NY Comic Con - Marvel NOW: All New X-Men Panel

Marvel Comics is relaunching their entire universe this fall with Marvel Now. Many existing series will wrap up their established runs and start fresh with a brand new first issue. The initiative is to help bring in new readers who may find decades of continuity daunting while cleaning up said continuity for long-time readers.

Focusing on mutants that "were just born this way," the X-Men have long served as a metaphor for the civil rights movement, specifically for the LGBT community. After a devastating event that decimated their population to 198, a penultimate battle with the Avengers this summer has finally restored the natural balance in their favor. So what does the insurgence of new mutants and the downfall of long-time leader Cyclops mean for the X-Men? A team of X-Book writers and editors gave insight into the future of the mutant population in a panel moderated by Marvel Director of Communications Arune Sing.

Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Stuart Immomen join forces to launch All New X-Men in November 2012. Taking the original five X-Men out of their timeline and into the present day, young Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, Angel, and Beast will find themselves in an alienating future. In the wake of the Avengers vs. X-Men devastation, our present will seem like Days of Future Past to them. The new series will run twice a month for the first six issues.

One of the first Marvel Now titles out of the gate is Uncanny Avengers which dropped this past Wednesday. "With the passing of [X-Men founder Charles] Xavier during the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Captain America sees the need to step up to the plate and take up Xavier's plan," said Rick Remender, the series writer. "The team will show the public mutants doing good work, an Xavier mandate and mission that got lost over the years as mutants went into a survival agenda."

Captain America's first arch-nemesis the Red Skull will be the villain of the first arc, having taken possession of Charles Xavier's brain. "You find out what Xavier would've done if he had been evil," Remember explains. One of the most highly anticipated books of the year, Uncanny Avengers #1 has already sold out its 300,000 order and gone into second print. Artist John Cassaday joins Remender on the series.

Launching in December of 2012 will be Cable and X-Force from writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Salvador Larroca. Cyclops' timestream hopping son Cable leads a team made up of Forge, Domino, Colussus, and Dr. Nemesis. Fugitives on the run, Hopeless says that this X-Force will be reminiscent of the original 90's series, "taking on all the cool, big badass stuff." This series comes on the heals of the final issue of the original run of Uncanny X-Force, also dropping in December. Uncanny X-Force will relaunch with a brand new first issue in January 2013, written by Sam Humphries, with art by Ron Garney, with a team made up of Storm, Spiral, Psyclocke, and Puck. "X-Force has always been about moral grey area," said Senior Editor Nick Lowe, noting that there would be a lot of internal conflict as Storm has disagreed with the black ops team's lethal methods.

X-Factor writer Peter David announced an epic, six-issue storyline "Hell On Earth War," which begins in issue 250 (David's 100th consecutive issue.) Showing a cover featuring same-sex couple Rictor and Shatterstar, the arc will focus on Hell lords trying to take over the Earth. "By the end of the story, virtually every character in the Marvel Universe will be gunning for X-Factor," David stated.

A brand new series launching during Marvel Now will be Savage Wolverine, written and drawn by Frank Cho. Editor Jeanine Schaefer described it as "Wolverine as 'Indiana Jones' in the Savage Land. Crazy pulp adventures that focus on babes, brawls, and brachiosaurs." Meanwhile, X-Men Legacy and Deadpool will get relaunched for Marvel Now. With the death of his father Charles Xavier, schizophrenic Omega-level mutant Legion must choose to either take up his father's mantle or go down a different path in a series written by Simon Spurrier. The always irreverent, fan favorite Deadpool will hit new heights of hilarity, with its first story arc dealing with a S.H.I.E.L.D. assignment to fight dead presidents resurrected as zombies. While the run will eventually take a darker and more serious tone, writer Gerry Duggan admitted that he and co-writer Brian Posehn were inspired to write this first arc because of the election year.

Several series in the X-Men universe will continue on with their regular run. Astonishing X-Men (which gave us Marvel's first gay wedding this past June, written by Marjorie Liu) will deal with issues of immigration. Associate Editor Daniel Ketchum promised that the newish hit series Gambit would bring mobsters, romancing, and more shirtless Remy LeBeau (which got many cheers from the crowd, including from some men)

The panel wrapped with fan questions, the last noting the amazing diversity in the X-Books, including LGBT characters. Lowe noted that it is not their intent to check off specific hot button topics for sales but rather, to represent the world that we live in through their stories.

###

Want live updates on our geekologist's adventures at New York Comic Con? Follow him on Twitter!