Nobody ever expects a Magneto resurrection

Since Graeme isn't blogging today, I feel obligated to field this one. At The Pulse, Chris Claremont addresses Excalibur, the return of Magneto, and the writing craft.

First, on the Master of Magnetism:

We thought it would be a great idea. And just as importantly, as regards his entrance at the end of #1, nobody would see it coming. For me, from a characterizational perspective, there was a lot of his story left to be told -- aspects of his relationship with Xavier, with his “Cause”, with his family, with his role in the Canon. And he makes an ideal foil for Xavier.

Then, on his approach to tone and pacing:

... As for pacing, maybe I’m old school. My sense of story-telling derives from what enlivened my own youth, writers like Robert Heinlein, directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks. I strive for a measure of comprehensibility — set the stage, give the reader a sense of the physical space, try to make that space as contributory a player in the story as the characters themselves. To me, especially when writing a full script as opposed to a plot, that takes a certain amount of time. The blocks have to sit stably one atop the other. In the recent past, with X-Men and Uncanny in 2000, there was a body of opinion that felt I was rushing too quickly through the stories, there was no opportunity to slow down, catch your breath, take stock of what was happening. So, you adapt, you try to find a pace that’s appropriate to the series and the stories, and ultimately hope you know what you’re doing.

In related news, 15.4 percent of primary and junior high school students in Japan's Nagasaki Prefecture believe the dead can be resurrected. Why do they believe this? Because they've seen stories about resurrection on TV, or read about it in books.