Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: Benjamin Percy, Joshua Cassara, krakoa, Russell Dauterman, si spurrier, Tini Howard

Si Spurrier, Tini Howard, Benjamin Percy, on Saying Goodbye to X-Men

Si Spurrier, Tini Howard, Benjamin Percy, Russell Dauterman and Joshua Cassara on saying goodbye to the X-Men

We previously looked at newsletters from Gerry Duggan, Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing about saying goodbye to the X-Men and the Krakoan Age. All three co-wrote the final issue of X-Men #35, but there are a few others with some poignant moments to share.

Si Spurrier, who wrote the Nightcrawler-related Krakoan books Legion Of X, Way Of X, Sins Of Sinister and Uncanny Spider-Man, stated, "Haven't chimed in on the Krakoan Eulogies. Truth is I still don't quite know how I feel about my participation. It was an incredible, creative whirlwind, working shoulder-to-shoulder with friends and heroes I'll respect forever. I'm proud of them, and (mostly) proud of myself. But I cannot deny it made the online spaces on which I was – at that tricky time in my life – relying, instantly become a toxic swamp of juvenililty, anonymous bullying and bad faith takes. I emerge with as many bruises as burnishes, proud of the journey but glad to come home. What I will say is that it was an honour to be part of what will go down in history – irrespective of love/loathe – as the bravest and broadest attempt to breathe new creative energy into superhero comics by the Big 2 in the modern era. I'm afraid we will not see its like again."

Tini Howard of Excalibur, Knights OF X, Betsy Braddock, and X-Corp wrote in her Substack newsletter, "One of the most exciting things about the new era to me was that it felt foreign, strange. The things that ended up unnerving a lot of longtime fans – nudity, necromancy, open floor plans – really excited me. I love to read hard sci-fi and I love when there's a vague reference to something I may never fully understand. That sets my brain alight – and I felt encouraged to bring that energy into the room. The idea of fusing that with the X-Men, who with their space travel and genetic science easily lend themselves to harder sci-fi – I was in. Few things satisfy me more than the cerebral feeling of welcoming that I get once I've unraveled things, so I very much wanted to give people things to unravel….

So my pitch? To increase the sense of a foreign land populated by mutants that humans could experience from afar but not be part of…I wanted to do all of the ads in Krakoan with absolutely no English. It was instantly pointed out to me by the folks at Marvel that this was a bad idea. An advertisement for a new era needs to be welcoming, encouraging, a sign that that readers can and should jump in. And I get it. To my credit, as a former retailer, I believe my immediate response to the raised eyebrows leveled my way was something like "oh come on, we'll tell the RETAILERS what's going on!" After all, they place the orders, they get to know a bit more about the puzzle."

"But the puzzle! The puzzle of it all. In my mind, there was no better way to stoke the fires of early adopters, no better way to set the tale of the mutants and their foreign land. You're seeing things not meant for you. For me, that's catnip. But not all fans are the same, and the professionals in the room informed me we wouldn't be doing it that way. Which, I get. I do. I was alight with the recklessness of power. And Jonathan did encourage my desire to give Apocalypse a mutant name unpronounceable by humans and even made us a little glyph for it."

"Which is ultimately why I had such a great time in that room. Few things have been more fulfilling as a creator than sitting in a room with a bunch of my favorite writers and pitching my weirdest, craziest ideas. It was a room that encouraged that, and for that I'll always be grateful, and remember it as one of the most rewarding and fun times of my entire life so far.

"Also, I was right – you all cracked the Krakoan alphabet within two hours of its release anyway… Maybe, in retrospect, the major relaunch of one of the world's most iconic franchises wasn't the best place for me to want to play outsider artist, after all. But I tried!!!!"

Benjamin Percy of X-Force and Wolverine: "I'm someone who doesn't spend time looking back. I'm obsessively future-minded, maybe to a fault. But Wolverine Issue 50 releases today, so I should take a second. I've been writing Logan for Marvel since 2017 — twenty podcast episodes and 130 issues to date… and I've got more coming down the pipeline. But this does mark the end of my run on the mainline title, and that's a significant milestone. I'm grateful to the readers and retailers for following along, and.. I'm lucky to have worked with so many fantastic artistic and editorial collaborators. It was especially meaningful to build this grand finale alongside Sabretooth scribe and friend @victorlavalle . SNIKT! And stay tuned…"

Russell Dauterman, artist on X-Men, X-Men Red, Marauders, "With the Krakoa era ending, I wanted to thank you all for the love these past few years. Drawing/designing the X-Men has been a nearly lifelong dream of mine — thanks for supporting it/me! FALL OF THE HOUSE OF X #1 cover Drawn/colored by me ft. my designs for Jean Grey and Storm. And thanks to Jordan D. White, Annalise Bissa, Lauren Amaro, @GerryDuggan , and everyone at Marvel for the opportunity. Truly a dream-come-true"

Joshua Cassara: "The Green Lagoon is closed until further notice."

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