Interlude: Cyclops vol. 4 (feat. Alex Paknadel)

About this episode

Connor Goldsmith interviews Marvel writer Alex Paknadel about his new Cyclops miniseries and broader themes in comics and fandom.

Hey there, Zalagang! Today we've got something I haven't done in a while: a conversation about a brand new comic. I'm joined by Marvel writer Alex Paknadel to discuss his new Cyclops miniseries. This is ostensibly an interview about the first issue — and we do get there, I promise! As is often the case with CEREBRO, though, we ended up having a lot of fun and going for a few hours in a broader dialogue I found really interesting. Here we chat about his earlier miniseries Sentinels , soap opera logic versus the mythic scale of the Classics, the heavy regard of fan expectation, the enduring appeal of Cyclops as a character, the tragedy of Robyn Hanover, writing the Reavers in the looksmaxxing era, fandom's own evolution on social media, the innovations of the First Krakoan Age, my own difficulties with the current line of post-Krakoa books, what we feel X-Men is really about at the end of the day, and much much more. I'd like to do occasional long-form chats like this between the research-heavy official CEREBRO episodes, as it's somewhat more manageable for me to get something like this out quickly. Let me know what you think! Meanwhile, my debut comic DID YOU HEAR ABOUT MIMI…

People in this episode

Host: Connor Goldsmith

Guest: Alex Paknadel

Topics covered

• comic book discussion
• interview with a writer
• Cyclops character analysis
• fandom evolution
• X-Men themes

Keywords

• Cyclops
• Alex Paknadel
• comic books
• X-Men
• fandom
• interview
• Dark Horse

Sponsors

Mood

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dark Horse

Books & works: Cyclops vol. 4, Sentinels, DID YOU HEAR ABOUT MIMI GREEN?

More episodes of CEREBRO

• Episode 125: Angelica Jones (feat. Josh Cornillon & Holly Raymond) — Part Two: Marvel Diva Down · May 22, 2026 · 4h 15m
• Episode 125: Angelica Jones (feat. Josh Cornillon & Holly Raymond) — Part One: A Firestar is Born · April 16, 2026 · 5h 1m
• Episode 124: Amelia Voght (feat. Patrick Sullivan) — Part Two: Play Misty for Me · January 12, 2026 · 4h 8m
• Episode 124: Amelia Voght (feat. Patrick Sullivan) — Part One: Hello, Nurse! · December 31, 2025 · 3h 44m
• Episode 123: Quentin Quire (feat. Scott Platton) — Part Two: You Were Never My Age · October 21, 2025 · 4h 21m
• Episode 123: Quentin Quire (feat. Scott Platton) — Part One: The Rats & The Children · September 22, 2025 · 4h 14m