By Kevin Mahadeo
When it comes to the upcoming limited series X-MEN VS AGENTS OF ATLAS, writer Jeff Parker says it best: this book looks like it cost a fortune to make.
"If you like in-depth character discussion and subtle interplay, then you don't want this book because this is really one great, big fight," says Parker. "Artist Carlos Pagulayan-this is really what he does best. It's more X-Men than you can count. It's everyone that Atlas can throw at them. We're just having the most big-screen fight. It's really something to see."
The creative team behind the ongoing AGENTS OF ATLAS title, Parker and Pagulayan team for this two-issue limited series that begins October 7 and sees the members of the outwardly criminal but secretly heroic Atlas Foundation attempting to steal Cerebra from the X-Men in order to locate their missing teammate, the seductive siren Venus. Fisticuffs ensue as the X-Men retaliate against the thieving team and fight to take back their mutant finding machine. In between talking battle plans, the former X-MEN FIRST CLASS writer chatted about the impending epic, writing the mutants in the modern day for the first time and his personal mission to abuse Wolverine as much as possible.
Marvel.com: As you mentioned, this is going to be one heck of an action comic.
X-MEN VS AGENTS OF ATLAS #1 cover by Ed McGuinness
Jeff Parker: Sometimes that's just what you want. It's like the logic of "300."
Marvel.com: So, basically the Atlas Group show up to take Cerebra, and as they are criminals, a fight breaks out between them and the X-Men?
Jeff Parker: It's not so much that they're criminals. The X-Men really have no opinion about them and don't know about them for the most part. The main thing is that the Agents of Atlas steal something that's very important to [the X-Men] and none of them knows why they did it. Atlas just got back from their own problems in dealing with the Jade Claw and all they know about the X-Men lately is that San Francisco erupted with all kinds of mutant riots. So, they have no idea whether they can trust the X-Men or not. Rather than approach them and ask straight forward if they can use Cerebra-and they don't really have any time either as they're worried about Venus-they just take it. And surprisingly, the X-Men don't like having their stuff stolen. It all just goes downhill from there. [Laughs]
Marvel.com: In AGENTS OF ATLAS issue #10, readers saw that Aphrodite was looking for Venus. I'm assuming that thread leads directly from the main title into this limited series?
Jeff Parker: You'll find out more about that in part two of the limited series, but it also leads into the Agents of Atlas appearance coming up in INCREDIBLE HERCULES. It really ties all that together.
Marvel.com: You wrote X-MEN FIRST CLASS previously, but this is really your first time writing the modern day team. What's it like writing the current generation of X-Men?
Jeff Parker: It's really a lot of fun. You'll see that I do a riff on some of the stuff that [UNCANNY X-MEN writer] Matt Fraction does in the book. I even requested that we have the same lettering and everything. I want people to get confused from the first few pages and think that they've picked up UNCANNY X-MEN by accident.
Marvel.com: How do you think the X-Men have evolved as a group and team from FIRST CLASS to now?
Jeff Parker: They seem more grown up to me than in recent years. One of my complaints about the X-Men is that despite all their experiences, in a lot of their storylines, they were still acting like a bunch of petulant children. I just really like Matt's take on them. They have more story logic and feel more realized these days and are more comfortable with who they are. You can't play that "I'm a dejected outsider" card forever. At some time you have to own up to what you are. And it seems the main X-Men do that, which I approve of. You can't still have all these growing
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| X-MEN VS AGENTS OF ATLAS #2 cover by Adi Granov |
Marvel.com: Abuse him physically or as the punch line to jokes?
Jeff Parker: You'll see. I make it my personal mandate to lay it on Wolverine whenever I have to write him. [Laughs] It's something I personally enjoy. It's just that he's so ever-present. He ends up in projects when you least expect it. And, of course, we had Wolverine meet the Agents of Atlas in the 50's. He's kind of their recurring thread. He was also there when they took on the Avengers. It's fun to have this one hero they absolutely can't get along with. And since he's a member of every single team they are always going to run into him. [Laughs] And I don't care what kind of healing powers you have. You have to be exhausted from flying coast to coast that much.
Marvel.com: Are there any X-Men you look forward to writing in a non-abusive way?
Jeff Parker: I was really looking forward to working with the ones that I always worked with in FIRST CLASS because I thought it'd be a lot of fun to approach them now at this point in their lives. So, you do see a fair amount of Angel and Iceman and Cyclops and Beast. Not so much Jean, obviously. But without giving too much away you actually will see her in this. There's an online story that is being drawn by Chris Samnee that's also going to appear in the book that will feature Marvel Girl. It might be a little confusing in the first issue when you see it, but you are going to see the original Atlas going up against the original X-Men. I can't say anymore about that because it'll totally blow the story if I did.
Marvel.com: You mentioned playing with the characters from FIRST CLASS, and in that book the original X-Men did meet Gorilla Man. Will you be touching upon that here?
Jeff Parker: This is where I finally got to decide if that was in continuity-it is. So, if you read that, you'll really get and appreciate the in-play between them is. I really liked Gorilla Man's appearance in there. That wasn't something I was originally going to do but the editor suggested it to me. When I started thinking about it I was like, "This is perfect," because I could show where Gorilla Man was for several years when he wasn't in the United States. And who else would be a great tour guide through Africa when you're trying to find somebody?
Marvel.com: You mentioned this is one big fight, but with the X-Men having a super-powered army and the Atlas group missing its trump card Venus, do the Agents even stand a chance?
Jeff Parker: Well, you have to remember that the Atlas Foundation is a pretty big organization. It's not just them. They can call in any number of minions all day long. Essentially, that's where the fight is going. It starts off as a stealth and heist sort of operation, but when it comes down to it, it becomes everybody grabbing everybody they can because it's grown into a gang war. Then Namor gets involved. It just keeps getting out of control. And you get to see that [the X-Men] are not completely unstoppable. I mean, Scott can level a wall, but if [you] run by him and hit him in the head there's not a whole lot he can do. The Agents of Atlas think about ways to take people down. They don't run into a situation without planning. Then again, as soon as Cyclops has any amount of information he's planning, too. We get to do that whole Scott versus Jimmy and their team leading styles, which is very similar.
AGENTS OF ATLAS #11 cover by Adi Granov
Marvel.com: We have this limited series with the Agents and the X-Men and you mentioned the upcoming tie-in with HERCULES. What's it like bringing the Agents of Atlas into the greater Marvel Universe after being a rather underground group for so long?
Jeff Parker: That was the point of this volume: to throw them out into the Marvel Universe and not have them sneaking around the edges anymore. They've pretty much already run into everybody but the Fantastic Four at this point. Hey! There's an idea!
Marvel.com: We talked earlier about FIRST CLASS, and that book definitely had a very fun atmosphere to it. The current X-Men don't always fit that same tone anymore. How will you be approaching these characters in that regard?
Jeff Parker: In FIRST CLASS, I thought it was important to show the adventure and experience of what it would be like getting superpowers. I feel like, why did they stay in the X-Men all these years if it was awful from the beginning? They are essentially metaphors for teens becoming adults. "Wow. I can do all sorts of stuff. I can affect things." That was the real spirit of that. I like picking up with where they are now and showing that they're the same people but they've just matured. It's pretty rewarding.
Marvel.com: It's like seeing how your kids have grown over time.
Jeff Parker: Yeah. "Aww. I'm very proud of all of them. Hey, where did Jean go?" [Laughs]
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