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| CHUCK AUSTEN: ONCE AN AVENGER, STILL AN X-MAN |
 by
Benjamin Ong Pang Kean
Chuck Austen is no stranger to the X-Men readers. As part of May’s Reload event among the X-books, Austen is making the jump from Uncanny to the (newly adjectiveless) X-Men. In speaking with Newsarama, Austen revealed his plans for X-Men and talked about his last hurrah on Avengers, a storyline that will spin off into an all-new Invaders series by writer Allan Jacobsen and artist C.P. Smith. Austen’s X-run began on issue #410 of Uncanny X-Men, and since then, he has worked with artists Ron Garney, Sean Phillips, Kia Asamiya, Philip Tan, Steve Kim, Takeshi Miyazawa and ultimately, Salvador Larroca. The highlights of Austen's run include the “The Draco” arc that revealed Nightcrawler’s origin, bringing Juggernaut and Northstar into the Uncanny team, returning Alex Summers aka Havok to the Marvel Universe (following the cancellation of the Mutant X series), introducing the nurse Annie Ghazikhanian and her son Carter, new mutant Sammy Pare and making Polaris fully unstable and more than a little homicidal, though Grant Morrison had conditioned her this way in New X-Men. Other story arcs, currently collected in trade paperbacks include “Hope”, “Dominant Species”, “Holy War” and the recently-concluded “She Lies with Angels” arc that will get the trade paperback treatment in May. So, what does it feel like to be departing from Uncanny X-Men and jumping on board X-Men? “On the one hand, it doesn't feel like I've left,” Austen said. “Only the name has changed. I'm still doing the same basic thing I did when I was writing Uncanny - the adventure/soap opera combo. On the other hand, I've lost characters that I came to adore and loved working with, like Warren [Worthington III, aka Angel], Kurt [Wagner, aka Nightcrawler] and Paige [Guthrie, aka Husk], and to a larger degree, [Professor Charles] Xavier. He's busy in the other books right now, and I loved his character.”
As for details about his first arc, entitled “Day of the Atom,” Austen's answer was pretty close to his response for the team members: “I'd rather not talk about what it's about. I'm not one to spoil. Not even the correct titles [laughs].” In an earlier interview with Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada and Senior Editor Mike Marts, Marts mentioned that X-Men is "the book I think that will appeal to people who loved the X-Men movie. This is the high action book; this is the soap opera book, where we see the characters in interesting situations playing off of one another - things that both Salva and Chuck are strong at." So, with that tone set, what's Austen’s grand scheme for the X-Men? “The same essence, essentially,” Austen said. “I haven't changed my approach at all. My grand scheme is exactly like it was before, with a similar approach to the movie - although the movie obviously got its direction from Chris [Claremont] and the original series. Soap opera, character interaction, realistic motivation, and big action. We've gained a lot of new readers – many who say they never read comics before, a great many of them women, coming in because of the movie, and staying because of my and Mike Marts's approach. Marvel likes that. They want to keep broadening the market, and appreciate what I'm doing, even when certain fans don't. God knows I wish I could be more like Mark Waid or Geoff Johns and make the die-hard fans happy at the same time I appeal to newer readers, but I seem to be geared for newer people, casual readers, and can't seem to change the way I do things. “So my approach remains the same. It's important to me to be character-centric, especially in a book like X-Men with so many fantastic and wonderful characters. That's what makes the book shine.”
On the artistic side of things, working with Salvador Larroca has been: “Unbelievable. I love Salva, and I love his artwork. Every new page is a dream, to me. His expressions, sensitivity, and detail are amazing. I love this guy, and can't imagine doing this book without him. He's worth his weight in gold.” But the world
of X is not the only location in which Austen can be found in the
Marvel Universe. He's currenlty wrapping up his run on Avengers with
the "Once an Invader" arc (issues #82-#84 and Invaders
#0) which sets the stage for the return and updating of the
super soldiers of Marvel's WWII era, the Invaders. “Basically what I'll say is this: Things that [former Avengers writer] Geoff Johns set up with Dell Rusk/Red Skull, and his being the Secretary of Defense, all continue growing out of the ashes of his defeat, like a dark phoenix. That's a metaphor, folks, not a clue to the series. Jean does not return, here. The Invaders grew out of the idea that ‘If Red Skull had the military and its budget under his control, and some like-minded individuals, what would the greatest Nazi the world has ever known do with that kind of power and influence? Would it all have ended just because he's now in prison somewhere?’ “The Invaders spring out of that.”
“Blazing Skull. Yeah, I've seen all the comments that he's lame and silly, and a weak-ass Ghost Rider knock-off, which is funny because he existed, oh, about thirty years before Ghost Rider. But he's my favorite. See Allan's interview for a great description of him, and the rest… “A Captain America “A Human Torch “Namor “Union Jack “Spitfire “I was an enormous fan of the original, but as always, when I get my hands on something, I just have to ruin the concept three ways to Sunday,” Austen laughed. “So, while this has immense ties to the original, and a ton of respect for those original heroes and concepts, it's a very, very new approach. “The original idea grew out of a new team I had created as villains for the Avengers, and Tom [Brevoort, Avengers editor] asked if I could make it a new version of the Invaders. I said sure, as long as I can turn them back into heroes once the arc is over. Tom had no problem with that, because Joe [Quesada] wanted a new Invaders series, anyway.
“But Allan and I are great friends, we worked together on King of the Hill, and often discussed the state of comics and how to approach writing them. He and I were having lunch and talking about the Invaders and my last arc on Avengers, he said how much he loved the original Invaders series, and asked if he could pitch Marvel on writing the new series. I gave him my blessing, and coordinating with Tom, we decided to co-write the first couple to get continuity between our respective takes. “As we both discussed where to go with things, Allan and I realized we were tremendously in sync on our approach to the series, how to make them a 'heroic' team from what they are in Avengers, and even had a nearly identical take on characters, voices, motivations and personalities. It gelled really nicely, and once we had it to a state that would work for Allan, he took it and ran. “Now, I know the first reaction is going to be, "Well, if it's based on Chuck's ideas, it'll suck." [laughs] But it won't. It's going to be a great series. Allan's a tremendous talent, and he's one of those Geoff Johns/Mark Waid-type [of] writers who can appeal to both fans and new readers, so no on should have any complaints. “And C.P. Smith is an awesome artist. Just amazing, so really, this book will be fantastic. And I'm not involved [laughs]. So buy it.” For more on May’s Reload event, make with the clicky for: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men David Hine and David Yardin’s District X Chris Claremont on Returning to Uncanny X-Men and Excalibur Brian K. Vaughan on Ultimate X-Men To comment on this story, click here |
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