Gail Simone Promises a Scary (and Very Sexy) Time for the New Uncanny X-Men

Marvel’s mutants have just lost their best chance at unity and self-determination. They’ve been betrayed, beaten, and scattered back into the world, far from their sovereign nation of Krakoa. For oncoming Uncanny X-Men writer Gail Simone, the thing these mutants need is some sexual healing.

“I love that Rogue and Gambit are central to it because their romance is super hot,” Simone tells Den of Geek when we chat with her in an exclusive interview. In fact, she wants you to feel all kinds of things when you pick up her new X-book. “If you’re familiar with my writing at all, you know that I really am fan of the roller coaster of emotion that we can get out of these stories. You’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna cry, you’re gonna be horrified, you’re gonna feel horny, I hope. I want readers to feel these emotions throughout the story. And sometimes, I want you to laugh when maybe it’s not appropriate.”

Simone comes onto a relaunched Uncanny X-Men #1 alongside artist David Marquez. Uncanny X-Men is just one of the several new books in the From the Ashes initiative, which catches up with Marvel’s mutant population after the fall of Krakoa—X-Men takes Cyclops and Jean Grey to Alaska, NYX focuses on a New York group headed by Ms. Marvel, and Exceptional X-Men follows Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost to Chicago. In Uncanny X-Men, Gambit leaves Krakoa with Rogue, taking her to his home turf in Louisiana.

“It takes place an hour outside of New Orleans,” Simone says. “After everything that’s gone down with Krakoa falling and the X-Men, Rogue and Gambit go there because that’s a place where he had a safe haven when he was younger.”

But while the X-Men’s most intriguing couple might go back to the bayou for safety, they find anything but. Simone describes the book as “Southern gothic” story, which suggests something evil lurking in the swamp.

“There are definitely horror elements,” Simone promises. “We have a villain that I can’t reveal anything about that is quite horrific.”

However, it’s not just the bad guy who’s causing trouble. Rather, the state of unrest comes from the disastrous way that Krakoa fell.

“There’s some scary stuff going on in the world. It’s kind of that vibe in that area with that team. Gambit and Rogue are trying to figure out what’s next. They don’t want to lead anything. They’re kind of traumatized. They want to relax and recoup, but no one else is stepping up, so they can’t. And then we have some things that are thrown at them that are pretty horrible.”

As that description suggests, Uncanny X-Men isn’t just a Gambit and Rogue story. Rather, it’s about a new team of X-Men joining them outside of New Orleans. Alongside the lovers are Wolverine (original Logan variety), Jubilee, and Nightcrawler.

As Simone herself observes, she has a “rep for team dynamics and emotional impact,” which is what drew her to the book. Simone had no trouble getting the lineup she wanted for Uncanny X-Men, as editor Tom Breevort, whom she calls the “conductor” of the current X-franchise, allowed her full control over the decisions. While Simone is best known for DC Comics team books such as Secret Six and Birds of Prey, which featured lesser-known characters such as Catman and Lady Blackhawk, the writer has filled her new X-Men book with characters who have well-established histories, which presents its own kind of challenge.

“I think it’s important to keep them feeling modern, but not discount why they have been so revered for so long,” she says of her approach to her star-studded roster of characters. “Writing established characters starts with the dynamic of the team, with the location, and with their mission. Then, we want to have them progress or regress in some way throughout this 18-issue story.”

Simone looks for “what you think really works about that character and that has made it last for as long as it has and be relevant for as long as it has. And you don’t throw that stuff away. You can add more texture and put them in situations that make them grow or change in some way, but I really don’t like undoing what’s come before me with these legacy characters.”

Of course, Simone isn’t just known for working with existing characters, A-listers or otherwise. She’s also created plenty of great characters of her own to throw into the mix, such as Head from All-New Atom or Misfit from Birds of Prey. Simone will continue that tradition with a group of young mutants who fall under the care of Gambit and Rogue.

“I’m really excited for the new mutants to come into their own. They have their mutant abilities are invisible to the eyes, and we’re paralleling that in invisible disabilities,” she says.

The idea is for these new characters will help ease new readers into the world of the X-Men, which has undergone a massive status quo change after the end of the Krakoa Era, which writer Jonathan Hickman inaugurated with House of X and Powers of X in 2019.

“The Krakoa era story is epic. It’s going to be a historically revered and important storyline. There’s no doubt about it. But I wanted to roll out the welcome mat with Uncanny X-Men, so that people who maybe felt intimidated by feeling like they had to read multiple books to understand a story. You don’t have to read 50 other books to enjoy and understand the book that you’re holding.”

While that reader-friendly approach gave the process of writing Uncanny X-Men an “exciting energy,” Simone also admits that writing the X-Men allows her to build on a concern that has driven her work from the very beginning.

“The X-Men were something I didn’t give up when I gave up everything else,” Simone says, thinking back of when poor treatment of women on the page almost drove her away from the superhero genre. “I got started as a writer to prove that female characters had value beyond just being a reason for the male characters to vow revenge and go out on their missions. I wanted to show that characters like Wonder Woman, Rogue, Black Canary, and Batgirl all had their own value and could hold up their own books.”

“It’s not to say that every female character needs to be the same because… for God’s sake, please don’t make them the same,” she clarifies. “Let’s have real characteristics and real motivations that are different from each other and let’s tell these stories. I mean, this is a rich canvas. Why do we want to tell the same stories over and over again?”

Simone has carried out that mission for decades now, and has no plans of stopping with Uncanny X-Men. “I’m really, really proud of Marvel for right now is these X-books have a variety of writers and artists doing these and each book is different and special in its own way.”

What does that mean for her work on Uncanny X-Men?

“I think it’s the spookiest and hottest X-Men book that’s going to be coming out right now. And that’s really fun to play with. And then you put that romance in these extreme situations. How is it going to test it? What’s going to happen? Is it going to bring them closer or pull them apart? It’s just a really fun dynamic to get in there and really dig deep down.”

Uncanny X-Men #1 releases Aug. 7. Check out four exclusive new covers for issues #4 and 5 below!