CC2K: Jeff, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. What to you is the appeal of doing a book like X-Men: First Class?

 
Jeff Parker: It's good to have a comic book that isn't afraid to be a comic book. With XFC we embrace the craziness of Old Marvel rather than try to write it off, and we make stories that I think are more accessible than most superhero comics now. And that with it being an X book!

CC2K: To a great degree, First Class is perfect for new readers because of it's light continuity. Do you think heavy continuity such as what exists in the main X-books is detrimental to gaining new readers?

 
JP: Yes, but that's more about making cyclical adventures versus linear ones. I tend to think superhero books should be cyclical, I don't want to have to know thirty years of the comics' history to figure out what's going on. The X books are a peculiar thing in that regard though, because they've mostly always been more about soap opera, and essentially work more like a show like Guiding Light or Young and the Restless. In those cases, readers/viewers actively want that kind of density, they like the exclusivity of it.  So I shouldn't really hold them to a criteria when they're their own animal. A mutated animal, of course.

CC2K: I've been asking all the creators from Periscope the same question; what do you think is the benefit of having/being a part of a group like Periscope?

JP: To me it gives me the sense of the comics community as an active entity in a way interacting with people online can't. It's also very inspiring since we all want to impress one another, and since we have varied interests, we educate each other on artists, writers and trends.