Marvel Writer Has Multiyear Plan for the X-Men

Marvel’s Jonathan Hickman is plotting a new trajectory for the X-Men franchise. Beginning next week, Hickman will take over as lead writer on Marvel’s X-Men comics line. It begins with two miniseries, House of X and Powers of X. After that, as Hickman told ComicBook.com in June, a new line of ongoing comics will launch. This seems to be what Marvel’s X-Men tease from yesterday was hinting at.

On the eve of San Diego Comic-Con, Hickman spoke again about his plans for Marvel’s mutants. “You don’t want to do archaeology or nostalgia tropes,” Hickman tells Entertainment Weekly. “My job is to do new stuff with it, and launch us into a newer age of X-Men…This is something I’ve been writing and rewriting in my head since I was a kid. I’ve been in the kitchen for a long time with it. I get the ingredients, I get what makes a good meal.”

Hickman became a fan-favorite writer for the intricate plotting and epic scale he brought to Marvel’s Fantastic Four and then Avengers. He’s bringing that same approach to the X-Men.

“I have some general philosophies on what kind of work you should do at Marvel, that I try and adhere to. I think the stories should be big,” Hickman says. “Any time you can mine your continuity and the existing continuity of the company in a way that evokes a response from audience and not confusion, that’s powerful, and you’re crazy not to utilize it when you’re writing these books. The cardinal rule beyond that is at the end of the day, after you’ve torn up the playroom and scattered all the toys, you put everything all back on the shelf. Don’t be an a—hole and leave a mess.

“You want to tell stories that matter, but the way you write things that matter in Marvel is that you’re not destructive, you’re additive. Yes, I may do things where I destroy the entire Marvel Universe, but I always put it back together, and in putting it together you add to it in a way that puts the characters in an interesting place and you haven’t ruined anybody else’s job.”

Are you excited about Jonathan Hickman’s new era of X-Men? Let us know in the comments. House of X #1 goes on sale July 24th. Powers of X #1 follows on July 31st. The “Dawn of X” will be revealed at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday.