During a conference call discussing the post-House of M/Decimation event, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada made no bones about the fact that he was happy that the result of this major Marvel event would be a drastic reduction in the number of mutants in the Marvel Universe. Quesada declared that he had placed a 'moratorium' on the creation of new mutants (with the possible exception of a handful of new characters that were part of the House of M event and its immediate aftermath). Quesada also rejected the idea that mutants who bit the dust during the House of M and Decimation would be returning, stating unequivocally: 'As long as I am EIC I am not bringing any of these (characters) back.'
When asked by retailer Phil Boyle of Coliseum Comics if the entire House of M / Decimation event wasn't some sort of excuse to create more 'X' books and further dilute the franchise, Quesada agreed that there had been too many mutants and too many X-books in the Marvel Universe. He noted that one of the elements that made the Marvel mutant characters psychologically compelling was the fact that they were part of a tiny, persecuted minority. The idea behind House of M and Decimation is to scale back the number and role of mutants in the current Marvel Universe to something similar to the Silver Age Marvel Universe. Quesada also noted that poor performing X-titles such as Nightcrawler and District X had been cancelled and that the purpose of the new approach to mutants in the Marvel Universe was to make the X-books more compelling and meaningful.
