Whether williams is revamping classic X-villain the blob into a sex symbol or making longtime readers question whether fred dukes–and not warren worthington III–could be psylocke’s one true love, the writer’s certainly taking X-fans on an emotional roller coaster from one issue of X-tremists to the next.Cognitive learning outcomes I mean, have you read the recently released issue 4?

AiPT!: thanks for taking the time to chat, leah! Radical overhauls of characters are nothing new in comics, but it’s rare to see a classic character altered on a fundamental level and have the change immediately resonate with so many fans in such a positive way.Cognitive learning outcomes as a writer, how does it feel to take blob–one of stan lee and jack kirby’s early creations–and get to put your own stamp on the character’s legacy?Cognitive learning outcomes

Leah williams: it feels overdue. Not my stamp, in particular, but respecting his character and not using his size as a punchline. But even though that felt overdue, it’s also terrifying to make leaps of creative interpretation like this.Cognitive learning outcomes I was scared to take this legacy character and alter him so drastically–how would his fans react? Would they be losing what they loved about him?Cognitive learning outcomes how would everyone else react? And, just how much hate will I receive for glorifying obesity?

I always worry that I’ve somehow misinterpreted the canon and will be reviled for individual bricks I add to an overall structure, but once I was able to register for the first time just how strongly uwu blob actually was resonating with readers, I stopped being scared about it.Cognitive learning outcomes from the earliest conceptual stages for this book I could always see, very clearly, how age of X-man’s environment would result in a different, softer freddy, but all art is pretty much just a hallucination you’re having until it resonates with someone else.Cognitive learning outcomes that sounds snobby, or like I’m up my own ass about being nice to blob, but I just mean my initial fear always comes from, “am I the only one who sees this?” and I tend to feel uneasy until I get confirmation that I’m not.Cognitive learning outcomes art’s an oasis mirage out in the middle of the desert that only you can see. The hardest part isn’t getting there, but convincing other people to come see what you see, too.Cognitive learning outcomes so I only felt safe making these kinds of changes once I knew people could see blob the same way he’d looked in my head the whole time, too.Cognitive learning outcomes

AiPT!: X-tremists is one of those series that sneaks up on you and stays with you long after you’ve put it down for many reasons. One is unrequited love and all the feelings that come with it.Cognitive learning outcomes everything fred goes through after revealing his love for betsy is so relatable. Did you draw on your own past experiences to help readers experience something that is universal while also feeling so deeply personal?Cognitive learning outcomes

Williams: more so than anything else I’ve written in comics, and it’s very uncomfortable to me. I obfuscate everything, of course, I am not self-inserting because that’d be one of the shittiest things I could do with this opportunity.Cognitive learning outcomes however, my bottom-line is just wanting to provide something authentic. I like an airtight narrative (and obviously that gets more complicated in a collaborative medium like comics; not all of the moving components, many of which aren’t your responsibility to interpret, will land together perfectly), so drawing from some emotional experiences I know are authentic just as a means to provide gravitas is something I made an exception for in freddy’s case.Cognitive learning outcomes he deserved the credibility at the expense of my discomfort.

I was similarly unprepared for how betsy’s confession in X-tremists #3 would land.Cognitive learning outcomes someone tweeted “thank you.” and only that to me, and after glancing at their profile and seeing them speak to their own audience with the specifics of what they were going through and why betsy’s confession mattered to them, I knew what that “thank you.” meant and it made me want to cry just looking at it.Cognitive learning outcomes you know exactly what it means in that context. And then for the second time, I just had this day of learning the extent of just how many people who read it are all hurting with the same specific pain.Cognitive learning outcomes

I don’t know where to put this knowledge. It’s definitely breaking my heart, and overall, the X-tremists experience has changed me on some fundamental level.Cognitive learning outcomes I didn’t know what the f--k I was doing with fred’s confession, to be honest–I just wanted something real and raw, and ringing with sweetness.Cognitive learning outcomes I mostly feel like I stumbled into significance with fred’s confession. I knew it rang true for me; I never realized the extent to which it would for everyone else.Cognitive learning outcomes and learning it leveled me.

Williams: betsy braddock was only ever body-confident when inhabiting kwannon. She’s never once been satisfied with the body she was born with.Cognitive learning outcomes she expresses this a few times prior to her journey through the siege perilous but earliest, I think (?) is when she just indicates dissatisfaction with her body’s physical limitations compared to her brothers’.Cognitive learning outcomes then there are some circumstantial details that could or could not be used in a discussion of betsy’s body image issues, depending on how you feel about it–she starts dying her hair purple.Cognitive learning outcomes she starts modeling. These things aren’t indicative of anything in particular on their own. But later, betsy allows mojo to give her cybernetic eye implants and that’s when we really start to explore betsy braddock’s profoundly unsettling obsession with body modification.Cognitive learning outcomes and after this, we get a truly harrowing glimpse into betsy’s body dysmorphia: in the uncanny X-men annual #11 by chris claremont and alan davis, each of the X-men is presented with their heart’s one true desire via the siege perilous.Cognitive learning outcomes the trick is not to fall for this trap, obviously, and they have to resist overwhelming temptation despite it being the one thing they’ve always desperately longed for.Cognitive learning outcomes all of them succeed.

Except betsy. And her dream, her most desperate desire, is to be physically perfect–an armored woman. Sleek and made of steel.Cognitive learning outcomes impenetrable and strong. She says she chooses this path to protect those that she cares for, but once this is undone by the end of the issue: cut to like a year later, in a different book, of a different run, but with same pre-kwannon betsy: she’s still chasing the “perfection” of this ideal body and has started wearing custom armor just to mimic it.Cognitive learning outcomes

It’s the usage of the word “perfect,” plus her blatant disregard for her original body that alarms me the most. She’s only joyful and confident once she’s inside kwannon.Cognitive learning outcomes that’s when she’s finally as dangerous, lethal, vicious, strong and sexual as the way she’s always dreamed of being. Closer to perfection. She outruns all of her insecurities inside kwannon, and sure enough, whenever she’s presented with the option of reverting to her old self throughout the years, betsy still consistently chooses to remain inside kwannon.Cognitive learning outcomes betsy’s body issues have been in the canon for a very long time. I find them terrifying and sad.

Williams: [ X-men senior editor] jordan’s polite and professional no matter what canon shenanigans (cananigans) I propose.Cognitive learning outcomes I pitched blob/psylocke on the phone to him when we were just tossing ideas back and forth about the cast as I learned who was still available, and I found out blob still was.Cognitive learning outcomes betsy was already locked in as someone I definitely wanted by this point, so it was considering blob as a possibility and then realizing how this world would affect him uniquely when I started to see the pieces fall into place.Cognitive learning outcomes betsy’s deep-seated body dysmorphia + the chance to give fred an environment that loves and supports him regardless of his size and the resulting changes of who he’d be in this world.Cognitive learning outcomes to me, it was just a natural alignment.

I made this connection instantly but internally, so what I blurted out on the phone to jordan was more like, “oh, blob’s available!?” and then two seconds later “blob/psylocke romance!” I think his instinctive reaction a polite “????” but after hearing me out, he was just like “sure!” and then I questioned him for months about whether or not he was still sure.Cognitive learning outcomes

Williams: she’s not. The biggest difference between moneta and everyone else is that she’s from that world. She’s a (sorry) true believer in the guiding principles.Cognitive learning outcomes don’t feel sorry for her, she’s a little sex-fascist! She’s very devoted to saying slurs! I worked very hard to make her as unlikeable as possible, and you managing to empathize with her despite that speaks more to the clarity of your soul than anything I intended.Cognitive learning outcomes

Williams: everything. It’s meant everything to me. These are the kinds of things that can be life-changing for me as a writer. X-tremists is a scary, and I mean absolutely terrifying story to be responsible for because it’s a gauntlet of significance with razor-thin margins of narrative navigation.Cognitive learning outcomes that all comes from the restrictive, inherently problematic “all love is forbidden love” aspect of this AU, but also just where X-tremists, in particular, is positioned as potentially the most problematic of them all (the “secret police” story); plus the decisions I personally made in how I wanted to write it.Cognitive learning outcomes

In retrospect, I know I made some bold, arguably even dumb (the french-canadian slang: nobody but french-canadians liked it) choices, but at the time I was deciding these things, it all felt like the natural (and only) choice I wanted to make.Cognitive learning outcomes after that, it all got scary and I felt stupid the whole time up until I could see fans reacting positively. Then I could breathe again.

I can’t even really begin to explain how positive fan reaction sort of rearranged my whole life.Cognitive learning outcomes it’s given me that heart-rending aerial view of just how many people are hurting that I mentioned earlier, in the context of being thanked for voicing that pain.Cognitive learning outcomes and it’s been humbling. It’s given me a stronger sense of purpose when actually trying to provide some amount of catharsis. Positive fan reaction has also given so much strength just in pushing forward despite feeling scared the whole time because, in my mind, the scariest aspect of a choice I made in telling this story is still hanging over my head as I’m typing all this.Cognitive learning outcomes

X-tremists #4 is the “gay rage” northstar-centric issue that many people have been waiting for, for a very long time. This is the issue that overtly explores consequences of LGBTQ erasure, specifically how it breaks people and makes them feel monstrous.Cognitive learning outcomes it’s terrifying because, you know, this is the secret police book. Department X are the ones dragging mutants out of their beds at night, brainwashing them, separating entire families and sending them to prison just for loving someone else.Cognitive learning outcomes despite knowing that, I still chose to put two gay men on my team and bring in a third starting in this issue.

Doing that in the secret police book is my razor-thin margin of acceptable storytelling but I did it to myself because allowing this AU to tacitly, quietly erase all queer identity without giving weight to the consequences of what that does to people wasn’t ever an option I considered.Cognitive learning outcomes it felt irresponsible and dishonest for me to ignore that angle just for the sake of convenience.

Positive response to the first three issues has earned me enough fan goodwill that people have been very kind to me in the days leading up to this issue’s release as my stress mounts in really obvious, highly-visible shitposting ways.Cognitive learning outcomes X-tremists #4 anxiety has been eating a hole in my stomach for months but fans have been incredibly gentle to me and encouraging about their support for this issue based off the first three issues of X-tremists.Cognitive learning outcomes it’s made this part far more endurable.

Williams: now that we’re nearing the end of X-tremists, I’ve actively begun to worry about fred’s future.Cognitive learning outcomes readers still don’t really know whether or not what happens in age of X-man will have long-term consequences for 616’s continuity, but I’ve starting letting myself imagine all the possibilities for if it does and recently realized something genuinely upsetting for one potential blob outcome.Cognitive learning outcomes