Trevor – Name five writers that have never written any X-Men related projects that you’d like to see one day write for you.
Mike Marts -- Good question, Trevor. And just so readers know, I’m making my list up of creators who’ve never done any MAJOR X-Men work…in other words, if a writer has done a short story here or there, or a penciler has done an X-Men pin-up or cover, I won’t count that as major work.
So bearing that in mind, the five writers I’d love to see do X-Men work are:
1. Ronald Moore
2. Stephen King
3. Marti Noxon
4. David Fury
5. Alan Moore
Trevor – Let’s follow the same format with Penciler.
Mike Marts -- Wow, this one’s even tougher…so many of the industry greats have already done extended runs on our books…but I’ll give it a shot:
1. Olivier Coipel
2. Steve McNiven
3. Simone Bianchi
4. Gary Frank
5. Alex Ross
Trevor – I want to see more of your top fives. Top five X-Men Story Arcs and why?
Mike Marts -- This question’s a little easier to answer:
1. “The Dark Phoenix Saga” (UNCANNY #162-166). What’s not to like? This one had it all. It epitomizes what the X-Men are all about.
2. “Inferno”. It was worth the price of admission just to see the newly resurrected Jean Grey reunited with the X-Men once again.
3. X-FACTOR #22-25 (or thereabouts…). The original X-Men vs. Apocalypse. Warren Worthington as the Angel of Death. Classic Walt Simonson artwork.
4. “X-Tinction Agenda”. This was the culmination of all the excitement surrounding Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio, Cable…it was a great time to be an X-Men reader.
5. ORIGIN. ‘Nuff said.
Trevor -- I know you’ve answered this in one way or another in the past, but let’s hit on it again for posterity sake; top five X-related characters and why?
Mike Marts --
1. PSYLOCKE. She’s beautiful, she’s kick-ass, she’s powerful, she’s enigmatic. Like my wife, Linda.
2. WOLVERINE. The mystery, the savagery.
3. CYCLOPS. The self-tortured leader who gets the most beautiful girls. Poor Cyclops!
4. CABLE. His life spans across hundreds of years of X-Men history.. Awesome.
5. KITTY PRYDE. The character we can all relate to, one way or another.
It's now time for the reader questions...
SimMasterBleh -- Will Polaris completely regain her sanity, anytime soon?
Mike Marts -- That depends on how Ed Brubaker is feeling when he gets to the computer that day.
SimMasterBleh -- Will we get to find out who Polaris's mother is and how she got involved with Magneto?
Mike Marts -- Eventually, yes.
DrawsixBD -- Does Jubilee's Aunt Hope have any chance of Returning?
Mike Marts -- There’s always hope…especially for Hope.
Goodhomerjay1 -- I've just seen in a promo-art on Newsarama that apparently, Aurora is finally coming back, alongside her brother Northstar!
Mike Marts -- Yes, indeed.
I couldn't be happier, to see at least two Alpha Flight members back in a core X-book. But, I can't help but wonder about this: is Jean-Paul's history with Hydra going to be cleared up when he rejoins the team, and is whatever Jeanne-Marie did after her disappearance in Weapon X #22 going to be revealed as well?
Mike Marts -- Yes, both Jean-Paul’s Hydra connections and Jeanne-Marie’s departure from Weapon X will be acknowledged. Mike Carey is familiar with the recent history of both characters, and while we may not get too deep into these items right away, we’ll eventually have the time to properly explore the lives of Northstar and Aurora.
blackcyclops -- Do you ever check the internet forums? Do you ever just wanna smack a fan-boy for crying/whining/complaining so much??
Mike Marts -- I do check out the fan forums occasionally, but I’m seldom bothered by negative posts. Usually for every crying/whining/complaining post there’s a positive/praising/upbeat post to balance things out. The fan forums are there for a reason—they’re areas dedicated to the opinions (both positive and negative) of all of our readers who plunk down three dollars of hard-earned cash each month to read our comics. So if a reader wants to gripe, he or she has every right to gripe.