Cyclops-intoxicated

原文出自這。

At the end of the "House of M" mini-series, the Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping powers to drastically decrease the Marvel Universe's mutant population. Now, there are less than 200 mutants worldwide, and since the Witch used her powers, only one new mutant has been born. This baby girl is known as Hope, because the X-Men and many other mutants see her as a possible messiah that could save the mutant race from extinction.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees Hope as a savior. The former X-Man, Bishop, believes that Hope will grow up and cause a disaster that will in turn give birth to the nightmarish future world he originally hails from. In order to prevent that future from occurring, Bishop will do whatever he must, including the solution he's settled on: killing Hope. When the X-Men discovered Bishop's intentions, Cyclops tasked his son, the time traveling mutant soldier Cable, to protect Hope. Armed with a malfunctioning time machine that can only move forward in time, Cable escaped with Hope into the future. Unfortunately for them, Bishop procured a time machine of his own and set off in hot pursuit of Cable and Hope.

This has been the premise of writer Duane Swierczynski's ongoing "Cable" series since it launched, but that's about to change. From the X-Men's perspective, Cable and Hope have only been gone a few months, but for the fugitives,13 years have passed. "Cable's" current arc finds the titular character, a teenaged Hope, Bishop, and a young boy named Emil trapped aboard a spaceship that's been invaded by the monstrous alien race known as the Brood. CBR News spoke with Swierczynski about the current story line and the following arc, "Homecoming," where Cable and Hope decide that they're tired of running and return to the present.




CBR News: Duane, I noticed in "Cable" #19 that Hope points out to her young friend and first love, Emil, that Cable is not her father. What does Hope know about her real parents? How does she feel about them, and has knowing that Cable isn't her biological father affected her feelings for him?

Duane Swierczynski: Hope knows nothing about her parents - all she knows is that this gruff old dude named Nathan has been taking care of her since birth, and that she's destined for something in the past (our present). As for her feelings about Cable, well, you learn by mimicking your parents, and he's not exactly the most "Aw, come over here and give your ol' dad a hug" kind of guy.

Hope also openly wished that Wolverine and X-23 were there to help out. Would the assumption that she still has fond memories of the X-Force members she met during the "Messiah War" crossover, which saw the X-team traveling to the future where they interacted with Cable and Hope, be correct?

She does. It was her first glimpse of others like her. Aside from Cable, of course.

Let's talk a little bit about Cable. In recent issues, Hope met Emil, which means that in addition to keeping his surrogate daughter alive, Cable now has to deal with the pressures of teenage romance. Is Cable ready to handle this added emotional drama? How important is protecting Hope's emotional well-being to Cable's overall mission?

Cable's number one mission is, and always has been, keeping Hope alive. (Which is kind of every parents' number one mission, you know?) But at the risk of Rickrolling this interview, Cable's no stranger to love. There's actually a tender moment - well, tender for Cable, anyway - in #20, where he seems to understand how important Emil is to Hope.

How would you describe the dynamic between Cable and Emil?

Cable treats Emil the same way I intend to treat any of my daughter's suitors one day: they need to know they can be killed in an instant if they step out of line

Bishop obviously has a strong amount of faith that Hope will grow up and become a monster. So much so that he's sacrificed his convictions, and several body parts, in his quest to kill her. How much harder can this get on the character?

It gets even worse for Bishop. In the next arc, you'll see Bishop realize that he's had a big part in "raising" Hope, too, turning her into the young woman she is today. A young woman who knows 47 ways to gut you with a rusty knife.

What can you tell us about the remaining chapters of the current arc featuring the Brood?

There's just one more - #20, in stores this week - and then we launch into our big "Homecoming" arc.

After issue #20, does the action in "Cable" move directly into issue #21 or into the four part "Girl Called Hope" back-up story, which kicked off last week in the pages of "Psylocke" #1?

The story rolls right into #21. The backup stories are little glimpses of Cable and Hope's lives on the run over the years.

What can you tell us about "Homecoming?"

Cable #21 is the first chapter of "Homecoming," and it's all about Hope realizing that she's had enough of this life on the run. She wants to return to the present and join the rest of the X-Men. That's easier said than done, considering the only working time machine is embedded in Bishop's arm.

In the months ahead, will things be moving at the same brutal, relentless pace, or are things going to move even faster?

Even faster. Marvel should package the issues with whiplash collars!

You're working with artists Paul Gulacy and Gabriel Guzman on upcoming "Cable" stories. What do these guys bring to the book?

I'm so glad Paul Gulacy came back to do more "Cable!" His versions of Bishop and Cable are so intense; I swear you can hear them grunting, sweating and bleeding.

And Gabriel Guzman's been absolutely tearing it up with the Brood arc. He'll be doing the art for issues #22 and #23, which, not to spoil anything, require an amazing amount of versatility. Gabriel didn't even flinch.

For the "Girl Called Hope" back-up stories, you're working with artist Steve Dillon. What's it like working with the acclaimed "Preacher" and "Punisher" artist?

If I were to tell the younger version of myself that I'd be working on something with Steve Dillon someday, I'd assume the older version of me was smoking some incredibly potent form of crack. I hope readers will pick up "Psylocke" #1, "Dark X-Men" #1 (part two of the story, and in stores this week) and the rest to give these backup stories a shot. I'm thrilled with how they turned out.

"Second Coming," the third chapter of the trilogy that began with Hope's birth in "Messiah CompleX" and continued with "Messiah War," kicks off in the spring of 2010. We know that Cable and Hope are going to be part the story line, but it looks like the "Cable" series is not. Will "Cable" continue to publish during "Second Coming," or is it going on hiatus?

The tale we set out to tell with "Cable" will come to an end as "Second Coming" begins. In fact, it leads right into the crossover. From there - stay tuned.

Now that the tale you set out to tell is entering its final chapter, what's it like looking back on the book? Any pleasant surprises or things you're especially fond of?

Hope's been the real surprise for me, as a writer. When the series started, she was just a red-haired, green-eyed baby. Kind of cute. Cried a lot. But over the span of the last 21 issues, it's been so much fun watching her grow up, banter with Cable, fall in love, kick Brood butt, and finally blossom into a cool young woman. I'm going to miss her when… well, you'll see.

原文出自這。

As a Cable fan, I'm quite curious about the future of his series, as it is shockingly not a part of "Second Coming" and there has been no confirmation that the series will continue after issue #25. Is it canceled, suspended, or getting rebooted? Here's hoping Marvel gives the series the support it deserves…

Are you sure that "Cable" will make it through #25? It'd be hard to have a Cable series starring someone else.

Mike is curious about a certain cute little redhead…and one other cute little redhead. There sure are a lot of those in the X-world!

I would love to see how Rachel Summer's future world relates to Hope. Any chance this will be revealed?

Do you mean the "Days of Future Past" future? I think that's what you mean. With all the time-travel comings and goings X-side of the universe, I don't know whether that future exists and if it does, I don't think we'll have a second to go there.

Chad M. Murray hates to be teased. Is it within your mutant abilities to make him feel loved?

1) Editors and writers keep mentioning how Hope has green eyes and red hair, clearly linking her to Jean Grey. I'm pretty sure "The Second Coming" will have nothing to do with Jean's return though, because if it did, I assume you would keep it a secret. So, could you please stop with all the teasing? I think it's kind of cruel to toy with the emotions of us Jean Grey fans like that.

You obviously weren't a youngest child, Chad. Take it from someone who was a youngest child - the last thing you want to do to someone that's teasing you is ask them to stop teasing you.

Cable應該要少花點時間在未來才是。

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3) Any word on who will take over "X-Force" post-"Second Coming"?

That'll be a big announcement, Joshua. When it's time, you'll hear it and have your chance to grumble about it, I'm sure.

4) I assume the X-Men are already suspicious of where X-Force members go off to on their "missions." With "Second Coming" and X-Force playing a key role, will we finally see the X-Men as a whole discovering X-Force?

You are correct that they won't be able to keep it a secret forever.

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1) The last time we saw the Phoenix Force it was leaving Korvus and Rachel - when will this be addressed? And what about the Phoenix shards trapped inside the Cuckoo's hearts?

Read "Uncanny X-Men" #517 ASAP!

2) Also, will the Mimic or Nate Grey be sticking around after Dark X-Men?

You'll just have to wait and see. I don't want to spoil Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk's story.

XMAN4life has been enjoying the multitude of mutants in the book, but doesn't want his favorites to get lost in the shuffle. Can you deal him a hand he'll like?

I love the new blood that's been put on the X-Men - and that the team is really a giant army now - but it seems like a lot of characters are falling through the cracks as far as being used. We haven't seen Hepzibah in two years, Cloak & Dagger and Dazzler seem like they are becoming background characters, and the X-Men students are coming off as the red uniform ensigns from "Star Trek." Are there any plans to correct for this? And I was wondering if the students considered actual X-Men or are just viewed as students?

There are only so many hours in a day and so many pages in the X-Books. There are lots of X-characters, and not a lot of stage time. We have to make decisions on who gets more "stage time." We generally stick to the bigger characters and more central characters, but we try and service the smaller ones, too. But I'll give you some specific answers:

Hepzibah - "SWORD" #2

Cloak and Dagger - "Wolverine: Origins"

Dazzler - "Uncanny X-Men," here and there…

X-students - Dude, they're a major part of "X-Men: Legacy"! As for whether they're X-Men or students, it's kind of both. Cyclops will use them on missions, but they still do get taught stuff.

EC has been thinking about Emma Frost quite a bit - both her present and her past. How about a hint on the future?

1) Emma and Namor's involvement with Norman seems to have ended abruptly. Any chance we might see more interaction with other members of the Cabal, like Loki, Doom, or the Hood?

Emma and Namor are doing their best to avoid further contact with these scary individuals. That was part of the point of betraying them.

2) I've been wondering this for a while and was hoping you could give me your thoughts on the portrayal of Emma Frost in the X-universe. She committed horrible on-panel/off-panel deeds as the White Queen, including murder - and it all appears it's been glossed over (both by the X-Men and their writers). Can stuff like that truly be forgiven and forgotten? Plus, all the crying she's done lately makes me wonder how she lasted so long as the White Queen. Thoughts?

Wolverine has killed people both on purpose and by accident many more times than Emma has. One of the key tenets of the X-Men is taking in people with pasts that are less than moral and giving them second chances. That's what's going on here.

Do they like that she did those things? No. She's been working with the X-Men for a long time now (from way before "New X-Men," as the Gen X fans who've asked questions here today have noted) and has saved the world many times.

Does she sleep well at night? Probably not.

Do the X-Men trust her implicitly? Probably not all of them. Scott does. I could go on about this for hours and hours, because many of my favorite stories are redemption stories, like that of St. Paul. People who do horrible things, see the light, so to speak, and try to make up for it in any way possible. Emma is trying her hardest to make up for her past crimes and protect her people. She can't change the past, all she can do is try and do better every day.

幹嘛一天到晚抱怨小艾瑪以前是壞人? 她殺的人有笨蛋狼多嗎? 有琴變成黑鳳凰的時候多嗎? X-Men裡多的是以前不乾不淨的腳色，幹麻就一直挑她來說嘴?

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While the recent Skrull "Secret Invasion" of Earth terrified many residents of the Marvel Universe, they would be even more frightened if they knew that their planet was almost in constant danger from many of the Marvel U's space faring cultures and empires. It's the job of the Sentient World Observation and Response Department, or S.W.O.R.D., to stop those invasions and deal with any interstellar matters that might affect Earth. On November 11, writer Kieron Gillen and artist Steven Sanders will take readers inside the mysterious organization when Marvel Comics' new "S.W.O.R.D." series kicks off. CBR News spoke with Gillen about the book, which begins with a fast paced multi-part arc that unfolds over the course of 24 hours. "Roughly," stresses Gillen.

The central character of "S.W.O.R.D." is it's former sole leader and now co-commander Agent Abigail Brand. Creators Joss Whedon and John Cassaday introduced the half-human, half-alien Brand in issue #3 of "Astonishing X-Men." She was something of enigma then, and even though she played a central role in "Secret Invasion," Agent Brand is still a character shrouded in mystery.

"I love Brand. We actually haven't gotten her whole history yet, and we don't really know what makes her operate the way that she does. That's part of the core of the series. The more the book goes on, the more you'll get to know Agent Brand, and you'll find out why she's so angry," Gillen told CBR News. "Basically, at one point in her life something went wrong for Brand and she wants to make sure it never happens again. That core lesson showed her how the world works, and by operating a certain way she can stop the world from being like that. You might guess from what she does and her half alien heritage that what happened to her involves aliens and organizations. That's why it's incredibly hard for her to give up control of things. She doesn't trust people to not make mistakes. She's got a core lack of trust in people.

"We see that in how she deals with almost everyone she meets. On one level, that makes her incredibly monomaniacal," Gillen continued. "It also makes her quite lonely. Beneath her bravado there's a loneliness. That's why I think she and Beast are in an interesting relationship. Beast has no problem being open. His problem is almost the complete opposite of that."

Beast and Brand's romantic and professional relationship began in the pages of "Astonishing X-Men" when she both offered him a position as her adviser and sexually propositioned him. When "S.W.O.R.D." begins, the two have been a couple for a short while, and he's just accepted her offer to come work with her. "So, in addition to his duties with the X-Men, Beast will also be part of S.W.O.R.D. Part of that is because Beast looks for new challenges. He's one of the X-Men who have gone off and done a lot of different things," Gillen explained. "There's also a sense that S.W.O.R.D. is simpler than the X-Men at the moment. It's a little weird to think that Beast's life is so complicated right now that the idea of working for a secret interplanetary organization and dealing with thousands of aliens races on a daily basis is simple, but that's the case."

The romance between Beast and Brand will be a big part of "S.W.O.R.D." "When I and my editor Nick Lowe first talked about this book, we definitely saw the idea of an adventuring couple as being significant. For me the heart of this series is Beast and Brand's relationship," Gillen remarked. "They could, of course, split up sometime, but right now the way I'm writing this series is that it's about the two of them discovering each other. They're a fledgling couple and they don't really know each other yet. How much can they trust each other?

"That's a lot of the emotional juice of the series because Brand is prickly. It's far easier to get together with her than it is staying together with her. 'I need you,' are not words that easily fall off her tongue," Gillen continued. "I think there's plenty of soap opera and human elements in 'S.W.O.R.D.,' and they're present in a very natural way because fundamentally we're orbiting around a couple."

Another one of the major characters in "S.W.O.R.D." will be also be very familiar to X-Men fans. During the course of their "Astonishing X-Men" run, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday established that Kitty Pryde's pet dragon was far more intelligent than any of the X-Men ever realized. Lockheed was, in fact, a member of an advanced race of extraterrestrials and had been working with S.W.O.R.D. for some time. When the series, begins Lockheed is now a full-blown agent of S.W.O.R.D., but he's dealing with the effects of what happened to Kitty Pryde at the end of Whedon and Cassaday's run on "Astonishing." "The most important person in his life has been taken away. Kitty is trapped in this enormous bullet flying through space, and no one is going to get her back," Gillen stated. "I did a back up story in issue #1 with my collaborator from 'Phonogram,' artist Jamie McKelvie. It's Brand filling Lockheed in on what's happened and why they haven't gotten Kitty back yet. The story sets up why he's so furious.

"So he's fallen into an incredibly bad mood, and when you first meet him in issue #1, he's downing whiskey. The line I use with him, which is both tongue in cheek and completely serious, is that he's our Wolverine. He's an incredibly bad tempered creature who will do whatever it takes to get a job done. He's showy, snarky, and rude almost all the time," Gillen continued. "I don't play things completely straight though. It's also quite funny. There's something intrinsically interesting for the team's hard case to be a tiny, fluffy dragon who would sear your head off because he's in a really bad mood."

Another established Marvel character that will play a huge role in "S.W.O.R.D." is Henry Peter Gyrich. Gyrich first appeared in a 1978 issue of Avengers where his ill temper and rigid attitudes about national security made him the team's most unpopular government liaison. Since then, he's popped up in numerous Marvel comics throughout the years, usually in some sort of governmental - and not entirely ethical - role. His most recent appearances were in "Avengers: The Initiative," where he headed up the Shadow Initiative, the U.S. Government's superhuman black-ops team. When "S.W.O.R.D." begins, Gyrich has a new jobas co-commander of "S.W.O.R.D." He brings with him a number of ideas that could impact lots of lives in negative ways, yet Gillen doesn't see Gyrich as evil.

"Evil is a big word. Gyrich's not evil, but what he might be is overly simplistic and under-prepared. You can't say his heart is in the right place, either, because he's awkward and slightly vindictive. Really, though, his aims are the exact same as Brand's. He just wants to go about things in a way that cuts straight to the chase. He's brought into this organization he doesn't really know much about," Gillen remarked. "That's a running theme, that Gyrich doesn't really understand S.W.O.R.D. as well as Brand does, but he believes in 'big stick' solutions to problems. He lacks a certain empathy. He doesn't think about what happens to the aliens that his plans affect. All that matters is that the Earth is safe."

Another prominent character in "S.W.O.R.D" is Agent Brand's reptilian adviser, Sydren, who first appeared in "Astonishing X-Men" #10. "He's a telepath, and he's one of Brand’s supporters. And S.W.O.R.D. isn't the world's biggest organization, but it is pretty sizable. I haven't got enough space to show all of Brand's adjuncts and helpers, so Sydren kind of embodies almost everyone else at S.W.O.R.D.," Gillen said. "He's put upon, but he's also resilient and competent. Also, the way I'm writing Sydren, he's quite... sappy, might be the word. He worries about the other characters. In the first issue, he's reaching out to Lockheed, who is downing a bottle of Jack Daniels at the time. He's an alien, but in some ways he's one of the most human members of our cast."

Rounding out the cast of "S.W.O.R.D." is a character that Gillen created, an enigmatic robotic life form named Unit. "I describe him as a cross between C-3PO and Hannibal Lecter. He's a robot that has to be kept in isolation. He's very friendly and charming. He's interested in what you're up to, but if he had his way he'd probably skin you and wear you as a hat," Gillen explained. "He's quite dangerous to have around, but the fact that he knows so much stuff makes him useful. So they keep him locked in a cell.

"He's meant to be mysterious. How did he get into this situation? What's he up to? How come he knows all this stuff even though no one is allowed to talk to him?" Gillen continued. "Issue #3 will feature Unit's origin sequence as told by him, and we're setting up some antagonistic stuff with him down the line, because he's clearly not a good guy."

The first storyline of "S.W.O.R.D." is called "No Room to Breathe" and unfolds over the course of a single fast-paced and drama-filled day. "The big concept is that Gyrich decides to push for a plan that forces all of the aliens living on Earth to go home. You'd think Brand would be trying to stop this, but since she's a complete micro-manager, she's run off to deal with another situation that's arisen. That allows Gyrich to get a head start on his program. That's the heart of the story. They're forcing aliens off Earth, and what is Brand going to do about it? Especially since she's half-alien!

"In addition to that, there are all these little plots that Brand has to deal with before she becomes embroiled in Gyrich's scheme. This arc is called 'No Time to Breathe' because the idea is that, in space, no one has time to breathe, the vacuum doesn't matter," Gillen continued. "I wanted to convey the idea that when things go bad for Agent Brand and S.W.O.R.D., they happen very quickly. The whole arc goes from crisis to crisis. Some of them are diplomatic, some of them involve beings trying to unscrew Brand's head from her body."

Gyrich's plan to evict all extraterrestrials from the Earth means that the initial arc of "S.W.O.R.D" will be jam packed with guest stars. "This is a global scale story about all the aliens on Earth being forced home. So we got almost any alien we could find, and even though most of them are just making what amounts to a cameo appearance, I wanted those scenes to be meaningful," Gillen said. "In the second issue, there's one sequence where there's eight different arrests which we show in one spread. So you can extrapolate how these aliens were taken down. I think you need to do that to show the global scale. I can't just say that they're arresting aliens. I've got to show to show a variety of arrests in different forms so it pulls at your emotions and is meaningful.

"There's a larger scene with Marvel Boy which I really like. He's fun to write and he's a very interesting character," Gillen continued. "I've got this scene with Warlock of the New Mutants in issue #3 that quite hefty and challenging to write as well."

Gillen also worked in an appearance by a character that should be quite familiar to fans of the Marvel UK line of comics from the late '80s and early '90s. "In the initial arc, Agent Brand's half brother shows up, and he's being chased by a bounty hunter. I'm quite into the new, so initially the bounty hunter was going to be a new character. Then I thought, 'There's already a perfectly good established Marvel character that I can use. Whenever you give any writer a series, it's almost a guarantee they're going to bring back some character in a minor role. And me being a British guy of a certain age, it was fun to bring back Death's Head I. He's involved in a splendid fight scene in the second issue," Gillen explained. "I brought back Death's Head I rather than any other Death's Head, because he's a time traveling, dimension skipping robot, so there's no reason not to. I did mention it to Simon Furman, the creator of Death's Head, that I was bringing the character back. To be polite, I asked him, 'Would you mind if I do this?' And he was very amused."

Gillen is extremely pleased with the way that his "S.W.O.R.D." collaborator artist Steven Sanders has brought to life Death's Head and the other technological elements of the series. "Steve impresses me. The first major book he did was 'Five Fists of Science' with Matt Fraction, a series that featured Nikola Tesla. And in many ways Steve is like Tesla. He's this obsessive scientific genius who draws incredible technology. He gives me all these cool techno gadgets, and I'll run off and do something with them," Gillen stated. "And he's always asking, 'Can I do this?' and I'm like, 'Yes.' There was a scene in a prison corridor, and he asked if he could draw it like the prisons in 'Tron', where people are walking above them. I thought that was great. Steve is not afraid to give us a feast of visuals.

"His style is also very interesting," Gillen continued. "It's a mix of cartoony and realism. He's done some expressive scenes which I just adore. So I have a book with great emotions, and Steve does great robots."

Gillen also wants to examine the role "S.W.O.R.D" plays in the larger cosmic corner of the Marvel Universe, and eventually hopes to have his cast interact with characters from "Nova" and "Guardians of the Galaxy." "This is a book about what happens when space hits Earth. Conceptually, "S.W.O.R.D." is about stuff that people on Earth never really deal with. All these invasions are actually happening, and before the Avengers are called in, S.W.O.R.D. is out there seeing if they can deal with them first. They have this responsibility, and I'd love to do something with the cosmic books, because they're great books," Gillen said. "'S.W.O.R.D.' can touch on stuff that's tangential to those epics... like, for example, what's happened to the refugees from some of these major space wars? So, there's room for S.W.O.R.D to do all these different stories, because it's a book that takes place on the border between space and Earth. It joins these two big parts of the Marvel Universe together. You can gain energy from both."

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With angry aliens, cybernetic bounty hunters, and a star-spanning version of Beauty and the Beast, S.W.O.R.D. moves above and beyond the Final Frontier. But when outer space offenses mingle with Marvel's Dark Reign, as the first issue shows, anything goes.

With the wit and weaponry of Agent Abigail Brand and her boyfriend, the boisterous blue-furred Beast, dropping in comic shops this week, writer Kieron Gillen sat down with Newsarama to do a post-mortem on the sci-fi action/comedy's first issue, as well as to tease us on what might be on the way in future issues of S.W.O.R.D. Some SPOILERS for issue 1 ahoy.

Newsarama: Kieron, for those who only know of S.W.O.R.D. because of the high-stakes space action from Astonishing X-Men, what would you say the mission statement of this book is?

Kieron GIllen: My Spacegirl Friday. Fury Nick and Green-haired Nora. Joss Whedon writes Deep Space 9. West Wing in orbit (plus zap-guns). 24 with the neo-con-agenda swapped for gags. The fastest-paced comic Marvel puts out, I think. We move at escape-velocity. IN SPACE NO-ONE HAS TIME TO BREATHE.

In short: we are your new mentalist sweetheart. Adore us.

Sorry. I've just ate an entire packet of chocolate digestives, and I'm a little hyper.

Nrama: No worries, we'll strive to keep up! This book had a very different tone than a lot of your previous work, like Phonogram, Stormbreaker, and Ares. How did you go from these books to doing what is essentially a space adventure/comedy?

Gillen: The inside of my head is an odd place, it seems. I admit, I love my current output. Ares is a very black action/comedy. Beta Ray Bill was heart-on-sleeve straight-faced with-the-necessary-wink cosmic mini-epic. Phonogram is unreadable indie-nonsense which sells three copies to people who've tattooed entire issues onto their body and theban-sigils branded onto their brows. Thor – though no-one's seen that yet – is straight Shakespeare-does-superheroes drama.

In tone, that's all over the place. That I get to change from piece to piece is enormously refreshing for me. I mean, there's no chance of getting bored at least – and I'm discovering so much about myself as a writer with every page. This is the best job in the world. I recommend it to everyone.

Nrama: It seems as though certain books fulfill certain functions for the Marvel Universe as a whole: X-Men has all their mutant characters, Avengers showcases the flagship characters, Annihilation and the following wars that succeeded it repositioned Marvel's more grandiose space-operatic characters. How do you feel S.W.O.R.D. fits into this, or what do you think its personality is within the context of the rest of Marvel's lineup? Do you think it's Marvel's street-level space book?

Gillen: That's a great way of putting it: “Street-level space book”. It's putting a ground-level eye on the cosmic scale. The example I tend to use – not that it's one I'm going to use – is that we spin stories off the after-effects of this kind of cosmic disasters. Where do those refugees go when a planet gets destroyed? People like S.W.O.R.D. deal with that, and there's all sorts of interesting material in that sort of terrain. NO TIME TO BREATHE – as the title suggests – motors, but there's all sort of fine detail which makes that stuff clear. The section in the second issue where we go through a mass of arrests very quickly imply a load of this.

Basically, we're looking for the human in the alien, if you will. It's telling that all our core heroic cast – barring the Beast – are aliens.

Nrama: It seems like, at least in this first issue, Abigail and Hank are what make this book run. Can you tell us what made this Brand/Beast relationship such fun for you?

Gillen: It's a beauty and the beast relationship. The irony being, Beast is the beauty and the beautiful Brand is the beast. Brand is a curt, rude and cynical monster on the outside, but Beast unlocks that gentler side hiding beneath the shades. That's touching for me. And Brand does things for Beast, which we'll get to eventually. I think they could be perfect for one another. The question being, can they get over themselves enough to actually make it work. Which is the story of any relationship, innit?

In other words, they're just two people I can see being together. Having something at genuine at the heart of S.W.O.R.D. ... well, it gives it a heart. I'm capital-R Romantic enough to think that matters.

Nrama: Something that needs to be asked: The page with Beast and the muffins. Between the dialogue and the look on Beast's face in that second panel, it's probably one of the funniest sequences in a Marvel book we've seen in awhile. What happened there with you and Steve?

Gillen: The wonders of comic writing. You know I was talking earlier about discovering stuff about myself as a writer? Stuff like the muffin scene surprised me as much as everyone else. I just had Beast bringing coffees up – the idea being, to show the move from earth to space, and set up the theme of the science-fiction rubbing up against normal life in a fairly direct way. So I have Beast with coffee and muffins. And I have Brand in a rush and angry. And... well, everything just comes flowing out. You know when writers annoyingly talk about the characters writing themselves in interviews, and you roll your eyes at them? Well, it was one of those moments. I was shocked.

(The only other time that happened was Ares' speech in Ares #1, which couldn't have come out any quicker than if exploded from my brain in bloody pulpy matter)

And then Sander's sad muffin-rejected Beast just sells it all. Yay comics!

Nrama: Moving on from that page to the whole book, what has your collaboration with Steve been like? You both seem to have such a quirky sense of humor to your work, we were curious if that might have translated into any funny "making-of" stories.

Gillen: Steve and I have been friends for years – my first US con before the launch of the first series of Phonogram I shared a table with him (He'd just released Five Fists of Science with [Invincible Iron Man writer Matt] Fraction). We've yabbered since, so doing a book with him is... well, it's different. We're on AIM every day. He's an incredibly inventive artist. I use the word “Inventive” in a really literal way. He invents things. I request a ship which does a certain sort of thing – like the interceptor STILETTO ZERO – and he comes up with something which pretty much works. I ask for a cell for our Hannibal-Lector-meets-CP-30 new character UNIT, and he's working out what all the vents are. And then he'll just drop something in the background which I fall in love with, and then spin off in a different direction. Hell, I asked him to make up a few alien races for that final page of the first issue, and he comes up with this glorious array of freaks. I'm obsessed at the moment with the one second from the bottom left, and working out the background for THE SATELLITE HOUNDS, brave and peaceful descendants of Laika. It's that kind of relationship. We're riffing off one another's excesses constantly.

We also spend too much time actually worrying about the science. We wasted a couple of hours theorising how STILETTO ZERO could actually cushion acceleration. We're thinking we'll fill the cockpit with breathable-fluid. Which makes no real scientific sense, but could look awesome.

Comics!

原文出自這。

Taurean was thankful to see an X-Man of old return to the fold, but wants to know if this new status is permanent or temporary…

Thanks so much for bringing back my favorite character in "Nation X" #2 - Jubilee! My one major request for the X-editors is that Jubilee stays as a regular on an X-book and doesn't fade back into Limbo. Can we also please have a Generation X reunion now? The New Mutants have their thing going; how about Jubes' old gang getting back together along with a resurrected Synch and Skin?

I'm sad to say there are no current plans for Synch or Skin, but you know that it's comics, so I'm sure you'll see them sooner or later. As for Jubilee, you'll have to wait and see!


We may be featuring Nick this week, but X-Editor Jeanine Schaefer has something to contribute too.

JEANINE SCHAEFER: Jubilee is one of my favorite characters, too. You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't!) by how many people I've talked to in the last couple of months who feel the same way we do. You'll definitely see her more in the next few months, so keep your eyes peeled!