X-Men writer Kieron Gillen called one classic story arc, 1996’s The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, the “Rosetta Stone” to understanding the portrayal of Mr. Sinister during the Krakoan Era. The classic story, written by Peter Milligan and illustrated by John Paul Leon, definitely established Sinister’s origin story at the time, and created the sandbox that future X-writers would play in when it came to the character.
Speaking with AIPT for X-Men Monday #235, Gillen explained some of the influences that have gone into his critically-acclaimed work on various X-titles over the past several years. As the Krakoan Era, and the author’s time with the franchise, draw to a close, he acknowledged his debt – above all else – to the creators that defined the series before him, including Chris Claremont, and close collaborator Jonathan Hickman.
As he explained, everything he has done with the X-Men has been built on the foundation set by those writers and artists whose work preceded his.
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“Cyclops & Phoenix” Defined Mr. Sinister – Until The Krakoan Era Redefined Him
One of the primary architects of X-Men’s overarching narrative since Hickman departed the X-Office, Kieron Gillen has helped shape the current incarnation of Mr. Sinister as much as any Marvel writer. As a result, it’s worth noting when he cites a “primary influence,” such as The Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix. Released in 1996, the four-issue miniseries chronicled the birth of perennial villain Mr. Sinister, as witnessed by its time-displaced protagonists. As Gillen told AIPT, Peter Milligan and John Paul Leon’s story “is basically the Rosetta Stone for almost all [his] 19th-century Sinister stuff.“
On a narrative level, Further Adventures is one of the stand-out X-Men stories of the 1990s, but in retrospect, this tends to be overshadowed by its contributions to franchise lore. Mr. Sinister’s backstory as a Victorian scientist who became a thrall to the ancient mutant Apocalypse was fully elucidated in the story, and subsequently, the major developments in Sinister’s character during the Krakoan Era have been grounded in this story, even if its particular details have been remixed, and at times subverted.
X-Men’s Krakoan Era Made Sinister The “Big Bad” He Was Always Meant To Be
More recently, Kieron Gillan and other X-writers established Nathaniel Essex as a truly revolutionary scientist – more than just recognizing the inevitable growth of humanity into mutantkind, he understood the next step beyond that: the development of artificial intelligence. As a result, he produced the four clones of himself, as the Enigma A.I., which has become the final “Big Bad” of the Krakoan Era. In this sense, the era has pushed the character to the logical extreme endpoint of his original concept, but all of this could not have been done without the groundwork laid by Peter Milligan in Further Adventures.
As Kieron Gillen noted, he has been deeply intended to, “all the classic Claremont,” and “all the classic Hickman,” but at the same time, it is important not to neglect the “small things,” the stories that have proved to be pivotal in X-history but are not cited for their critical additions to the overall lore as frequently as they should be. Author Peter Milligan made a number of contributions to the X-Men franchise, of which The Further Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix is just one significant example. Now, readers know of its particular influence on X-Men’s outstanding Krakoan stories.
