Hello, it has been quite a while since last time I posted here. Life has been wonderful and busy, but, it's nice to have a bit of time for a little love to MKO.

Anyway, I haven't seen this posted anywhere, so, I just wanted to take a minute and share this interesting new interview with Shawn Kittelson:

TKT: How many years before the events of Mortal Kombat X does this comic series begin?

Shawn Kittelson: The main story in the comics starts several years before the main story in the game, giving us the freedom to tell the most stories. It’s far enough along that the younger characters could believably fight, but also long enough before the MKX game story that we can make more surprising choices with stories that stand on their own, instead of rushing to tie every thread together with a nice bow to tie directly into the game. If the fans want them, we’ve got years of stories to tell.

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TKT: Will you be taking the games original canon into consideration? As a prime example, Kitana meets Mileena in MK9 for the first time, but in the previous games canon they have thousands of years’ worth of history together. Will you be following the new timeline or perhaps cherry-picking from both?

Shawn: This series is canonical with the games, so we’re aligned with the MK9 timeline that extends through to MKX the game. For Kitana fans, that means she is still very much where she was at the end of MK9. As for Mileena, well, she’s still around and up to no good...

That sounds like a lot of inside baseball, but because the MKX comic series comes out before the game, you can also come to it fresh and enjoy it as a Mortal Kombat story on its own. This way we can write comics for fans that follow the games closely and appreciate the expansion of the shared universe, and at the same time maybe there are comic readers and lapsed MK fans who haven’t played the latest games, and this series can be their point of entry.



TKT: Have you explored the possibility of expanding stories and arcs past the games story conclusion?

Shawn: We’ve got so many stories to tell in the prequel years, it’ll be a while before we entertain that kind of possibility.

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TKT: Will there be any characters from the series expansive roster who definitely won’t be featured or written about?

Shawn: You mean like the way Ed teased “un-reveals” on Twitter? Hmm. I can’t rule anyone out. We never know when we might need them for a story! But that brings me to a really important point: Just because characters appear in the comic, that doesn’t mean they’ll end up in the game. We need to keep people on their toes. So we’re drawing from all across the mythology.

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TKT: Are the comic’s physical representations of characters replicating their design and costumes from the game or will they have costumes from previous games or aesthetics exclusive to the comics, etc?

Shawn: A mix of everything. We’re drawing as much detail as possible from the games, but we’re also working at a point in the chronology where many characters haven’t been depicted in the games, so their appearances shift to accommodate that, resulting in some versions of the characters that you won’t find anywhere but the comics.

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TKT: The Red Dragon Vs. The Black Dragon seems to be a prominent conflict within the events of the upcoming game. How deep are you exploring these two opposing clans and can we expect characters such as Mavado and Kira to have purpose in this clash?

Shawn: The Red Dragon and Black Dragon are major players in the upcoming comics, and that means you’ll get to see a lot of returning characters. With so many characters to juggle, we won’t spend too much time diving deep into the clan structures, but over the course of the series, you’ll learn a lot more about how both clans operate in this timeline, and their actions will seriously impact our main characters.

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TKT: Many characters 'died' during the events of MK9, how are you handling some of these characters if they don’t make the roster in MKX?

Shawn: Dead means dead in the MK universe. Most of time. And just as characters appearing in the comics don’t guarantee appearances in the game, the reverse is also true. There are characters in the game that we aren’t showing in the comics. At the time of our stories, some characters are busy doing their own thing. Some could be in hiding. Some are dead. What matters is, I know where the bodies are.

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TKT: With the games story now fixed and mapped out, have you managed to take any liberties with the overall story map you have devised? Will there be any direct deviations or can we expect some subtle differences between the two, once they ultimately begin to overlap?

Shawn: With several years until MKX, it’ll be a while before any actual scenes overlap. But making sure we were compatible with all the story material in the games was a big job. All last summer, certain things were semi-permanently open on my desktop: the MK9 cinematics videos, the MKX cinematics script, the MK Wikia, and my own outline for the comics.

In the early days I was obsessive about scheduling out all these events. But once I absorbed the most important information, I had to get on with writing the weekly chapters, and that meant focusing on the best overall story and trusting that the work we did on the outline was strong enough to uphold continuity. I’m sure there will be subtle deviations here and there, mostly unintended, but the essential details are aligned. Just as an example, if you see someone who should be dead, but they’re alive, we have a reason for that.

Between myself, editor Alex Antone, and the gang at NetherRealm Studios, a lot of thought went into every decision. What was exciting for me was that nobody handed me a map for the comics and said, “Write this!” I had the stories for MK9 and MKX, and everything in between that wasn’t explicitly covered by the games was open for discussion. NetherRealm was incredibly open to new ideas, trusting me more than I trusted myself sometimes. Their approval meant the world to me. Think of Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but instead of never getting to drive the sports car, his dad hands him the keys and says, “Drive smart, drive fast.” That’s what it felt like.

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TKT: Which character in the comics thus far have you most enjoyed writing for and why?

Shawn: Tough question, because I really, really enjoy writing these characters. I mean, writing a character like Scorpion is one of those full-circle moments where you achieve a childhood dream so impossible that you have to pinch yourself just to make sure you’re awake and it’s all real. All the classic characters give me that feeling. On the other hand, the new characters are fun, too, because there’s so much room for invention.

These comics have the opportunity to explore their origins in greater detail than the games can accommodate. Our first chapters focus particular attention on Cassie Cage and Kotal Kahn, among others. You could take any of those characters and do an entire series just about their solo adventures. But part of the fun of Mortal Kombat is seeing what happens when all these characters and their worlds collide.

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TKT: With this ‘civil war’ ravaging Outworld, how many challengers or factions are there competing for the throne, without giving away who exactly?

Shawn: More than we can even show in the book. Outworld is a vast, dangerous place that’s been suppressed beneath Shao Kahn’s Wrath Hammer for centuries. And just like real nations that have deposed their tyrants, Shao Kahn’s death has a destabilizing effect across the realm. Some people have waited a long, long time for their shot at the throne, so the new emperor will be forced to constantly fight for it. Inevitably, dominant contenders will emerge, and in our Chapter 4, that primary conflict comes to the forefront of the story. Chapter 4 isn’t far away, so you’ll know more very, very soon!

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TKT: Is there a possibility that Mileena at some point in the comics had control of Outworld? At the end of MK9 she was Shao Kahn’s sole surviving heir to the throne.

Shawn: Anything is possible. Can you imagine what Mileena would do with that kind of power? She’d be like a cross between Joffrey Baratheon and Caligula. That sounds dangerous. And awesome. But on second thought, both Joffrey and Caligula died young, so maybe Mileena should keep her head down...

TKT:We thank Shawn Kittelson for his time in responding to our questions!

Credit goes to The Kombat Tether for the interview.
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Yes, I am definitely excited for the comics and this new game. Bring it! :) Hope everyone is well.