It’s time to go back, Marvel has decided. Back to ‘90s logos. Back to familiar costumes. Back to small teams of marquee mutants. Back to teaching, if not back to the mansion.
The House of Ideas on Thursday announced the beginning of the future of the mutant line during a panel at South by Southwest in Austin Texas featuring Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski, new X-Men editor Tom Brevoort and incoming X-writers Gail Simone and Jed MacKay.
Simone has been a steady hand in superhero comics for more than 20 years, known for runs on Deadpool, Birds of Prey, Secret Six and Red Sonja. MacKay has been one of Marvel’s higher-profile superhero writers of late, known for runs on Moon Knight, The Avengers, Doctor Strange and Black Cat.
Rounding out the trio of incoming writers is Eve Ewing, a college professor, author, sociologist and writer of Marvel comics like Black Panther, Ironheart and Champions.
Together they will launch a trio of new core X-titles with familiar names: X-Men by MacKay and Ryan Stegman (July), Uncanny X-Men by Simone and David Marquez (August), and Exceptional X-Men by Ewing and Carmen Carnero (September).
“It’s not just those three titles in this relaunch, there’s a lot!” MacKay said during the SXSW panel. “[My X-Men title] is where we’ll see the first inklings of what the X-Men will look like in 2024. … If you look at that lineup, they’re a group of people who are not well suited to integrating into the world. And in these books, we’ll see what that means and what it looks like going forward.”
MacKay’s adjectiveless team includes Cyclops, Magneto, Quentin Quire, Magik, Psylocke, Temper (formerly Oya), Juggernaut and Beast. They will be based in Alaska.
The Uncanny team consists of Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and Nightcrawler, aka the X-Men most likely to appear on a Disney+ cartoon. They will be based in New Orleans.
The Exceptional team consists of Kate Pryde, Emma Frost and three new students and will be based in Chicago.
Missing in action are Professor X, Jean Grey, Iceman, Angel, Colossus, Dazzler, Captain Britain, Askani, Havok, Polaris, Bishop and scads of New Mutants, Generation X members, Academy X kids, Pete Wisdom and the thousands more mutants who spent the past five years on Krakoa, Arakko and elsewhere.
A teaser image released by Marvel shows logos for additional books: Phoenix, X-Factor, Storm, NYX, X-Force and Wolverine. Four of them feature logos from the 1990s iterations of those series. NYX, a series that debuted in the 2000s, originally featured a different logo but in the teaser was given the traditional X-Men logo treatment. No additional information about those books was provided. Not for nothing, C2E2 is at the end of April.
“The X-Men are fractured in the aftermath of the end of Krakoa, scattered across the globe without a central base of operation,” Brevoort said at SXSW. “What that means in practice is that all three titles carrying the name X-MEN are core X-MEN series — they all center around one of the major aspects of what the team has been about at different points. This is very much by design. We want to field a wide assortment of X-titles with different styles and tones and approaches, an X-MEN book for virtually any taste.”
Marvel is gearing up for the X-Men to become mass media darlings again, with the debut next week of X-Men ‘97, a sequel to the 1990s cartoon, and at least some X-representation in this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Little by little, X-content has crept into the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Madripoor in Falcon & the Winter Soldier, Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the ‘90s cartoon stinger at the end of Ms. Marvel and, most recently, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast in the post-credit scene of The Marvels. Rest assured, a full-blown X-Men movie is coming. We may not know when, who will star in it or which characters it will feature, but Kevin Feige didn’t attend the Hellfire Gala just to awkwardly mingle with Cyclops for a few minutes.
And when it comes, Marvel wants to be ready with mass media-friendly content.
Real talk: It’s easy to do a Krakoa during a time when the X-Men aren’t seen as adaptable because their film rights belong to another studio. Jonathan Hickman and co. could take those risks because the characters weren’t being used to sell breakfast cereals or Citizen Watches. They truly were the outsiders, the marginalized within their IP group. But the spotlight is coming back. The Jim Lee merch is out. The whole world is watching them now. They must be nothing less than commercially viable.
Boy, this turned sour quick. Anyway, press release is below if you want to read it straight from Marvel editorial:
Following the Krakoan Age, Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s X-MEN, Gail Simone and David Marquez’s UNCANNY X-MEN, and Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN will be the core ongoing series in an all-new era of mutant storytelling.
Krakoa is gone, but the X-Men remain, always.
Thursday afternoon at the Future of Marvel Comics’ X-Men and Digital Comics panel at South by Southwest, Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski and VP, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort were joined by writers Jed MacKay and Gail Simone to announce what’s coming next for Marvel’s line of X-Men comics. In the wake of their acclaimed Krakoan Age, witness the X-Men’s latest evolution this summer in X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES!
This new era of X-Men will be centered on three flagship titles written and drawn by some of today’s most influential and acclaimed creators: MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s X-MEN, Simone and David Marquez’s UNCANNY X-MEN, and Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN. Each series will offer different explorations of the mutant mythos as they take Marvel’s Merry Mutants into bold and untrodden territory.
Over their 60-year history, the X-Men have been many things. Outcasts. Teachers. Revolutionaries. Heroes. Above all, they’re a species, and the future is still theirs for the taking! Krakoa showed the world what homo superior is truly capable of, and now, the X-Men have to fight harder than ever to keep Professor X’s dream alive. These three core series will approach the X-Men’s vital mission with distinct and relevant perspectives while remaining faithful to the storytelling power of the mutant metaphor!
Read on to discover what awaits!
X-MEN
Written by Jed MacKay
Art by Ryan Stegman
KRAKOA IS NO MORE…BUT THE X-MEN FIGHT ON!
From their new base in Alaska, the X-Men raise a flag of defiance! Join CYCLOPS, BEAST, MAGNETO, PSYLOCKE, KID OMEGA, TEMPER (formerly OYA), MAGIK and JUGGERNAUT as they assemble against new forces, battling for the destiny and philosophy of the mutant species. Mutant business is their business.
“It’s not just those three titles in this relaunch, there’s a lot!” MacKay shared at the panel. “[My X-Men title] is where we’ll see the first inklings of what the X-Men will look like in 2024. I’m very excited for you guys to see it when it comes out. If you look at that lineup, they’re a group of people who are not well suited to integrating into the world. And in these books, we’ll see what that means and what it looks like going forward.”
UNCANNY X-MEN
Written by Gail Simone
Art by David Marquez
OUTLAW HEROES ONCE AGAIN, THE X-MEN EMBARK ON A NEW MISSION!
Making themselves at home in the Big Easy, the X-Men protect a world that hates and fears them! Join ROGUE, GAMBIT, NIGHTCRAWLER, JUBILEE and WOLVERINE on explosive superhero adventures. Uncanny as ever, the X-Men are back to saving the day mutant-style!
“I think X-fans are special in that we identify with having something different about us…and you’re going to feel that in this book, and what it means to have that thing about you that’s different, or exceptional. We go deep into the emotional part of that,” Simone told the crowd.
“David Marquez is the perfect artist for this book,” she continued. “He does amazing action, amazing character work, and he’s really excited about getting into the characters appearing in this book. I knew from the very first panel that this book was going to be super exciting and gorgeous. He just knows how to knock it out of the park!”
EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN
Written by Eve L. Ewing
Art by Carmen Carnero
MUTANTKIND’S TWO GREATEST TEACHERS MOLD THE NEXT GENERATION OF X-MEN!
KATE PRYDE has returned home to Chicago following the war with ORCHIS. Having stepped away from the world of mutantdom, she is nevertheless called back into action as she crosses paths with a trio of new young mutants, BRONZE, AXO and MELEE, who clearly need training and guidance. Unfortunately for Kate, EMMA FROST thinks so as well!
“Longtime fans of Kitty Pryde can count on the kinds of adventures you expect from her as a classic favorite, while I hope new and old readers alike will get to love this all-new team of young mutants,” Ewing shared. “Kitty, the onetime kid sister figure of the X-Men, has to reckon with her own memories — good and bad — of being a child of Xavier as she navigates a role as leader and mentor for a new generation of mutants who are trying to make their way in a time of crisis. I always try to strike a chord between appealing to veteran comics fans and new readers, but since so many people fell in love with the X-Men as teens and this book is about a team of young folks, that feels especially important to me here. I hope that for some 13- or 14-year-old readers, this might be the first comic book they pick up. Working on this series has been a ton of fun already, as Carmen Carnero’s art is bringing so much dynamism to these pages and the entire X-team of writers is in a flurry sharing scripts and feedback and ideas.”
“The X-Men are fractured in the aftermath of the end of Krakoa, scattered across the globe without a central base of operation,” Marvel Comics VP Executive Editor Tom Brevoort explained. “What that means in practice is that all three titles carrying the name X-MEN are core X-MEN series — they all center around one of the major aspects of what the team has been about at different points. This is very much by design. We want to field a wide assortment of X-titles with different styles and tones and approaches, an X-MEN book for virtually any taste.”
This is only the beginning, and fans shouldn’t fret if they don’t see their favorite mutant icons just yet! In the coming weeks, get ready for more X-Men title announcements including new ongoing team books, solo series, and more. Catch a glimpse at some of the future titles and stay tuned for full announcements plus the main cover reveals and first looks for X-MEN #1, UNCANNY X-MEN #1, and EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #1.
Check out all three cast lineups on Stegman and Marte Gracia’s X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES promotional image and get a sneak peek at what’s to come in the X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES trailer, featuring never-before-seen artwork that teases new villains AND the mystery of INMATE X! And don’t forget to take your first steps into the new era May 4 with a special prelude tale by Simone in FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2024: BLOOD HUNT/X-MEN #1 AND in June’s X-MEN #35, the 700th issue of Uncanny X-Men, which will feature stories by both Simone and MacKay. For more information, visit Marvel.com.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
