Did he say Warpies? I think I read Warpies.
So, Warren Ellis is writing Astonishing X-Men. And he promises Warpies.
Now this ties into my slog through every pen and paper RPG/boardgame/wargame I ever played. You see when I bought that box of 30 plastic Space Marines, the same day I picked up the Captain Britain trade paperback that collected the Delano/Davis era. Which is where I first read about Warpies.
Warpies were children born mutated with super powers by the “Jaspers Warp”, a wave of reality alteration created by Mad Jim Jaspers. Essentially the reverse of House of M. Only this being Alan Davis at his most extreme character design, a typical Warpie is far more bizarre in appearance than a typical mutant.
Now my Captain Britain reading began, as kid, in hospital waiting rooms. Somehow in this way I read bits of the original Claremont run, bits of the stuff with Black Knight, bits of stuff with Jackdaw, but somehow missing any and all of the Alan Moore run. So all I had for many years were the hints of that story in Captain Britain run, and the Warpies were the biggest hint of all. Because of this they have a special place in my heart as symbol of Alan Davis greatness. So when he took over writing Excalibur and brought them back, it was pretty awesome. I understand Claremont’s brough back Jaspers and The Fury, but I’m not 13 anymore and so can’t handle Claremont’s writing anymore.
I’m not totally sold on Bianchi, but the promise of Warpies and hopefully an Ellis-written Kitty Pryde again, is stirring some sort-of latent Excailibur fanboy gene in me.