X-Men Monday #267 - Frank Tieri Talks 'Sabretooth: The Dead Don't Talk' • AIPT (original) (raw)
Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!
Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk? What’s that? Well, X-Fans, it’s an all-new mini-series from writer Frank Tieri and artist Michael Sta. Maria X-Men Monday gets to eXclusively announce! Here’s the solicitation for the first issue, which goes on sale in December 2024…
SABRETOOTH: THE DEAD DON’T TALK #1 (OF 5) Written by FRANK TIERI Penciled by MICHAEL STA. MARIA Cover by FABRIZIO DE TOMMASO
Who is Mad Dog Murphy? A person alive in the 1900s seen in a picture on the wall of NYC’s oldest tavern? Yes. A feared gangster and murderer who rose to power among the notorious Gangs of NY? Yes. And also, perhaps most shockingly of all, none other than… Sabretooth?!?
Join us — and Wolverine — as we uncover this secret untold chapter from the life of Logan’s greatest foe in a tale of violence, betrayal, shocking reveals and more violence. Sabretooth may be dead… but the secrets from his past —and the ways in which they may affect Wolverine in the present — are very much alive
Cover by Fabrizio De Tommaso, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Curious to learn more about this all-new tale from Sabretooth and Wolverine’s pasts? Frank has the details below. (And for more from Frank, check out his first X-Men Monday appearance way back in 2019, when we chatted about him killing Maggott and more at Terrificon).
AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Frank! You have quite a bit of history with the X-side of the Marvel Universe, having written such series as Weapon X, Wolverine, and Deadpool. But it’s been a minute. How does it feel to be back playing in the X-sandbox?
Frank Tieri: Well that’s not entirely true that it’s been a minute, having semi-recently worked on Deadpool: Black, White & Blood and Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth (the latter which very much comes into play in this series, as you’ll see). That said, yes, I haven’t played in the X-Men toy box as much as I used to so it’s been a blast to come back and work on a series like this, especially when it comes with two of my favorite X-Men toys, Sabretooth and Wolverine.
Cover by Davide Paratore, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: How did the chance to write Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk come about? It’s quite a unique pitch.
Frank: Hey, it’s Wolverine’s 50th anniversary, you had to figure I was going to be involved in some way, ya know? [Laughs] And really, that “some way” was editor Mark Paniccia more than anything. Mark always liked how I’ve handled Sabretooth as a character and wanted to do something badass with him together. The problem was of course… SPOILER ALERT… Sabretooth was set to die. Which meant the story had to be an untold tale of his set in the past when, ya know, that whole dead thing wasn’t going to get in the way.
So I got the idea to go back to another Sabretooth story I did that indeed takes place in Sabes’ past, the aforementioned Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth. That story marked Sabretooth’s first encounter with Wolverine in the 1900s while he’s under the employ of Mister Sinister at Ravencroft and well… things didn’t go so great for our ol’ pal Victor.
Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk picks things up a little while later where we find Sabes despondent over what went down in Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth, that Logan got the better of him, when up to that point NOBODY had ever really gotten the better of him before. And ya know, Sinister ain’t exactly the most compassionate boss who gives a damn about your touchy feelings so when Sabes is given the opportunity to get out from under his shadow, he takes it. And ends up smack dab in the middle of the criminal underworld in Five Points NYC and the ensuing crazy chaos that occurs.
Art by Michael Sta. Maria, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: What’s the elevator pitch for this mini-series and what can readers expect as the story unfolds?
Frank: Simply put, it’s Gangs of New York but with Sabretooth.
We actually start with Wolverine, so as the events of Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk unfold, we’re learning about what happened alongside him. We kick off with him in a bar — Satan’s Circus, the oldest bar in the Big Apple — having a drink after Sabes’ funeral when he notices some old pics of Five Points gang members on the wall… and Sabretooth is one of them! How the hell is this possible? From here Logan — and we — begin to learn this secret, violent history of his greatest foe as the gangster “Mad Dog” Murphy and we’re off to the proverbial races.
Art by Michael Sta. Maria, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
One of the most fun parts of using a setting like this is seeing what a Marvel version of Gangs of New York looks like. So you have a mix of normal gangs… and then some not so normal gangs. A gang that use steampunk tech, a gang that have modeled themselves after the American Revolution’s Captain America… even a “Frankengang” that were stitched together by one of the good doctors ancestors. So you can guess when we drop Sabretooth in the middle of something like this it’s like dropping a ton of TNT into a forest fire, the explosion doesn’t only affect the criminal underworld but the entirety of 1900s NYC itself.
Fans can expect a lot of twists and turns, some new and some old characters, some characters with unexpected connections to current Marvel characters, a love story believe it or not… and of course, a whole lot of violence. Like a lot. Really a lot. (Hey, this is a Sabretooth comic after all — what do you expect?)
AIPT: As a writer, what do you find compelling about Victor Creed?
Frank: Because he’s such a son of a bitch. And let’s face it, SOBs are definitely fun to write… and you don’t get a bigger one than Victor Creed. I’ve always said forget Omega Red, Cyber, Lady Deathstrike, what have you — Sabretooth is Wolverine’s ultimate enemy… and that’s mainly because they are two sides of the same coin. Sabretooth is the nightmare that Logan hopes never comes true. That if he’s not careful, he could become Sabretooth. And that scares the hell out of him. And Sabretooth knows that it does. And as a writer, you couldn’t ask for a better dynamic to play with than that.
Art by Michael Sta. Maria, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Finally, if readers want to pre-game for your return to the X-Universe and revisit any classic Frank Tieri X-stories, what do you recommend? Any personal favorites you’re particularly proud of?
Frank: Hey, if I wrote it, it’s all good. [Laughs]
Seriously though, the aforementioned Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth since we’re picking up our story right after that. But also fans might want to check out the Wolverine/Sabretooth stories during my Wolverine and Weapon X runs just to see what kind of bastard I’ve always written Sabretooth as… and what kind of crazy, off-the-wall, insane fun they can expect from a series like this.
Cover by Adam Kubert, Courtesy of Marvel Comics
AIPT: Well, on that note, Frank, thanks for taking the time to reveal this new mini-series and all these details with X-Men Monday!
Remember, X-Fans, Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk goes on sale in December 2024, so I’m sure you’ll be learning more details in the months ahead.
In the next edition of X-Men Monday: Writer Alex Paknadel returns to discuss his upcoming Sentinels mini-series.
Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Until next time, X-Fans, stay exceptional!