Marvel sat down Nick Lowe, Christos Gage and comic book legend Neal Adams to talk to the Internet about their new project, First X-Men in August.
Not to be confused with X-Men: First Class, this new five comic run will deal with the time before Charles Xavier, before Xavier's Institute, before Magneto and the Brotherhood of Mutants, before Adamantium skeletons and the Weapon X project. For fans of canon Marvel lore, this series will be the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone, filling in the story gaps that have plague Marvel for decades.
"At the beginning, Stan and Jack were experimenting. You had Professor X, bald and in a wheelchair. These strange kids already in costume. It seems to me like this was not the beginning of the story, but the middle." -Neal Adams
"It takes place before the original X-Men and at a time when the government was snatching mutants up and doing scary things to them. Logan notices this and thinks somebody needs to look out for them. He recruits Sabretooth, who asks 'Why?' and so he pays him. Professor Xavier is a young man studying at Oxford, who's engaged and wants nothing to do with this." -Christos Gage on First X-Men
"The concept that Charles Xavier could pass for a human I don't think has ever really been explored. At some point in his life, he made the difficult decision to step forward as leader of the X-Men and as a mutant. He could have wiped all of this out of the world's collective mind. Why didn't he? Stuff to think about." -Neal Adams
"They recruit this guy Erik Lensherr who is out there killing Nazis..." -Christos Gage
"In those early X-Men stories, everybody hates and fears them, but we never really know why. It's so core to the concept, but it was there before the series started. Here we found out why mutants are so hated and feared in a way that is different from any other super heroes." -Nick Lowe
"The natural instinct is that this is like the 'X-Men: First Class' movie, but it's not. We didn't mind stealing the Nazi Hunter version of Magneto though." -Neal Adams
"Wolverine is a soldier here. He doesn't put together a school, he puts together a unit, but they are young kids." -Christos Gage
This is firmly set in continuity. This is not a What If. This is canon. This is key to Wolverine's history and his relationships with other characters. This will answer questions that have been out there for decades." -Nick Lowe
"We wanted this to be something you could hand to somebody who just saw the X-Men movies and they'd enjoy it as a good X-Men story. At the same time, for giant nerds like me, FBI agent Fred Duncan from the early stories is in there, and when Professor X talks about his brother you know it's Juggernaut." -Christos Gage
"There will be early versions of the Sentinels. I did the giant ones, now I'm getting to do different one." -Neal Adams
"This is Wolverine as a soldier looking at a problem. When you try something, it doesn't always work. This is one of Wolverine's first steps toward working with mutants. To me, Wolverine & The X-Men is a far later step, but there will be contrasts and comparisons, definitely." -Nick Lowe
"Wolverine was a mercenary, and mercenaries make a lot of money. Wouldn't it be interesting to find that Wolverine's mercenary work funded..." -Neal Adams