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In the Marvel Universe, Earth’s vast population of superpowered individuals means it’s often a player in cosmic battles. However, that might change soon thanks to the mutant nation of Krakoa, whose residents used their powers to terraform Mars. The red planet is now the home of the Arakkii, mutants with a tragic history of enslavement that spans thousands of years. Soon after colonizing Mars, the plant was renamed Arakko, and Storm became its Regent.
What does that mean for Mars’ new inhabitants and the larger galactic landscape? That’s a question that Storm and several mutants will answer in writer Al Ewing and artist Stefano Caselli’s new series X-Men Red, hitting comic stands in April. In an exclusive interview with CBR, Ewing discussed the action-packed series’ ideologies and Omega level mutants clashing. Ewing also teased X-Men: Red‘s extensive cast, which includes Storm, S.W.O.R.D.’s Abigail Brand, Sunspot, and Vulcan. According to Ewing, X-Men: Red will also be a continuation of some plot threads and character arcs he built throughout his run on Marvel’s S.W.O.R.D.
Additionally, and courtesy of Marvel, CBR gained a first look at several cover variants for X-Men: Red #1, created by Christian Ward, David Lopez, Peach Momoko, Javier Garron’s teaser variant (featuring colors by Jesus Aburtov), and Taurin Clarke’s Arakko variant, which is the first in a series of variant covers spotlighting the members of Arakko’s Great Ring.
CBR: What I’ve read suggests X-Men Red is many things: a political drama with espionage and intrigue, a superhero action story, and a pulpy sci-fi style tale filtered through the contemporary and inclusive lens of modern-day Marvel mutant comics. Is that an accurate description of how you envision this book?
Al Ewing: I guess it is all of those things! I had to think twice about the “pulp sci-fi” thing, but I guess Arakko is kind of a pulpy location, and I am looking at it through quite a considered lens, so it fits. That’s a neat summing-up of the book!
There will be espionage. There will be intrigues. There will absolutely be action and feats — the cover of #2 promises a major confrontation between Storm and Vulcan, and one of the notes I got back from editorial when they saw it was, “Stefano is going to draw the hell out of this beat.” And that big, tempestuous, operatic action beat also serves to lay down a few cards in the larger battle of ideologies we’ve set up. Then in #3, there’s a battle between omegas that resolves in an unexpected way and causes even more of those political dominoes to fall. So fans of both modes should hopefully be well fed.
One of the central figures in X-Men Red is the Regent of Arakko/Mars, Storm, a character who you really seemed to enjoy writing in S.W.O.R.D. Which aspects of Storm do you currently find most intriguing? Which of her facets do you really want to explore?
Storm is great. That’s the starting condition if you’ve been an X-fan for any period of time. What intrigues me about Storm isn’t really how powerful she is — which is good news for fans of a powerful Storm, because I just treat that as a question that’s been fully answered. Yeah, she’s an Omega Mutant. She’s a weather manipulator, and there are a lot of moving parts in weather so she’s obviously a huge deal. But I’ve been reading her since the eighties and I’ve seen her kick-ass both with powers and without — and please, forgive me for going back to that well in S.W.O.R.D. #8. The plot beat was delicious, so sweet and so cool.
Storm impressed herself on me for another reason when I first encountered the X-Men, way back in the UK reprints of the original Secret Wars — because she regularly told Charles Xavier, the alleged head honcho of the X-Men, where exactly he could stick it. That’s intriguing to me — that she rises to challenges on that level, that her power isn’t just automatically put in the service of the most imperious voice in the room. She questions things, questions herself. Honestly, I feel like once you answer the question of mutant power levels, putting her into a battle where that type of power is no longer very meaningful — where it’s political intrigue, not a slugfest — is the best and most interesting way to challenge her.
I’ve also read that Abigail Brand figures quite prominently in X-Men Red. What can you tell us about her role in this book? And given the recent revelations about her in S.W.O.R.D. #11, can you talk a little more about her perspective on Storm, Arakko, and Krakoa?
It’s hopefully obvious in the paired solicits of #1 and #2 that there are two different ideological approaches at work here. Ororo is on one side, Abigail is on the other.
When we first met Abigail, she was justifying the torture of Colossus. Abigail justifies a lot of things. But she’s charming, and she’s very stylish, so a lot of people have looked at the image she projects instead of the person she is. For the record, I think Abigail’s long-term goal is to have a player on the galactic stage with enough clout to impose order on the other galactic powers. The Sol System is her best bet for that, and her best bet for the person in charge is herself. If you ask her, she can justify all of that. While you’re arguing with her justifications — to paraphrase an old political quote — she will create new realities and justify those, and so it will go on, with everyone else left to watch what she does.
How that applies to X-Men Red — Arakko is just a step along the way to the goal for Abigail Brand. The Arakkii are simply resources to be expended in whatever way is expedient. She has a higher goal — a moral goal — and, as we’re so often told, you sometimes have to make those tough choices to get there. That’s what heroes do, isn’t it? Make those tough choices, and then justify them.
Does Brand’s presence in this book mean it’s both a new reader-friendly story and a continuation of the plot and ideas you introduced in S.W.O.R.D.? Will some other members of that book’s cast appear here?
It is both of those things, yes. Favorite characters will be back: I have plans for Wiz-Kid to re-enter the narrative, Manifold and Frenzy have things to say in #2, and Cable is there from the start in #1. But issue #1 is designed for new readers, and designed to kick off the various plots and wheels within wheels we’ll be following.
In some ways, this represents the learning of certain lessons from what did well and what did badly in S.W.O.R.D. For example, X-Men: Red, as you can tell by the title, is much more focused on mutant concerns. We are part of that larger universe of the X-titles — including the Shi’ar, if you were curious about whether a book with Vulcan and Sunspot in the cast would delve into that side of things — but I don’t want to do any tie-ins that aren’t a vital part of that line. Not even with my own books — no plans for a Venom tie-in just yet. If there isn’t a big X right in the middle of the event, we’re not going to be part of it.
I don’t want to do any tie-ins where we just plug into the larger narrative — if we’re tying into that entirely hypothetical event with an “X” right slap bang in the middle of it, that tie-in is going to change things significantly, not just for us but for the entire X-line. It needs to be a seismic event that cannot possibly be skipped or ignored and hits at the very heart of everything. This is true of any writer on any book, but if I’m going to ask a reader to eat a tie-in — and since this is an ultra-connected line of books that itself is housed inside a larger shared universe, and every issue is technically a tie-in — I am going to occasionally ask that of you. My responsibility to the customer is to make it as delicious and satisfying a feast as I possibly can. The time will come. But when it comes… You will eat well.
X-Men Red also sees you returning to a character you have a long history with, Sunspot. What’s it like returning to Roberto Da Costa? And what’s it like for Bobby, a character who sort of lives and schemes large to be on a planet like Arakko?
It’s nice to come back into Roberto’s orbit again, I’ll admit. I’ve missed him. As for what he’s up to… Well, ostensibly he’s on Arakko doing business — his new thing is nightclubs, if only because I thought he’d look good in a wide-lapel shirt along with his Armani, and I was right to think so. He’s already inveigled his way into ownership of the Red Lagoon, and he’s running it like Rick in Casablanca, including stepping in to stop the occasional brawl. But that’s just the start of his ambitions -the Hacienda must be built, as Tony Wilson would say.
Where does that leave his ties to the Shi’ar? Simmering quietly in the background, which is the thing about Roberto. Over the years, he’s developed a hidden talent for the grand scheme. While you’re seeing the left hand, the right hand is doing the trick — usually something very big and very crazy — and we’ve been seeing an awful lot of that left hand lately. So when he just happens to arrive on the same planet as not one, but two of his old teachers, do we really believe he’s only there to bring disco to the masses? And does anyone remember that variant cover where he’s sitting on the Shi’ar throne? Just wondering.
Two other very powerful and prominent mutant figures in X-Men Red appear to be Magneto and Vulcan. What can you tell us about what they’re up to in your book and why they’re doing these things?
With Magneto, I’m trying to balance what’s been revealed in solicits and interviews like this one, and what shouldn’t be let out just yet because it might mess up other Destiny Of X titles. So I’m going to be a little vague. But this is a Magneto who’s appearing after what he went through in Inferno and the Trial Of Magneto. He’s been through a lot, and the voices of people like Emma Frost don’t have harsher words to say to him than the ones in his head. He’s found himself wanting in a number of ways. There’s a question of… Has Krakoa let him down? Or has he let down the dream of Krakoa by not believing enough? Or too much? Maybe he doesn’t know himself.
Now we find him on Arakko, and what he’s doing there will become obvious in X-Men: Red #1, and even more so as he lets down his walls and speaks his reasons aloud to some old friends. There will come a point, moving forward from there, where he makes some momentous decisions that will change things for him, for Arakko, and for Krakoa.
Meanwhile, Vulcan… Well, Vulcan is losing it. In a recent X-Plain The X-Men podcast, Jonathan [Hickman] mentioned a plot point he never had time to get around to — as luck would have it, I’d just managed to work it into the X-Men: Red issue I was writing, so people who listen to good podcasts will have a sneaky spoiler of where Vulcan’s head might be. And then there are those three mysterious aliens who turned him into even more of a ticking time bomb than he was already… Like that variant cover, it’s an ingredient Jonathan left for us in the communal fridge that I think I can cook into a tasty treat. And — oh, yeah, one more minor thing — he was Emperor of the Shi’ar for a while, wasn’t he? With the fast pace of galactic politics, it’s almost like that’s been forgotten — almost as if shameful periods of Shi’ar history are unofficially memory-holed by the state. Now, I’m not one to tell the Shi’ar how to run their business, but I think Vulcan might feel a little put out by that policy…
In addition to a great cast, you’ve also got a fantastic new setting. How much fun are you having building Arakko? Who and what are some of the aspects and residents we’ll see and meet when X-Men Red begins?
My rule for Arakko is that it’s a lot more complicated than you think. The Arakkii aren’t some monolith of maniacs, they’re a people — with all the nuance and variation that implies — who were at war for thousands of years, which was bad, and eventually lost that war, which was worse. And after that, they spent a century or two in Amenthi prisons as slaves to people like Tarn the Uncaring — and Isca the Unbeaten, lest we forget that she fought on the side of Amenth right up until “X of Swords.” (The fact that she’s become the face of Arakko is something more people should be questioning — she’s not exactly a reliable narrator.) So they know about war, and they have ideas about strength — which maybe aren’t the obvious ones you’d think — but what they really know is pain. So some X-Men are going to fit in a little easier there than others. The big question is what they’ll become now that the years of war and imprisonment are over, and whether Krakoa has a right to influence that from the outside.
What’s it been like shaping this book’s setting and cast with artist Stefano Caselli? His past work on X-Men and Avengers titles with large, emotive casts and big sci-fi concepts and characters suggests he’d be a great fit for this series.
Stefano’s great. He has a terrific, clean style, and he’s great at expressing subtle emotion: there’s a bit with Magneto going through some difficult stuff that he absolutely hit out of the park. We’ve been working back and forth on some design thoughts for a new location on Arakko that’s been hinted at in the past. I think he’s going to absolutely nail that, too.
Finally, any other hints and teases you can leave us with about some of the action we’ll see in your initial arc of X-Men Red?
Storm makes a choice for her people and another for herself. Magneto makes a new home and an unlikely friend. Cable makes a potential enemy out of an unexpected guest. Sunspot makes Vulcan’s list. Also, two teams are formed. One of them is X-Men Red. And the other is…?
I’ll finish by offering a special thank you to everyone who’s been making noise about X-Men Red, especially those who heeded the call to pre-order. In a very real way, reader enthusiasm is what fuels books. It’s what sets the length of our runway, what allows us to reach further, go higher, deliver bigger and better, and we’re planning to reward that with one of the biggest X-moments of 2022. You’ll know it when you see it. Until then, welcome to Arakko. I sincerely hope you survive the experience.
Marvel’s X-Men: Red #1 arrives on comic stands on April 6.
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