Turns out that the X-Men film series isn’t the only X-property to be relaunched.
Marvel is breathing new life into the X-comics, thanks to the talents of Jonathan Hickman. The 46-year-old comics scribe is known for working on 2015’s Secret Wars storyline as well as prominent stints on Fantastic Four and The Avengers. In other words, he’s basically Marvel royalty – and the right man to revive our favorite ragtag group of mutants.
News that Hickman would be penning X-Men came on Saturday, from ‘Chicago’s Pop Culture Event’ C2E2. On Marvel’s ‘Next Big Thing’ panel, Marvel’s editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski broke the news, calling it “one the worst kept secrets of the past two weeks”. According to Cebulski, he felt he “could not have asked for a better creative team to help usher the X-Men into a whole new era”. This new era begins in two miniseries’ – House of X and Powers of X.
But who are apart of this creative team? Well, Hickman is joined by two artists for these projects. House of X and House of Powers are drawn by Pepe Laraz and R.B Silva respectively. Neither of these Marvel veterans are strangers when it comes to these characters, having worked on such titles as Uncanny X-Men and X-Force.
The inclusion of a new creative team also signals a new era for the franchise. Cebulski enthused that the miniseries’ would signify “a historic moment” for the series. Marvel have even put these titles on par with the likes of Giant-Size X-Men #1 and the first issue of the 1991 X-Men (Vol. 2). The former was, at the time of publishing in May 1975, the first X-story in five years. The latter was a spin-off to Uncanny X-Men, which sold over eight million copies, giving it a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
This miniseries news follows the acquisition of 21th Century Fox by Disney. This means that after X-Men: Dark Phoenix this June, movies set within that universe are unlikely to continue. Disney will inevitably add the X-Men to their own MCU (albeit not for a few years yet). But, like the Hickman-helmed miniseries’, it’ll undoubtedly be another historic moment.
Are you going to read the miniseries? What are your thoughts on Jonathan Hickman? Let us know in the comments below
