Broken Frontier

Jeff Parker mines some Marvel history to tell tales of the early years with the original X-Men.  He stopped by to talk to Broken Frontier about his plans for the characters in X-Men: First Class.

BROKEN FRONTIER: First, the idea of telling a tale of the original X-Men (or "flashback" tales of other teams and characters) is not new, yet it does not happen too often.  What spawned your idea for this series and how will you differentiate it with other "flashback tales" such as John Byrne's X-Men: Hidden Years series?

JEFF PARKER: The idea to do lost stories was an editorial one, and for some reason they were set on doing done-in-one stories. I think that was why I was asked really, because I do a lot of single issue stories for Marvel, and they liked the way Marvel Adventures Avengers was going as a team book. Ours are set a bit earlier than the Byrne Hidden Years stories. Of course, he had them spend a lot of time in the Savage Land, so that's already taken, which is too bad. I love the Savage Land!

BF: Is there any additional pressure to work with the characters at a time in their history when they were being written and drawn by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby?

JP: I don't see working with characters from the Lee/Kirby heyday as pressure; it just makes things click for me better because the source material is so good. And it's an excuse to sit down "on the clock" and reread those stories. As Dan Slott said, it's like being paid to eat chocolate.

BF: How familiar were you with the characters already?  Did you read the old issues as a child or did you pick up stuff as the story was coming together for research?

JP: I had old beat-up issues from the early run as a teenager... well, after a certain point. The first ones were getting way too expensive even by then. I am so glad Marvel puts out the Essentials volumes to fill in parts where my memory is spotty. Those collections are invaluable.

BF: You have stated that one of your main goals of the series is to show that Cyclops "isn't a dick."  Why has that stood out to you so much?  And are there any other characterizations that you will be "adjusting" (for lack of a better term)?

JP: I think somewhere along the line writers weren't sure what to do with Cyclops and started painting him in broad strokes. When you read fans just coming into the X-books talk about the characters, they have a much more negative impression of him than I did as a young reader. We can't undo that, but maybe we can show people sides of his personality they can consider in the future.

Also, early Marvel Girl can use a more distinct personality beyond being "the girl". The one that Roger (Cruz, the series’ artist –ed.) has really brought to life though, in my opinion, is Angel. He really has an affinity for drawing that character and makes him resonate even when I don't have him doing anything! That's good cartooning doing what it does best.

BF: Timeline-wise, you have said that this series simply takes place in the early days of the X-Men and you will jump around a bit.  How will this series affect any current continuity?  Is there a particular time frame (in terms of issues of the original book) that these stories will be taking place during and will you be referencing the original stories?  Also, considering this is a flashback tale, what "real world" time period will this be taking place during?  Have you been given free license to "update" the time period these original 5 were together or will it still be set in the 1960's?

JP: The way Marvel time works - as I understand it - is that with most well-established characters we read about now, we are looking at them about 10 to 13 years into their history. Unless they just got started, as with a new character like Gravity. X-Men being one of the first teams, now we would say they got started in the 90's sometime.

That said, I try to strip out things that would date the stories, like referring to a specific song of the moment. You usually have enough leeway with comics to keep them relatively timeless.

BF: Is there any piece of X-Men history that you really wish you could play with but cannot because of the particular time period you're working with?  And have you had any fun with "forecasting" dialogue since you know what is going to happen to these characters (something like Angel referencing losing his wings or becoming a healer)?

JP: We do touch upon Angel's eventual healing power, which I think is a great complement to his abilities. And as you probably saw in the preview pages, Bobby fights back a plant menace by making some ice claws that couldn't possibly foreshadow any other character important to the X-books.

Also in the Lizard story, I suggest that Hank McCoy feels a connection to Dr. Kurt Conners. Of course, he's a biologist who experimented on his own body and became an animal man. Sadly, even brilliant youth like Hank don't always look to examples around them for lessons in life.

BF: Which of the characters was your favorite to read?  Which was the favorite to write?  And did the answer to either change over the course of putting together the series?

JP: Beast was fun to read. I've actually toned down his verbosity here and try to show his intellect in the way he regards things – problem solved. He doesn't want to make his friends feel dumb, so he tries to reign in his vocabulary, though he can't always contain himself.

I'm only halfway through the series myself, so it's too early to say who I'm going to end up liking best as a subject. Like when I wrote Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four, and at the beginning I assumed that I'd have the most to offer in presenting Reed Richards and The Thing. It turned out that I had the most fun writing the Storm siblings. You think you can predict that stuff, but if you really let the story tell itself, you get surprised.

BF: Finally, how has it been working with Roger Cruz?  Was he chosen before the series was written or were the scripts already in before he was picked?

JP: Roger was chosen right when I was, I think. I didn't know what to expect, because he can be a chameleon, shifting his style to suit whatever book he's coming in on. He pushed himself in a new direction here, I guess because he didn't have to work with recent expectations, and it's turned out great. It's a very European look, which you might not have expected to go with the early X-Men, but it does.

To me, it has the effect of presenting the characters as fresh and new, which is what I think editorial was hoping for. He's really embracing his cartooning instincts, and I actually can't predict how he's going to handle a certain scene, so I just write it the way I'm going to.

I got a little geography lesson from his girlfriend, who translates the scripts for Roger. When describing the Everglades, I mentioned something being probably similar to the jungles of Brazil, where they are. I didn't know they lived in Sao Paolo, one of the biggest cities on the planet! Roger has to reference that kind of nature on the internet, he's in the middle of a bustling metropolis! [Laughs]

X-Men First Class #1 hits stores September 20th. Below is an early peek at the second issue. For a preview of issue #1, click here .