Broken Frontier

They got an eight-issue mini series, a special one-shot featuring top talent from generations past and present, but fans still couldn’t get enough of the X-Men’s early days. As such, Marvel acted quickly and turned the X-Men First Class concept into a full-blown ongoing series by the original mini’s creative team of Jeff Parker and Roger Cruz.

Over the first couple of issues, the first of which is on sale today, the young mutants run into the Invisible Girl, head out to Monster Island, and Beast and Iceman split off from the group to embark on a road trip of their own. Where’s this all going? Jeff Parker knows…

BROKEN FRONTIER: Considering how well the X-Men: First Class mini did, when was the decision made to turn this into an ongoing series?

JEFF PARKER: I haven’t the foggiest idea. Almost right up until the weekend they announced that, I still thought it was going to be another miniseries!

BF: This is the first time that you’re writing a new ongoing book. Is it a much more daunting task than working on a limited series, or does it help that you already have a good feel of the focus and tone through the First Class mini?

JP: It is much less daunting since we did the miniseries, that helped very much. Roger and I and Val Staples got to find our footing with the characters and tone. That makes going into it as a regular series a relief, because now I can expand storylines if it’s needed. It makes you appreciate the hazards of going into a series with a team that hasn’t worked together yet, too.

BF: What are some of the things you learned working with Roger on the mini that you can apply on the ongoing to make his artwork fit your writing even better?

JP: Well now that Roger is handling the art all the way to finishes, I see that I can get more subtlety in than I could before; such as in the nice facial expressions and body language. If anything, the main thing I take away from the first series is that I can write pretty much anything, because there’s just not much Roger can’t do!

Also, he does very good weird imagery, as you see in the Dr. Strange story and the trip through Xavier’s mind, so that makes me want to ‘bring the freaky’ a bit more.

BF: While the series doesn’t debut until summer, can you divulge anything about the first story arc?

JP: Again we connect the X-Men some to the larger Marvel universe of the time, starting off with the Fantastic Four, and largely the Invisible Girl. This is in keeping with the spirit of the original books to me, they were at Reed and Sue’s wedding after all. Then they’re going to have some trials on Monster Island, though you won’t be seeing the Mole Man in that. But the fifth issue will get us back into MU territory again when the students run afoul of The Hulk.

BF: Still, this isn’t a team-up book, right?

JP: No, but in the spirit of the 60’s stories, they are a part of the greater world, and remember, that’s what Xavier wanted for them then- acceptance. Though in their future, that obviously changes.

And I’ll admit, I want to see Roger draw the Hulk.

BF: In terms of the overall outline, do you plan to write arcs that are virtually timeless and are not too interconnected? Because I presume that the prospect of this series is all about exploring the chemistry between the original X-Men rather than looking to become a second, continuity-prone history of the team’s early days so many years after the fact…

JP: Exactly. We don’t really want to re-create the history, and at the same time we don’t want to be restricted too much to what was there. Readers are enjoying the focus on character and that approach makes it more timeless as well. It’s also supposed to be a welcoming book for newer readers.

BF: The whole ‘how does this all fit in’ question brings about another: how hard is it to make stories set in the past relevant to a modern audience that already has a plethora of ‘current’ X-books to pick from?

JP: I was worried about that myself at the beginning, but the path I’ve found is essentially what they call in network tv, "counter-programming." If you’re already getting plenty of one thing with the other books, we go the other way and explore what’s not being done. You can explore a lot of elements within a relatively simple story.

One thing that’s always irked me in particular with super powered characters is that they often get pushed around through plots (worse than in other fiction even) to facilitate confrontations, and end up acting and reacting in ways that don’t make sense for people. So I like working on having them act like real people and let the conflicts result from that- character driven plots.

BF: Then again, there’s no Wolverine on this team, so that’s a good thing! [Laughs]

JP: Even Wolverine must be tired of Wolverine by now!

BF: For Roger Cruz, this is almost like coming full circle artistically—he got his first big break on Uncanny X-Men about 12 years ago and is now back to pencilling an ongoing mutant book. What’s the synergy like between the two of you?

JP: All our discussion has to be translated between Portuguese and English so we don’t get to ramble on much outside of scripts and short emails, but we clearly click on the kinds of things we want to see in a story. He knows I’m not going to give him a talky scene in a boring environment.

Yet I can have the X-Men in regular clothes and he’s still going to make it positively alive, and put in some very natural detail that shows how close he examines people. He seems to like animals and outdoor environments at least as much as I do.

My theory about Roger? I think he likes women.

And boy, do I like seeing how Val Staples colors his art.

BF: Let’s bow out with an easy-cheesy question: of the five team members, which one is your favorite?

JP: Everyone thinks I’m going to say Bobby, but you know what? I think it’s Warren. And that’s largely due to Roger. I just really like the way he draws him, and it makes me gravitate to the character more. But I love me some Bobby!

X-Men: First Class #1 is in stores as of today.