of the story (the characters coming back over time, and being offered jobs) allows their absence to be less of a factor - there's no official reunion of the team."
DeFilippis on Karma: "Karma's powers: we'll be focusing on her ability to possess minds. But she's been established as a limited telepath, and when the story presents itself, we may deal with it."
Weir on Karma: "Shan's brother and sister will be showing up. She is still gay. We won't be ignoring that fact. We have some definite plans in that direction."
Weir on Magma: "Magma's backstory will be dealt with. She is calling herself Amara when she appears in the book. The reasons why may not be made clear right away, but trust us, we haven't forgotten the whole Allison thing. When we finally deal with Amara's backstory (or backstories), we'll probably deal with Empath. We haven't talked to editorial yet about what that entails."
Weir on Wolfsbane: "While I'm newer to the world of New Mutants, I felt an instant pull to Rahne. I'm very excited to write some good stories for her."
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo2t.jpg" align=right alt="New Mutants promo sketch by Keron Grant"></a>The two writers went on to provide more detailed information on the new characters who will be featured in New Mutants.
DeFilippis: "The new kids will be dealing with codenames before the teachers, simply because if you went to a school where all the teachers have been called 'Wolverine' or 'Cyclops' or whatnot, you'd want to get yourself a cool nickname, too."
"These kids are all recruited from America. Sofia is originally from Venezuela, but the rest are born in this country. At least, at first..."
"In theory, {Wind Dancer} can heal anyone he touches, and anyone can touch themself (er, you know what I mean). But he has to concentrate to heal, and if he were seriously injured, the pain might make concentrating difficult (if not impossible). Also, Josh and Wolverine are nothing alike."
Weir: "Josh is not a Guthrie. His last name is Foley and he's from New York. He's not connected to anyone in continuity."
DeFilippis: "Laurie {a.k.a. Wallflower}'s powers work and her personality (and what those powers do to that personality) make her a VERY different character."
Weir: "Wallflower's codename has more to do with her personality than her power. Then again, when you consider that pheromone powers are scent based... {However,} Laurie's powers are different from Stacy X - both in application and, much more importantly, what they do to her personality. We'll leave it at that for now."
DeFilippis: "Sofia's powers aren't the same as Storm. She's more focused and can do things that Storm can't. Kind of like the difference between Karma when she arrived and all the other telepaths who float around the X-verse."
Weir: "We're gonna let you discover what we're doing with the new kids as we go along. But we tried very hard to keep Sofia's wind powers a combination of what you'd expect and new applications that (we think) people haven't thought up yet."
DeFilippis: "David is nothing like Synch. He doesn't copy powers."
Weir: "David's power is skills only and it is highly temporary. If he's in the room with, say, a concert pianist, then he's a concert-level pianist himself, but when that guy leaves, the knowledge fades. This, like Laurie's powers above, leaves a heavy mark on the character's personality."
DeFilippis: "Surge is a girl. She's not one of the five we discussed (see 'CLASS IS BACK IN SESSION: THE NEW MUTANTS INTERVIEW' (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16357)). She was originally slated to be a part of the first story arc, then was moved out of the first arc."
"Kevin was added to the first arc - he was supposed to be intro'd later. As a result in the change of plans, Keron has a sketch for a character not yet introduced but no sketch yet for Kevin."
DeFilippis went on to explain the timeline for introducing characters to the series.
"Structurally, what we're doing is introducing the new characters one by one. Each of the first five issues will center on one of the new kids. We're doing it at a slow, leisurely pace, letting those kids take the spotlight, or at least not making them share it with a lot of other stuff. So, in the first arc, we're gonna introduce the new kids, and only two of the returning characters. Plus we'll be setting up the school, and laying the groundwork for a third returning character. This pushes the third and fourth returning characters to the second arc, and (as we've hinted), there's the mystery girl from Keron's artwork who will be dealt with. So, we're just thinking that additional characters, especially ones with backstories that take explaining, might have to wait until the characters all get settled in and established, which won't be until at least the third arc (which is loosely planned as starting with issue #13)."
Asked why the new students look like normal, baseline humans (as compared to the more obvious mutations seen in books like New X-Men), Weir presented two rationales.
"Our choices were quite intentional. There are two reasons these kids look like 'normal' kids. The first is because of the teen metaphor. With mutated kids you're playing with a different metaphor. People who are hated because they look different can parallel racism or prejudice against people with birth defects, etc. With the teen metaphor, we're trying to look at people who sometimes don't fit in just because they don't fit in. The things that make them different aren't obvious physical differences. There's the shy kid or the smart kid or the kid who reads comics. Those kids don't fit in, but they might look just like the kids who shun them. On the surface, there's no difference."
"The second reason we went with 'normal' looking kids is because in a sense, aren't they the scarier kind of mutants? You know your kid is playing with a mutant if he has a tail or blue skin or fur. But what if you can't tell by looking at him or her? Anyone could be a mutant. That was always part of the fear in the Marvel Universe and we don't want to get away from it."
"As for the designs of the new kids, it's completely unintentional if they look like old New Mutants (at least on our part, don't know what Keron had in mind, but he's never mentioned it to us). We gave Keron personality sketches more than physical descriptions and he went from there."
Hinting at a possible relationship between members of the old and new teams, Weir teased: "Saucy student/teacher romance, eh...? You're a sucker for the same stuff I am. Won't tell you who with who yet though. It's a ways down the line."
Weir also revealed the collaborative writing process within the husband-and-wife team.
"We do everything together. From plotting, to break down to actual writing. On the rare occasion that one of us writes a scene without the other, it's been plotted together in advance and then the other one gets to sit down and criticize, so the final product is always a joint effort. What's funny is that people don't always understand how we write together. And in comics and in our film writing, they're always trying to guess who wrote which character or which scene. With Skinwalker which had two narrators, people tend to assume that I wrote the female lead and Nunzio wrote the male lead. But they are, in fact, mistaken."
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/0503/UNCANNY_XMEN_423.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/0503/UNCANNY_XMEN_423t.jpg" align=right alt="Uncanny X-Men #423 preview"></a>Uncanny X-Men and Exiles fill-in writer Chuck Austen posted in his Austen Powers (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69) forum that issue #420 of Uncanny is "late because Kia finished it late."
With regards to the Uncanny X-Men/Exiles crossover, Austen clarified the order of the next few story arcs.
"The order goes: Wedding > Exiles > Draco. Two part non-X-Men arc, then the three part Uncanny arc."
As to whether or not there would still be a crossover with the Avengers with the recent announcement of series writer Geoff Johns going exclusive with DC, Austen replied, "Depends on the new writer."
Austen also mentioned that the rumored Uncanny X-Men/Weapon X crossover is "not really happening."
<center><hr width=50%></center>
In The Finch Files (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=79), Ultimate X-Men artist Dave Finch revealed that he has "finished {drawing} issue #30." Despite being solicited as the artist for #31, Finch clarified that "the rest is Adam {Kubert's}, and I'm back with issue #34. I don't know why it was listed that way"
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/spideymm1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/spideymm1t.jpg" align=right alt="Spidey and The Mini Marvels #1 preview"></a>Chris Giarrusso, the writer/artist of the upcoming Spidey and the Mini-Marvels, posted in the X-Fan First Look thread (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16175) that "Rogue and Gambit aren't really in this one, though I'd love the opportunity to use them again."
Addressing the look of the X-Men in the comic, Giarrusso said, "The use of the Evolution costumes was an editorial request, which I had no problem with."
When asked if there are plans for more Mini-Marvel projects, Giarrusso said, "I'd love to do more Mini-Marvels, but that's not my decision to make! Marvel decides whether or not to give me any work doing Mini-Marvels stories. I'm very grateful that Marvel has given me those opportunities so far, but I don't know if they'll want me back any time soon. It all depends on how well Spidey and the Mini-Marvels sells, so tell all your friends to buy like ten copies!"
Later in his Giarrusso's Bits (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=68) forum, the creator announced the creation of his own official site.
"I finally have a Web site going. Check out ChrisGComics.com (http://chrisgcomics.com). Giant Size Mini-Marvels #1 is now posted there, as an insane and radical promotional stunt. So if anybody missed my first Mini-Marvel one-shot, now you can read the whole story on line at my site (http://chrisgcomics.com) (for a limited time only). Please check it out!"
<center><hr width=50%></center>
You can find lots of exciting tidbits about New Mutants and other projects right here at X-Fan by posting in over two dozen Creator Discussion forums (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22)! Ciao!
Home to some of the top creators in the comics industry, X-Fan welcomed aboard New Mutants co-writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir last week. In this special installment, DeFilippis and Weir go into detail on what fans can expect from the return of Moonstar, Karma, Wolfsbane, and Magma in New Mutants. Chuck Austen, David Finch, and Chris Giarrusso also sound off on some of their upcoming projects.
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promot.jpg" align=right alt="New Mutants promo sketch by Keron Grant"></a>New Mutants co-writer Nunzio DeFilippis explained the conception of the team's costumes, as seen in the promo art in his The Grind Stone (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=156) forum.
"The costumes won't be coming up just yet. {Artist} Keron {Grant} designed them, and we like the designs, but right now, we're looking at quite a few issues before they become a factor. The new kids are students, the returning characters are teachers - so there's no need for costumes. When the costumes appear, there will be a story reason for them. As for why they're spandex, not leather... well, they're not really spandex either. At least not in the body-hugging sense. All 4 returning characters have jackets in the design, and the pant legs on all the outfits hang loose. There's also some metallic coloring in the color sketches."
"The thing is, Keron's experimenting right now, because the costumes are a ways off. We like the general designs (and we told Keron we really liked the jackets), but when the story takes us to costumes, we'll be talking with him about a final determination, based on what looks best and what fits the story."
DeFilippis and co-writer Weir also went into some detail about members of the original New Mutants team who will be returning in the new series.
DeFilippis on Moonstar: "There are no real code names at the get-go. The returning characters are teachers, so generally, Dani will be 'Dani' to her friends and 'Ms. Moonstar' in class. With regards to Dani... We're focusing on Dani's illusion powers - she can project non-fear based illusions, but does so less often. The illusions can be visible to as many or as few people as she focuses on. She's been shown in past issues projecting an illusion that scared off people by the dozen, and been shown using personal illusions. So we figure she can do both. The telepathic ability to connect with animals has not yet come up. We haven't removed it, but it's not yet been a story point. It will become a factor when Rahne returns, because it was part of their special bond."
"The psychic energy projections will probably play out as a more focused form of the illusions. This way, it stays consistent with the baseline powers, but doesn't disregard what she's been shown doing. The bow and arrow motif is gone. She may project other psychic damage-inducing projectiles, but we're sticking to those being in illusion form."
Weir on Moonstar: "As for Dani's bow and arrow, part of it was a desire to get back to the basics. As we said before, we're not going to disregard the bow and arrow power, but we're reconceiving it in a way that folds it back into the illusion projection."
DeFilippis on Cannonball and Sunspot: "Well, we went into this knowing who was off-limits, so we never had a chance to make plans for them. The structure of the story (the characters coming back over time, and being offered jobs) allows their absence to be less of a factor - there's no official reunion of the team."
DeFilippis on Karma: "Karma's powers: we'll be focusing on her ability to possess minds. But she's been established as a limited telepath, and when the story presents itself, we may deal with it."
Weir on Karma: "Shan's brother and sister will be showing up. She is still gay. We won't be ignoring that fact. We have some definite plans in that direction."
Weir on Magma: "Magma's backstory will be dealt with. She is calling herself Amara when she appears in the book. The reasons why may not be made clear right away, but trust us, we haven't forgotten the whole Allison thing. When we finally deal with Amara's backstory (or backstories), we'll probably deal with Empath. We haven't talked to editorial yet about what that entails."
Weir on Wolfsbane: "While I'm newer to the world of New Mutants, I felt an instant pull to Rahne. I'm very excited to write some good stories for her."
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/nm_promo2t.jpg" align=right alt="New Mutants promo sketch by Keron Grant"></a>The two writers went on to provide more detailed information on the new characters who will be featured in New Mutants.
DeFilippis: "The new kids will be dealing with codenames before the teachers, simply because if you went to a school where all the teachers have been called 'Wolverine' or 'Cyclops' or whatnot, you'd want to get yourself a cool nickname, too."
"These kids are all recruited from America. Sofia is originally from Venezuela, but the rest are born in this country. At least, at first..."
"In theory, {Wind Dancer} can heal anyone he touches, and anyone can touch themself (er, you know what I mean). But he has to concentrate to heal, and if he were seriously injured, the pain might make concentrating difficult (if not impossible). Also, Josh and Wolverine are nothing alike."
Weir: "Josh is not a Guthrie. His last name is Foley and he's from New York. He's not connected to anyone in continuity."
DeFilippis: "Laurie {a.k.a. Wallflower}'s powers work and her personality (and what those powers do to that personality) make her a VERY different character."
Weir: "Wallflower's codename has more to do with her personality than her power. Then again, when you consider that pheromone powers are scent based... {However,} Laurie's powers are different from Stacy X - both in application and, much more importantly, what they do to her personality. We'll leave it at that for now."
DeFilippis: "Sofia's powers aren't the same as Storm. She's more focused and can do things that Storm can't. Kind of like the difference between Karma when she arrived and all the other telepaths who float around the X-verse."
Weir: "We're gonna let you discover what we're doing with the new kids as we go along. But we tried very hard to keep Sofia's wind powers a combination of what you'd expect and new applications that (we think) people haven't thought up yet."
DeFilippis: "David is nothing like Synch. He doesn't copy powers."
Weir: "David's power is skills only and it is highly temporary. If he's in the room with, say, a concert pianist, then he's a concert-level pianist himself, but when that guy leaves, the knowledge fades. This, like Laurie's powers above, leaves a heavy mark on the character's personality."
DeFilippis: "Surge is a girl. She's not one of the five we discussed (see 'CLASS IS BACK IN SESSION: THE NEW MUTANTS INTERVIEW' (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16357)). She was originally slated to be a part of the first story arc, then was moved out of the first arc."
"Kevin was added to the first arc - he was supposed to be intro'd later. As a result in the change of plans, Keron has a sketch for a character not yet introduced but no sketch yet for Kevin."
DeFilippis went on to explain the timeline for introducing characters to the series.
"Structurally, what we're doing is introducing the new characters one by one. Each of the first five issues will center on one of the new kids. We're doing it at a slow, leisurely pace, letting those kids take the spotlight, or at least not making them share it with a lot of other stuff. So, in the first arc, we're gonna introduce the new kids, and only two of the returning characters. Plus we'll be setting up the school, and laying the groundwork for a third returning character. This pushes the third and fourth returning characters to the second arc, and (as we've hinted), there's the mystery girl from Keron's artwork who will be dealt with. So, we're just thinking that additional characters, especially ones with backstories that take explaining, might have to wait until the characters all get settled in and established, which won't be until at least the third arc (which is loosely planned as starting with issue #13)."
Asked why the new students look like normal, baseline humans (as compared to the more obvious mutations seen in books like New X-Men), Weir presented two rationales.
"Our choices were quite intentional. There are two reasons these kids look like 'normal' kids. The first is because of the teen metaphor. With mutated kids you're playing with a different metaphor. People who are hated because they look different can parallel racism or prejudice against people with birth defects, etc. With the teen metaphor, we're trying to look at people who sometimes don't fit in just because they don't fit in. The things that make them different aren't obvious physical differences. There's the shy kid or the smart kid or the kid who reads comics. Those kids don't fit in, but they might look just like the kids who shun them. On the surface, there's no difference."
"The second reason we went with 'normal' looking kids is because in a sense, aren't they the scarier kind of mutants? You know your kid is playing with a mutant if he has a tail or blue skin or fur. But what if you can't tell by looking at him or her? Anyone could be a mutant. That was always part of the fear in the Marvel Universe and we don't want to get away from it."
"As for the designs of the new kids, it's completely unintentional if they look like old New Mutants (at least on our part, don't know what Keron had in mind, but he's never mentioned it to us). We gave Keron personality sketches more than physical descriptions and he went from there."
Hinting at a possible relationship between members of the old and new teams, Weir teased: "Saucy student/teacher romance, eh...? You're a sucker for the same stuff I am. Won't tell you who with who yet though. It's a ways down the line."
Weir also revealed the collaborative writing process within the husband-and-wife team.
"We do everything together. From plotting, to break down to actual writing. On the rare occasion that one of us writes a scene without the other, it's been plotted together in advance and then the other one gets to sit down and criticize, so the final product is always a joint effort. What's funny is that people don't always understand how we write together. And in comics and in our film writing, they're always trying to guess who wrote which character or which scene. With Skinwalker which had two narrators, people tend to assume that I wrote the female lead and Nunzio wrote the male lead. But they are, in fact, mistaken."
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/0503/UNCANNY_XMEN_423.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/0503/UNCANNY_XMEN_423t.jpg" align=right alt="Uncanny X-Men #423 preview"></a>Uncanny X-Men and Exiles fill-in writer Chuck Austen posted in his Austen Powers (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69) forum that issue #420 of Uncanny is "late because Kia finished it late."
With regards to the Uncanny X-Men/Exiles crossover, Austen clarified the order of the next few story arcs.
"The order goes: Wedding > Exiles > Draco. Two part non-X-Men arc, then the three part Uncanny arc."
As to whether or not there would still be a crossover with the Avengers with the recent announcement of series writer Geoff Johns going exclusive with DC, Austen replied, "Depends on the new writer."
Austen also mentioned that the rumored Uncanny X-Men/Weapon X crossover is "not really happening."
<center><hr width=50%></center>
In The Finch Files (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=79), Ultimate X-Men artist Dave Finch revealed that he has "finished {drawing} issue #30." Despite being solicited as the artist for #31, Finch clarified that "the rest is Adam {Kubert's}, and I'm back with issue #34. I don't know why it was listed that way"
<center><hr width=50%></center>
<a href="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/spideymm1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/previews/spideymm1t.jpg" align=right alt="Spidey and The Mini Marvels #1 preview"></a>Chris Giarrusso, the writer/artist of the upcoming Spidey and the Mini-Marvels, posted in the X-Fan First Look thread (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16175) that "Rogue and Gambit aren't really in this one, though I'd love the opportunity to use them again."
Addressing the look of the X-Men in the comic, Giarrusso said, "The use of the Evolution costumes was an editorial request, which I had no problem with."
When asked if there are plans for more Mini-Marvel projects, Giarrusso said, "I'd love to do more Mini-Marvels, but that's not my decision to make! Marvel decides whether or not to give me any work doing Mini-Marvels stories. I'm very grateful that Marvel has given me those opportunities so far, but I don't know if they'll want me back any time soon. It all depends on how well Spidey and the Mini-Marvels sells, so tell all your friends to buy like ten copies!"
Later in his Giarrusso's Bits (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=68) forum, the creator announced the creation of his own official site.
"I finally have a Web site going. Check out ChrisGComics.com (http://chrisgcomics.com). Giant Size Mini-Marvels #1 is now posted there, as an insane and radical promotional stunt. So if anybody missed my first Mini-Marvel one-shot, now you can read the whole story on line at my site (http://chrisgcomics.com) (for a limited time only). Please check it out!"
<center><hr width=50%></center>
You can find lots of exciting tidbits about New Mutants and other projects right here at X-Fan by posting in over two dozen Creator Discussion forums (http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=22)! Ciao!