Marvel Omega is home to some of the best writers in fanfic. And with Spotlight, readers will get the chance to learn more about their favorite writers here at the site, through an interview where they answer questions about their craft as well as pick some of the best stories they've turned out for the site.

For the first installment of Spotlight, it's only fair that we start off with the site's founder and Editor-in-Chief, Ryan Krupienski. Ryan's not only been with MO since the beginning, but he was also part of its predecessor, Marvel-X, when it was first founded back in January 1999. To this day, he remains on the title he's been writing since those early times at MX—Uncanny X-Men. With over fifty issues under his belt, Ryan's take on Marvel's mutants still remains one of the most-favored in fanfic and, as you'll soon see, he has no intentions of quitting just yet.

What is the best way to describe Ryan Krupienski?

I don't know, I guess I'm a little bit all over the place - I have a hyperactive imagination, that's one thing I can say. I'm unconventional, and I like to portray that in everything I do. With me, expect the unexpected.

When did you start writing?

For as long as I can remember I have always loved to write. In elementary school I was always excited when we had an assignment to do an essay, and that stayed true throughout high school and college. I'm a lot better at expressing my feelings in written word rather than spoken word, and whether it's a story or an essay or a blog entry, I always have plenty to say.

How did you come to fanfic?

I had an X-Men website in the late 90's called The Uncanny X-Men (later UXM 2000) and it was in the summer of 1998 that myself and an online friend decided that we wanted to write our own stories, so we each started a series. Mine was the horrific, poorly-written Sensational X-Men. It sucked royally; I still have the issues safely locked away on my hard drive and every so often take a peak at them just to show myself how much I've improved in 8 years :) My first "official" fanfic work, however, was for Marvel-X. I started writing the Uncanny X-Men title in January 1999 when the site launched, and obviously that is the exact same series I am writing to this day.

Which writers do you feel are the biggest influence on your writing?

I would have to say overall that Chris Claremont is the biggest influence, not necessarily with his ideas and such, but just with the way he wrote the X-Men 20-30 years ago. It was such a soap opera, the characters were so dynamic, and though many ideas of mine are more along the lines of something Grant Morrison or Joe Casey might do, my main focus is always the characters and their personal stories.

I have to admit that outside of comics I really don't have any writing influences - maybe that makes me shallow, I don't know :) Other influences in general, though, include everything from television to movies to video games and so on. I have a knack for at times watching/reading something, loving it, twisting it in my own sick ways, and incorporating it into my writing somehow.

Marvel Omega used to be the X-Men branch of Marvel-X. Why the split?

Marvel-X went through quite a tumultuous time from 2000 to 2003. The original Editor-in-Chief, Eric Moreels, stepped down and we had several EiCs take the reigns until MX was "absorbed" into the Avengers 2000 site as one of its imprints. However, the active X-titles at the time were being managed by myself at a mini-site called Marvel-X Underground, and we just kind of coordinated with the other MX titles and let them know what our plans were and such. In the fall of 2003, however, myself and the EiC of A2K mutually decided that since I wanted to take the X-titles in a much different direction than he had envisioned, it just might me better if MXU broke off completely from MX and became its own site. Thus, Marvel Omega was born... started off very small, and to this day I'm still astonished at how big it's become.

With a few exceptions, you seem to only have worked with MX/MO. Any particular reason?

Well I've been writing for MX/MO since January of 1999, over seven years now, and regardless of all the shake-ups/moves/changes/etc it's been more or less my "comfort zone". I have tried my hand at other sites, including Evolution 2032, Marvel 2015, Marvel Fast Foward, Marvel Dark Design, Mutant Underground, Revolution X, and Ultimate Marvel, and was at one point going to do some work at Marvel 2000 as well. I've been with MX/MO from the beginning, I'm so familiar with the continuity, so comfortable with it, and I'm so connected to my Uncanny X-Men series. It's just my #1 priority.

When one looks at your writing record, it seems like you’ve exclusively written X-Men titles. Do you find something more appealing about the X-Men than other characters and if so, what is that appeal?

The X-Men are what I know best. I grew up reading the X-Men books, and didn't really read much else until my late teens. I like a lot of other series as well, but there isn't anything else I feel that I know enough about to write and do justice to it.

Have you ever considered branching off and writing something not related to the X-Men at all, or perhaps something DC-related?

Being that I'm completely DC-illiterate (with the exception of some things like the basics of Batman and Superman), it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to go ratting around in that territory :) Though I absolutely love Joe Casey's Wildcats, but I'm nowhere near good enough to tackle that kind of title. Dark Minds is another favorite, but again, something that I'd probably butcher. I know where my "safe" zone is :) I am trying to branch out into something different with Interpol, though it has its X-connections, but it's a start.

It’s been almost three years since Marvel Omega split from Marvel-X and in that period, MO has flourished to become one of the most prominent, if not the most prominent, Marvel fanfic sites. What do you attribute this growth to?

Well, I couldn't have done it without the help of my partner-in-crime, Dino Pollard, that's for sure. I think MO's success has a lot to do with how we've presented the group, associating it with quality. We don't just let anyone write for the group and approve just any proposal; we take continuity very seriously; we make a conscious effort to make the site look good and make sure the stories are readable. I think another big factor is that Marvel Omega is completely devoid of the infighting that has plagued so many other groups - I designated it a "drama free" zone from the start and it's stayed that way. We respect each other, and that attracts readers and writers alike.

A major problem with many fanfic sites has been group infighting. Does MO suffer from this at all?

Nope, just as I said above, MO doesn't have any such problem. That was one of the things I really focused on from the beginning because even back in the early days of Marvel-X, there were some issues between writers and it really brought down the morale and the productivity. That just has no place in fanfic - this is a hobby, this is something we do for fun, it's not supposed to be stressful. I'm so glad that everyone at Marvel Omega has been so friendly and professional. That's what it's all about.

In addition to your work on Uncanny X-Men, you have two new titles on the horizon — Jubilee and Interpol. What can you tell us about those two?

Interpol came to me in bits and pieces while Eric Faynberg and I were plotting and planning the new Deadpool: Agent of Weapon Plus series (originally titled just Weapon Plus). We figured that the characters in his series could use their own antagonists, and the idea just flourished until it became Interpol. Originally I only intended to write the Amazing Fantasy issue and leave them for Eric to use here and there in his series, but I ended up deciding that this team had their own stories to tell. You can more or less consider it and Deadpool "sister" titles; the connection is very obvious as of the end of Amazing Fantasy #8, but Interpol will be developing on its own. Unlike Uncanny X-Men, though, Interpol is going to be a bit more "on the go", not concretely planned out as much.

As for Jubilee, well, she's my absolute favorite character of all time and while I've been developing her for the past couple years in Uncanny X-Men , I think it's high-time that she gets the full spotlight. She is one of the most abused and underrated X-Men characters of all time and she's just been utilized horribly in the actual comics in the past couple years. Her solo series is going to get her away from the X-Men and throw her into a new life, and we'll see what prompts this in Uncanny X-Men #53. The series will still be tied in to Uncanny X-Men and she's not going to stay away from the team forever, but she'll be developing her own "world" with new supporting characters, enemies, etc. This is basically going to be Jubilee finally growing up, finally coming into her own as a young woman. She of course will be grieving Iceman for some time; she'll also be dealing with her evolving powers, and have plenty of adventures and mysteries to solve.

I also have a third new title on the horizon, but maybe I'll keep it under wraps for the moment :)

For quite some time, you seemed to be quite adamant about the “dead is dead” policy, but recently, you seem to have become a bit more lax about it. Illyana Rasputin, Sinister and the girls from Generation X have recently returned from the dead. Are these exceptions to the rule or are you more open in general to the idea of resurrections?

I'm more open to resurrections now as long as there is damn good explanation and it also serves a purpose. With the characters that have returned in Uncanny X-Men thus far, their resurrections are tied to the Wonderland afterlife dimension featured in Chris Munn's last stint on Generation X. In fact, the GenXers were originally killed with the intention of eventually bring them back. Wonderland was the perfect vessel through which to bring back several other characters too, and while there isn't going to be an explosion of dead mutants coming back to life, there will definitely be slightly more than a handful.

Another thing you were once against was bringing in alternate universe titles. However, the site now boasts Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Spider-Man, and now Ultimate Ghost Rider. There’s also been discussion on the message board about The Ultimates. What made you change your mind about alternate universe titles?

Ultimate X-Men I permitted because I just love the series so much, and it needed a home. I was weary of bring in alternate universe titles for a while, but I think keeping it to a minimum and weaving the titles into the different imprints has worked just fine. I didn't want to have a whole imprint full of alternate titles with another shared universe/continuity when there was still so much of the mainstream continuity to explore, but since the Ultimate titles are self-contained it makes things much easier, each series can just do its own thing. And as far as Exiles goes, well, I'd never turn down a series written by Chris Munn and Ian Astheimer ;)

You’ve been writing Uncanny X-Men for seven years so far and many have cited it as the best X-Men title in fanfic. Writing a title for seven years is virtually unheard of in fanfic. How have you managed to still keep the title fresh and interesting to readers after all this time?

I just love these characters and I'm so connected to the world I've created for them, and the couple of times that I tried to quit the series in the past just didn't work. I still have so many stories left to tell, so much more to do with these characters, and as corny and fanboyish as it may sound, this series is a real part of my life. You can't work on a project for seven years and not be attached to it.

As for keeping things fresh and interesting, well, I think a lot of it has to do with me taking the characters in directions that Marvel would never dream of (Phoenix as President of Genosha, Wolverine's death, Iceman and Jubilee's romance, Cecilia's cancer). Having a very different kind of team helps too - Ever, Mastermind, and Astrid Bloom are probably not ever going to be contenders for the "real" X-Men. There's also the matter of my original characters, Kwannon and Proteus, who help bring a fresh perspective to the team.

And I like to do crazy things. I think outside the box and maybe even cross the line at times, but what's the point of writing fanfic if you're just going to mimick what the comics are doing? I'm unconventional, and therefore so is my writing. Keeps people on their toes :)

What can you tell us about the future of Uncanny X-Men? With books like Interpol, it looks like you may want to branch out a little. Are your days on Uncanny X-Men numbered?

At the very least I will remain on Uncanny X-Men until issue #100, coming January 2010 ;) At this point, I really can't see an end in sight, because I still have many, many stories left in me. I will be branching out but Uncanny X-Men will remain my first priority. I currently have that series plotted out through #80 with much more in development.

What other characters do you think you might like to take a shot at writing?

I think writing the Thunderbolts would be fun, as that was another of my favorite Marvel series once upon a time (hence why I did a storyarc with them in UXM all those years ago). They are safely in the care of George Cameron, though, and I'm excited to see more issues of the series out of him. Another team book that I might like to take a stab at is Avengers (particularly the characters of Captain America and Iron Man). As far as solo characters go, Elektra would be interesting, and it'd definitely be new territory for me as I've never done anything remotely like it. I've always found her to be an intruiging character.

Ultimate Marvel was a site that seemed to hold a lot of promise, but it closed its doors a few years ago. What was the reasoning behind this?

I think Ultimate Marvel was doomed from the beginning, because when it first opened in autumn of 2001, it was already from the get-go trying to do too much at once. I mean, the continuity for the five-year gap in the continuity from Marvel was all mapped out and was so incredibly restrictive for any potential new writers, not to mention it was downright confusing. It just wasn't organized very well, though the Ultimate Imprint was doing great for a while. Just like Marvel-X, Ultimate Marvel went through downtime and changes of leadership, ultimately falling to me.

The site was literally dead for some time, but I was determined to bring it back, and got so re-energized for the project when Curt Fernlund and Jae Lizhini came aboard to write Avengers and Fantastic Four, respectively. We trimmed it down to just Ultimate titles and had a lot of great things planned, but it fell by the wayside ultimately because I just couldn't handle the site. I had too much going on in life and Marvel Omega was, as it has always been, my #1 priority.

What’s the story behind Ultimate Omega?

Ultimate Omega is a work-in-progress that will hopefully one day come alive. I always wanted to eventually bring back Ultimate Marvel, but then it occurred to me to think bigger; there are already Ultimate titles at Marvel Omega, for starters, and then DC Omega came into the picture, and I thought why not mash it all together and start from scratch? Kind of like an Ultimate Omniverse if you will. It's very much in the planning stages at this point and not something I'm actively working on, but down the road I'd like to get more people involved and see what develops.

If you had to choose new writers to take over each of your titles, who would you choose and why?

Uncanny X-Men - Chris Munn, because he likes to fuck stuff up, and I can only imagine what he'd do to my precious mutants :)

Interpol - Mike Franzoni, because he does such a fantastic job with the whole spy/espionage/suspense genre and he could do this team more justice than I could ever dream of.

Jubilee - George Cameron, because he has an insane sense of humor and I think it'd be a perfect fit the "dark action/adventure comedy" feel that the series is going to have.

Pick one title—just one—you’d love to see appear at Marvel Omega.

Silver Surfer. I want someone to just take it, run with it, and go wild. We definitely need more off-world series.

Finally, pick the five best stories you’ve written for Marvel Omega.

1. "Humanity's Sanction" (Uncanny X-Men #21-22 & 2001 Annual)
2. "Beauty & The Beast" (Uncanny X-Men #26)
3. X-Men: Generations mini series
4. "Dream's End" (Uncanny X-Men #42)
5. "Past Tense" (Uncanny X-Men #45-50)

Honorable mention: "SuperNova" - it was a monster and a pain but we (Dino and I) did it anyway!

For more works by Ryan Krupienski at the site, check out his listing on the Staff page.