Peter David X-Factor interview

[Titan Slade]

Over at www.newsarama.com

[Cayman]

Wonder if any familiar characters show up on the Singularity Investigations team?

Sounds like an exciting series.

Cay

[Atom_basher]

NRAMA: Was there anyone you wanted to get your hands on, but couldn?t?

PD: Osama bin Laden.



im sittting here laughing at that part

[Cayman]

Good thing, only Chris Claremont can write Osama Bin Laden correctly.

Cay

[streator]

sounds like x-factor will be a good read. i thought the newsarama question asking "are they going to be called xxx investigations or x-factor" was a little dumb, as madrox ended with xxx investigations already becoming x-factor investigations.

[Gaveedra 6]

I can't remember the last time a writer actually expressed any interest in exploring Rictor's character. The only team he's ever really been a premanent fixture on was the freaking X-Terminators. He's one of my favorites. I'm already dying for this to come out!

[fishtaco]

NRAMA: Was there anyone you wanted to get your hands on, but couldn?t?

PD: Osama bin Laden.

im sittting here laughing at that partSame here. :D
Good thing, only Chris Claremont can write Osama Bin Laden correctly.heh heh. Dont forget about Fabian Nicieza. He wrote a great Osama bin-Laden (and George W Bush) in Cable and Deaadpool 13-14 :D. And then CC wrote Bush in XXT 31. fun stuff ;)

Anyway, that was a great interview. Peter David is one of my favorite X-writers. When Claremont, Simonson, and Byrne all left in the early 90's, it was PAD's X-Factor that kept X-men at least halfway decent (with some help from Alan Davis's Excalibur).

I hope we can see some familiar faces in the SI group. Not sure who would be good picks, but I hope its somebody we know. Also, I was impressed by PAD's explanation of the dynamics and conflicted drama in the book involving all the characters.

My only worry is that since Quesada is bringing in a bunch of mega wide-line crossovers, it might create some tension between PAD and Marvel. PAD left X-Factor in the 90's because Bob Harras wouldnt let him at least run in one of his own plots in his book during a crossover (except for X-Cutioner's Song a bit). This time, I hope that Quesada will allow PAD to write his own stories while still participating in the crossover.

By the way, doesnt PAD really not like Quesada? From what I heard, he was kind of mad when Quesada was his pencilier on X-Factor and he never got his work in on time. PAD thought it was an insult to the fans to rush in mediocre art at the last minute because the regular pencilier didnt bother to get his art out on time. Is this true?

Very excited for this series. Very excited.

[Cayman]

So is Rictor then no longer Shatterstar-oriented? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Cay

[fishtaco]

So is Rictor then no longer Shatterstar-oriented? Not that there's anything wrong with that.What do you mean no longer Shatterstar oriented? Sure, he is probably friends with Shatterstar still, but I wouldnt count on seeing him in this book.

[Gaveedra 6]

So is Rictor then no longer Shatterstar-oriented? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Cay
Kind of disappointed about that as well. But Rictor has always been a wild card. He's probably the most plausably bisexual of all the X-characters. :rolleyes:

Hopefully Shatterstar can show up and make the Monet-Rahne-Syrin-Rictor swoonfest really interesting.

[atoningunifex]

Well thank God peter David made sure to scrap Rictor's rumored homosexuality. He's way more interesting interested in the brooding alcoholic Irish girl.

Sometimes i really get tired of heterosexuality.

[Titan Slade]

Well thank God peter David made sure to scrap Rictor's rumored homosexuality.


Thank PAD for this genius move :D Rictor was established from the beginning of his creation as a character as liking women not men. The Shatterstar thing was a rumor started by fans, not any Marvel writer.

[Gaveedra 6]

Rictors' never been portrayed as anything other than "confused". And the only people he's ever been "interested in" have been Rahne and Shatterstar. (And Boom Boom a little in the beginning there.. )

He's been a punk wearing a leather vest and biker gloves, a hair-metal type rockstar, and then he cut his hair and went all metrosexual-ish. Now he looks completely different again. Who knows what's up with him?

It was really quite clear something was going on between him and Shatterstar. It was just never explored. I belive the writers at the time even said they wanted to hook them up, but is was nixed.

Peter David has already explored the extremely interesting sexuality of Maddrox, who is sort of omni-sexual, albiet mostly straight. Who can know what would happen if one of those dupes put the moves on Rictor, even if he's into Syrin?

I think Peter David must be aware of the fan buzz about Rictor and Shatterstar. That homo-mystique has helped keep these characters popular even though they've spent years in limbo. I hope it's acknowledged in how he portrays Rictor.

That said, I'd almost rather he be straight than he suddenly be a tolken Northsar-esque queer. THAT would be completely out of character. I'd be fine with it if a Maddrox dupe hits on Ric and Ric's like "Sorry man, I'm straight. Ben and I had a thing, but it's really not for me." That actually might be the bravest statement PAD could make.

Sorry for the rant... I am just really excited to have Ric back in a monthly...

[Titan Slade]

Rictors' never been portrayed as anything other than "confused". And the only people he's ever been "interested in" have been Rahne and Shatterstar. (And Boom Boom a little in the beginning there.. )


I have seen him kissing females in X-Books, but never males? :confused: . So how has Rictor ever portrayed himself as being gay? :confused:

[Tobias March]

Star and Ric had a discussion about sexuality in Fabes' last issue before AoA that was pretty open-ended. It was revealed that Shatterstar's people were conditioned entirely by the spineless - he has no clue what he is, how he should feel. Ric offers to teach him after an encounter with a girl at a nightclub. It wasn't so much that Rictor was shown tongueing guys that intrigued some fans - more that he seemed fairly open-minded to the whole idea of sexuality. Star it was implied could go either way. As for Rictor, we simply don't know. He was removed from the equation by Jeph Loeb in an issue of Cable and 'Star was left on the team, forming a bond of sorts with Meltdown.

I would really be curious to know what Fabes had intended, but I imagine we will never see anything definitive.

[Alan2099]

That was a rather hilarious interview. While I can understand keeping out Havok and Polaris, it would have been nice to see Forge and Quicksilver with the team again.

[Gaveedra 6]

I have seen him kissing females in X-Books, but never males? :confused: . So how has Rictor ever portrayed himself as being gay? :confused:

He had very deep feelings for Shatterstar and vice versa. And in their one-shot X-Force annual they spent the night together and it was hinted something went on.

I'm not denying he liked, and most likely continues to like girls. He was really quite in love with Rahne. I just think that there could be more to his sexuality than that if a writer dared go into it.

[Titan Slade]

It wasn't so much that Rictor was shown tongueing guys that intrigued some fans - more that he seemed fairly open-minded to the whole idea of sexuality.

What does this have to do with him being gay :confused: . And in PAD's X-Factor #84, Wolfsbane and Rictor are in the middle of a passionate kiss, when she gets too worked up and bites him on the lip. I have never seen Rictor get romantic with a man in a comic book :confused:

[Gaveedra 6]

What does this have to do with him being gay :confused: . And in PAD's X-Factor #84, Wolfsbane and Rictor are in the middle of a passionate kiss, when she gets too worked up and bites him on the lip. I have never seen Rictor get romantic with a man in a comic book :confused:

That's because guys usually aren't allowed to be shown kissing in Marvel comics.

Gambit and Iceman have been making out behind the scenes for the last decade. Didn't you know?

[DDM]

That was a rather hilarious interview. While I can understand keeping out Havok and Polaris, it would have been nice to see Forge and Quicksilver with the team again.

Chris Claremont has Forge for Uncanny X-Men. Quicksilver is in the Avengers editors' hands.

[Titan Slade]

That's because guys usually aren't allowed to be shown kissing in Marvel comics.

Gambit and Iceman have been making out behind the scenes for the last decade. Didn't you know?

No no no, it's Iceman and Beast. All of their years of dating women in the X-Men comic books(like Rictor does)is just a cover up for their true feelings ;) .

[Tobias March]

What does this have to do with him being gay :confused: . And in PAD's X-Factor #84, Wolfsbane and Rictor are in the middle of a passionate kiss, when she gets too worked up and bites him on the lip. I have never seen Rictor get romantic with a man in a comic book :confused:

Well as I said, it was the fact that he didn't make the sign of the cross and run away from Star once the possibility that he 'might', be gay was raised. Also, like I said, it wasn't made clear exactly how Rictor stood on the issue. He makes some comment to the effect that he 'talks a good game, but never scored a home run'.

Fabes was hinting at something. Some fans interpreted it that Rictor was himself sexually confused. Others that Rictor merely had an open-minded understanding of sexuality. That's the it.

[Gaveedra 6]

No no no, it's Iceman and Beast. All of their years of dating women in the X-Men comic books(like Rictor does)is just a cover up for their true feelings ;) .

True true.
But Beast had to ruin it all by actually SAYING HE WAS GAY!!! So Bobby had to start screwing around in the closet with Gambit because he didn't want to be outed. :p

[streator]

as per the rictor/shatterstar thing, there were definitely hints about something going on between them. i read through x-force 1-60 earlier this summer, and noticed a lot more there than i had before. for example, shatterstar is mentioned as wearing lipstick, always concerned with his physical appearance (even in battle), and while both of these can easily be attributed to his "showmanship" attitude they can equally be taken as meaning something else. shatterstar has a wife, yes, but he doesn't love her. he doesn't know what love, the feeling, is. in that last issue before the AoA his dialogue boxes mention being very awkward with women (again, he wasn't raised to know love, but it can be taken as something else). basically you can interpret it as the pc way (shatterstar not knowing love, him being a product of a media-obsessed reality and therefore always concerned with his appearance and such, having a strong connection with rictor as simply a friend, etc.) or you can interpret it as something more.
rictor has been shown to be heterosexual, and really i think that he is intended to be. i think all of the "something more" between he and shatterstar was mostly if not all on shatterstar's part. i think rictor just views him as a close friend, personally.

[Gaveedra 6]

as per the rictor/shatterstar thing, there were definitely hints about something going on between them. i read through x-force 1-60 earlier this summer, and noticed a lot more there than i had before. for example, shatterstar is mentioned as wearing lipstick, always concerned with his physical appearance (even in battle), and while both of these can easily be attributed to his "showmanship" attitude they can equally be taken as meaning something else. shatterstar has a wife, yes, but he doesn't love her. he doesn't know what love, the feeling, is. in that last issue before the AoA his dialogue boxes mention being very awkward with women (again, he wasn't raised to know love, but it can be taken as something else). basically you can interpret it as the pc way (shatterstar not knowing love, him being a product of a media-obsessed reality and therefore always concerned with his appearance and such, having a strong connection with rictor as simply a friend, etc.) or you can interpret it as something more.
rictor has been shown to be heterosexual, and really i think that he is intended to be. i think all of the "something more" between he and shatterstar was mostly if not all on shatterstar's part. i think rictor just views him as a close friend, personally.

Yeah, Shatterstar is most certainly higher up on the Kinsey scale. :)

[Faded]

I liked everything I heard except for even MORE love matrixes. I've had enough of those honestly.

[The Shadow]

Thanks for the link!

[Alan2099]

Chris Claremont has Forge for Uncanny X-Men. Quicksilver is in the Avengers editors' hands.
I know. I'm just sayin'.

[Tenebrae]

Could I be any more excited about this? I don't think so. Everything I read about it just makes me more and more ravenous for it to come out. That's refreshing these days, and I'm loving it.

As for Rictor... I'm not too concerned about whether he turns out to be bisexual or not. It doesn't seem on the surface that that will be the focus here and that's cool with me. The fact that he may or may not have had a thing with another man in the past just makes him more interesting and if fans want to read between the lines while he's pursuing a woman, then they can - that doesn't mean Peter David has to address it directly.

I think that's the key to Rictor. As has already been pointed out on this thread, he's never really had a writer pay him much attention or spend much time looking into his head and developing. That leads to inconsistencies in the way he's been written (such as his changing fashions and the question mark over his sexuality) and what we're left with now is what we've seen on the page, doesn't matter what writers intended. The very fact that he's seemingly jumped from idea to idea, lifestyle to lifestyle, makes him a complex character. Might not have happened by design, but that's what we end up with, and Peter David is maybe the most ideally suited writer in comics today to explore that.

Can't. Wait.

[fishtaco]

Rictor was never gay or bisexual. That was a fan rumor because of his friendship with Shatterstar? It was even in the letters page of one issue of X-Force (forgot which one).

Not that there is anything at all wrong with homosexuality, but I hope that PAD adresses this and confirms that he is strait, and that was just a fan rumor. There's nothing wrong with homosexuality (in fact, I dislike people who cant respect it), but its just not very Rictor-like.

[Deathstroke]

I read it, and even though it was going to be on my pull list anyway, I'm really looking forward to it even more now.

[xmanson]

Loeb gave pretty obvious hints that Shatterstar really felt that Shatterstar was more than a friend... even goig to lame stuff as having him fight some gay bashers... There is an issue when he and Siryn were training and something about they not admitting their feelings or some other love-dovey crap came up.

Shatterstar was so gay.

And a bottom, I bet.

[Alpha to Omega]

I'm betting he makes Monet a lesbian like he did to Moondragon.

[xmanson]

I'm betting he makes Monet a lesbian like he did to Moondragon.


Monet always had the hots for Jubillee.

And her personality is very similar to Moondragon's... hmmm... carpets on the work.

[Flight]

but its just not very Rictor-like. Its CLEARLY very Rictor like if everybody can spot gay undertones to the character!!!

[xmanson]

Its CLEARLY very Rictor like if everybody can spot gay undertones to the character!!!

Of course...and the ones you can't really tell are the best ones...

[Volk1]

I can't remember the last time a writer actually expressed any interest in exploring Rictor's character. The only team he's ever really been a premanent fixture on was the freaking X-Terminators. He's one of my favorites. I'm already dying for this to come out!

amen to that! I was so ecstatic learning he was going to be on this...and judging by PAD's solitication he is going to be an integral part of the team as all the girls on the roster seem to want a piece of him......

Hopefully this is a new golden point for Rictor...just like when shined during the X-tinction agenda..

[fishtaco]

Its CLEARLY very Rictor like if everybody can spot gay undertones to the character!!!There were no gay undertones to the character.

Hey, Ive noticed that Rachel is close friends with Kitty! Maybe Rachel is a lesbian!!!

Its the same ridiculous thing. I can nitpick for something gay about any character. A few months ago, homophobes threatened to file a lawsuit against Nickolodeon for Spoinge Bob Freakin Square Pants for "holding hands with a starfish".

Tell me. Do you think that Sponge Bob Square Pants is gay?

[Titan Slade]

There were no gay undertones to the character.

Hey, Ive noticed that Rachel is close friends with Kitty! Maybe Rachel is a lesbian!!!

Its the same ridiculous thing.

Yeah, but the gay posters want gay characters in the X-Universe so badly, they grasp blindly at straws and make goofy analogies. No use arguing about it though.

[Nyssane]

Rictor's TOTALLY gay. And I'm rather put off at the sudden love quartet that's going to be happening. Rahne and Monet all over Rictor who's all over Siryn? Boooring. Rictor needs to go back to his bottom-boy Shatterstar.

[Michael P]

So, am I the only one who doesn't really care if Rictor's gay, as long as the book's funny?

[Alpha to Omega]

There were no gay undertones to the character.

Hey, Ive noticed that Rachel is close friends with Kitty! Maybe Rachel is a lesbian!!!

Well Claremont has hinted to some of his female character's orientations most notably Storm and also Kitty in MekaniX so I wouldn't put it past him.

[Titan Slade]

So, am I the only one who doesn't really care if Rictor's gay, as long as the book's funny?

Most people don't care, but Rictor has never had anything but a romantic relationship with a woman so far shown in an X-Book. The Shatterstar thing is pure biased speculation.

[streator]

So, am I the only one who doesn't really care if Rictor's gay, as long as the book's funny?
i do not care, i only posted the shatterstar stuff because i recently read through those issues.
as per the book being funny... i didn't think madrox was a "funny" book. i think it will be in that vein, i'd assume.

[The Lucky One]

Aw, Peter David's a Sherlock Holmes fan too? Geez, just when I thought it wasn't possible for the man to get any cooler... stop doing that, Peter! I don't have room to make the shrine any bigger!

-D

[Steven F.]

Yeah, but the gay posters want gay characters in the X-Universe so badly, they grasp blindly at straws and make goofy analogies. No use arguing about it though.

Getting a bit general there aren't you? I am gay, but I realize Rictor was not gay. Fabian has said he never intended for Rictor to be gay, just close friends with Star. Just because I am gay does not mean I want every character to be gay, stop generalizing.

[fishtaco]

Most people don't care, but Rictor has never had anything but a romantic relationship with a woman so far shown in an X-Book. The Shatterstar thing is pure biased speculation.Yes, he has. He has had romantic relationships with both Meltdown II (Tabitha Smith) and Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair).

[jarrod]

Yes, he has. He has had romantic relationships with both Meltdown II (Tabitha Smith) and Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair).
I know plenty of gay guys who dated girls in highschool too. :)

[Gingold]

Yes, he has. He has had romantic relationships with both Meltdown II (Tabitha Smith) and Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair).

Dude, re-read what you're responding to. He's agreeing with you.


It's kind of a shame that Rictor's not gay. At least it would've made him interesting. He's a bit of a strange choice for this book, because all of the other characters have personalities. I'd rather have seen Jimmy Proudstar, though I suppose he and Guido are too similar. I'm looking forward to this book a lot though. Jamie, Rahne, and Theresa are some of my favorite x-folks, Guido's fun, and M was one of the three interesting GenXers. I just hope this book is X-Factor funny, not Young Justice "Funny".

[fishtaco]

Dude, re-read what you're responding to. He's agreeing with you.whoa. whoops.

Sorry, TS :)

[Nyssane]

I've always liked Rictor, gay or not. It just seems as though he's going to be involved with too much romantic drama in the book between the three ladies.

[Bishop_Proudstar]

I have seen him kissing females in X-Books, but never males? :confused: . So how has Rictor ever portrayed himself as being gay? :confused:


I thought it was more about Shatterstar never being able to socialize in his homeworld, and never understanding what's it all about.

He didn't even know how he was conceived.

Rictor said, "I never get (all) the ladies" (he flirts with).

They never got close, or stared at each other down for 2 frames.

It's just some X-boys "gay wishing". Putting their lives inot these stories.

All I knew about Rictor before that moment was that he thought that Cable was somehow responsible for his father's death.

[stealthwise]

I'm really excited for this series, and definitely hope that it does even better than the Madrox mini.

[Evan Grubbs]

I think with most character's in the X-Universe, only one that I know of is REALLY gay.

The rest are just open with their sexuality. They don't care who they're boning as long as they've got a strong emotional connection.

Now, because of this, it looks like people almost always misconstrue a strong emotional connection for a sexual connection as well.

Love and sex are most definitely not mutually exclusive.

I don't see Richtor having sex with Shatterstar. SS probably doesn't even realize that homosexuality exists.