Marvel is primed to reinvent the X-Men this year with two new Jonathan Hickman-penned titles. These will feed into the mutants’ relaunched ongoing series, which Hickman is also handling. It seems like a daunting task to shepherd one of Marvel’s most beloved properties into a fresh new era. However, Hickman seems more than up to it. While speaking with CBR, the writer offered new insight into his plans for the merry mutants.
Hickman is beginning his X-Men run with two miniseries (House of X and Powers of X) that debut in July. One way those books will stand out is that they include data pages that add more context to the story. This is something Hickman and artist Tomm Coker experimented with on their Image Comics series The Black Monday Murders.
“What we found was 1.) it provided a much denser read — there was way more meat on the bone compared to a normal monthly comic,” explained Hickman. “And 2.) because all the data was interspersed throughout the book it had an asymmetrical read that changed the normal monthly comic reading rhythms.”
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“And by that last bit I mean that if you are reading a 20-page comic, you know what’s happening on page 19,” Hickman continued. “You’ve consumed enough pop culture that you’re not going to really be surprised when you turn that page. I mean, you might be, but you certainly saw something coming. Doing the books the other way changes all of that. The reader gets lost in the dueling sections. It’s really interesting.”
During his run on Fantastic Four, Hickman made a name for himself by creating Reed Richards’ Future Foundation. Fans are probably wondering if the writer is lending a similarly inventive spirit to the mutants’ corner of the Marvel Universe. But surprisingly, he insists that we shouldn’t expect him to introduce a lot of new faces into the X-Men mythos. At least for now.
“Generally, I don’t like to make up a bunch of new characters when I take over a book at Marvel,” said Hickman. “Sure, there are times when a story I’m telling needs a certain something and I have to, but for the most part, I kind of want to write the pre-existing characters. That’s especially true with X-Men because there are already so many of them. And I’ve waited my whole life to write Goldballs.”
What do you think of Hickman’s plans for Marvel’s X-Men titles so far? Give us your take in the comment section below!
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