First X-men memory?

Joe Casey: My friend across the street had the Claremont/Byrne issue with Moses Magnum. I thought it was pretty weird that Banshee blew up an island by yelling at it. Heh...

Charlie Adlard: I remember reading the adventures of the original team in the Marvel reprints in the UK way back in the early seventies, but nothing really stuck with me until I saw an ad for the new team in a US Marvel comic, and I do remember looking at that and thinking - "gosh, they look different...!" But I never picked up any issues, since I still wasn't collecting the US comics at the time. That ad really did have an impact on me, though - almost as much as seeing the 1st issue of the original FF - I guess it could've been the costumes - how different they were at the time -I dunno...

Fav ish?

Joe Casey: I liked the post-Dark Phoenix issues, #138-141. Alpha Flight and then the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (along with "Days Of Future Past" when it was an original idea in comics). Cool stuff. Then Byrne left and it all went to hell. I liked some of the Paul Smith-drawn issues, too.

First ish read? Charlie Adlard: Can't really remember that one... But I did start collecting around the John Romita Jr. run - so I have good memories of that and also good memories of the Marc Silvestri run, too... But the X-Men was the first US comic I started actively collecting and the first I brought back issues of...I actually stopped reading it after X-Men 1 came out, and haven't really gone back to it at all , apart from Joe's stuff and for reference.

What do you see as the appeal of the characters?

Joe Casey: At the moment? Ya' got me. Fundamentally, the X-Men have the potential to be a true reflection of their target audience (if we could get them young'uns to read comics, that is). Being a mutant is a potent metaphor, not only for minorities in society, but for misunderstood teenagers. What's been so shocking is when readers graft that metaphor onto the book even when it doesn't deserve it. Why is it still the number one book in the industry? It's a mystery to me what the appeal is.

Maybe they just look cool...

Expectations for the movie?

Joe Casey: As a cinematic experience? Not high, to be honest. Then again, I wasn't so knocked out by THE MATRIX, either. The only comic book-inspired movies I can stand now are the first SUPERMAN and BATMAN RETURNS. But, having said that, I hope X-MEN makes a gazillion dollars at the box office.

Charlie Adlard: I'm looking forward to the movie, though more because it's a Bryan Singer film than an X-Men movie. I hope he brings out exactly what the X-Men are about [which I think has sadly been lost over the years in the comics] - though Joe [Casey] seems to be more on the case regarding the origins of the X-Men and their potential in Children Of The Atom than any other recent X-comic...

What would you do with the teams if you were given the chance to change things around in current continuity?

Joe Casey: Just about everything I have to say about the X-Men concept, I'm saying in X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM. The modern continuity, as seen every month in UNCANNY X-MEN and X-MEN, is so completely screwed up, not just because it looks so confusing, but because it all seems so predictable. "Revolution", my ass! Of course, I say this having not read an issue since the early Seagle-Kelly stuff...

There was a millisecond where they asked me to write the monthlies, just after those guys quit, and my proposal was pretty radical. I think the only thing that actually came to pass that was in my original pitch was the "death" of Cyclops (not a new idea, from what I've heard). But I streamlined the line-up down to the most fucked-up, deranged, deformed, dangerous-looking mutants in the Marvel Universe. If I'm remembering correctly, the team I pitched consisted of Jean Grey, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Magma (from the old NEW MUTANTS book), Quicksilver, Chamber (from GEN X), and Mystique. It was a pretty sexy team, I thought, by virtue of their freakishness. My thinking was that, if the X-Men aren't teenagers, then they need to be the sexiest bunch of freaks in comics. The interpersonal relationships are key, and even those need to push the envelope.

With Cyclops dead, that allowed Jean and Wolverine to explore their obvious attraction to one another. Okay, they would've been makin' it like porn stars. That, alone, would've had fandom squirming in their seats, waiting to see how that particular "plot thread" would turn out. I'm sure I would've had the rest of the team sleeping with each other eventually. Forget evil mutants... that's been done to death. What fans really want to see in the X-MEN books is S-E-X. In fact, just change the goddamned title to SEX-MEN and be done with it.

Charlie Adlard: Well, I would simplify the universe a hell of a lot and take 'em back to their roots a bit more - more of what they were originally about... Also I'd find a place for the Hellfire Club ongoing mini series! [heh..]

What of the importance of the series, ie. Being an 37 year old series which is continuously an open forum against bigotry each and every month?

Joe Casey: If only it were! Someone please tell me what the current storylines really have to say about bigotry. Like I said above, I haven't really read them lately, so I don't know, but if X-MEN comics aren't relevant to what's currently going on in America on the twin fronts of tolerance and separatism, then what good are they? I have to ask myself, when was the last time Claremont wrote anything that was relevant? Has he ever?

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