Christina Strain.

(via Battle of the Atom: Episode 31 - Nobody Get Rid Of Shogo with Christina Strain)

Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to write!!! Also, I’m having a hard time tagging some of you, for some reason, it’s not picking up on your names. :( Sorry about that!

@michaelrwentz

WHYYYYYYY DID IT HAVE TO END?????!

Because, unfortunately for us, not enough people were reading it. So go tell all your friends to buy both of the trades, and then get their friends to buy the trades, and their friends, and their friends, and show Marvel with your money that we should get another shot. ;)

@mgmaz

Do you have anything GenX like coming? Marvel is refreshing things ... Again

I do not. I need to take some time to hang out with my own little Shogo and then get back to writing a TV pilot. BUT, I am working on some new comic ideas, but they won’t be for Marvel. I don’t want to say too much about either of them yet, but one’s about a bunch of teens and the other’s a queer romance. And that’s all I’m going to say for now.

@majingojira

Which couple that you wrote for this series, or wanted to write for it, would have the weirdest date?

Oh, Trevor and Lin, for sure. Lin doesn’t quite understand the concept/point and Trevor would probably be so stressed that he’d pop a bunch of vessels in all of his eyes or something. And they’d probably end up canceling the date to help some doe find her missing fawn who was deernapped by some evil zoo keeper— you get the point.

@marymadge

If the series continued, would Monet have stuck around? Also, this one’s kinda silly but are there specific hobbies that you headcanon Roxy as having? And most importantly, is there a chance you’ll be writing another series for Marvel anytime soon?? Thank you so so so much for generation x, it was literally the perfect X-men book to me!!!!!

Awww! Thanks! I’m so glad you liked it! Yes, Monet would’ve stuck around. I really wanted to make her a mentor figure for Quentin, but we ran out of issues. :( Hobbies for Roxy, I see her as someone who enjoys reading, playing Overwatch, and dreams about traveling around the world. And as I mentioned in the above question, I’m not planning on writing somethign for Marvel for a while.

@lesbianlaurakinney

Can you tell us what the storyline you had planned for Lin if the book had continued was? Was it about the rats?

Oh yeah, it was basically that Lin would’ve agreed to marry the Rat King. And then Trevor would’ve had to “stop the wedding—“ which, would never actually happen. I probably would’ve done something with Lin being like “I don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s just a title.” And then Trevor would’ve been like “But marriage is important and YOU’RE TOO YOUNG?!?!” And then I’m sure I would’ve done something sympathetic with the Rat King and had the marriage be some sort of sham wedding to get him out of some sort of trouble he’s in with some pigeon mobsters (like the Goodfeathers Adrian drew from Runaways) so then Lin and Trevor together would’ve actually flipped the script and rescued the Rat King. Yeah. That sounds like an issue. There you go.

@mwritesink

What were some of your plans/ideas for Nathaniel and for Jono? Thank you for giving fans a great read.

No problem! Thanks for reading!!! Oh man, I JUST had a conversation with someone else about what I would’ve done with Nathaniel and Benjamin. Let me just copy and paste that here. PREPARE FOR A LONG ANSWER!

“Oh man. If I could’ve kept writing them for a while, I had a lot of material. Like, they’re both college kids, so what’s it like for these two as they get progressively more intimate? At first it’s probably pretty great, cause Nathaniel literally knows how Ben likes it, but then when Ben realizes “oh wait. He knows what I don’t like too—OH SHIT, he’s in my head right now—oh god!” It’d obviously get reaaaaal awkward. Also, what happens if Ben thinks someone else is hot? Even if Nathaniel doesn’t care, I could see Ben freaking out, especially after he finds out Nathaniel dumped his ex boyfriend for having serious feelings for a mutual friend of theirs. Also, what if Ben has to lie to Nathaniel about something? Suddenly, they can’t touch, which is IMMEDIATELY suspicious. And what would happen then?

And the biggest one I’ve always wondered is how does a relationship like theirs actually work? Ben can’t hide anything from Nathaniel, so he has no choice but to be as open as possible. But Nathaniel doesn’t have to tell Ben anything/everything. And he’s a pretty private person. So how does that hurt them after a while? It’s all sort of one-sided if Nathaniel doesn’t work on opening himself up to Benjamin more.”

Ben and Nathaniel were basically supposed to be my personal observations on intimacy in relationships. What works and what doesn’t. So I’m super sad that I don’t get to explore more of that with them. 😭😭😭I’m going to miss them.

Beyond Ben, I would’ve loved to write a story where Nathaniel accidentally discovered some massive secret that put him in a morally difficult position. Like if he discovered/uncovered something that was a morally grey/damning action for another character within the X-Men, how would he handle that? Something along those lines.

As for Jono... That’s a good question. I had briefly considered doing a one shot with him and Roxy, something like a one-on-one training mission between them, so I probably would’ve liked to pursue that. I also had a loose idea about Jono having to baby sit Shogo while Jubilee and some of the kids were away, and then there would be some sort of attack and Jono and whatever kids were still at the school would have to survive/keep Shogo alive, but that never panned out either. Could’ve been fun though. :)

@tothemaxie

You mention a lot in interviews that you did a lot of research for the characters you were using (THANK YOU FOR THAT *feeling blessed by your continuity use*), particularly for Quentin? Out of curiosity, what was your favourite Quentin moment you found in your research? Alternatively, a moment that had the biggest effect on how you wrote him? Thanks so much for a spectacular series!

My favorite version of Quentin is basically Jason Aaron’s version of him in Wolverine and the X-Men. That dude... is way funnier than anyone should be allowed to be. And I think my favorite Quentin moment might be... him graduating? I dunno, it was just the right amount of “I HATE YOU ALL” *heart/dagger eyes* for me and I dug it real hard.

The moment that had the biggest effect on how I wrote him... I’ve mentioned this before but definitely the moment when his parents called him to tell him that he was adopted over the phone. As a parent of an adopted child, that is some COLD shit. And then the other thing is that, collectively, over the several books I’ve read with Quentin in them, I’ve realized that Quentin works best (for me) when he refuses to admit what he wants— even to himself. It’s a version of him that’s kind of a pain in the ass to write (because he’s a little shit) but I don’t think an overly earnest version of Quentin works quite as well. This is a kid who’s never really fully processed the massive rug that was pulled out from under him, so I don’t think he’s emotionally capable of being honest about how he feels because it’s much easier for him to lie and convince himself that he’s fine— he’s better than fine— he’s a fucking omega mutant.

Or at least he was. Until I pulled the rug out from under him. :o

@itsthursdayschildtoyou

Regarding Quentin’s powers: were you planning on bringing them back? I know they’ve been gone/messed up for like 2 seconds but I’m still curious. And how does Jono feel about Shogo? Were there any plans or thoughts about him being more than the cool uncle figure if the series would’ve run for longer than planned?

Well, if we’d had the full 16 issues, I probably would’ve brought Jubilee’s powers back in a different way. Quentin sacrificing his phoenix shard was a course correction when we realized that we’d have to change Jubilee by issue 12.

But if I were able to keep writing Generation X, of course I would bring Quentin’s powers back! And in all honesty, whoever writes him next may just have him wake up and be all, “I’m good, they’re back!” But I’d make him suffer for a while first. He’s got a bit of an ego I’d (and Nathaniel) like to bruise a bit before restoring him. AND I’d make a whole fun story arc out of it where he has to count on everyone else in a way he’s never had to before, because that’d be really fun and insane. But as Quentin says in the comic, he’s destined to be the Phoenix, he’ll get his powers back, it’s just a question of HOW.

And with Jono, I hadn’t really thought past 16 issues so I hadn’t considered that. But I do think that if we’d kept going, I definitely would’ve done something with how surreal it is for Jono to become a “sudden father figure” for Shogo and the complications that come with that. My own mom was a single mother, so I have some experience with that.

@blueboi12

Are Jubilee’s powers stronger than before?

Not as of now. It’s more like she’s a bit rusty using them so they’re a bit big. BUT, I would love to eventually write a story with Jubilee fully exploring/realizing the full extent of her powers. And who knows, maybe in the future, I will?