by Mike Collins

1. Mike Carey was kind enough to go into some detail on his thought process for your Super Novas arc on X-Men. Can you tell us a bit about how you approach not only working with a new writer, but on a different title with a different cast?

Usually, when working with a new writer, we touch base and I may ask him what he'd like to see from me and we go from there. MC's script are nice in that they are full scripts complete with dialogue and aren't so compacted that there isn't room for improvisation. When reading a script I often have snapshots of images that I'd like to expand upon and if there isn't sufficient room to do so it can be frustrating. I was rummaging through some books a few months ago and ran across Millers and Darrow's Hardboiled series. Amazing work. I really enjoy the covers with the figures and white BG's and i wanted to emulate that layout somewhere. I ended up using it by expanding on one of the early scenes in XMEN 188 by adding a double page spread featuring Rogue. And, I expanded upon that as I plan on using it as an element throughout the entire arc. MC has been terrific thus far regarding my liberal interpretations of his script. He says everything looks "brilliant", though I fear that one day I'll visit his study and there will be a pic of yours truly tacked on the dart board riddled with puncture marks. MC's work, having read through three scripts thus far, has been "brilliant". His handling of the characters is well thought out, the use of sub-plots well conceived and his dialogue precise. It's the best X-Material I've ever worked on and I'm having the time of my life.

2. Mike has spoken greatly of your concept design for this run, specifically your character designs. Where did your design ideas come from for the looks for the team as well as their adversaries The Children of the Vault?

Let me say that I'm super happy to have had the opportuntiy to re-imagine most of the characters on this title (Thanks MM!!. For me, there is nothing worse than working on a book with characters designed by someone else. When the time came to jump on X-MEN I was pleased to learn that I could modify the look of the line up. Mostly, the modifications were small things: I like Rogue's classic green and I added a cape to fit her new role in the book. Capes make a character a little more imposing--see Magneto, Batman and Superman--and she will be more "imposing" in Carey's book. I liked Dazzlers look in AOA. We're not using that any more, so I thought I'd take the essence of that costume and use the sexy nasty look for Lady Mastermind. Mystique, I like her classic garb with the white and Golden skulls. Sabertooth, I enjoyed the look I gave him in New X-Men so I ran with that and gave him a mountain man scheme, which I feel is more indicative of his feral nature. In regards to The Vault Kids, I read over MC's description of the characters and reacted. I always keep in mind the personality type of the character and what they'll be doing. Originally, Aguja was the "B" personality and Serafina the "A". Upon reading up on them I suggested that it may better if their personality traits were reversed. With costumes, If the character flies, its often best to keep they're tights simple. If they crash into things, perhaps armor is best. If they a swim, perhaps camoflauge blue and green are required. I also try and imagine what kind of person the character is and what they do: Serafina is a techy so I gave her kind of an underground, independent, insular, dark, spendsloadsoftimeinfrontofacomputerscreen gothic look. Aguja, the "A" type, is an intolerant blonde in green armor, a mini and fires sheer light daggers.

3. What can you tell us about Super Novas?

That a supernova is a stellar explosion that produces an extremely bright object made of plasma that declines to invisibility over weeks or months. There are several different types of supernovae and two possible routes to their formation. A massive star may cease to generate fusion energy from fusing the nuclei of atoms in its core and collapses inward under the force of its own gravity , or a white drawf star may accumulate material from a companion star until it reaches its Chandrasekhar limit and undergoes a thermonuclear explosion. In either case, the resulting supernova explosion expels much or all of the stellar material with great force.

That's my smart ass answer. Though it was better than what I do know which is virtually nothing. You'd have to ask the Mike's about that. I have a rough outline for about 12 issues, but i think its been modified a few times. What I do know is that the first six issue arc talks about the Children, who they are and how they were made. By whom I don't know. There are various subplots being sprinkled throughtout the arc so pay attention. It's good stuff.

4. I know Rogue is an all time favorite of yours. Are there any other characters you’re enjoying drawing for this run? Any that you wish Mike had left out?

I begged, well almost begged, the Mikes to make Rogue a more interesting character and they've made her A+. She's tough and decisive and the best part is that MC has given her a sense of humor. She cracks me up and she's really pissed at her mother. Mystique is going to be fun. She's kinda dark and unpredictable. In the beginning, the Mikes were debating on whether or not to bring Cable on board. I sort of cringed at the idea of having him in the book as I don't think he's very interesting and I don't have a good take on him. I'm still waiting to see how that works out as he joins the title in issue 190. Jury is out on Iceman. Cannonball is fun. Nice costume (Hah!), but he's still a work in progress for me. Same with Lady Mastermind and Karima Shapandor. MM liked the way I handled Karima in Uncanny and wanted to see more. She's the one character I've been chatting with MC about as she is very new and undefined. What's been a nice surprise is that Emma, Scott and Hank have been regulars in the book thus far. Emmas always fun. Last but not least, is ST. I'm having the most fun with him. He has a lot on his plate at the beginning of our arc and I'm having fun beating him up.

5. You’ve worked on several different versions of the X-Men. What is it about the characters that keeps you coming back?

I like that the X-Men exist more in a sci-fi world like Bladerunner, Mad Max and Star Wars than in a super hero world. I've never been a Superman super hero kind of guy. I collected Ghost Rider, Werewolf by Night and Deathlok as a kid. Mutants are a nice fit.

6. Aside from your regular penciling duties you also had a hand in designing the much talked about Iron Spider-Man costume. Can you talk about that process a bit?

Axel called me one day, shared with me what they were doing and asked if I wanted to take a crack at the redesign. As is my nature, I went in little darker direction than what the final JQ version looks like. I had Matt Wagners Grendel in mind: Sleek, dark, dangerous with very little color, big white eyes , Black Widow venom blasters and Doc Oc extra arms.

7. Do you enjoy taking a crack at re-designing other characters?

Not a whole lot. Its the very hard part of the job for me. Same with designing covers or designing anything for that matter. Its the part of the job where I earn my money. If designing was a road trip the first one hundred feet would start with the steepest hill imaginable, more like a cliff, with the rest of the journey being a gentle down grade for about twenty miles. Its that cliff where I blow my brains out and sometimes when I get to the top and the results aren't there and its back down the hill. Fuck! I go through this on every cover. Certain characters are easier than others. Rogue was easy enough as was Mystique but Cable is proving to be a dog. I'm kind of all over the map with Karima as well. If you look closely you can see her details changing from scene to scene and from cover to cover. I can't make up my mind with her. Notice, I've yet to show a head to toe shot of her. And its the details I'm talking about. The big pieces are fine, its the little ones that define the character and make him or her interesting that I'm stuck on. Thats why I keep dogging MC, because I'm looking for that detail to hang my hat on.

8. Continuing from your recent Uncanny run, the covers on X-Men are fantastic. How do you go about deciding what the cover image will actually be? Do you try to incorporate a story element or just work on an image that will stand out on the racks?

A little of everything. When designing the covers the idea is to sell what the book is about and attract as much attention as possible so those goals are always in the corner of my mind when putting together ideas. First thing is to get my hands on the script or plot. Hopefully, I have this a few days with it before getting started so that I can start thinking about what to do. If this goes well, I may have 2-5 ideas that I can put on paper, so when times up and I have to go up that cliff, I can find a quiet spot in my day and I put them down fairly quickly. Some are white bread ideas like the group shot on issue 191, others may be an idea pulled from the story like the covers to issues 190 and 192 and others may be character shots like Uncanny 466 with Rachel staring coldly in front of the hot and cracked earth X-Logo or Sabretooth in chains on the 189 cover. If the idea is good, it should be fairy simple and colored with a low range of colors. Issue 190 is a good example. Its simple, with minimal characters and a very low range of color. The subject matter is engaging and it'll stand out like a beacon on the shelves. Cover of the Month in Wizard 179!! I'll tell you, I thought it was the worst cover I'd ever drawn when I sent the pencils off to Tim. I was depressed for two days. Fortunately, it shined with inks and colors.

9. You will be working primarily with Tim Townsend and Jamie Mendoza on X-Men. Does having two inkers change the way you go about penciling the issue?

There may be a few adjustments I make but I more or less I pencil the work and let them apply their excellence. I do try and break up the pages in scenes so that they can have a good idea of what is going on.

10. Outside of penciling comics you’ve mentioned that you’ve done some design work for some big name companies like Oakley. What kind of work do you do outside of comics?

That varies from job to job. With Oakley, I did concept work for just about no reason. They asked me to draw girls in various costumes. I asked what they were going to be used for and they didn't know. I designed a small logo for the Around the World in Eighty days movie. I didn't have time for all the material they wanted me to do. I met the director Frank Coraci which was pretty neat. His new movie is Click with Adam Sandler The new X-men Gameboy just arrived in May. I did heads for that. I've been pretty much sticking to comics of late.

11. Is there anything else in the pipeline coming from you Chris?

I always have a few covers in the loop: More Withblade covers coming up this fall and an Iron and Maiden cover which is a new book from the creator of Crash Bandicoot. I just finished a Meltdown cover. I think I may be working on a Treasurey book with a group of ten artists lead by Erik Larsen. The deal is everyone gets eight pages to write and draw anything they want. I'm not sure what kind of fiction you'll get from ten artists but it should look good. The sexy is that it will be published treasurey size. That'll be a first for me. I say "I think" because I've yet to start and its due in August. I 've an idea and I just need to put it on paper. I have to finish my Hipflask book first. It's been five years on that one. Looks good, though Richard Starkings hair has slid from the top of his head to his chin during that time. I'm sure their is a big pic of me on a big dart board in his office....

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us again Chris!

Yep. Godspeed!