Posted in: Avengers, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: House of X, jonathan hickman

Jonathan Hickman's X-Men, His "Most Disappointing Creative Experience"

Jonathan Hickman says that his X-Men run was his "most disappointing creative experience" but also explains why.

I love a wide-reaching Jonathan Hickman interview, because he just says stuff. Stuff that we suspected, stuff that we wondered about, stuff confirming stories that Bleeding Cool has only been able to report as rumours before. He recently talked to David Harper for the Off Panel podcast, to talk about his career and work and to spill some tea along the way. Including looking on his X-Men run that began with House Of X and Power Of X. And this little segment on the Krakoan age, intended to be the first arc of a three arc structure by Hickman, only for him to be moved on by Marvel Comics as the the other X-book creators chose to continue that original first arc for much longer. Hickman states;

"It is the most disappointing creative experience I've had because I didn't finish the story I set out to do, which is a cardinal sin and a total bummer… I've tried to reverse engineer how it could have worked. I don't think there's a version of it where it wasn't me not getting to finish it. So you know it's a lot of business stuff, Covid stuff, publishing schedule stuff … It was a perfect storm of really, really bummer things that just derailed the project, and so it's really, really difficult for me to talk about it or think about it in any kind of positive aspect. Because I would've crushed it.

"If you'd talked to anybody who was in the room for the initial full pitch… I told them what the three arcs were. I was very clear about what it was. Talk to people in the room, and they know what the whole thing was. It's a bummer, it's a real bummer, but win some, lose some, and you move on. I will say that I really love the people that I work with during a really, really difficult time. I thought I had some banger issues, some really great X-Men moments. I just hate that I didn't get to finish it."

But he is writing the new Imperial book for Marvel, also the name for a planned X-Men book with Sam Guthrie and Roberto DaCosta that never made it to print. Is this that? No, no, it's not.

"It's not the Imperial book that we were gonna do… like the second act of my X-men, no it's not that at all. I don't see myself doing any more stuff. I mean I did the Wolverine thing with Greg because Greg wanted to do a Wolverine book"

That would be Wolverine Revenge with Greg Capullo… I mean, who says no to Greg?

"But I don't see myself doing any more stuff anytime soon. In the same way that I don't see myself doing any more Avengers stuff. I took a good run at it and said some things that I needed to say."

But it's also something he is not going to talk a lot about.

"The reason why I don't like talking about it is, people immediately think that I'm throwing shade or that I'm upset with editorial or that I'm upset with the company or that I'm upset with the other creators and all that kind of stuff. It's on me to tell the story that I'm supposed to tell and it just couldn't be helped. I don't have any negative feelings about any of the other stuff outside of me not not bringing it home. But it was complicated and convoluted and you know I don't think I'll ever talk about it because I think that's shitty. There was no way around it. Just a product of the time is what I would say."

And as for the rest of the X-Men office, past and present, he says;

"First of all everybody in that office worked very very hard. I don't want the reason… why I don't like talking about it is people immediately start to think that I'm throwing shade.Or that I'm upset with editorial. Or that I'm upset with the company. Or that I'm upset with the other creators and all that kind of stuff. It's on me to tell the story that I'm supposed to tell. That's me and the artists who are doing the book and it just couldn't be helped. I don't have any negative feelings about any of the other stuff outside of me not not bringing it home, but it was complicated and convoluted. I don't think I'll ever talk about it. I think that's shitty but you know I don't know a way around it. Just a product of the time is what I would say."

And as for former X-Men Group Editor Jordan White, now a Senior Editor on the Spider-Man titles;

"I loved working with Jordan just one of the nicest most collaborative people that I've worked with at Marvel I mean just a real joy and love him to pieces. I have been working with Will Moss. I've never worked with him before and I find him to be really good at his job. Yeah I can't think of editorial experiences that I've really had at Marvel. I haven't really had bad editorial experiences across the board."

So if you share anything from the top of this article, maybe consider sharing the equivalent from the bottom as well…

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