Launched as part of October Marvel Comics”from ashes‘ Restart X-Men title, Alex Packard and Justin Masonof sentinel The miniseries offers a new take on the famous X-Men threat. It’s bold and exciting, challenging expectations for a book with a title like this sentineland has more layers than one might think. The Beat asked Paknadel some questions, which you can read below.
JARED BIRD: Hi Alex, thank you so much for your time today.
Alex Packard: Thank you for having me!
BIRD: Your new book with Marvel, sentinelwill be released on October 9th as “from ashes‘ Restart X-Men title. What’s it like to work in’?from ashes‘Restart?
Packaging part: It’s scary and exciting at the same time. The scary thing is that we are following an act of hell – everyone is well aware of this and respects this, but it is clear that Krakoa will cast a long shadow. I can only speak for myself, but I have always been X-Men Been a fan almost as long as I can remember. i have to do something X-Men Unlimited The Clark era thing, even peripheral involvement was great, but I was a little bummed when it was all over. I thought, ‘Okay, that’s my shot! I heard it’s rebooting, I know it is Tom Brevoort – I have a lot of respect for Tom and I’ve had really wonderful and insightful notes from him before. I’m on the phone Christian Wardwho asked me to send Tom an email. I said “I can’t do this, it’s Tom Brevoort!”. Christian said, “You work at Marvel!” That’s OK! So I emailed him, frowning as I typed, and then to my surprise I got an email within the hour thanking me for contacting him. It could have ended right there and I would still be on cloud nine, but last year at NYCC, Darren MountainAn editor I’d worked with a lot before asked me if I’d like to do some X-Men work. This is the question I’ve been waiting for for decades, and I’m still completely unprepared for. Darren turned to me at one point and said, ‘You’re excited about this, aren’t you? Your knees are shaking. My knees were going up and down like a jackhammer! My face was completely calm and controlled, but my knees gave me away. So, yes, there’s a lot of fear because we’re going through a well-deserved period of love, but there’s also a lot of excitement because, well, it’s X-Men!
Bird: I was one too X-Men As long as I’ve been reading comic books, I’ll always be a fan. As I started doing more journalism, I met a lot of amazing creative people who had done or continued to do X-Men, This feels pretty daunting. It’s no longer ten degrees of separation, but three.
Packaging part: This is one of those unique gigs. I’d made stuff before and it was well received, but I’d never been in a situation like this before where thousands of people enthusiastically jumped in and scrutinized every plot tidbit from the get-go. I’m not sure I would do the same position. It’s weird and I’m doing it all from a small office in the north of England. On the outside, everything looks the same out there, but when you go out into the world you think, “Oh, this is a really big deal, isn’t it?”
BIRD: What influenced your approach? sentinel?
Packaging part: They came to me with this idea. There were a lot of really good ideas on the table, but I was looking for a tone. My tone is in the early 2000s, and my editors are aligned with me on that. wild storm. Smart, politically astute, but very action-oriented. Eye of the storm Stuff is the best part. Many readers will know immediately what I’m talking about, but something like Strike Force: Morituri as well as. And a bunch of X books from the 90s. It’s both a superpower fable and a biting social commentary. I took the basic concept and layered the tone. I wanted to take the influence of these comics and put them into a blender, styled like this: Paul Verhoeven. there are many RoboCop and starship troopers. Hopefully a nutritious meal on the other end.
BIRD: As soon as I saw the announcement, I felt its impact starship troopers. A comic with elements of satire that doesn’t go the way you expect. What was it like working with artist Justin Mason?
Packaging part: Excellent. Two books by Darren Shan – mystique go through Declan Shalvey and Sentinel—the “scrappy” corner. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way at all. The art and writing in the mainline titles is really smooth and beautiful – every X-Men The book I saw was the smartest summer blockbuster you’ll ever see and you have beautiful art from people like David Marks and Ryan Stegman. Justin has known Declan for a long time, so we’ve been comparing notes. Justin does some dynamic and instinctive moves spider punk Stuff. It’s also physical – you can see the ink smudges and bleed as we flip through the pages. It’s very beautiful and intense. This may sound strange, but mystique and sentinel It’s a pirated concert video X-Men line-up. We are a messy corner where all the messy things happen.
Bird: That’s really exciting for me. Overall, what I like about X-Books is the variety you can get. You could buy a dark and intense book, e.g. X-Forceor something interesting and heartwarming, such as Generation X. I’m glad this cluttered corner still exists.
Packaging part: I wrote a little postscript at the end sentinel #1, reassure readers that the era of experimentation is not over yet—far from it. The idea of settled communities becoming diasporas again is fraught with enormous potential. Expelled from the Garden of Eden. There are many similar things in the real world. When it became clear to me that we were engaging with the legacy of Krakoa, a unique trauma that engulfs all the books in the series, everything came into focus. This is not about rebuilding the status quo, but seeing it as the profound disruption of global mutantkind. it’s an exciting time X-Men I became a fan five years ago and I firmly believe this is an exciting time X-Men Now fan.
Bird: I agree! It’s an exciting time for old fans and new fans alike. Is there a specific member sentinel-What is your favorite team to write about?
Packaging part: I chose two POV characters to follow. If you try to keep track of five characters over the course of a five-issue miniseries, the whole thing collapses under its own weight, so you have to focus somewhere. I have a character called Voivod who is not the focus, but he has no one else’s agenda. Like a Greek chorus, he pointed out to others that “this is stupid.” When any grandiosity arises, he undercuts it. When I start dumping information, or digging too deep into knowledge, his character pulls it back. I like this very much.
Bird: As a writer, I think it keeps you focused on the task at hand.
Packaging part: I think they’re both interesting characters. Obviously, I’m very aware of the impact this title has on many fans. Even though we’re working on showing some preview pages, ‘remember it‘ plot X-Men 97 dropped. As I dug deeper into it, I knew I had a chance to understand, however briefly, the banality of evil. One thing I want to emphasize is that these characters don’t think of themselves as bigots. They are doing a job. What they were doing was wrong, absolutely wrong, but they gave up at the end of the day and forgot about it until they could no longer ignore the reality of what they were doing. I try to make the characters interesting, but it’s a little harder to make them sympathetic.
Bird: To me, that’s one of the most interesting things about the book. This is a cognitive dissonance that people do have. The human brain has an incredible ability to deny facts, even when the facts are right in front of you. Because there are many people throughout life and history who have been on the “wrong” side of conflicts without particularly realizing it.
Packaging part: The complicity problem is an interesting one. It’s even to the point where there is no idea of ethical consumption under capitalism. We all have a role to play in this world. I remember during the Occupy movement, right-wing rhetoric was blaming people for going for coffee because it made the movement “meaningless.” No, we have to live in the world, we have to live in the prevailing socio-economic conditions. This book looks at the moment when everything fell apart. Once you realize that, do you keep making a machine, or do you go down another path?
Birds: one of my favorite parts X-Men The universe is a rich collection of little people accumulated over the years. Are there any minors? X-Men Which characters would you like to use in comics in the future?
Packaging part: I’m going to hedge here because if I call them minor, someone is going to be mad at me. For example, I don’t consider Maggot to be a minor character at all. I asked to use him in a book, and when the news was announced, four people who had profile photos of Maggot contacted me immediately. The tapestry of That said, I definitely have some underutilized characters. There are no little people and I plan to use them all up. It’s a very deep bench with five looks for characters that are just as cool as Wolverine.
Bird: I’m glad you mentioned Margot, he’s from my hometown! What do you hope fans take away from this series?
Packaging part: Mainly, I want them to be entertained. I hope it works well as a companion piece Uncanny X-Menbecause The Sentinel takes place in Greymalkin Prison, we share a lot of characters with them Gail Simone and books by David Marquez. On its own, I hope it provides some interesting emotional context for the return of the mutants. What people might overlook is that this Sentinel program is run by a mutant, a resurrected Lawrence Trask, who designed the MK II Sentinel but discovered that he himself was a mutant and was already on Krakoa I’ve been living an uncomfortable life for quite some time. He believes his position is defensible. The Sentinel program was born out of his fear that if humans and mutants ever got back together, they would kill each other. In his mind, the Sentinels are there to protect humans and mutants alike. Obviously, I don’t agree with this, but you know I’m trying my best to explore a fascinating illusion as convincingly as I can.
Byrd: If readers like sentinelwhich other comics of yours should they read?
Packaging part: If they liked Marvel, I ran on it last year red goblin I like writing. Normie Osborn, son of Harry Osborn and Liz Allen, has his own symbiote, which he feeds chocolate and claims He’s a “gangster” because he can’t face the fact that this may not mean well. In terms of creator-owned works, I did a series Caspar Weingard Last year it was called all against allI think it’s probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Regardless, I’m very proud of it. This is a science fiction novel about parenthood and the dark thoughts that come with being a parent. It’s not a pleasant read, but it’s a good book. Thanks lovely Say SpurrierOver the past few years, DC has asked me to do some stories about Barry Allen. There is one Horrible Knight Two parts I’ve done, I’ve done recently Task Force 7 #5 Being a part of the Absolute Power crossover is something I’m very proud of. Pete Woods There’s hell on earth drawn from it, so if nothing else, read it to learn about Pete Woods’ artwork.
Bird: Have a nice day.
Packaging part: The same to you!
