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X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Comic Books

X-Men Monday #2 – Nightcrawler’s soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

X-Men Senior Editor Jordan D. White is back with answers to YOUR questions!

And we’re back for another eXtraordinary edition of X-Men Monday at AiPT! (#2 if you’re into legacy numbering)!

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast!

Now, X-Fans may not be able to fire optic blasts from their eyes or pop adamantium claws from their hands, but they always have questions–just like their favorite X-Men! Just last week, for instance, Iceman wanted to know if a baking sheet was the same as wax paper in X-Tremists #1, while Cannonball wondered if he and his teammates could truly trust Kid Cable over in X-Force #3. Those questions don’t come up in this week’s batch of fan queries, but there was still plenty for everybody’s favorite X-Men Senior Editor to dig into. So without further ado… MR. JORDAN. D. WHITE!

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

AiPT!: Welcome back, Jordan! I was a big fan of writer Matthew Rosenberg’s take on X in Astonishing X-Men Annual #1, so I was happy to see teamdreams (@partyprincess23) asked when we’ll see the Professor X/Fantomex amalgam again. Any idea?

Jordan: Hey there again, everyone! Happy to be jumping into your questions again! X-Men Monday is a lot of fun, so I hope you’re enjoying it as much as I am.

Before I answer, I do want to say that a LOT of the questions people submit are, “When are we going to see <insert character> again?” and I know it’s because you love the characters so much… but just know that those ARE spoiler questions. It’s really difficult–there are TOO MANY X-Men characters. That’s not to say that I am trying to get rid of them, or that there are ones I am deeming not worth of existing, I just mean there are numerically so many that it’s pretty much impossible to keep them all active at all times. How to deal with that is one of the struggles the X-Office has had to reckon with. Do you have them all live together in the mansion and reduce like half the characters to walk-by cameos? Do you have everyone move away and just not appear until there is a story that specifically calls for them? Both of those have been used, and both have their plusses and minuses.

But a lot of times, bringing back a character that has not been in the spotlight is something the writer is using for dramatic effect in the story, so it’s risky for me to just be like, “You’ll see that character here and this one there,” etc. I try to be vague for that reason. Matt and Ed and everyone I am working with won’t necessarily want that info out there.

So, to your specific question, I cannot tell you when or where you will see Professor X again… but of course he will be back. He founded the X-Men, he is incredibly important to their past and their future, and we’ll be exploring his role in both.

AiPT!: Makes sense, Jordan, and thanks for this eXclusive image of… Professor X?!

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

OK, so while X can surely take care of himself, Jake (@JDChen0804) was worried about Jubilee’s son Shogo while she’s off enforcing the law in the Age of X-Man. Jordan, where’s Shogo and is he being looked after?

Jordan: He’s being looked after, for sure. I have been keeping track of the chain of custody over the little guy. He is NOT in Age of X-Man, obviously, since he was not at the big final battle with X-Man in “Disassembled.” He also was not in the mansion at the time it blew up. He was with the person who is currently watching him at the time, and readers who have been following his history can probably guess who that would be. We will see him soon.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

AiPT!: That’s a relief. And surely a relief to Jubilee (seen in the above eXclusive image), ya know, if she remembered her son. But now I have a little more concern, this time from Bethany w. Pope (@BethanyWPope), who wanted to know when Nightcrawler will get his soul back.

Jordan: Do you think he will? He seems to be doing OK without it. And honestly, it’s probably a spiral effect in that without a soul does one care about having a soul? He certainly doesn’t seem to be significantly less moral or caring. What I want to know is… if his soul is still in the afterlife, does that mean there is still a Nightcrawler swashbuckling on that ethereal sea? Is there a whole other Kurt we could be reading stories about?!?

AiPT!: This is how fan theories are born! Changing gears–let’s forget for a second that comics cost money and that sales determine how long series remain on stands. With that in mind, Grey_life12 (@304grey_fan ) wanted to know who you’d give a solo series to, regardless of how it’d sell.

Jordan: I really loved doing Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe, I would love to give Longshot his own series again. The idea of a character who literally presses his luck and if it’s for a good cause he will probably come out OK is super appealing to me. It feels like such a natural fit for adventure storytelling, where that basically happens all the time, just usually by virtue of storytelling rather than a super power.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

AiPT!: Speaking of hypothetical scenarios, everybody in comics lost their minds over that Mexican Spider-Man universe half the world never knew existed. Nir Revel (@revel_nir) was curious, if you could pick a moment in X-Men history as a diverging point for an entirely new reality (a la one where Gwen Stacy never died), when would it be and what does it entail?

Jordan: Maybe a universe where M-Day never happened, and mutants continued their cultural growth that they were going through before that. Where humanity was the endangered species with an expiration date.

That or maybe a version where one of the OTHER X-Men piloted the ship back from space instead of Jean, and it was THEY who became the Phoenix instead.

AiPT!: Now, let’s get serious. Because Kristen B (@berry198) had a very important question. Gambit is now a married man. So Kristen wanted to know if we can please have a bearded Gambit. Even for just a single issue. I told you it was serious!

Jordan: I know some people would argue Gambit being married means he DOES have a beard. I KID! He might be committed to Rogue (we hope!) but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be lusted after by everyone who sees him, and I think Gambit is pretty committed to clean shaven through a stubble look at most as his sexiest self.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

AiPT!: Hey look–a sexy Gambit eXclusive (complete with stubble)! Since Gambit was always close to Storm, he’d probably want to hear the answer to this next question from Jeffrey Smejkal (@Windrider78). Any major plans for Storm following the Age of X-Man? Jeffrey would love to see Ororo have an expanded role in not just the X-Men’s universe, but the entire Marvel Universe.

Jordan: Storm is one of the top 10 most popular X-Men, she will certainly be appearing in the X-Books after Age of X-Man. Again, it’s too early to tell you where, exactly, but until the inevitable DEATH OF STORM maxi-series, you can expect Storm is going to be around in the X-Books pretty prominently.* As for the rest of the Marvel Universe, she shows up in the Black Panther books sometimes due to their history, but I don’t know that she’s going to be anywhere else in a big way. But write to all your favorite non-mutant books and ask them to have her guest-star!

*This was a joke, there are no plans to kill off Storm.

AiPT!: To all the Storm fans who were offended by that joke, please accept this eXclusive image of Ororo battling Magneto.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

Speaking of Magneto, we’ve got ourselves a question from MagnetoRocks (@MagnetoRocks) about, you guessed it, Magneto! Was there a specific goal when Magneto reverted to villainy at the end ofX-Men Blue, or was it just a status quo shift for other creators to pick up down the line?

Jordan: The plans for X-Men Blue were in place before I got into the X-Office. I think the plan there was just that that was how Cullen Bunn wanted to end his story. I know a lot of X-Men fans believed that I forced him to do that because I said I prefer Magneto as an antagonist, but… that is not the case. I am not in the business of being an X-Dictator, I work with the writers to tell the stories they want to tell. So, like I said, in this case, the plan for him to go back to “villainy” (so to speak) was already in place. But as for what that means for him going forward… well, you’ll have to see when he shows up after Age of X-Man. We’ve certainly got big plans for him, and I know pretty much no one expects them. And no, it’s not the thing you thought of when I said it was something no one expected, either. It’s even more unexpected than that.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

AiPT!: Hm, unexpected… like a second eXclusive image featuring Magneto and Storm! As we near the end of this week’s X-Men Monday, it’s important to point out we received two questions that mentioned goats. That’s a coincidence I can’t ignore, so I’m totally asking you these two questions. First, Nick Von Doom (@1tonpayton) needed to know how many goats he needs to sacrifice to get Jonathan Hickman on an X-Men comic.

Jordan: I think you’re asking the wrong guy on that one–I think Hickman could probably write almost any character he wanted to, if he approached us. I think the question is how many goats HE wants to see killed in order to make time in his schedule for a superhero book. On our end, we’d probably be willing to buy the goats for you. If you hear from him, tell him to get in touch, we will have a herd gathered up as fast as we need to.

AiPT!: And then, Jamie Goodson (@Dazzlershairdowanted to know when we’ll acknowledge that Dazzler is the GOAT? I assume he meant “greatest of all time,” but maybe Jamie thinks Alison’s actually some kind of goat-mutant hybrid created by the High Evolutionary. Not sure. Any idea?

Jordan: The idea that Dazzler is an actual evolved goat is offensive to her fans.  Then again, the idea that she is the GOAT is probably offensive to her non-fans. So, someone is gonna be upset no matter how I answer this. One thing I will say is that if you want to check out beatnik, coffeehouse Dazzler, you gotta pick up Apocalypse & The X-Tracts, where she is in full effect, beret and all.

X-Men Monday #2 - Nightcrawler's soul, sacrificial goats and Weezer

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

Actually, I have a question for you, readers–what pop star do you think of Dazzler as being the Marvel version of? I know over the decades there have been a lot of different people she’s been compared to. Who is the one that sticks with you?

AiPT!: X-Fans, if you’ve got an answer for Jordan, let us know in the comment space below! We’ll remind you on Twitter as well.

That’s it for the fan questions this week. But before I let you get back to work, Jordan, we need to talk Weezer. Because from their “Africa” cover to the Teal Album and now the Black Album, Weezer seems to be bigger than they’ve been in a long time. So I have to ask… what’s your opinion on the current state of Rivers Cuomo and the Weezer boys?

Jordan: I am old, so I bought the Blue Album when it was new. I remember when an avi of the “Buddy Holly” video was included on the installation CDs for Windows 95. I was then SUPER into Pinkerton, which is an amazing album. I was SUPER into them at this point–trying to track down singles for B-sides and things like that. When the Green Album finally came out years later, I really liked it! But I must confess that Maladroit didn’t captivate me.  It was OK. I think I bought the Red Album a few years after it came out, but then I pretty much didn’t follow their stuff for some time. I am not even sure how many albums I missed. Three? Four? I came back for the White Album because I heard a bunch of glowing reviews saying it was them going back to their roots, and you know what? I really liked it. I didn’t listen to Pacific Daydream at all, though… and I am not a fan of the Teal Album. It bums me out, actually, because I LOVE cover songs. People reinterpreting songs is so much fun, there are songs I have like… 10 different versions of, I am sure. I think I have like five versions of the full album of Dark Side of the Moon? But the Teal Album… they are not really making the songs their own at all. They just… did them. So I thought it was a bummer. The only other new Weezer I’ve heard was “High As A Kite.” The song itself was OK, but the video bummed me out… it’s them trashing the Mr. Rogers set and upsetting the studio audience of children. I get that it’s a joke… but it made me sad, so I was not super into it.

TL;DR, Weezer is a band whose work I sometimes LOVE, and sometimes completely pass on. That’s very weird, for me.

AiPT!: Well, let’s stick with the Weezer theme for this week’s song recommendation. What is one Weezer track all X-Fans need to give a chance, whether or not they love the Weez. And no, it can’t be “In the Garage.”

Jordan: One of my favorite Weezer tracks is “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams” which was a Pinkerton-era B-Side. Guest vocals by Rachel Haden.

AiPT!: Honestly, that’s one of my personal favorites as well, so awesome pick! And with that, we bring the second edition of X-Men Monday to a close. Thanks for stopping by, Jordan and have a great week! And thanks to all the X-Fans who submitted questions. We’ll start to collect new questions for Jordan to answer tomorrow (Tuesday, March 5) on our Twitter and Facebook pages–so get those questions ready and be sure to report back here next X-Men Monday!

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