Nate1234- "First question: What was it like writing the Generation X novel?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "It was fun, mostly. I should have had more than two months to do it -- but I took more time than that, so it worked out. I like working with Scott, too. Biggest problem was that I was largely unfamiliar with the characters before I started the project -- but it was not long before I realized that these were characters who were not terribly defined yet. And Scott gave me pretty much a free hand to mess with his little babies within the sketchy definition that the comics had already drawn for them. I like fishing through a new character's innards, and I got to do that a lot on that book."

Nate1234- "Which of the Generation X characters did you have the most fun messing around with?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "I had the most fun with Skin and Synch. We had decided they'd leave the reservation for awhile and go off on their own. So I put them in a car and sent them to my favorite place in the world. Boston. We all had a good time there. I haven't been in Boston in a long time."

Nate1234- "How did you come up with the idea of Statis?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "It was Scott's idea. I just fleshed him out. Didn't want him to look like your run-of-the-mill blow-dried comic book teen idol, so I made him look like my friend Dwight -- a long-haired Okie with tatoos up and down his arms. The story of the ghost in the house was pretty much based on a ghost who hung around the house in New Hampshire where my wife grew up."

Nate1234- "Statis probably will never appear in comics, right?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "I doubt we'll ever see him in a comic book, but as far as I know, he belongs to Marvel just like the other Gen Xers."

Nate1234- "Which did you ejoy writing more: the novel or the 1997 annual?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "Not sure what you mean. The process of writing the specific comic book was more fun for me, only because I didn't have an impossible deadline hanging over my head when I did it -- and because after several years of not writing any comics stories to speak of, I was surprised and delighted to find that the process still engaged me. For sheer exutation in the accomplishment, however, any novel has to outshine any comic book. The work is so massive and intricate, that you can't help but feel great about having written a book. This one was no exception by any means."

Nate1234- "Before the Generation X annual, what was the last comic you had written?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "I think it was the Archie Super-Teens special a couple of years back."

Nate1234- "A lot of people are mad about Generation X's creative team changes and were wondering if you might consider taking over the writing chores for Generation X."

Eliot S! Maggin- "I don't know. I'd have to be asked first."

Nate1234- "Would you have rather have converted the Generation X novel into a twelve-month-storyline involving everything from the fight against D'Spayre to the death of Statis or are you happy with the annual?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "No, I think the annual is fine. I could've done a graphic novel adaptation or a mini-series or something with it, but what purpose would that serve? At the risk of sounding like some kind of curmudgeon, allow me to point out that when I was in college and for several years after, I wrote about a story a week -- no long-term continuity other than the characters' occasional life-cycle events (like Jimmy Olsen turning 21 and Perry White turning sixty-five about half-a-dozen times each) but a decision, conflict and resolution in every story. Once in awhile I'd do a two-part book-length something or other; once or twice I did a three- or four-parter, but that was only for a really special event. I think the shrinking of the comics market has shown that the long-term value of short contained stories far outweighs the short-term benefits of extended soap opera. We need to be able to tell a story with an actual idea or two in it within the confines of 24 or 12 or 8 or 6 pages, or we're not storytellers any more; we're purveyors of product, same as people who don't put their names on their work. So the short answer is, no, the annual was fine for the comics format and I was pleased to do it; for a novel, a deeper analysis of character and a more complex web of backstory is appropriate."

Nate1234- "Is there any chance we Gen X fans will ever see you write Gen X again?"

Eliot S! Maggin- "Sure. I'd love to. The characters are great, the fan base is sophisticated and the premises of the series are full of meat and potential meat. I don't plan to write any in the foreseeable future, or to solicit the gig, but I'd certainly be open to the possibility."