It’s been two years since Jonathan Hickman and his artistic collaborators breathed new life into Marvel’s mutant heroes with House of X and Power of X. Since then, the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe has taken on a radically different shape, as Hickman and collaborators relaunched the entire line. Now, this bold new era is coming to an end. Next month’s Inferno event will mark Hickman’s final story as Marvel’s Head of X.
Hickman reflected on his X-Men tenure during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. Specifically, he explained how the ongoing saga has wildly exceeded his original expectations.
“Oh, plans have changed entirely,” said Hickman. “When I pitched the X-Men story I wanted to do, I pitched a very big, very broad, three-act, three-event narrative, the first of which was House of X. And while this loosely worked as a three-year plan, I told Marvel upfront that I honestly had no idea how long the first part would last because there were a lot of interesting ideas that I had seeded that other creators would want to play with, and so, we left this rather open-ended. I was also pretty clear with all the writers that came into the office what the initial, three-act plan was so no one would be surprised when it was time for the line to pivot.”
RELATED: Jonathan Hickman’s Inferno Ushers in a Bold New Era For the X-Men
Readers technically shouldn’t be surprised by this turn of events. There have been several hints over the last few months that Hickman was preparing to step down. For instance, Marvel just relaunched its flagship X-Men series with Gerry Duggan taking over writing duties. Plus, Hickman is joining other industry heavyweights like James Tynion IV to create new comics for Substack. But this doesn’t mean he’s leaving Marvel behind altogether.
“Marvel doesn’t really pay me to just write ongoing monthly books,” added Hickman. “There’s an expectation for me to write bigger books that have a wider reach than that. In an effort to facilitate both things, we’ve all spent the last six months or so reorienting the line, me creating Inferno to assist with that, and then bringing in some new writers to add to the existing team, and then plan for the next several years of X-books.”
“So after Inferno, I’ll be leaving to go work on my ‘Next Big Marvel Thing,'” continued Hickman. “And starting in January the X-Line will rocket forward starting with a weekly series that leads into the very cool, refocused, line of books. Yes, it’s taken us a little while to get everything assembled correctly, but the end result — everything that’s coming after Inferno — is going to be pretty great.”
Inferno #1 hits comic shops on Wednesday, September 29.
Are you sad to hear that Hickman is leaving Marvel’s X-books? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: House of X/Powers of X
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate advertising program also provides a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
