Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: illyana rasputin, Magik, tom brevoort

Tom Brevoort, X-Men and Illyana Rasputin – Magik

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool ran gossip for the future of the X-Men now that Marvel SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort is taking over the line

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool ran gossip from the Brazilian comic convention CCXP regarding the future of the X-Men titles now that Marvel SVP and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort is taking over the line. And heard that it will have the working title Blue Moon; it will not erase Krakoa from continuity but will turn to a more "back to basics" status, with a twist. And that Magik would have a leading role.

Which led some to look back to 2003, when Tom Brevoort wrote a column for the website ComiX-Fan. He chose to write about his relationship with the X-Men as a reader, diving into  seventies and eighties continuity, with Chris Claremont and John Byrne in the lead-up to X-Men #137 and The Death Of Phoenix, but then how he stopped reading the book soon afterwards.

"Up through #137, the heart of the book had been the relationship between Cyclops and Phoenix, Scott and Jean. Cyclops was my favorite character in the series at this point, the serious introvert who was nevertheless a natural leader. But after Jean sacrificed herself, the book needed to find a new hook, a new centerpiece. And after some quick trial-and-error, this turned out to be Kitty Pryde, Sprite. I had liked the character in her initial appearances, but once she came to virtually monopolize the title, I found her incredibly annoying. Simultaneously, influenced by television dramas such as "Hill Street Blues," Chris was adding in a strong element of ambiguity into the stories he was telling. Characters were neither black hats nor white hats exclusively—which could have been exciting, except that he also cribbed the serial style of such shows without their habit of wrapping storylines up. As a result, interesting situations tended to be back-burnered for months, sometimes resurfacing with the characters in wholly different status quos. I sometimes refer to this as the period in which the X-Men stopped being super heroes, and became something else."

And with Wolverine taking over from Cyclops as the centre of the series, Tom Brevoort dropped X-Men. "There were moments since then when the book got me interested again for a brief time, but they were few and far between. I just didn't care for the flavor of the series enough."

He reflects feeling different about the Grant Morrison run, however. "Grant threw out the standard X-Men style—a gutsy move, since it was undeniably commercial—and substituted his own wild ideas in its place. I think Grant's run followed the established pattern he'd set down in earlier series such as Doom Patrol and JLA—it opened with a number of electric, mind-blowing stories, settled in with a soft, flabby and somewhat self-indulgent middle section, only to pull a stellar climax together in the final issues. It's the most fun I've had with the X-Men in a long while. And that's why you really don't want me editing many X-Men comics—the things you like about the book and the characters aren't the things that work for me. (I'll tell you this much: were she not already dead, I'd delight in dropping a concrete block on Illyana Rasputin's head, so annoying did I find her Magik persona.)"

So yes, given what we heard in Brazil that's interesting. Have things changed in the twenty years since? Well in 2014, when Brevoort reposted this column on Tumblr, he added "Note: Illyana is alive again these days. Joy."

So how come we are hearing that Illyana Rasputin is to lead the new X-books that Brevoort is editing? Have we got it completely wrong (always possible) or has Brevoort decided to tackle his own prejudices head on, and go hell for leather for Magik? Is this Tom Brevoort's "one in a blue moon" chance to make such a change? I could see Gail Simone writing the hell out of Illyana, can't you?

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