“To Me, My Exiles!”
If you missed the intergalactic news bulletin, Marvel just revealed that I’m joining the Imperial event with IMPERIAL WAR: EXILES #1, out in September. Co-written with thee Jonathan Hickman (needs no parenthetical, c’mon) and illustrated with cosmic aplomb by Francesco Manna (Ultraman X Avengers), Imperial War: Exiles #1 picks up the Shi’ar threads of the overarching IMPERIAL storyline. It also, as you can see from the thrilling cover below, continues Charles Xavier’s sojourn into space, as teed up in recent line-wide X-crossovers.
It’s an understatement to say I was stoked to be asked to write this book. Like most of the comic-reading world, I’m a huge fan of Hickman’s work, and seeing him wind up all the political intrigue and outer-space action on IMPERIAL from behind-the-scenes has been a real privilege. I’m also a sucker for the space side of the X-universe, partially because, as a kid, I did not get it. I really had to mature into appreciating Cockrum’s swashbuckling space action, and that journey makes me love it all even more as an adult.
The link up top talks a bit more about the premise of the book, but there’s precious little I can say about Exiles at this stage in the Imperial event, beyond repeating my excitement for all the dominos Hickman is setting up for the rest of us to topple in the most dramatic fashion possible. You will want to read the whole event—it’s only nine issues counting every tie-in, you know you want to!—but if you’re solely an X-fan, Exiles is comparatively self-contained, too.
Xavier and Lilandra are central to the book, of course, but we’ve assembled an ECLECTIC cast to join them in the far reaches of space. I got to put some a couple of real odd ducks in this book, so I’m relying on X-fans to show up and show out to prove to retailers and Marvel that characters outside of the A-list can support books, too. I also got to create some nasty new operators for this—excited for folks to meet those guys…
Imperial is already under way now, so be sure to catch up before Imperial War: Exiles #1 hits shelves in September. And after that? Who knows—space is a big place, after all…
SPEAKING OF MUTANTS IN SPACE
You don’t have to wait until September to read a story about a psychic mutant in outer space written by yours truly, despite that being an…oddly specific category. Out today is GIANT-SIZE DARK PHOENIX SAGA, the latest chapter in Kamala Khan’s ongoing trip through X-Men history and beyond. The main story, by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and the ever-impressive Rod Reis, will be a MAJOR thrill for fans of both Ms. Marvel and Jean Grey.
But I’m here to hype up the backup, which I wrote for Lucas Werneck to freak the #$%^ out of. Seriously, when the final pages came in, I nearly begged Marvel to run them without any of my words blocking the art, but then I might not get paid, sooooo. It’s just abundantly clear how much Lucas loves Jean, and I’m grateful I could serve up material that let him run with such stunning depictions of her and Scott.
The story itself is one Tom Brevoort specifically asked me to tell, exploring the soul-deep bond between these two original X-Men. And since everyone online is VERY normal and calm about the X-Men and their interpersonal relationships, I was honored to take on the task. If you’re a Phoenix fan or just an X-fan in general, this isn’t one to miss.
ENOUGH WITH THE SPACE MUTANTS ALREADY!
Wow, that’s kind of bigoted, Chapter Header voice…and during Pride Month, too.
Anyway, also out today is NEW CHAMPIONS #6, which marks the first of a two-issue guest spot from mega-talented artist Ruairí Coleman (Infinity Watch). Guest spots can be a hit-or-miss experience in comics—sometimes. You achieve a rapport with an artist that you really do not want to interrupt, and Ivan Fiorelli, the regular series artist on New Champs, has been one of the best collaborators I’ve ever had. But I’m very, very lucky to say Ruairí turned out to be a HUGE asset to the book, and has become a bit of a pal in the process.
Ruairí came in hot with our Avengers issue, meaning he had approximately one billion characters to draw in this issue, and he nailed all of it with ease. I’m really stoked for people to see the work he and regular series colorist Arthur Hesli did together on this and issue #7, which will debut a new kid from the variant cover program—Nightdrifter!
And on the subject of New Champs and guest spots, I want to give a belated but major shout-out to Julian Shaw, who did Gold Tiger’s origin story in issue #4. Julian and I have worked together before at Marvel, and he always nails it. Sadly, it looks like the credits for this issue weren’t nailed, and his name is not on the interior of the print issue. But Julian had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of page runway, and did a ferocious job fleshing out our young Wakandan. Big thanks to Julian!
AND BEFORE WE GO…
I should also mention LET THIS ONE BE A DEVIL, the historical Jersey Devil horror story I co-wrote with James Tynion IV with art by Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson, released its final issue last week. Always happy to keep one hoof in the horror realm, and excited to have the trade coming out later this year to get this story in one complete package. For a bit more devilish detail, you should check out this piece my former Paste Magazine pal Tobias Carroll did for Reactor Mag about the Jersey Devil, featuring quotes from a certain LTOBAD co-writer.
SUPERIOR AVENGERS is also continuing its reign of superior avenging. Luca Maresca got to show off his widescreen skills in issue #1, but issue #2 gives everyone a much better look at what Kyle Hotz is bringing to our future-set portions of the story. This one goes to some grim places before our tale is done, so STRAP IN, folks.
And speaking of the Superior Avengers—if I can be wildly self-indulgent for a moment, look at this freaking art from my amazing perfect talented pal Josh Cornillon!!!
Josh is one of my closest friends—we spend most of each day rotting our brains in the same group chat—and also one of my biggest creative boosters and confidants. I have noooo idea what I did to deserve such a supportive person in my corner, but everyone should be HALF as lucky.
Josh and I have been co-writing a series of Spider-Man stories for the European market, which have really shown just how perfectly suited he is to superhero comics, and you can catch his original work in Young Men in Love and the newly released Young Men in Love: New Romance, too. He’s also got ~secret~ projects brewing that I know about and YOU don’t, but trust me when I say it’s horrifically exciting.
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Everything else on my plate right now is pretty long-game, except for a short, violent project with a very good friend of mine that is kinda sorta already announced, but that I’ll wait to push until we can show off the bloody art for it. It’s abominable, I’ll say that much.
xoxo