“The metaphor is strong and it hasn’t gone away. Chris Claremont was the one who decided that it was a full-on allegory for race and religion and sexuality. I’m a Jewish kid, and I have a multicultural family [two of Bendis’ daughters, one Ethiopian and one African-American, are adopted], and with that comes all sorts of stuff that you witness or are a victim of. I have it pretty easy, and still I’m like, ‘Wow, you really said that right to my face?’ So it’s nice to have a book I can shake it off a little bit. I’ve never had that. [...] It’s not a mistake that Kitty Pryde, the most Jewish superhero that has ever lived, is the leader of the X-Men now.”

-- writer Brian Michael Bendis, discussing X-Men in an interview in The Oregonian that touches upon his life in Portland, Oregon, his role in "full-on luring" other creators to the city, and his career at Marvel. Bendis and recent Portland transplants David Marquez and Michael Avon Oeming will be signing Wednesday at Things From Another World.