Alex Paknadel and Justin Mason’s Sentinels miniseries, which debuted in October as part of Marvel Comics’ relaunch of X-Men titles, “From the Ashes,” offers a new perspective on the famous X-Men threat. It’s bold and provocative, challenges what people expect from a book with a title like Sentinels, and goes much deeper than you might imagine. The Beat asked Paknadel a few questions, which you can read below.
An alternate cover for Sentinels #1 by Jeremy Wilson.
Jared Bird: Hi, Alex. Thank you so much for your time today.
Alex Paknadel: Thanks for having me!
Bird: Your new book with Marvel, “Sentinels,” comes out on October 9th as part of the “From the Ashes” relaunch of the X-Men series. What’s it like being involved in the “From the Ashes” relaunch?
Paknadel: It was scary and exciting. And scary is that we’re following some crazy events. Everyone is aware of that and respects it, but obviously Krakoa is going to loom large. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve been an X-Men fan for as long as I can remember. I did a little bit of work on X-Men Unlimited during the Krakoan era, and it’s nice to have some involvement, but when that ended, I was kind of disappointed. I thought, “Oh, that was my chance!” When I heard it was going to be renewed, I knew it was Tom Brevoort. I have a lot of respect for Tom and I’ve had some really great, insightful comments from him in the past. I was on the phone with Christian Ward and he told me to email Tom. I said, “No way, it’s Tom Brevoort!” And Christian said, “You work at Marvel, don’t you?” And I said, “No problem!” So I emailed him with a frown on my face. And to my surprise, within an hour I got an email thanking me for getting in touch. I would have still been happy if it had ended there, but last year at New York Comic Con, my editor Darren Shan, who I’d worked with a few times before, asked me if I’d like to be in an X-Men project. That’s what happened. It was a question I’d been waiting for for literally decades, and I was totally unprepared. At one point Darren turned to me and said, ‘You’re really looking forward to this, aren’t you? My knees are shaking.’ My knees were going up and down like a jackhammer! My face was totally cool and collected, but my knees were giving me away. So of course I’m nervous because I’m following a beloved era, but excited because it’s X-Men!
Bird: I’ve been an X-Men fan myself, ever since I started reading comic books. As I’ve gotten more into journalism, I’ve met so many incredible creators who have worked with the X-Men or will work with them, and it feels so daunting. I’m not in the 10th degree anymore, I’m in the 3rd degree.
Paknadel: It’s one of those unique jobs. I’ve done it before and it was well-received, but this is the first time I’ve been in a situation where thousands of people are passionately involved and scrutinizing every detail of the plot from the beginning. I don’t know if I’d ever be in the same position. It’s weird, I do everything from a little office in the north of England. On the outside it’s all the same, but then you step out into the world and you think, ‘Oh my gosh, this is pretty big, isn’t it?’
BIRD: What influenced your approach to Sentinels?
Paknadel: They came to me with a concept. There were a lot of very good ideas already on the table, but I was looking for a tone. The tone that I kind of came up with, which all of my editors agreed with me, was early 2000s Wildstorm. Smart and politically astute, but very action-oriented. The Eye of the Storm stuff was the sweet spot. A lot of readers will know right away what I’m talking about, but also stuff like Strike Force: Morituri. There’s also a lot of ’90s X-Books. The ones that act as allegories for superpowers, but also have sharp social commentary around them. I had the basic concept in hand, and I layered on the tone. I wanted to take those comic influences and mix them with the style of Paul Verhoeven. There’s a lot of Robocop and Starship Troopers. Hopefully there’s a nourishing meal on the other side of that.
Bird: From the moment I saw the announcement, I could sense the influence of Starship Troopers. It’s a comic with elements of satire and not exactly what you’d expect. What was it like working with artist Justin Mason?
PAKNADEL: It’s amazing. The two Darren Shan books, Mystique and Sentinels by Declan Shalvey, are what we call the “miscellaneous” corner. I don’t mean that in an accusatory way. The art and writing in the mainline titles is really sophisticated, and every X-Men book I see is the smartest summer blockbuster I’ve ever seen, with beautiful art by people like David Marquez and Ryan Stegman. Justin’s known Declan for a long time, so we bounce information off each other. Justin does some spiderpunk work that’s dynamic and visceral. It’s also physical, and when you turn the pages, you see the ink smudges and smudges. It’s beautiful and intense. It might sound weird, but Mystique and Sentinels are bootleg concert videos of the X-Men lineup. We’re the miscellaneous corner where miscellaneous things happen.
Bird: That’s really exciting. What I love about the X-Books in general is the variety. You have the dark and intense books like X-Force, and you have the funny and heartwarming books like Generation X. I’m glad the miscellaneous section is still around.
Paknadel: I wrote a short afterword at the end of Sentinels #1 to remind readers that the era of experimentation is not over, never has been. The idea of a settled community being dispersed again is full of dramatic possibilities. Expulsion from Eden. There are many real-world parallels. Once it became clear to me that we were dealing with the legacy of Krakoa, a single trauma that ripples through every book in this series, everything became clear. This is not a restructuring of the status quo, we are treating this as a profound disruption in the global mutant world. Five years ago was an exciting time to be an X-Men fan, and I firmly believe that now is an exciting time to be an X-Men fan.
BIRD: I agree! It’s an exciting time for fans old and new. Is there a particular member of the Sentinels crew that you’ve enjoyed writing the most?
PAKNADEL: I decided to follow two POV characters. If I followed five characters in a five-issue miniseries, the whole thing would collapse under the weight, so I needed to have a focus somewhere. There’s a character called Voivod. He’s not the focus, but he’s a character who doesn’t have the objective that the other characters have. He’s like a Greek chorus, pointing out to the other characters, “This is ridiculous.” He tends to undermine any pompous attitudes when they emerge. If I start to cram in information or get too far into the lore, his character pulls it back. I really like that.
Bird: As a writer, I think it’s about staying focused on the task at hand.
Paknadel: I think they’re all interesting characters, too. Of course, I’m very conscious of what the title evokes for many fans. As we were getting ready to publish the preview pages, the “Remember It” episode from X-Men 97 came out. Watching that episode, I thought there was an opportunity to see, even briefly, the banality of evil. One of the things I want to bring to the forefront is that these characters don’t see themselves as prejudiced. They’re just doing their job. What they’re doing is wrong. It’s categorically wrong, but they do it until they finish their work at the end of the day and forget about it, and they can no longer ignore the reality of what they’re doing. I tried to make the characters interesting, but it would be a stretch to make them sympathetic.
Bird: To me, that’s one of the most interesting things about the book: the very real cognitive dissonance that people have. The human brain has an incredible ability to deny the truth even when it’s right in front of our eyes. So many people in life and history have been on the “wrong” side of conflicts, and they don’t even realize it.
Paknadel: The question of complicity is interesting. It leads to the idea that there is no such thing as ethical consumption under capitalism. We all have to function in this world. During Occupy, right-wing rhetoric was blaming people for going out to buy coffee because it makes the movement “meaningless.” No, we have to live in this world, and there are dominant socio-economic conditions in which we have to live. This book explores the point at which all of that is turned upside down. Once you realize that, do you remain a machine or do you go in another direction?
Bird: One of my favorite things about the X-Men universe is the large number of minor characters that have accumulated over the years. Are there any minor X-Men characters that you would like to see in future comics?
Paknadel: I’ll be vague here, because if I call them minor, someone will get mad at me. For example, I don’t consider Maggot a minor character at all. I asked to have him in the book, and when it was announced, four people with Maggot’s profile picture immediately contacted me. The tapestry of X is so rich, and any character that’s considered minor is always someone’s favorite, so you have to treat everyone with respect. That being said, there are definitely underused characters that I use. I don’t have any minor characters, and I intend to use them thoroughly. There are five characters that are very deep and as cool as Wolverine.
Bird: I’m so glad you mentioned Maggot, he’s from the same place as me! What do you want fans to take away from this series?
Paknadel: Basically, I hope people enjoy it. I hope it works well as a companion piece to Uncanny X-Men. Sentinels is set in Greymalkin Prison, so it shares a lot of characters with the Gail Simone and David Marquez books. I hope that as its own entity, it provides an interesting emotional backdrop to the return of the mutants. What you may have missed is that this Sentinel program is run by a mutant, a resurrected Lawrence Trask. He designed the MK II Sentinels, but he also turns out to be a mutant himself, and he’s been living a disturbing life on Krakoa for quite some time. He has a position that he thinks he can defend. This Sentinel program was born out of his fear that humans and mutants would kill each other if they mixed together again. In his mind, the Sentinels exist to protect humanity and mutants. Of course, I don’t agree with that, but you know what, it’s a fascinating delusion that I try to explore as convincingly as possible.
Bird: If readers enjoy Sentinels, should they check out any of your other comics?
Paknadel: If you’re into Marvel, I did a series last year called Red Goblin, which I had fun writing. Harry Osborn and Liz Allen’s son, Normie Osborn, has his own symbiote, which he calls Rascal because he can’t bring himself to feed it chocolate and accept that the symbiote doesn’t have very good intentions. On the creator-owned side, I did a series last year with Kaspar Wingard called All Against All, which is probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Anyway, I’m very proud of it. It’s a sci-fi look at parenthood and the dark thoughts you have as a parent. It’s not a light read, but it’s good. DC has let me write Barry Allen stories for the last few years, thanks to the lovely Si Spurrier. There’s the Knight Terrors two-parter that I wrote, and I recently wrote Task Force VII #5 as part of the Absolute Power crossover, which I’m very proud of. Pete Woods painted it like living hell, so read it for Pete Woods’ artwork, if nothing else.
Bird: Have a good day.
Paknadel: You too!
Like this:
Like Loading…
