Mosaic: Welcoming Committee

For Mosaic, it seems the world has no interest in giving him a break. While the shock of his life and plans being dashed by Terrigen Mists has faded somewhat, solid ground cannot be found as he first encounters the Inhumans and gets sucked up into their conflict with the X-Men, and then, in MOSAIC #7—available April 12—finds himself in his first super powered clash. Not only have the past few months given him a figurative gut punch, but now he will literally experience that at the hands of a character with bad designs and the powers to back them up.

MOSAIC writer Geoffrey Thorne explained to us why good and evil do not tell the story when it comes to our hero and why he thinks a character’s lowest point marks just the right time to hit him with his first real fight.

Marvel.com: Now that Mosaic the character and MOSAIC the series have caught up to the real world, what creative opportunities does that open up to you as a storyteller?

Geoffrey Thorne: Well, it means a larger world for him to play in and, potentially, more ways he can screw up his life. Which means drama. Which means fun.

Marvel.com: Having experienced his first brush with what his biology connects him with—the Inhumans—and the larger super powered Marvel Universe, how changed has Morris Sackett been by the experience? How much, if at all, do those worlds appeal to him as the possibility of him returning to his own physical body—and the basketball court—becomes more remote?

Geoffrey Thorne: I think Morris is pretty shaken up. He has seen his real body by now and been back in it. It [is] not a TV friendly body. Although he wants to return to it, he knows his career in sports is over; his whole life is, really, because he’s been declared dead. As far as the public is concerned, Morris Sackett is history.

Marvel.com: How are Sackett’s feelings regarding super heroes and villains and their place in the world evolving as he becomes more a part of it? When we last spoke about this sort of thing, you characterized him as generally disconnected and unaware of it before, but now that it is very much his community, how has that either allowed him or forced him to consider it more deeply?

Geoffrey Thorne: Morris is trying to work out his place in the world. He’s not the biggest fan of super heroes and villains battling each other, sometimes to the death. The assumption that he is on track to become either a hero or a villain is misguided. Morris still hasn’t figured out who Morris is.

Marvel.com: In the opening arc, Mosaic was largely reactive, understandably, and primarily focused on trying to get back to his body and his life. While more “present” for the Inhumans arc, there was still a sense that he hadn’t quite gotten his feel under himself set. Entering this arc, how has Sackett’s intentionality regard his powers changed? If we were to ask him, how clear would he be about choosing to use his new gift/curse to heroic ends?

Geoffrey Thorne: Morris is not a super hero. He is not a villain. From time to time he will do things that fall out on the heroic side and from time to time he will be a selfish jerk. He is not evil, just self-centered.

I’d say he’s a basically good guy but he’s been raised in a toxic social environment and taught a lot of the wrong lessons about life. Which he now recognizes. What will he do about that recognition? Well, that’s the book.

Marvel.com: MOSAIC #7 is introducing Morris to his first super villain foe. As a writer what makes this moment the right time to bring MOSAIC up against a super powered antagonist?

Geoffrey Thorne: Some things are said in #7 and something pretty big happens which sort of [rocks] Morris to his foundation. I think the best time for a super villain to appear is when we’re at our lowest ebb, right? Isn’t that how it works for everybody? Just me? Hm.

Marvel.com: How intentional is the villain’s encounter with Morris? Is he or she setting out to oppose Mosaic or is Mosaic’s involvement an un-counted on complication?

Geoffrey Thorne: The villain is not targeting Mosaic specifically. The nature of Mosaic’s powers makes him aware of the villain’s activities when no one else is.

Marvel.com: What can you reveal about the villain at this time?

Geoffrey Thorne: The villain is someone we’ve seen before but don’t see often, with a power set that should give our Morris a bit of trouble.

Marvel.com: What went into selecting the character for you? What was important to you that this villain be like?

Geoffrey Thorne: I’ve always had a fondness for this villain and I’ve never felt anyone has ever used him to his full potential. Not that I am either but, as arch-enemies go, Morris could do worse.

Back Morris up in his first super villain fight when MOSAIC #7 hits on April 12!