February 19, 2024

Presidential Pardon

I can sense a habit forming here, where I’m going to vow to become more regular with my newsletters (which now cost me money, since I crossed a certain subscriber threshold), and then weeks will trickle past as pressing deadlines pile up, and then the idea of running down everything I’ve missed feels too daunting to catch up…but I suppose some proof of life is useful to cast out into the world, if only so no one can accuse the Foxe credit on books of being some elaborate AI scam.

This newsletter is actually the first thing I’m writing in my new office, which is technically my first-ever home office. When we lived in NYC, I carved out a corner of the bedroom, and when we first moved to the midwest, I had a tiny section of the living room that I eventually had to give over as my partner’s plant collection grew. I’m used to being a nomadic writer, since I require a pretty absurd degree of concentration to form a sentence—I can’t listen to music or have anything playing in the background or even be able to overhear conversations. I bought the kind of earmuffs they sell to air-traffic controllers so I can work at cafes, and even then, the music is a smidge too loud for me. 

At our apartment, I’d usually go to the shared community clubhouse and become irate if someone was using it for “fun” or “recreation.” But this weekend, after much begging and pleading from my partner, I finally cleaned out the office, which had become my storage room since we moved in December, and got it writing-ready. It faces the backyard and overlooks the bird feeder that one single bird (or at least it looks like the same lil’ guy) has finally started visiting. Good vibes!

OUT RECENTLY I AM PRETTY SURE:

The big release I missed was DEAD X-MEN #1, which hit on the final day of January. This is my swan-song series for the Krakoan era, which is a little funny to say since my first series of the Krakoan era just ended in December. Still, I’ve been very lucky to add up odds and ends via Unlimited and one-shots and anthologies, so by the end of this period of time, I’ll have written a not-insignificant number of X-pages. Certainly more than I ever expected.

I was able to pop in at my favorite column, X-Men Monday, to discuss the series more in-depth, so check that out for additional insights. The short version, though, is that this is my most classic X-Men story. As much as it’s situated firmly in the Krakoan era and the work of Jonathan Hickman and so many other talented creators, a big chunk of it is my Claremont/Cockrum love letter to a handful of moderately powerful mutants going on larger-than-life adventures with the stakes of all reality on the line. We spin out of the events of Rise of the Powers of X and Kieron Gillen has been enormously generous in helping line things up.

The real selling point of the book, though, besides the chance to see the team-that-wasn’t from the 2023 Hellfire Gala in action, is that my editors, Jordan White and Lauren Amaro, were game for lining up EIGHT different artists to illustrate specific sections of the book. Bernard Chang, Vincenzo Carratù, Guillermo Sanna, Jonas Scharf, Lynne Yoshii, Peter V. Nguyen, Javier Pina, and David Baldeon bring such different takes to this team’s adventures, united by Lucas Werneck’s killer new costumes and Frank Martin’s color artistry. It was intimidating to lock in every scene length well ahead of time to wrangle everyone, but oh so worth it. Issue #1 is out now and #2 drops…next week, probably?

Because I've come of age in the era of the mini-series, it's pretty rare that I get a chance to "ramp up" with any given characters. So I extra appreciated the long runway I had with Cannonball, Jubilee, Frenzy, Dazzler, and Prodigy, writing them alongside my pal Steph Williams for X-Men Unlimited and in the online Hellfire Gala teaser shorts. All of that's collected in print for the first time in the recently released X-MEN: HELLFIRE GALA—FALL OF X trade paperback, pictured above with my dog. Noemi Vittori and Jim Towe knocked the art out of the park, so I'm glad it's preserved here on paper for all audiences to enjoy.

On the same day as Dead X-Men #1, SPIDER-WOMAN #3 from artist Carola Borelli, colorist Arif Prianto, letterer Joe Sabino, and yours truly hit shelves, ending in our big reveal of the arc and setting up the explosive finale of this initial GANG WAR tie-in. Carola and I have one more issue together after #4—a Spider-Boy team-up!—before the Spider-Woman team welcomes Ig Guara. Thrilled to have Ig joining the book, though it’s very bittersweet to say goodbye to Carola, who was the perfect collaborator for our first storyline and, I’m sure, will stay very busy in the months ahead. 

Away from the world of print comics, my run on the X-MEN UNLIMITED Infinity Comic alongside co-writer Steve Orlando, artists extraordinaire Philip Sevy and Nick Roche, and colorist Yen Nitro has been continuing every Monday like clockwork. Doing a weekly series of this scope has been exciting, exhausting, and educational. Keeping rotating artists fed with pages, even though the chapters are pretty short, is probably the closest experience someone of my creative generation will have to the relentless pace of comics during some earlier eras. It’s mind-blowing seeing the work Nick and Phil have brought to these stories on that schedule, though, and really fun to lean into their strengths and passions; Steve O. and I were able to devise chapters specifically to play to some of their unique skills and favorite characters. 

Plus we’re playing in some unexpected (un-X-pected?) corners of the X-Men sandbox. The genesis of this large, loose cast was knowing that there wouldn’t be a New Mutants book during this time period, but it soon grew to encompass parts of Excalibur and X-Corp and S.W.O.R.D. and Marauders and other characters who made a big impact during Krakoa but just didn’t naturally fall into one of the print books right now. And our villains (SPOILER ALERT) being the Externals, of all characters, is just a lot of deep-cut X-fun. Once this is all said and done, it will be the single longest X-story I worked on, which is pretty neat!

(And speaking of large X-umbrellas—if you missed it, X-Men Monday did a pretty unhinged Valentine’s Day roundup, too!)

I don’t talk a lot about my kids work beyond direct crossovers like Spider-Ham, but I had the realization the other day that I had fifteen children’s books come out in January. Part of that is the nature of one of the publishers that kept me busy these last few years, Capstone, which primarily sells directly to schools and libraries, and thus tends to batch-release series. But they weren’t all Capstone, and adding those January releases up helps justify all the times over the last year I said I was dead-busy despite having just one or two announced comic series! I’d encourage folks to pick them up, but again—school and library. Still, for a full list, I keep my website very current. 

AND ON THE HORIZON...

I had a pretty rad call last week to firm up a book launching later this year. I can’t reveal too much of it just yet, but the clues are kind of obvious if you look around. I also started getting art in for two upcoming projects: one spooky and goofy, and the other my next original horror story, which is a far cry from All Eight Eyes and a really fun, challenging new sandbox to play in. 

Beyond excruciatingly vague teases, I think I had two new things publicly announced since the last newsletter: I’ll be returning to Web-Weaver for the latest EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE anthology, alongside a beloved collaborator who hasn’t been announced yet; and I had the immense honor of doing a short story in the upcoming ALIEN: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD, also with an artist not yet revealed (but who tore it UP). 

It’s always a pleasure to return to Cooper Coen and help further define his world and story, and this short flashes two Earth-71490 villain versions while also fleshing out a key Cooper relationship.

Alien…anyone who knows me, knows that the original movie is my guiding light. It’s one of my two favorite films of all time, I have a wall of posters dedicated just to Jonesy, and it’s been a bucket-list property for years. I’ll admit it’s the first time I shamelessly emailed an editor within an hour of finding out that a project was happening. Not a recommended tactic, but thankfully Sarah Brunstad and I had a good time on Marvel's Voices: Pride and she was happy to throw a few pages my way.

I don’t necessarily have a licensed-comic wishlist. Getting to do anything with the X-Men was pretty far beyond my wildest dreams not too long ago, and now I’ve written hundreds of pages of mutant adventures. But now that I’ve also been able to cross Alien and Creepshow off the list I dare not keep…I’m coming for you, next, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Crow...

(Dear god, if anyone reading this is involved in any of those licenses, please call me.)

Intake, Output:

I’ve been a bit too busy these last few weeks to take in too much media, but I am loving the new Sleater-Kinney album and the first few songs off the new Kim Gordon. I guess it’s a normal symptom of getting older, but I’ve become very content avoiding the completely new and just embracing when artists I’ve loved for decades keep evolving and pushing their limits. Gives me hope for my own future.

Speaking of—I nabbed the new Al Columbia the moment it went on sale, but haven’t yet had the pleasure of delving into its disturbing pages. 

OH WAIT THAT’S WHAT I FORGOT. My good buddy, creative collaborator, and boss-man James Tynion IV (who alerted me to the Columbia sale) formally announced Tiny Onion, his new independent production house. It’s been a treat to watch this grow behind the scenes and I’m stoked for folks to see the result over the coming months and years. For more information, check out Forbes(!).

Look at that—I hemmed and hawed and then it didn’t take me long at all to catch up on the last few weeks. Let’s see if I manage to circle back to the ol’ Buttondown again before summer...