Westfield: Who are the New X-Factor and why these characters?

Peter David: The New X-Factor is Jamie Madrox, Strong Guy (Guido), Wolfsbane, Siryn, Monet (M), Rictor, plus one additional character being carried over from House of M... a character whom everyone thinks is serving one purpose but actually has something else up his/her sleeve. As for why these particular characters, I was looking specifically for characters whose personalities would - quite simply - clash. People who I thought would interact in the same way that two pieces of flint crashed together would. So I wanted outgoing versus introverted, conservative versus liberal, pessimist versus optimist. That sort of thing.

Westfield: You've written some of these characters before. Are you enjoying revisiting them?

David: Oh yes, absolutely. Particularly because I'm doing stuff with them that never would even have occurred to me years ago.

Westfield: What can people look forward to in the book? Anything you can tell us about upcoming stories?

David: Basically, we've got a mutant-oriented detective agency, and the mutant community faced with the greatest mystery it's ever encountered: The fallout from House of M. Things will have changed, and X-Factor is going to be investigating what specifically happened. This will put them into an interesting adversarial relationship with some folks in the Marvel U who'd rather keep that information under wraps. Plus they'll be squaring off against the Singularity Agency, a slick, high profile detective and security agency to the rich and powerful. I figure our heroes are going to be at their best when they find themselves squaring off against their opposite numbers.

Westfield: What do you think artist Ryan Sook brings to the book?

David: Enthusiasm and a terrific visual sense. His character designs alone were inventive and had great energy to them.

Westfield: Are there any other projects you're working on you'd like to mention?

David: Fallen Angel has been picked up by IDW, and I think the art by J.K. Woodward is going to knock people's socks off. And, of course, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is just a joy to work on. I love being back with the wall-crawler after all these years.

Westfield: Any closing comments?

David: Buy my stuff.