EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW & PREVIEW: Uncanny X-Force #20 by Remender & Tocchini

Ever since the conclusion of the Dark Angel Saga in the pages of Uncanny X-Force, our enthusiasm and raving about the book has gone up to 11. I’ve been touting Uncanny X-Force as the best ongoing series at Marvel Comics for a while, but the question has lingered now that the initial 18 issue epic came to a conclusion, “where does it go from here?”  Will Rick Remender be able to keep spinning gold from Uncanny X-Force? We’ll find out with Uncanny X-Force #20, set to hit comic shops on January 18th, 2012.

For this next story arc, Remender teams up with artist Greg Tocchini. This pair previously collaborated on the excellent indie crime book The Last Days of American Crime (which, if you haven’t read yet, I strongly recommend.) Following Jerome Opena on the next arc of Uncanny X-Force is a tough act to follow, but you can get a a taste of it in the exclusive preview of Uncanny X-Force #20 below. Now, Marvel would only allow us to show 5 pages of the book, but I’ve seen the entire issue and trust me folks, the amazingness continues. Tocchini brings some epic art to these pages and fans of X-Force won’t be disappointed.

To go along with some of this amazing art that you can see below, I spoke briefly to writer Rick Remender about the upcoming arc to give us an idea of where Uncanny X-Force was headed:

iFanboy: So now that the Dark Angel Saga has concluded, what’s to come in issue #20?

Rick Remender: Issue #20 is a bit of a connector to the Dark Angel Saga. I still like playing with the idea that these dominoes that they set in motion are still falling.  The tribunal/court in Otherworld run by Saturnyne and Captain Britain have decided that Fantomex must be eradicated. We reveal in the first few issues that Fantomex only exists on 616, he is something of an anomaly that should not exist for a few reasons that are mysterious and Brian [Captain Britain] fears him. There is a connection to the Braddock family that will be fun to see people’s reaction to.

The story is about, for those who the un-initiated, Otherworld is the dimension outside of all dimensions.  In Otherworld, there is the Tower Omniverse, that’s run by the Captain Britain Corps, Merlin, Roma, Saturnye and all these really cool characters and they basically guard every dimension and in this tower there’s a doorway that leads to every dimension, and their job, The Captain Britain Corps, which are various Captain Britains from every dimension, gather and do their best to keep everything sane and logical.  So they have taken it upon themselves to abduct Betsy (Psylocke) who is Captain Britain’s sister, and to put Fantomex on trial for his crimes and that’s where we open up the story.

iF: Captain Britain, Otherworld, Saturnyne, these are all old Alan Moore concepts that were then picked up by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. Some pretty big names there. Why hasn’t anyone touched these concepts and why do it now?

RR: I don’t know why no one has. To me, when I realized that no one else had really dug in to it, and it had been touched upon in the late 90s/early 2000s by a few different people, but it was never really dug back into.  So that seemed like a terrifying prospect. Like maybe there’s a good reason not to try and play in the playground of Alan Moore, Chris Claremont and Alan Davis.  Maybe it’s a better idea to say, “Hey, those guys are pretty great and I should probably not do that!” (laughs)

I do think that Captain Britain and Otherworld, this stuff is as rich as anything that Thor has to offer, no question. It’s basically the English/Celtic mythology thing with Merlin and Arthur. It really does have as rich of a history as Norse mythology and Thor.  Frankly, the Tower Omniverse with all those doorways is far more interesting to me than anything else that could exist. This tower where you could basically walk up and go into any reality, and we’ve seen some of those realities in various What If…? issues. It just opens up so many possibilities.

If I mess up, it will be pretty obvious given the caliber of people who have come before me and what I’m trying to put together here. It was a frightening prospect. I went back and re-read all that stuff and got versed. I had to make notes on how I will handle it and what do I have to say with this and what’s the difference with mine? Why would I bring it back up and do I have a story to tell? And I did. It really also gives us a chance to take a good, long look at Betsy Braddock and her family. Which is the thing that really defines character and in this case Betsy’s connection to Otherworld and her family and her relationship with her family now that they know what she’s been up to. As well as Fantomex and his relationship to her family which will make things strange and interesting between them moving forward. It was the same thing as the Apocalypse stuff. It was really cool stuff that had been left on the sidelines for a while and I was like, “Well, okay, I’ll take that!” (laughs)

iF: This week we saw the events of the Dark Angel Saga spilling into Wolverine & X-Men #4, and on the Marvel press conference about Secret Avengers, it sounded like this story in Uncanny X-Force would be spilling into Secret Avengers?

RR: Yes. I don’t want to make anyone have to buy another book. That was always the frustrating thing for me as a reader when it was like “Now, if you want to see what happens next, go buy…” You don’t have to read one to enjoy the other or to get full story. Otherworld is a 4 issue story, it has a beginning, middle and end. Like every thing else in X-Force, it sets up the next arc, and then bleeds into the next arc. We already have our tracks laid for the second year, so there are plenty of things that will pay off big. But if you do happen to read this and you read Secret Avengers, you’ll get a richer view of the story and you’ll have a richer view of Captain Britain and what he does.

iF: Your approach to Uncanny X-Force as been interesting to me as a reader, with a series of stories that tie into a larger narrative arc, kind of like what Claremont used to do. Was that the approach from the get go?

RR: Well, that’s the other big thing, the mega arc. I grew up reading Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men, that stuff really grabbed me. I loved it when 2 years later something that was seeded would blow up in their face. I think that was something that going into it, I thought that if I’m going to do an X-Men book, that every chapter would have a beginning, middle and end. So if you just bought Deathlok Nation, you get a story. If you just bought any of the arcs, you’d get a full story. But I think the fun of it is it also fits into a bigger picture and when you read it all in a row you get a better story in a big season every year.

iF: With issue #20, you’re working with Greg Tocchini again. Why pull him into Uncanny X-Force now? Was there something about his art that fit this story or was it more about scheduling?

RR: Greg and I have been looking for something that was big fantasy. We have a creator owned project that we’ve been talking about forever. Three of the things we wanted to do, one of them was a big fantasy epic. When I was planning this arc out, I knew we needed somebody who could match Jerome Opena, and in many ways Greg does, and we needed somebody who could bring a scope and flair to fantasy stuff that would make it unique. Greg is in a class of his own when it comes to designing stuff. He has a beautiful, fluid style and his designs are so incredibly unique that I thought this would be a great time to get our fantasy stuff out of the way. Dean’s been doing a terrific job over him. I’m so spoiled, it’s really nice work.

iF: Talking about Tocchini has me curious about Last Days of American Crime, when we spoke last you said that there would be more. Are there any updates on that?

RR:  We’re in production on American Crime, volume 2 right now with a different artist who hasn’t been announced yet. Different, but equally as amazing to Greg. Greg and I are neck deep in X-Force right now, making sure we can keep the quality that the book has had so far and I think we definitely have. He’s definitely the one doing the doing the heavy lifting. It’s much easier for me to write, “Double page spread! 45 zombie trolls come stomping around Dragon-Town.” I promise that’s way easier. It’s the way easier side of the job to be on. (laughs)

But yeah, we’re doing Last Days of American Crime volume 2 and it’s slow going because the artist we’ve got is amazing and we want to make sure we’ve got plenty in the can before we do a big announce and launch. And then Greg and I will do this arc of X-Force and we’re talking about our creator owned stuff and some potential projects to come after this.

iF: I have to admit, as a fan of your pre-Marvel work, it’s good to hear you talking about creator owned work again…

RR: I’m having a lot of fun playing int he Marvel sandbox and playing with all the different characters that I grew up reading, it’s definitely a ton of fun. But it’s also a very different exercise than creating your own characters and your own worlds. I don’t ever anticipate I’ll stop doing one or the other. I hope that I can find a nice middle ground and keep doing them both.

 Uncanny X-Force #20 goes on sale on January 18th, 2012 and costs $3.99.  Check out this preview of the first 5 pages: