The Windy City.

Ironically enough, Chicago didn't earn that moniker due to the bone-chilling weather. Rather, because of the fact that they bragged about their city so that they could host the World's Fair.

For this man, it seems strange to be here. In his time, Chicago was more of a demiliterized zone. But, he also knows that this city is far from his old life.

"Okay Mr. Bishop, I have the forms right here."

As you can no doubt tell, he is Bishop. He used to be the leader of a team of X-Men. Now though, that's changed. Now he doesn't even have his mutant abilities present anymore. So, this time-lost mutant is now standing inside of a small building.

He took the papers from the real estate agent and looked through them.

"As you can see, this is how it breaks down..." the agent stated, pointing to the various figures. "That's the total amount. This is the interest rate, and here's the monthly charge..."

"Yes, I see," Bishop stated.

"So... do you have any other questions?"

He looked around the main room they were standing in once more.

"No," Bishop replied. "Where do I sign?"

The agent handed him a pen and pointed at a line at the bottom of one of the pages.

"Right here."

Bishop took the pen and scribbled a signature across the line. He then handed the papers and the pen back to the real estate agent.

"Well, congratulations, Lucas Bishop," the agent stated. "You've just bought yourself an office."

NEXT ISSUE: More suspense and crime action as "Murder One" continues!!

I admit it... I am shocked.

When I wrote Bishop out of X-Men Omega, I had always intended to establish him as working out of Chicago as a private investigator. If not in an ongoing or limited series, then in X-Men Unlimited.

When Russ and Will announced that they were accepting new proposals, I decided to submit a proposal for Bishop. If the decks were ever stacked against me, this was it.

First off, it's an X-title. That alone puts me in the "slim possibility" category.

Secondly, not only am I a current writer, but I'm a current writer with what some call a heavy workload. That makes the slim possibility even slimmer.

And finally, it's a Bishop solo series. Russ isn't very fond of Bishop, I know that for sure. He practically jumped for joy once the character was written out of X-Men Omega.

So, with all those factors, I must say, I am simply shocked that Bishop was one of the accepted proposals. After I got over my initial shock, I instantly got to work on the first issue.

When I was planning this series back when Bishop was still in X-Men Omega, I knew I wanted to have him in a solo title. But, what could I do? Having him in a future-esque world wouldn't be all that bad, since Joe Harris did a great job with that concept. But, I wanted to do something different.

Then, while writing The Crow, it came to me. I had so much fun writing the character of Detective Albrecht, that I wouldn't mind writing a book solely about a detective. With Bishop leaving the X-Men and with his background as a cop, it only seemed logical. I removed his powers to sweeten the deal. Now, with all that said, let me tell you what to expect in this title.

Yes, it's in the X-Men imprint. But, this book has very little, if anything, to do with the other titles currently in the imprint. This is mainly a crime book. In my mind, Bishop is a great character with so much untapped potential. We've seen him as a wild card, we've seen him as a leader, and we've seen him as loyal to Xavier. It's time to delve more into his roots as a police officer.

I originally considered making Bishop an actual cop in the Chicago PD, but that would've been pretty unlikely. I couldn't find a realistic way to make it work. Besides, as a PI, he's working from the outside. He has more freedom, and he'll be brought under the suspicion of the real cops.

Also, let me say this once: Fatale is dead. I know this because I wrote her death scene (in X-Men Omega #12). I'm not undoing it. She's not going to be in this book. Neither will the Dark Beast, the Brotherhood, or other classic X-Men villains. Because, frankly, at his current power level, Bishop would get his ass handed to him. Sorry Fatale-fans, but Pam's appearence in these pages doesn't mean that the teleporting femme fatale (heh, femme fatale... that's a good one) is alive.

Hopefully, as this series progresses, you'll get to see Bishop grow as a character. If you can't stand Bishop, my goal is to make him a character that interests you - a character you like. If you're already a Bishop fan, then you've done half the work for me - it's just my job to make you like him even more.

Fair warning, though: I'm no Brian Michael Bendis or Frank Miller. This is my first attempt at a crime book. There may be some bumps along the way - so just bear with me.