Art by Andrea Sorrentino and Marcelo Maiolo Name: Logan Code Names: Wolverine First Appearance: Fantastic Four #558 (but only on a technicality and has unofficially been retconned out of continuity) Powers: Healing factor, enhanced senses, adamantium coated claws in hands and feet Teams Affiliation: X-Men About The beauty of alternate realities in comic books is their ability to show…
Art by Marko Djurdjevic Name: Nathan Christopher Charles Dayspring Askani’son Summers Code Names: Cable, Soldier X First Appearance: New Mutants #86 (Feb ’90) Powers: Telepathy, Telekenisis, A Big Gun Teams Affiliation: New Mutants, X-Force, Six Pack, X-Men, Avengers About Continuity is one of the trickiest things in shared-universe superhero comics. In the hands of a good writer, the…
Name: Eric Gitter Code Names: Ink First Appearance: Young X-Men #1 (June ’08) Powers: Causes sickness, super strength, telepathy, flight, causes explosions, healing, tap into Phoenix-like energies Teams Affiliation: X-Men About There is power in a symbol. It’s a concept that’s at the center of almost every Big 2 superhero story. Criminals, being the cowardly and superstitious…
Art by Salvador Larroca and Frank D’Armata Name: Scott Summer Code Names: Cyclops First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September ’63) Powers: Optic Force Beams Teams Affiliation: X-Men, X-Factor About In his one-man show My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend, Mike Birbiglia describes his mania after being wrongfully found at fault in a car accident. After alienating his friends and family, Mike was left with just…
Art by Andrea Sorrentino Name: Eva Bell Code Names: Tempus First Appearance: All-New X-Men #1 (November ’12) Powers: Time Manipulation Teams Affiliation: X-Men About The poem Ozymandias by Percy Shelly is a staple of 11th grade English classes because it hits on the most universal of themes, the unrelenting power of time. Who was once the king of…
Art by Gabrielle Dell’Otto Name: Kuan-Yin Xorn & Shen Xorn Code Names: Xorn First Appearance: New X-Men Annual 2001 (September ’01) Powers: White Star/Black Hole in his brain, healing Teams Affiliation: X-Men, Brotherhood of Mutants About The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy in a closed system will always increase. As a guy who engineers thermodynamic systems…
Art by Ron Garney and Mark Morales Name: Sammy Paré Code Names: Squid-Boy First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #410 (Oct ’02) Powers: Generic Aquatic Powers Teams Affiliation: X-Men About In the 2010 Christmas episode of the show Community, Abed Nadir (the website TVTropes given human form) gets asked by his friend why he is excited to do something that he should otherwise hate….
Art by Skottie Young Name: Warlock Code Names: Warlock First Appearance: New Mutants #18(Aug ’84) Powers: Love, Shapeshifting Teams Affiliation: New Mutants, Excalibur, X-Factor About A parent’s biggest fear, and secret hope, is obsolescence. I want my son to get to a point where he can thrive without me but I am terrified of him getting there. He…
Name: Anna Marie Code Names: Rogue First Appearance: Avengers Annual #10 (Oct ’81) Powers: Absorbs people’s powers and memories. Teams Affiliation: Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, X-Men, Avengers About Teenagers are chameleons. They find a way to blend into their environments, to adapt to their surroundings, to absorb the influences all around them. One of my biggest worries as a…
Art by John Byrne, Terry Austin, and Glynis Wein Name: Unknown Code Names: Arcade First Appearance: Marvel Team-Up #66 (Feb ’78) Powers: None Teams Affiliation: None Say what you will about the Comics Code Authority, and there are plenty of negative things to be said, but it allowed the genre trappings of superhero comics to evolve in a unique way….
Art by Diogenes Neves, Edgar Tadeo, and John Rauch Name: Douglas Ramsey Code Names: Cypher First Appearance: New Mutants #13 (Mar ’84) Powers: Understands all language Teams Affiliation: New Mutants, X-Factor About The intrinsic nature of superhero comic books requires action. It is great character development when the Avengers sit around the dining room table and talk about their feelings,…
Art by I don’t know and I despretly want to credit them Name: Quintavius Quirinius Quire Code Names: Kid Omega First Appearance: New X-Men #134 (Jan ’03) Powers: Telepathy Teams Affiliation: Omega Gang, X-Men, Hellfire Club About As much as I hate to admit it, I am not a great person. I am angry, arrogant, entitled, and unkind. I have good…
Name: Jubilation Lee Code Names: Jubilee, Wondra First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #244 (May ’89) Powers: Creates fireworks, is a vampire Teams Affiliation: X-Men, X-Corps, Generation X, New Warriors About One of the useful tools a writer has to introduce readers to a new world is the audience surrogate. This is a character that is new to the environment, say the…
Long time X-Men and X-Men: Legacy writer Mike Carey was gracious enough to sit down and talk to me about his 7 year run on the books. Mike was fantastic in the interview, I had room for improvement. If you enjoyed this make sure you follow Mike on twitter @michaelcarey191. If you want more content like…
Art by Nick Bradshaw and Ian Herring Name: Iara Dos Santos Code Names: Shark-Girl First Appearance: Wolverine & the X-Men #20 (Jan ’13) Powers: She is like a werewolf but, you know, a shark Teams Affiliation: X-Men About The “mutant metaphor” is malleable and ever changing. From the red scare to civil rights it has always been used to…