The Four Color Media Monitor

Popverse interviewed the overrated Gail Simone about where she's taking the X-Men, and it's in a most cliched direction as was probably to be expected:

Marvel's X-Men relaunch is in full swing. Last month saw the debut of Jed MacKay's and Ryan Stegman's X-Men #1, and just this week, the House of Ideas released the second of three core titles in the From the Ashes relaunch: Uncanny X-Men #1. Written by comics legend Gail Simone and drawn by David Marquez, Uncanny X-Men brings together some of the most familiar Mutant characters for a very unfamiliar (and downright scary) adventure.

Scary and not funny? It wouldn't be surprising if that's one of the issues one could have with the finished product - lacking a sense of humor. And "legend"? She's hardly been big in recent years, and even before that, outside of Birds of Prey, her resume was pretty spotty.

On the subject of the characters; Uncanny X-Men is arguably the most "classic" version of the team of the From the Ashes titles. Was there a bit og nostalgia from the 1990s going into that decision? Did things like X-Men '97 contribute to that?

I hadn't seen X-Men '97 at the time we put the team together, and I still have only seen the first two episodes. We started with Rogue, and so then naturally I wanted Gambit to be part of it, and we wanted the tone of this book to be like a Southern Gothic horror book, with some romance thrown in - some steam, if you will - with those two.

The goal in the beginning, for me, is to roll out the welcome mat for people who either have been long-term fans or if they're just dipping their toe in for the first time, that we have some recognizable characters that they can grab onto in the beginning. Then we introduce new villains, and the Outliers show up at the end of issue two. But we're introducing them so you don't have to know anything ahead of time at all. You can be a long-time reader or a brand-new reader.

It's already been long apparent these kind of steps have done little to salvage the massive continuity damage Bill Jemas and Joe Quesada led to over 2 decades before, and even without her repellent leftist biases, Simone's pretty unconvincing in what she tells here. Besides, as noted, the theme they're promoting here is very disappointing as its unoriginal.

I'm excited. Well, what is it, in your opinion, about X-Men that goes with horror?

I think the X-Men, and the whole idea of the mutant world, suits itself to any type of story. As long as you have some human qualities that resonate with the reader, you can do pretty much anything, in my opinion, if it's done well.

But for Rogue and Gambit, Gambit takes her to the house that he felt safe in as a youth. That's outside New Orleans, on the edge of the woods there. I wanted that to be like, there's something really horrifying in those woods, we learn. And I wanted that to be this new, different, kind of unknown, scary setting for them that wasn't like the typical New York City. Just to take them on a different type of adventure and to set a different type of tone.

That's one thing I love about this relaunch of the mutant books; each book has its own tone and its own place. Because yes, everybody is scattered at this time, and it gave the opportunity to do that, and each one is just doing it so well. It's so cool.

Once, they did, but even that's no longer enough, in an era where things have become so cynical. When she speaks of "new", and "unknown", that's laughable viewed in context of the horror genre they're shoving in here. What makes that so much more important than comedy? Besides, it's highly unlikely they'll explore allusions to serious issues from real life.

How do you, as a writer, set the tone for horror in comics? And specifically, how do you and artist David Marquez, work together to make this scary, make it Southern Gothic?

I always write full script, so David gets that, but there's always the caveat that whatever he thinks he can do better, he can just to go for it. Because I'm not an artist and I totally trust him. He's a freaking genius at this.

For instance, I was just proofreading issue number three right before it's going to wrap, and I remembered saying in the script that this page was maybe a stack of rows, and he did something completely different and it's so effective and so cool and so emotional that I'm just blown away by it. He does this every page, practically, and that's one thing I love about him. Yes, he can draw the pretty pictures and all that, but he brings an emotional weight to this that not all artists can do.

This particular book needs it, because Tom [Brevoort]'s directive to me, other than he wanted Rogue in it, was to break people's hearts. I was like, "Okay, that's cool, but can I also have them kick ass? Can I also have them be terrified? Can I also have a blast?" So anyway, we're just doing that roller coaster and David is just amazing at it. And the new villain, or one of the new villains in this book, is just... I cannot believe what he did.

Scary-wise, you mean?

Yeah.

Well with what she says Brevoort wanted, I think that's all a purist fan needs to know for why it's best to avoid this, and it was made clear they're emphasizing horror themes, rather than a more optimistic tone and even comedy themes.

There is a line that just absolutely just got me this issue. Gambit and Rogue, they're at the house you mentioned earlier, and Rogue's just talking about how dark things are looking, and Gambit says to her, "Maybe we aren't responsible for every weight ever loaded on the world. Maybe we live for a time without fighting." Is that possible for these characters?

Of course it's not. Tragedy, right?

Tragedy is another irritating issue with modern storytelling. Because it's sometimes all it comes down to, and Simone was part of such tactics at DC 2 decades ago when Identity Crisis was produced. She even wrote the "All-New Atom", with its emphasis on a race-swapped Mighty Mite, coming at Ray Palmer (and Jean Loring)'s expense. That was an early example of the left-wing social justice/diversity tactics that Marvel soon followed suit with several years after. And the part about not fighting reeks of potential anti-war propaganda.

When you're creating a new X-Men character, are you ever thinking, "Could this be the next Kitty Pryde?" Because all these characters, they're introduced and then they catch on, fans like them, and 20 or 30 years later, they're in movies and they're action figures. Is that ever on your mind?

You kind of hope that. You hope people will like them and be interested in them, that's the thing. That's the first step. It's kind of fun to think about if you're at a convention and maybe somebody's cosplaying the character you created and those kinds of things.

And this sounds more like somebody believes merchandise matters more than actually reading the comic, and judging by merit. So what's the point of taking this assignment if it's more about commercialism than art and merit?

ComicBook also spoke with Simone, and curiously enough, there's a certain character here who appears to be inspired by somebody in real life whose reputation was crippled:

With Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters seized and turned into a prison by the mutant-hating Warden Ellis, the X-Men retreat to Haven: an orphanage in Gambit's native Louisiana. Just as Rogue questions if they're X-Men — or if there even is an X-Men anymore after Krakoa — Wolverine senses a group of four wild young mutants on the run and in need of help.

It sounds like she came up with an allusion to Warren Ellis, recently accused of "grooming" several women he had affairs with (the word "seduced" is more logical when speaking of adults), though only one or two of the accusations against him sounded like he may have done wrong. I guess this is her way of turning against Ellis, no matter how leftist he is himself. And it shows what ingrates leftists can be to each other. What's really appalling though is that, if these were trumped up accusations made against Ellis, he did little to seriously counter them or prove his innocence, and let at least one project ("Fell") be shunned by one of his publishers. Some could wonder if Ellis is so compliant with what his left-wing establishment wants or doesn't, he's practically willing to cancel himself for the sake of remaining in their favor. For all the good it's done in the end.

Solicitations for upcoming issues refer to the four mutants as "the Outliers." They include Calico (Becca Constance Simon-Pinette), who has a psychic connection with her horse, Ember; Jitter (Sofia Yong), who has the mutant power to "hyper-focus" any talent or skill for one minute; Ransom (Valentin Correa), a mutant with a black hole in place of his heart; and Deathdream (Hotoru), able to switch between a state of life or one of death at will to summon souls and the power of the unliving in his ghost-like "death state."

The 2nd girl in the panel they posted has a character design that looks so sexless, it wouldn't be shocking if the interior artwork doesn't match the cover with Rogue's illustration on it (probably illustrated by J. Scott Campbell). Indeed, that's the only good thing about this series now, but it does make clear you can't judge a book by its cover. It's a shame how for years already, good artwork gets wasted on something that's unlikely to match up to what's inside the issues to follow.

Anybody who knows what Simone's leftist-influenced MO is like for the past 2 decades would do well to avoid whatever she has in store for X-Men. She's proven little different from most other writers who operate within a knee-jerk influence, and whenever they make way in their writing for company wide crossovers, and do nothing to oppose their continued use as a means of marketing, that says all one needs to know how they don't think for themselves, and all they care about in the end is just a paycheck.

Labels: bad editors, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, violence, women of marvel, X-Men