Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Marvel Comics | Tagged: cyclops, jay edidin, kurt busiek, marvels snapshot, x-men

From X-Men Podcaster to X-Men Writer: Jay Edidin Talks Writing Cyclops

Writer and podcaster Jay Edidin has quite the origin story. He is making his debut writing for Marvel Comics with an untold Cyclops story in the upcoming X-Men: Marvels Snapshot, but Edidin has a unique relationship with the X-Men. Edidin is the co-host of the Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast where the two hosts take their listeners through a journey where they explain "the convoluted continuity of (their) favorite Super Hero soap opera." X-Men does indeed have one of the most complex backstories in the history of comics, so someone like Jay Edidin, who can take a deep dive into Mutant history and explain it all to listeners, seems like a sensible choice for the title.

Marvels Snapshot is curated by Kurt Busiek, who has worked with Jay Edidin on and off for over a decade, as the writer revealed in a conversation spotlighted at Marvel.com. The writer, who will tackle an early Cyclops tale, also spoke about the pressure of writing X-Men now that he is known as an X-expert through the Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men podcast. Edidin said:

It's a bit of an anxiety dream come true. On one hand, I know this continuity and character backwards, forwards, and upside down. On the other hand, it's going to be embarrassing as hell if I don't stick the landing. I really enjoy how far Scott Summers is from the popular concept of a Super Hero, and especially a Super Hero who's also a leader. He's not a people person, or at all charismatic. He's a compulsive contingency planner and heavily coded as neurodivergent. In general, he's off-model in ways that make him unappealing to some readers, but also intensely relatable to a lot of people who don't find many Super Heroes to relate to.

It's refreshing to see Cyclops get some love. Often, he's either looked at as boring or made into a meme, when, to other readers, he is one of the most complex and nuanced characters in a sprawling cast of icons.

Jay Edidin also spoke on the time of Cyclops' life in which readers will find him in Marvels Snapshot, and what they can expect from this early story in Scott Summers' life. Edidin said:

The Scott in this story hasn't yet become Cyclops, but he's still very much himself, especially in the ways that make life more difficult for him. He very rigid, and he needs things to make sense in ways that make his situation at the orphanage even more painful and frustrating; and he's still young enough to believe that if he finds just the right key, maybe it'll all fall magically into place. (It won't.) He's got a deep-rooted sense of right and wrong, and an almost compulsive need to challenge injustice—and at this point, very little ability to follow through on those.

Written by Jay Edidin, drawn by Tom Reilly, and colored by Chris O'Halloran, X-Men: Marvels Snapshot will be out, with an Alex Ross cover no less, in September.

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