Greg Rucka returning to Marvel to pen young CYCLOPS ongoing series
What could make me give a fuck about young Cyclops? Well if you’ve looked over at this week’s BTFC, you know it sure ain’t Brian Michael Bendis. But how about Greg Rucka? Dude is crushing it with Lazarus (helped on by the talented Michael Lark), so yeah whatever he feels like doing for the Big Two I’m instantly intrigued by.
It’s no secret that Greg Rucka‘s last experience writing for Marvel left the award-winning writer frustrated. But time passes and fences are mended, and as we’ve seen so often in the past, it’s never too late for a creator to return. Sometimes all it takes is the right project.
So while it may not be a surprise, it is certainly welcome news that Rucka will be returning to Marvel to write an ongoing solo series starring the younger Cyclops from All-New X-Men, collaborating with illustrator Russell Dauterman. And what appealed to Rucka about the project wasn’t just his affinity for the Marvel character, but the fact that he has a son around the same age.
[Warning: Spoilers for All-New X-Men #23 follow]
In an interview with CBR, Rucka discussed how the new project came about, sharing that editor Nick Lowe pitched the project to him, at the suggestion of Brian Michael Bendis, as an ideal fit based in part on the fact that Rucka’s son is around the same age as the younger Scott Summers. Though he’s focused exclusively on creator owned work since departing The Punisher in 2012 after a brief run, the pull to return was strong because Marvel stories and characters have had “huge impact and meaning” on his life:
I was talking to another creator yesterday; he made the comment, “The thing is, I could write other stuff” — I’m sort of paraphrasing here — “but I genuinely love this.” You can’t diminish that. These are characters and stories and books that have had huge impact and meaning on my life, personally, not to even begin to talk about what they mean to other people.
Notably, this mark’s the first ongoing title for Cyclops, the original leader of the X-Men and one of the more popular mutants in the Marvel universe. His first shot at a monthly title will be penned by someone who identifies with him. “When I started reading Uncanny way back in the day — and I mean way back in the day — there were characters I loved, and there were characters that I was kind of ‘meh’ about. I was ‘meh’ about Scott at the start,” says Rucka “I had been collecting for about a year and a half, and I came to a realization — ‘Why is it that I feel like I haven’t connected with this guy?’ Then the penny dropped for me, which was, ‘Oh, because he and I are an awful lot alike.’”