All-New X-Men Editor Talks Beast’s All-New Look
By Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell on Jan 02, 2013 with Comments 0
Earlier today we showed you Beast’s new look in Brian Michael Bendis’ All-New X-Men #5. Now X-Men editor Nick Lowe talks about the super scientist’s new face and how they decided it was time for a change. The “Cat Beast” has been the norm since Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s New X-Men run in 2001. The new look, designed by Stuart Immonen, looks similar to the classic furry “Ape Beast” we saw in the 90s. Beast fans may not be completely sold on the new look, but it beats the alternative of having him dead.
Present Beast and past Beast, the non-furry Hank McCoy, worked out how to save their life from the new mutation. The result is a living, but different looking, Beast. Lowe comments on making the tough decision:
We would often get in big disagreements (by we, I mean me and most of the room) at editorial retreats about Cat Beast vs. Ape Beast. Also, the old design doesn’t look like an ape! Anyway, my resistance was against reverting to the older version because I thought that the more beastly looking works better for the actual character. But since this is a new, still beastly design and not just a furry guy with big hair, I was all in! But my passion on the subject does open me up to lots of ridicule. But that’s OK, I’m the youngest of three in my family so I’m used to that.
This was Stuart’s first real design try and Beast and he pushed it very ape or gorilla, and that was great. Again, the design people call “Ape Beast” doesn’t really look like an ape, but I don’t want to confuse people so let’s call this one “Gorilla Beast”! As for changing him, it was something Brian wanted to do from day one. The only thing we didn’t have hammered out was exactly what he’d look like. That was where Stuart came in!
Beast has had a few different looks in his long history, but Lowe doesn’t necessarily think a visual shift every decade or so has to be a constant for the character. Lowe attributes the changes to Hank’s scientific curiosity overall. He has no clue if it’s going to continue to be an ongoing change for the character, but he does like the idea. He says he likes the thought of a “scientist who experiments on himself never learning not to do that.” The editor also says this isn’t a breakaway from the Morrison New X-Men legacy either. He says you still have Emma Frost as a preeminent X-Man, Cyclops as a “badass”, and Quentin Quire and Fantomex are still around. Newsarama also got a look at a page from All-New X-Men #9. It seems to be very reminiscent of the 90s cartoon, so fans will probably dig that (I do!). If you want to read all of Lowe’s comments, you can click here.
Source : Newsarama
Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell
Latest posts by Cody "The Thorverine" Ferrell (see all)
- Review: Judge Dredd: Year One #3 - June 19, 2013
- Review: Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher #2 - June 19, 2013
Filed Under: Comic Book News • Comic Book Previews • Comic Books • Featured
