https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/children-of-the-vault-fall-of-x-bishop-cable
Dix-sept ans après leur premier affrontement (lors de l’arc inaugural de Mike Carey sur X-Men/X-Men Legacy) Cable et les Enfants de la Voûte (remis en avant par Hickman puis Duggan) vont de nouveau croiser le fer. Bishop, cet autre X-Man emblématique des 90’s, est également de la partie.
Pas fan de la couverture
Pas fan de l’idée.
Jamie Lovett, ComicBook.com: Children of the Vault is both your Marvel debut and your first new book to hit shelves since 20th Century Men wrapped, a great book that I think captured folks’ attention. What are the similarities between that book and this one – stylistic, thematic, or whatever else – that those following you from that book to this one might see? Or is this book a palate cleanse, something very different?
Thanks, I’m really proud of 20th Century Men.
Stylistically, Children of the Vault and 20th Century Men are pretty different. 20th Century Men was a very layered, very grounded book. (Grounded for a book about cyborgs and super-soldiers, anyway.) And though there was action in it, action wasn’t our focus.
Working in the Marvel Universe is really a different animal. For one, I’m writing an action comic. Energy and momentum at all times is important. Things move fast.
For another, Marvel operates on a much bigger scale. It’s a universe where cosmic gods and Lovecraftian monsters are commonplace, which means I get to exercise my imagination in a different way; inventing advanced cultures and super technology, resurrecting past continuity in new ways, and imagining big action scenes that put superpowers to new and interesting use.
So stylistically they’re quite different. Thematically, though, they have something in common.
On one level 20th Century Men was about competing visions of the future, and what struck me when I went back and read past Children of the Vault appearances was this was also the Children/Mutant dynamic: The Children of the Vault represent an alternative vision of the future of Earth. This is central to their identity.
And so much of the Krakoan era has been about competing visions of the future (quite literally, as Jonathan Hickman took it into the future), all the way back to HOX/POX, and into now with Orchis and Krakoa/Mutantkind vying to define the future. The Children of the Vault represent a new complication in the ongoing human/mutant conflict, a « third way ». And just as Hickman increased the stakes by founding a mutant nation, I wanted to have the Children grow to meet the scale of Krakoa/mutantkind/Orchis.
Based on what information Marvel has put out there, there seems to be a dual focus here: the Children of the Vault (of course) and then Bishop and Cable having to work together. What can you tell me about how this came together? Did it begin life as a Bishop/Cable team-up book, a Children of the Vault project, or something else entirely?
It was decided by my editor, Sarah Brunstad before I was brought on board, and I think was a stroke of brilliance. She saw that the Children were largely driven by this belief that they were the future, and so it seemed natural to put them up against two X-Men actually from the future. Bishop and Cable each represent yet another wrinkle in the « competing visions of the future » theme. They’ve spent most of their lives trying to shape the future! It all hangs together pretty elegantly, I think, and Sarah deserves all the credit for that.
And yes, I see all three of them – Cable, Bishop, and the Children of the Vault – as sharing the focus equally. I’m trying to give everyone something meaty every issue. It’s my hope that after the mini people will feel they know these characters better, understand why they’re compelling, and will want to see more.
Both the Children of the Vault and the Bishop/Cable rivalry date back to a specific era of X-Men comics,Messiah Complex and the comics that led up to and came out of it. How much did that inform the decision to bring these two sets of characters together, and were you familiar with or a fan of those comics before working on this series?
I was generally familiar with it, yeah. Before I sat down to write I went back and read all of that, plus a bunch of other stuff featuring Cable and Bishop (and the Children of the Vault, though that’s a much smaller research pile).
My approach to comics is, everything that happened, happened. I think that’s one of the unique and beautiful things about ongoing comics universes, the complexity that emerges out of decades of continuity (and that includes contradictions, by the way; people are full of contradictions in real life, why not in comics?).
Bishop and Cable are such rich characters, and so there’s a lot to draw from. I’m drawing from the 90s Cable and I’m drawing from the 2000s Cable and I’m drawing from what Al Ewing has done with the character. I’m drawing from the original Bishop stuff, and District X, and the recent War College run.
But dealing with them both together, the elephant in the room is everything what Swierczynski & Olivetti did with them in the post-Messiah Complex Cable series. For those who don’t know, Bishop hunted Cable and his daughter Hope across time and space in an effort to kill baby Hope to prevent the mutant holocaust he was born into. They spent years running and chasing and fighting, and Bishop went to terrible lengths.
So you could say there is some tension there.
And that’s become, for me, perhaps the most interesting and fruitful part of the book, their complicated dynamic. Because all of that is true, all of that happened. But also…if that HADN’T happened, they seem like the kind of guys who might like each other, don’t they? They’re both time-displaced soldiers living in an almost mythical (to them) past. So they’re kind of fighting a natural rapport, I think.
Yes, it’s messy, but messy is interesting. Messy is human.
The Children of the Vault are steeped in these heady sci-fi ideas and concepts that seem ripe for interpretation. Are there specific big ideas at the heart of the Children of the Vault? Should we expect to see a deep dive into the Children of the Vault’s culture, similar to the exploration of Arakko in X-Men Red and elsewhere, or is this less a big idea book and more an action book, which the Children of the Vault are also pretty good for?
My goal is to do both. I love world-building, but I think it has to be grounded in the characters and revealed naturally through the story. I want to do the world-building in a way that doesn’t slow down the narrative or distract too much from the characters, so a lot of it is in the background, or in a little snippet of narration to inform a conversation happening, or – when I really went to get deep – in the text pages (which have been an invaluable resource).
I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Children, and what a « fast-forward » culture with each generation grown in a lab might look like. How does a culture like that look at an individual life, when they know they’ll be reborn in a slightly different form, with slightly different memories and experiences each generation? What are the politics and history of a people trapped inside the vault, sure of their destiny and obsessed with expansion?
That’s all in there, but it’s primarily interesting to me in how it informs the characters of the Children, their motivations and methods.
Intéressant.
Children of the Vault #1
TO SAVE THE FUTURE!
The Children of the Vault are back, and they are determined to be humanity’s salvation! But not everything is as it seems, and every utopia has its costs. What is the motivation behind these highly evolved beings gifting the world with their advanced technology? And how do Bishop and a now-Orchis-captured Cable figure into their plans?
Creative Team
- Writer: Deniz Camp
- Artist: Luca Maresca
- Letterer: Cory Petit
- Designer: Tom Muller
- Standard Cover Artist(s): Yanick Paquette & Guru-eFX
- Variant Cover Artist(s): Paulo Siqueira & Rachelle Rosenberg; Betsy Cola;
- Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
- Editor: Sarah Brunstad
- Format: Limited Series
- Page Count/Cover Price: 36 pages/$4.99
Sympathique mais de gros sentiments de déjà-vu.
Deniz Camp surfe sur le Hellfire Gala pour mettre en avant les Enfants de la Voûte, en pompant joyeusement dans de bonnes références mais trop présentes. Ainsi, la Chute de Krakoa entraîne le bug du montage de Forge pour bloquer des Enfants dans des rêves de réussite. Ils s’éveillent, se fâchent et retournent dans la Voûte, pour préparer la suite. La suite, ça intervient X semaines après, où ils apparaissent à bord d’une cité volante, se disent les Enfants de Demain, venus du futur pour aider le présent sinistré. Un « virus » mental est lancé pour que le monde leur fasse confiance, alors que Bishop, survivant du Gala, anéantit base après base d’Orchis et libère finalement Cable, torturé depuis des semaines. Le duo fonctionne malgré les troubles passés.
En soi, c’est bien. Deniz Camp gère bien Bishop et Cable, redonnant ce côté de surpuissance zen à Nathan que j’aimais bien il y a une vingtaine d’années ; ce n’est pas Soldier-X, mais c’est plutôt bien. Le duo avec Bishop est forcé mais fonctionne bien, et c’est fluide. Les Enfants, bah… ça pompe joyeusement la Cité de The Maker, le Reed Ultimate devenu mauvais, mais aussi l’Hyperclan de DC, avec les Martiens Blancs se présentant en héros et manipulant le monde. Ce n’est pas grave en soi, mais les ficelles sont grosses.
Graphiquement, Lucas Maresca propose de belles planches, agréables à l’oeil.
Sympathique mais redondant.
(W) Deniz Camp (A) Luca Maresca, Carlos Lopez (CA) Yanick Paquette, Mahmud Asrar
WELCOME TO THE TOMORROWTOWNS! The Children of the Vault will bring this world into the future - kicking and screaming! In the wake of the fall of Krakoa, the Children emerge as humankind’s greatest and only saviors, defending Earth from Shi’ar attacks and supernatural sightings alike. And humanity LOVES it. Only Bishop and Cable can see through the Children’s impossible promises - but can these two old enemies work together long enough to stop them? The explosive series continues as mutantkind’s boldest soldiers prepare for war!
Rated T+
In Shops: Sep 13, 2023
SRP: $3.99
Efficace et réussi.
Après un #1 sympathique mais avec des éléments déjà vus ailleurs, Deniz Camp enchaîne avec un #2 réussi et intelligent. Bishop et Cable battent et enlèvent l’un des Enfants de la Voûte, pour l’interroger physiquement et mentalement, afin de comprendre comment le « Message » agit télépathiquement. L’on apprend en parallèle plus sur le mode de décision dans la Voûte, avec notamment des débats homériques, des mises à mort, résurrection, etc. Il y a eu 200 ans entre maintenant, pour eux, et la libération des Enfants de la prison des X-Men, au début du #1, et les Enfants sont une génération préparée. En parallèle, Bishop récupère des armes de Cable dans l’Institut, alors que les Enfants agissent comme super-protecteurs du monde. Ca va taper bientôt.
C’est bien, oui. Deniz Camp gère bien son approche, avec une description pertinente et fluide de la Voûte. Cela reste des choses déjà vues, mais il plonge bien dans le fonctionnement et dans l’organisation, et c’est particulièrement intéressant. Cable et Bishop sont bien écrits, c’est une SF divertissante et prenante.
Graphiquement, Luca Maresca propose des planches très réussies, fort jolies et efficaces. Très agréable à l’oeil.
Un bon épisode, vraiment.
Children of the Vault #3
THE BOYS BREAK OUT THEIR TOYS!
The time for subterfuge has passed. As the Children of the Vault stand poised to inherit the Earth, Bishop and Cable break out from the shadows guns blazing! But the Children are only one enemy in a world full of them, and now two of the world’s most wanted men have revealed themselves to every watchful eye.
Big guns, big action, big attitude—Children of the Vault is a series you can’t miss!
Creative Team
- Writer: Deniz Camp
- Artist: Luca Maresca
- Letterer: Cory Petit
- Designer: Tom Muller
- Standard Cover Artist(s): Yanick Paquette & Guru-eFX
- Variant Cover Artist(s): Luciano Vecchio
- Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
- Editor: Sarah Brunstad
- Format: Limited Series
- Page Count/Cover Price: 36 pages/$4.99
Très bien.
Deniz Camp livre un très bon épisode, qui joue énormément sur le fonctionnement de la Cité. L’auteur fait un très bon travail pour étendre complètement les idées initiales de Mike Carey, affinées par Jonathan Hickman. Il n’invente pas grand-chose, mais joue vraiment idéalement avec tout ça. Ca donne envie d’en voir plus.
Ici, on voit Cable et Bishop qui attaquent la Cité : frontalement, avec de gros joujoux, sur lesquels ils s’engueulent (quel fusil est le meilleur). Mais aussi parce qu’ils sont parvenus à manipuler des agents Orchis pour retourner Orchis contre la Cité. Grosse bagarre avec des Sentinelles, mais aussi indirectement : Orchis veut stopper Le Message des Enfants de la Voûte, mais l’Humanité est prise entre ces deux influences. Serafina voit un avenir sombre, troublé par le Dominion (tintintintin!), alors que ça vire aux duels directs dans la Cité.
C’est très bon, oui. Deniz Camp est excellent dans sa gestion des idées sur les Enfants de la Voûte, et manipule parfaitement tout ceci. Les Enfants ont des caractérisations, plus que jamais avant j’ai l’impression, et le duo Cable / Bishop est top. Leur historique est rappelé, mais ça se vanne, comme deux vieux blasés et arrogants. C’est drôle et prenant.
Graphiquement, Luca Maresca propose des planches classiques et fluides, agréables et claires.
Une très bonne surprise qui se poursuit.
Children of the Vault #4
CHILDREN OF THE END!
The beings raised in the artificial world of the Vault have known since their first breaths that they stood to inherit the Earth. They just didn’t think mutantkind would make it so easy for them. With only Cable and Bishop to stand in their way, the end of human—and mutantkind both is at hand.
Creative Team
- Writer: Deniz Camp
- Artist: Luca Maresca
- Letterer: Cory Petit
- Designer: Tom Muller
- Standard Cover Artist(s): Yanick Paquette & Guru-eFX
- Variant Cover Artist(s):
- Senior Editor: Jordan D. White
- Editor: Sarah Brunstad
- Format: Limited Series
- Page Count/Cover Price: 36 pages/$4.99
Très bon final d’une vraie bonne mini-série.
Deniz Camp achève efficacement sa saga, avec une bonne bagarre bien menée par Bishop et Cable, formidable duo d’anciens ennemis qui se bouffent le nez mais fonctionnent bien ensemble. Ils forcent les Enfants à retourner dans la Cité, car ils infectent celle-ci avec le virus Phalanx. Orchis prend un sale coup, Seraphina est forcée à sonner la fuite… et le monde se remet du départ de la Cité et du Message, même si plusieurs en restent marqués.
C’est bien, oui. Deniz Camp assure dans un final maîtrisé, avec un bon cheminement. La gestion de la Cité reste bonne, moins intense que dans les précédents épisodes très fins dans l’utilisation des concepts. Là, c’est plus du fun avec Bishop et Cable, et ça fonctionne vraiment bien.
Graphiquement, Luca Maresca propose des planches correctes et solides, bien équilibrées.
Une vraie bonne surprise qui finit correctement. Top !
