Cyclops-intoxicated

原文出自這。鈔票啊~又要飛了...我養成了不太好的習慣，看X相關訪談時一定先找龍哥的名字...真的是中毒太深了...

David Finch's cover for "X-Men: Second Coming" #1In January, 2006, it looked like the Marvel Universe's mutant population was headed towards a grim fate. Thanks to the reality warping powers of the Scarlet Witch, scores of mutants lost their powers. Suddenly there were less than 200 known mutants worldwide, and no new mutants were being born.

Then, just as things were looking their darkest, a new mutant baby was born. In the 2007 crossover "Messiah CompleX," the X-Men fought a battle against the combined forces of their enemies, the Marauders and the Acolytes, for custody of the child, whom many viewed as a mutant messiah. The X-Men prevailed, but the child's safety was not yet assured. The X-Man, Bishop, believed that the child would grow up to be mutantkind's downfall instead of its salvation, and that, if he killed the mutant baby, the nightmarish future world where he was born would never come to exist.

Cyclops gave custody of the mutant baby girl, who would come to be called Hope, to his son Cable in order to save her. Cable used a time machine to escape into the future, where he and the girl would be relentlessly hounded by Bishop who had his own time machine. In the 2009 crossover, "Messiah War," Cyclops sent X-Force to the future in order to retrieve Cable and Hope, where they discovered that Hope had grown into a young girl. Together, they battled the forces of Cable's old foe Stryfe and Bishop, and in the end, Cable and Hope chose to keep running further into the future.

You can't run forever, though, and in March of 2010, Cable and Hope return to the present. Kicking off the final chapter in the Messiah Trilogy, "X-Men: Second Coming" was announced today at the Diamond Retailer Summit. It's a multi-part crossover that begins in the "X-Men: Second Coming"one-shot, then runs through issues of "Uncanny X-Men," "X-Men: Legacy," "X-Force" and "New Mutants," before ending in June with another one-shot. CBR News spoke with writers Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, Matt Fraction, Mike Carey, and Zeb Wells and editor Nick Lowe about the crossover.

Kyle and Yost wrote the "New X-Men" installments of "Messiah CompleX," the "X-Force" chapters of "Messiah War," and are enjoying the opportunity to help finish the Messiah Trilogy as the writers of the "Second Coming" one-shot and "X-Force." "I think you'll finally see some answers to questions that were posed way back in Messiah CompleX," Chris Yost told CBR. "Who, and what, is Hope? What does her return mean to the X-Men?"

Craig Kyle added. "Like a lot of fans, I’ve been anxious to finish the journey and see what it all means. This has been one of the longer sagas in X-Men history, and I think people are expecting a lot. They've invested a lot of time, money, and energy into these characters and this story. Like them, I'm expecting a big result at the end, and I think readers are going to get it."

Mike Carey wrote the "X-Men" chapters of "Messiah CompleX" and found that coming back to help finish the Messiah Trilogy in "X-Men: Legacy" has been very satisfying. "We've known that we would end up here since the time we were finishing 'Messiah CompleX,'" Carey said. "There's a lot of things going on here. You could say, we've been building to this story ever since 'House of M,' and you'll see some resolution to these big plot threads."

"Uncanny X-Men" writer Matt Fraction and "New Mutants" writer Zeb Wells did not work on the previous two chapters of the Messiah Trilogy, but are excited to be involved in bringing the epic tale to a close. "It would be intimidating, but the team Executive Editor Axel Alonso assembled to break the story was so strong. It was the first time in my life I was the least talented person in the room. At least that's how I choose to understand the terrible things Axel said to me," Wells joked.

Another reason the five X-Books writers are excited about "Second Coming" is that it gives them the chance to write both Cable and Hope, who regularly appear in the current "Cable" series, written by Duane Swierczynski. "I can't wait to see how Cable interacts with his old subordinates in the New Mutants and X-Force," Zeb Wells said. "I like the fact that Hope is a messiah who isn't quite positive what that even means. And I love what she brings out of Cable's character. He's a teacher/father around her."

Matt Fraction is especially keen to explore the dynamic between Cyclops, Cable and Hope. "You've got three generations, there, who are all a little screwed up. I think the stuff that Duane has been doing in 'Cable' is fantastic, and in 'Second Coming,' you get to see what Hope is like when she's back in her own time, where she's seen by some as the savior of her species," Fraction stated. "There's all these great expectations of her. Even though she's so young, she's lived this insane life and has sort of become this teenage guerilla fighter. She's been to some places that are fascinating to me."

Fans of writer Mike Carey's run on "X-Men" already know that he's got an affinity for Cable and feels that the character's adventures in his current solo series have made him even more intriguing. "Cable took on this bigger parental-style responsibility years ago when he founded the first incarnation of X-Force, and you see him doing that again in relation to Hope. It's brought out different aspects in his nature, and their relationship has changed as she's grown up," Carey said. "They've been through some bittersweet moments, and I'm looking forward to exploring their relationship.


"Cable" #21 starts the prelude to "X-Men: Second Coming""And Hope is still a big mystery," Carey continued. "She's been hailed as the Mutant Messiah, but we know from Bishop's reaction to her that she has the alleged potential to be something else as well. And we still don't have a clear idea of what her mutant power is or how it works. So what is the potential that's buried in her? And how will it change the status quo when she comes back to present time?"


Craig Kyle and Chris Yost wrote Cable and Hope in the "X-Force" installments of "Messiah War," but feel that both characters have changed in interesting ways since that story, especially Hope. "I don't know if you saw the solicitation image from an upcoming 'Cable' issue, but Hope has definitely grown and become her own person. When most of the X-Men last saw her she was a baby, and when X-Force saw her in 'Messiah War,' she was like eight years old. When she comes back in 'Second Coming,' she's basically in her late teens, so it's going to be interesting to see what her personality has become," Chris Yost said. "You've also got to wonder, what kind of life has Cable given her? How has being on the run in a post apocalyptic future world affected her? Is that the best childhood they could have given the Mutant Messiah? Or did that make her more like the person Bishop has become?"

There's been no announcement yet regarding the art for the individual chapters of "Second Coming," but Marvel is talking about one of the big named artists involved. "David Finch is drawing the 'Second Coming' one-shot!" Nick Lowe revealed. "That may be the biggest news of all!"

In the "X-Men: Second Coming" one-shot, Cable and Hope's sudden return to the present forces the villainous Bastion, who's machinations have been plaguing X-Force, to put the final stage of his master plan into action."You're going to see in 'Necrosha' [the crossover involving "X-Force," "X-Men: Legacy," and "New Mutants" which begins later this month] that Bastion doesn't go away. He's aware of things. You'll see his reaction to the events in 'Necrosha,' but Hope's return is the explosion that means things have to happen now," Kyle revealed. "What Bastion knows about, now, and what he must do, is always in flux. The actions of Selene in 'Necrosha' and the arrival of Hope are two things he can't plan for. So this is going to push everything to a head. That also speaks to why our team is going to have no time to rest in between the two biggest fights of their lives."

Yost added, "X-Force has always been the team that hasn't gotten a lot of down time. They're always going from one mission to the next. In this case, the entire mutant species is on edge coming off things like the recent 'Utopia' crossover, the upcoming 'Nation X' storyline, and 'Necrosha.' Everything seems to be escalating, and this what it's escalating to."

In "X-Force" #1, Kyle and Yost resurrected Bastion, so "Second Coming" is a storyline that provides pay offs for many of the plot elements they've been building to in the series. "Early on in our 'X-Force' run, we knew that there were certain fights that the team was going to be able to handle by themselves, often by the skin of their teeth. Bastion, though, is pulling all these strings together to create this ultimate threat to the X-Men. So there was no way to bring that arc to a close in our book," Craig Kyle explained. "Fortunately for us, the Messiah storyline and the Bastion arc lined up perfectly. So it was a marriage of events that everyone was supportive of. The last thing you want to do is bring something to an event and go, 'Everybody get out of our way and let us do this and take over your titles,' but everyone really decided to get behind this, which was great."

Yost added, "'X-Force' has had two major storylines running through the series: Bastion and Selene. And, of course, Selene's storyline is going to explode into 'Necrosha,' so the question became, how do we make Bastion look even bigger? It just so happened that our discussions about that lined up with 'Second Coming.' So we were very pleased with the way things turned out."

Another ongoing plot element of "X-Force" has been their clandestine nature. Cyclops has kept the team's existence from the other X-Men because the bloody nature of the missions that he sends them on. However, the events of "Second Coming" will make it extremely difficult to hide the true nature of X-Force from their fellow mutant comrades. "Secrets can't trump the importance of saving lives, especially since everything as far as Cyclops is concerned hinges on Hope and what she means for the future of mutantkind," Kyle remarked. "So I think that's an issue that will absolutely be dealt with when it comes to the final chapter of this saga."

The events of "Necrosha" flow directly into "Second Coming" in "X-Force"Part of the reason "X-Force" will have a tough time concealing their nature is the fact that "Second Coming" is structured very much like "Messiah CompleX." Each chapter of the story flows into the next one, and each writer will be playing with their normal cast of characters as well as ones who don't usually appear in their book. Working with a larger cast can be difficult, but it's something that's become old hat for Matt Fraction. "Thank god I've got another giant ensemble piece coming out of the X-Men/Dark Avengers crossover," the writer joked. "One of the big things we've set up with 'Uncanny X-Men,' though, is that it's the book where everybody shows up. Each issue already kind of deals with mutantkind as a whole. So you'll see characters from all over appearing all over the place."

Fraction sees the "Second Coming" storyline as a mixture of both intimate and explosive moments. "Everything is building to this incredible crescendo. In between these smaller moments of Hope and Cable on the run, you've got bigger moments like Scott's ability to tap into his inner leader being predicated on the fact that Hope is out there. His faith has been rewarded in that Cable has done his job and Hope is back, but these bad guys have been lying in wait," Fraction revealed. "So each issue has a few quiet moments as well as some incredible action set pieces as Bastion's vast plan comes to fruition."

Bastion has proved to be a very compelling character for Fraction. "I think anybody that can create a new spin on the, 'I'm coming to kill the X-Men story' is very interesting," the writer remarked. "Bastion is a big character with big plans, and we've got the special effects budget to capture those plans."

Like the members of X-Force, the cast of "New Mutants" will be coming into "Second Coming" almost immediately after their adventures in "Necrosha." They might be better prepared to handle things, however. "The New Mutants will be ready," Zeb Wells hinted. "And after 'Necrosha,' they'll have a few more members to go into battle with."

Indeed, there will be plenty of battles for the New Mutants to become embroiled in during "Second Coming." "I think they've become a team that Cyclops won't be afraid to use like any other team of X-Men," Wells remarked. "Which is to say, Cyclops is going to use them to kick @$$."

Wells feels that Bastion is the perfect foil for both the New Mutants and the entire cast of "Second Coming." "Like my editor Nick Lowe, he despises all mutants," the writer joked. "With their population on the ropes, Bastion will not take kindly to someone showing up who may or may not hold the key to a mutant renaissance."

"X-Men: Legacy" currently stars longtime fan favorite, Rogue, following her in her new role of preparing the younger generation of X-Men for what's to come. During "Necrosha," Rogue will fight side by side with other X-Men, and other mutants will continue to play roles in the series during "Second Coming." Rogue fans can also expect the character to play a pivotal part in "Second Coming." "You'll definitely see a number of very significant moments between Rogue and Hope," Mike Carey hinted. "Not because Hope is a younger mutant and is part of Rogue's new duties. It's more that there's unexpected contact between them that becomes very important."

Pitting Rogue against the forces of Bastion is especially exciting to Carey due to the fact that the anti-mutant crusader is a big and iconic X-Villain that he hasn't previously had a chance to write. "I think Bastion is fascinating in a paradoxical sort of way," Carey remarked. "He's someone who has cauterized his own humanity in defending what he sees as humanity's best interests. He's a very cool monster."

"X-Men: Second Coming" begins in Spring of 2010, but that should give readers plenty of time to prepare and say goodbye to the current status quos of many of the books in the X-line. "You'll see new books being born and existing books being redefined," Mike Carey said. "As with 'Messiah CompleX,' I hope it will feel like the natural playing out of elements we've been building for a long time. You'll suddenly see the relevance of a whole lot of stuff."

Matt Fraction added, "And we're not changing things because it's another crossover and it's time to throw everything overboard. This is the thing we've been building to for years. It's the third act in a story that started years ago. So, it's incredibly satisfying to finally pay this stuff off."

For Craig Kyle and Chris Yost, "X-Men: Second Coming" is doubly satisfying because not only is it the final chapter of the Messiah Trilogy, it's also the final chapter in their run on "X-Force." "Chris and I have had a plan from the beginning of what we wanted to do with this team. We knew what the last page of our last issue on the title looked like," Craig Kyle said. "This is going to close a chapter for us, and like our run on 'New X-Men,' it's exciting because we planned for it and knew it was coming. We've been talking with everybody for about a year and a half now about how we wanted to go out, and it's going to be in a blaze of glory.

"'Necrosha' kind of gives us a chance for our team to do a big fight on their own. Mike Carey and Zeb Wells have come up with great stories to connect to 'Necrosha,' but those are spillover stories. X-Force is tackling the main threat on their own," Kyle continued. "'Second Coming' is a chance for them to jump back into the larger X-Men universe and fight side by side with their friends in a larger finale. We get two endings for our team, which is the best scenario possible."

During Messiah Complex, New X-Men was the primary series that followed the lives and struggles of the younger X-Men. Two years later, New Mutants has stepped up to chronicle the lives of characters like Magik, Moonstar, and Cannonball. We turned to writer Zeb Wells for more on how the younger X-Men will factor into this struggle.



IGN Comics: Let's first address the larger crossover before its impact on New Mutants – what is Second Coming? What is the storyline that will weave throughout the X-Men franchise early next year?

Wells: It's the conclusion to the story that started in the Messiah Complex crossover two years ago. Hope returns to our time and sets off a massive war.

IGN Comics: How do the various New Mutants view Hope? Being somewhat close in age, do they have a more sympathetic or protective attitude towards her compared to some of the more veteran X-Men?

Wells: Yeah, definitely. I think the younger you are the less of a problem you have with the idea that one person can change the world. The New Mutants are less jaded.

IGN Comics: How are the New Mutants pulled into the Second Coming narrative? Will they directly play a role in determining the fates of Cable and Hope?

Wells: The arrival of Cable and Hope forces Cyclops to play all of his cards. All of the X-Men have to come together as one large mega-team. With the arrival of Warlock and Cypher, the New Mutants team is fairly strong. Cyclops isn't going to be shy about using them.

IGN Comics: We understand that the issue of Cyclops's leadership will be a big component of Second Coming. How do the New Mutants view Cyclops? Do they believe his strategy regarding Hope has been the correct one? Is there internal disagreement?

Wells: The team's known Cyclops for a long time, and have grown to respect him. That said, the team is made up of some fairly strong personalities, so the degree to which they buy in to Cyclops' plan will vary.

IGN Comics: New Mutants is a relatively young series. Has it been challenging to establish a blueprint and identity for the series when the larger direction of the franchise is pulling the title into two back-to-back crossovers (Necrosha, Second Coming)?

Wells: Yeah, that's been a challenge, but I think it's one every writer in the X-Universe has to deal with. It comes with the territory. I think the interconnection of the X-Men titles is one of the things that is so compelling about them.

IGN Comics: Can fans expect any familiar faces to return or major changes to the team's roster as a result of or during this storyline?

Wells: I think the return of Cable is going to be one of the most exciting parts of the series as far as I'm concerned. It will be cool to see him interact with the team considering all the history they have.

IGN Comics: Is there anything else you'd like to add about Second Coming?

Wells: The team Axel assembled to break the story was top notch. I can't wait for people to see it!

Finally, we chatted with Chris Yost about the role X-Force will play in Second Coming. Sadly, co-writer Craig Kyle wasn't able to chime in this time, but we'll try to get the dynamic duo back together soon. X-Force was created during the events of Messiah Complex, so we were curious to learn whether Second Coming will have a similar level of importance for the team. And with Necrosha set to kick off soon, we were also curious how connected these two events are.



IGN Comics: You guys are about to move into Necrosha, and it's looking like Second Coming will be following a month or two after. How closely would you say Second Coming builds out of Necrosha?

Chris Yost: There's actually a moment in the kickoff to Second Coming where they're just going through the events of Necrosha. Obviously, you don't need to have read Necrosha to get into Second Coming at all, but they're still feeling the effects of it. Necrosha was pretty brutal, and Second Coming, as it starts off, the X-Men are once again in rough shape.

IGN Comics: This plan that Bastion is putting into motion – does that play into what Selene was doing in Necrosha, or are his plans independent of what she was doing?

Yost: Bastion is the one who brought back the techno-organic virus to use to resurrect his minions. Then he saw that another villain had glommed onto that technology. He saw what she did with it, which was kind of counter to his plans, so he had to accelerate his timetable. Which, as it turns out, he would have had to do anyway. It's not building off of Selene's plans, per se, but he definitely has to deal with that.

IGN Comics: Bastion has been a presence in the series pretty much since the beginning. Has the series been building towards this point all along?

Yost: Absolutely. Bastion's plan within X-Force all along was to do what he's about to do. Second Coming, for us, was the best way to get there. It evolved into Second Coming. It was great. This is the major X-Men storyline that's been going on for a number of years, and our plans for Bastion came together in a great way.

IGN Comics: When you say Bastion is being forced to accelerate his timetable regardless of Selene's actions, does that imply Hope is sort of the unknown factor that upsets his plans?

Yost: Yes and no. You're going to find out exactly what Bastion's plan is pretty quickly. But I wouldn't say it's independent of Hope. There have certainly been surprises along the way. Bastion even has a line referring to the X-Men genetically and how dealing with them is just unpredictable. He's got to be able to go with the flow sometimes. But his master plan has never changed, and that plan has always been able to take Hope into account. The beauty of Bastion is that his motivations are crystal clear. There's not going to be any give and take there. There won't be any "Oh, we're not sure what he's all about. He wants every single mutant on the face of the planet – past, present, and future – dead. And he's not going to stop until that's been accomplished.

IGN Comics: I noticed there's a little bit of crossover between X-Force and the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon now that you've brought the MRD into the comic.

Yost: [laughs] Yes. Craig Kyle is the executive producer supervising Wolverine and the X-Men. It just seemed to make sense. Bastion was basically creating this huge human army. We have things like the Sapien League and the Friends of Humanity. The MRD seemed like a logical thing to bring into it. Something that could act, with the approval of the United Nations, all over the world. If there's a mutant in England, they can act against them. And when the day comes that Bastion has always prophesied, he can eliminate every mutant on the planet at once.

IGN Comics: How much can you say about the structure of the event? Is it going to be set up a lot like Messiah Complex was in terms of structure and length?

Yost: Yeah, there's a Second Coming one-shot that kicks it all off. Then it goes from week to week through Uncanny, Legacy, New Mutants, and X-Force. Not necessarily in that order, but very much like Messiah Complex. One issue leads toward the next.

IGN Comics: And I believe you and Craig are writing the one-shot yourselves?

Yost: We are.

IGN Comics: I thought the way Messiah Complex was laid out was kind of interesting, because even though you had a crossover with the entire X-Men cast, each individual book still tended to focus on its own main characters. For instance, X-Factor featured Layla and Madrox prominently. Would you say it's going to be the same way with Second Coming, or is the cast really spread out evenly this time?

Yost: For the larger sections, yes, everybody is definitely going to be writing everybody. So Cyclops, Wolverine, Emma – the central crew are going to be seen throughout. But Mike Carey is still going to be focusing on Rogue, and Zeb is going to stay with the New Mutants. And obviously we've got X-Force going throughout. Much like Messiah Complex, where we can focus on our characters, we will. But we're focused on the greater story as well.

IGN Comics: Are you looking forward to being able to expand the cast in your scripts for a while?

Yost: You know, that's the funny thing. Absolutely, yeah. We love the New Mutants characters. We love Rogue. It's always fun to play with all the characters. So we're looking forward to that. But to a certain extent we've already gotten away with that anyway. X-Force has Cyclops and Emma. When your universe is shrunk down to less than 200 people, and you're all basically on one play, it makes sense that you'll see the other people. We always try to represent that in whatever book we're writing.

IGN Comics: You already addressed the general state of the team a little, but we're seeing in Uncanny right now that not everyone is very supportive of Cyclops' actions. He's still keeping X-Force's existence a secret from most of the team. As this crossover opens, is there going to be a lot of dissension in the ranks as far as his leadership is concerned?

Yost: Yes. I think a lot of what Second Coming is about is faith. Cyclops has made an incredible leap of faith in putting all of his hope in this one girl. People are going to react to that. This is about to be the X-Men at their darkest hour. Craig and I are prone to hyperbole, but what they're going to be facing in this story is rough. People are going to question this girl. Is she supposed to save us? Can she save us? Is she really a mutant messiah or one huge, horrible mistake? Not only are their lives at stake, but the entire future of their species is at stake. They're in a situation right now where their future is about to be wiped out.

IGN Comics: As far as Hope goes, how would you say she's changed since she last encountered the X-Men in Messiah War?

Yost: Well, that's the great thing. Pretty much everyone thinks of her as this baby. It's been maybe, say, a year since Messiah Complex. As a whole, the X-Men and mutantkind think of her as a baby. Now X-Force went to the future in Messiah War and saw that she was a nine-year-old girl. So they're aware of tit and Cyclops is aware of it. I think people are going to be surprised to see her come back as this teenage girl. They aren't necessarily going to be prepared for what they get.

IGN Comics: X-Force was first put together during the events of Messiah Complex. With this basically serving as the sequel, would you say Second Coming is a similar sort of watershed moment for the team?

Yost: I think you can expect a radical shift in all the X-Men books. X-Force especially. Basically, X-Force was put together to combat enemies of mutantkind – the ones who wanted to wipe them out while they're at their weakest. They target those enemies first so that they never get the chance to hurt them. This is literally a situation where, if you kill one mutant, you're killing a large percentage of mutantkind. Scott had to be proactive. He had to take this stance. He had to strike first and be ruthless in order to protect his people and keep them alive until this girl came back. I don't think he even knew what was going to happen, but whatever did happen, he had to hold out. He had to hold the line, essentially. Whichever way this goes, X-Force may not be needed.