

It was the comic-book studio system done absolutely right.

In the Dark Phoenix saga (#129-138) you turned Jean Grey into a planet-destroying superbeing and then killed her. The whole goal with the first two-dozen issues was to keep everybody guessing as to what would happen next - to make it very, very difficult for them to take the series and the characters for granted. He was an artist I’d admired for years and our imaginations were ridiculously simpatico. The most basic excitement was the opportunity to work with Dave Cockrum. What excited you about joining the series? Len Wein and Dave Cockrum set up the new X-Men - notably Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus - in a one-off special and then you took over as writer.
