An Interview with Peter Milligan

Writer Peter Milligan's no stranger to the X. He's been in the spotlight with the quirky hit X-Statix (X-Force before that). Now he's taking on a more mainstream group of mutants as he begins his run on X-Men.

On the other side of the fence, Milligan had also been writing Human Target for Vertigo (an imprint also familiar to the writer), but that series has recently been announced as cancelled.

Milligan took the time to sit down with TNI's Damien Wood to discuss both...

Damien (TNI): How are you settling into X-Men? After shaping and writing a more offhand corner of the X-Verse with X-Statix, this has to be a change of pace...

Peter Milligan: I think it’s going pretty well. The biggest thing is to get a handle on all the characters. To get under their skin. Once you’ve done this you can play around with them a little, and push them. But yes, Uncanny is very different from X-Statix, but that’s what appealed about writing it. It’s the flip side of the X coin.

TNI: What are your plans for X-Men (as far as you can tell us)?

PM: I’ve said before that I’m interested in exploring the minutiae of their personal lives even as the X-Men are dealing with huge, earth-shattering events. Mystique will show up, unexpectedly, with an unexpected request. And she’s got a long term plan up her sleeve that concerns her daughter in law, Rogue. As well as creating some new foes and dangers for the guys to face we’ll be bringing in some old enemies.

TNI: You're following up a writer who's run on X-Men was met with a lot of criticism. Does this make it easier or harder to pick up the ball and run with it?

PM: I don’t really care about or have an opinion on any of that, and it makes no difference to what I write, or how I write it!

TNI: Are these the characters you wanted for X-Men, or is it more a case of what you were given to play with?

PM: Of the characters available, these were the ones I wanted, and chose for their individual interest and how they might interact dramatically.

TNI: What do you feel you bring to Marvel's Mutant Playground that is uniquely you?

PM: That’s a very difficult question. But at a push I’d have to say… a kind of post modern playfulness coupled with a European gravitas.

TNI: Another of your titles, Human Target over at the Distinguished Competition, was recently announced as cancelled, what happened there?

PM: It was bizarre. The critical reaction was excellent. But we didn’t build the reader base we were looking for.

TNI: How much of your intended stories did you get to tell on Human Target before the cancellation was announced? (Will it be a "natural" end to the run?)

PM: In truth, just about all of the intended, initially planned stories have been completed. And the ending will be very natural. I think the ending is great, and perfect…though it’s likely to leave a few readers up in arms.

And I think that’s what all the best endings should do.

TNI: What issue of Human Target is scheduled to be the last?

PM: I think that’s episode twenty one. Part three of a story-line called The Stealer, about a desperate thief who comes to steal Christopher Chance’s most prized possession.

Himself.

TNI: Back to X-Men for one more. How long are you expecting to stay on the title, as it stands now?

PM: We haven’t talked exact terms of engagement, but I think, all things being equal, when you take on a run like this the minimum you want to be doing is a year and a half, probably a bit longer. But things change, and the unexpected happens, so we’ll see.

TNI: Any other upcoming projects you'd care to tease us with?

PM: I’m writing a pretty insane mini series called Toxin, the crazy character I introduced in my Venom Carnage run. This six parter establishes Toxin, Carnage’s child, and his host body, ex New York Cop Pat Mulligan, and features a whole load of Marvel villains—all of whom have escaped from the break out at Ryker’s Island.

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Damien Wood writes things. Sometimes he even writes things well. As a member of TNI's staff, he brings you spiffy things like this. As a glutton for punishment, he can be contacted here.