Marvel NOW! Brian Wood Brings an All-Female Cast to X-MEN

This April, the ubiquitous Brian Wood and the not nearly ubiquitous enough Olivier Coipel helm an all-new addition to the Marvel NOW! lineup with X-Men #1. Like Bunn and Sliney’s Fearless Defenders, the series features a predominantly female cast of characters. Indeed, X-Men is a veritable a who’s who of Marvel’s mutant milieu, featuring Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Storm, Psylocke and long lost Rachel Grey!

Have a look:

XMen_1_Cover

X-MEN #1
Written by BRIAN WOOD
Art & Cover by OLIVIER COIPEL
ON SALE APRIL 2013!

An old enemy shows up at the X-Men’s door, seeking asylum from an ancient evil come back to Earth. Meanwhile, Jubilee has come home, and she’s brought with her an orphaned baby who might hold the key to the Earth’s survival…or its destruction! With an imminent alien invasion and an eons-spanning war between brother and sister around the corner, Storm steps up and puts together a team to protect the child and stop a new threat that could destroy all life in the Marvel Universe!

Comments

  1. I love me some Brian Wood but…….meh.
    I like quite of few of the characters but the plot sounds very similar to something I’ve read in the last few years just with an all female cast. Can’t put my finger on it…….

    • Yeah, I would be all on-board with this if it were not for the baby plot/sub-plot. That feels DONE.

    • Yeah really I mean love the creative team and the characters but between the baby plot Messiah/Hope rerun feeling and the cast of characters to similar to the upcoming Uncanny X-Force it feels bleak, and as much as I love the return of Storm w a Mohawk and Jubilee, the cast is a revamped cross of the pre-Marvel Now self titled X-Men & X-Men Legacy. It feels like all these characters shoes are already being filled in X books better than this except I don’t know where else to find Jubilee? I’ll read #1 to see how it fairs w her. And who is the stupid six armed Psylocke look-a-like in Uncanny X-Force in the front of the promo image w Psylocke standing right behind her? She also LOOKS unnecessary and would say put X-23 over there but then that would conflict AA’s outcome spoiler wise or use Hope but I love seeing her w Cable and Domino in Cable & X-Force. My perfect X-verse is almost in place, hope this book does well but I think we have enough X titles and these characters can just be divied’ up between the ones we already have.

    • @JSAkid-
      The weird 6 arm chick is called Spiral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_(comics) )and she’s actually pretty awesome. A lot of the internal team strife within Uncanny X-Force I’m betting will be between her and Psylocke who also is on the team. Those two have plenty of bad blood as Spiral played apart in making Betsy Braddock the killer we call Psylocke and love today.

      I’m an old school Jubilee fan for Jim Lee’s X-90’s but I have no idea whats going on with her these days.

      X-23 I have no attachment to as the first book I’ve ever read with her in it has been the recent Avengers Arena which I’m liking overall.

      This X-book could be really great and I’ll give it a shot more than likely purely because Wood’s name is attached but the X-book I’ve been looking forward most of all to from the beginning has been Uncanny X-Force.

    • Spiral, right on thanx, the connection with Psylocke makes me like her presence now. I read the Messiah Trilogy ( Messiah Complex, Messiah War, Second Coming) and those three books along with the X-Force run, Cable run then eventually the recently ended Remenders Uncanny X-Force has me loving the X-verse more than ever and why I care about X-23 & Hope. Already loved the X-verse growing up on Claermont and Jim Lees stuff……I was actually most looking forward to Cable and X-Force cause of the Messiah Trilogy and direct connection it has to that, AvsX, Cable n Hope, an instant coralation between Cable & X-Force and Uncanny Avengers which both are culminations of all that and the meaning they have to exist in the context that they are. Plus that book gives me the X-men feeling I used to get and love….after that All New X-Men is an intriguing concept and gonna read the 1st arc, then see cause I don’t know how long that concept can last without getting stale. Wolverine and the X-Men is good and gives us that side of the fallout which brings us up to date with Remenders Uncanny X-Force over too and AoA wrapping up. That leaves us with Uncanny X-Force that I’m more excited for than I planned on and am geeked for Uncanny X-Men a lot as we see everyone else’s position but here’s the flagship X title from Cyclops side of the X-verse with Emma Frost, Magik & Magneto looking for new mutants to fight the power so to speak and with Bachalo and Frazer Irving rotating art starting at issue 5, I think UXM isn’t gonna be just another reboot like last time. It’s a good time to be an X-fan.

  2. Get Milo Manara on art & call it X-Women.

    Matthew

  3. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

    Wood writes an awesome Storm! I’m so glad she’s back where she should be…leading a team of X-Men!!

    Plus Coipel? Done deal.

  4. Fuck and Yes. Brian Wood is that dude
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m2K0CD0UQI

  5. I am all over this. Nearly all my favourite female characters and two of the best creators around? Does anyone even need to say they are buying this? It’s a given, surely?

  6. Will give this a look.

  7. I’m looking forward to this, the only thing that would make it better for me would be Jubilee getting her powers back (like every other mutant) and losing the vampire nonsense

  8. i like this but i’m all ready getting uncanny x-men,all new x-men,wolverine and the x-men and x-factor can some one tell me what two drop i was thinking x-factor but do i pick this or uncanny x-force. plus i’ve never read any of wood’s work is he as good as peter david.

    • I love both of them as writers, but they have to completely different takes when it comes to writing x-books. X-Factor, as written by peter d, is a book that totes itself as a noir book but it is a book with a lot of heart and character focused arcs. When Brian Wood writes a book, I really feel like it is more sparsely written than most comics out there, but at the same time this makes readers have to focus on what is said. But this is just my opinion. I can relate overall to the plight of reading a lot of good books lately and I am dreading some of these books coming out because there is no way I can afford all of the books they are putting out. I will have some tough decisions in these upcoming months.

  9. Awesome. This is shaping up to be the first time in nearly 20 years that I actually want to read all the core X-books. Brian Wood is absolutely on fire this year, and Olivier Coipel always delivers for me.

    So does this now (Now!) mean that Si Spurrier is the only non-bald guy writing a book with “X-Men” in the title?

  10. File this under shut up and take my money…so excited for this, pretty much every single female character from comics in one book!!

  11. When did the mohawk come back? Are we happy about that?

  12. Also, am I the only one who immediately thought of the 1991 X-Men #1 foldout pool scene? As an 11-year old, the X-women gave me a special feeling if you know what I mean…

  13. I like this idea and is pretty much what one of the replaced titles was with the exception of Colosuss being on the team. I simply hope that the story line is better then the Legacy relaunch as I am slowly lossing interst in that book.

  14. Could be really cool. Loving that Storm got the mohawk back.

  15. What’s up with Psylocke’s pose?

  16. MoStorm > NoMoStorm

  17. The entirety of this lineup, creative and in-comic team, is awesome.

  18. Long lost Rachel Grey? I could have sworn she could be found in Wolverine and the X-Men. Either way these are some of the best X characters. I’m in.

    • Yes, Rachel Grey can be found every week, er, I mean every month (?) in Wolverine and the X-Men. I’m pretty sure everyone on this team – except, maybe, jubilee – is currently in the line up of at least one other “Core” X-Men title.

  19. I just said I couldn’t afford any more X-Books. I JUST SAID IT!

    Is no one listening to me?!

    I can’t pass this up. Coipel and Wood? Psylocke and Rogue on the same team again? Mohawk Storm? … Shit. Looks like I’m cutting another DC book in April.

  20. Marvel is really amping up the girl power in their books. I might try this just to continue to see Psylocke’s story unfold.

  21. All over this, I like the line-up and the creative team is brilliant. Boom!

  22. There goes my resolution to limit my Marvel pulls to 20 books…

  23. I think I’m in love…

  24. I know it’s been said before, but:

    Shut up and take my money!

  25. Very nice creative team but aren’t four out of the six characters already main players in other X-team books? Why not (for example) Hope instead of Rogue? There are plenty of interesting female mutants not starring in books yet.

    And the “old enemy bit”?…how about a new enemy!? Seriously most every major story out of the X-universe over the last few years has been about old Clairmont baddies (phoenix, apocalypse, sinister, arcade, etd), with the class of writers Marvel has at the moment, we’d have a few new threats and readers would give them the benefit of the doubt.

    • Well, the “old enemy” is going to be Sublime, who is a Morrison creation, but I don’t thin you can blame creators for going with a headline villain for the first arc of a volume.

    • Take it worth a grain of salt, but He Who Shall Not Be Named (rhymes with Mob Guyfeld) said on a Word Balloon interview a while back that Marvel isn’t interested in creating new characters that would belong to Fox Studios and not Marvel/Disney when it came to film/tv.

      Not that that’s a great reason not to create new characters (and it isn’t stopping Bendis from creating new mutants), but it is a possible reason.

    • good points, i recall a writer (remender?) saying that at Marvel creators get nothing for new characters, at DC they get a few bucks whenever said characters are used down the line. though i’m not exactly sure how it works.

      the Marvel book that gets me the most exited at the moment is Hickman’s Avengers, precisly because of the new-ness of it. issue one = three new villians. that’s how you do it:)

  26. This book looks great out of context. Brian Wood? Check. Olivier Coipel? Yes, please. Kick ass team of X-Women starring Storm’s Mohawk? All add up to what should be another great X-Book.
    But seriously, Marvel? This is way too many X-Men books. WAYYYY too many. I will not be buying this. I’m on a budget, and I still haven’t quite talked myself into buying Uncanny X-Men when it starts coming out. I’m a huge X-Men fan. They’ve been my favorite heroes since I was a kid and read my very first comics, and I WANT to follow their ongoing adventures and read different takes on them by great creators. But I can’t read half a dozen great takes on the X-Men at the same time. Aside from the lack of budgetary restraint that would so, having this many books with the same characters ongoing at the same time DILUTES the entire franchise. At least it does if you read all of them. So, regretfully, I’ll be letting this one go.

    P.S. Brian Wood’s Conan and Star Wars are SO damn good! I hope he doesn’t stretch himself too thin with this.

    • This guy, with the common sense…

    • I hear ya. I’m not sure if they’re just shooting birdshot and seeing what sticks, or if there is actually going to be this many x books in a years time. This title sounds ok, but DAMN, they’re already in other books (or 3) and there’s just not much room in the budget. Then wait til it double ships and my kids will go hungry. Any idea if all these books will share continuity? Cuz that’s a tough one to tackle, and something I would love to see with the X titles.

    • I’ve felt that way in the past, but it really seems like they’re making an honest effort to make each book a very different thing. I, for example, am only reading All-New right now, with plans to pick up Uncannys X-Men and X-Force. Pick and choose what you like.

  27. Looks worth a subscription.

    May order this soon.

  28. Call me sexist, but was anyone actually demanding more X-Men comics? COME ON, MARVEL! And is it too much to ask you replace one of the myriad of X-Men books that are all the same anyway with this since it’s something new anyway? I say this as someone who doesn’t collect X-comics, the several of them plus all the avenger books really irk me about Marvel. Have to admit, I don’t believe DC has an all-female team book right now so… Go equality?

    • Birds of Prey is flipping out in the corner at you.

      and Worlds’ Finest is not happy either:)

    • Dang it, my unfamiliarity with DC continues! I forgot about both of those, although BoP has been around forever (not literally) and I wouldn’t call WF a team since it’s only 2 people. But I get your meaning.

    • Add Ame-Comi girls for a whole separate, all female character, DC universe.

    • “was anyone actually demanding more X-Men comics?” says the guys who doesn’t buy X-Men comics. You might be a tinged biased, there.

    • Thank you @angelicFey, for further correcting me. Clearly I need to study DC titles more. @ComicBookChris, yes I am biased which is why I was admitting it in my post. I don’t read X-comics (usually), there’s been so many for so long I don’t know where to start, all the different villains in different areas of the MU, plus all the regular catch up you have to do on any series to jump into it. Then Marvel started doing 3-5 or 6 Avengers books every month, and I just got really turned off from Marvel. There are other reasons, but this is about the X-books. There’s still too
      many, can we agree on that? When DC starts publishing 5 or more Justice League books for the next 20 years I’ll take back everything I just said.

  29. With all the chatter and outcry for female creator, you’d think they would try and get a female duo to write and draw this thing??

    And also how is Brian Wood managing all this work. He must have about 5 or 6 titles!

    • Actually that was directed at DC, cause you know they hate women? (sarcasm). It is weird tho how they don’t get female writers to write female characters. Last one I recall at Marvel was whoever did that Black Widow mini. Also I remember reading somewhere that Brian Wood has 20? Don’t know if that’s true but who has time for math?

    • @Ithpsapien, Kelly-Sue DeConnick on Captain Marvel + Kathryn Immonen on Journey into Mystery (Sif).

    • Yeah… Captain Marvel’s not that great…

    • point being, it’s a female lead character with a female writer.

    • @Adrianrigter is right and has corrected me, twice! Twice! But I forgot about Captain Marvel, and I didn’t pay attention to JiM so yea. It still doesn’t seem too common that a female writer writes female characters (Gail simone and Batgirl notwithstanding). Guess we take it for granted when it actually does happen.

    • @ Adrian – I just don’t get why it has to be a female writer on a female character. Why can’t a woman write a male character and a man write a female character? Why all the compartmentalization? Put Kelly-Sue on Cap and let’s see what happens, Women can’t write men?

    • @grandturk, the gender of a writer doesn’t matter one bit to me, i was just responding to the posters above me.

    • Um yeah, why do women have to write female characters? That’s pretty sexist.

    • Yep, my fault @GrandTurk that was me. I’m not complaining about whats writing who, I was just making a (increasingly flawed it seems) observation that there aren’t alot of female writers working on female characters. I’m not suggesting anything about quality or whatever. And of couse I’m overlooking the exceptions to that observation and My Bad. I was remarking to @microwave25’s original post that most of the outcry over lack of women in comics was aimed at DC (“DC hates women”?) so it seemed like Marvel got a pass. Now in case someone has their finger on some handy article or story to prove me wrong, I’m operating on my own personal experience here.

  30. Psylocke has pants now instead of the ridiculous thing? What is this madness?

  31. Until a month ago i never thought I would read either a Conan or Star Wars book so looks like I”ll be giving an all female X-team ago.

  32. Who is the fill-in artist on issue 4 though? Hopefully someone cool.

  33. We is a book about an all-female X-team called X-Men? I tried reading into that but ended up in disgusting places.

    All joking aside, this sounds pretty frickin’ great, but I’ll have to wait for the trade. I’ve never been able to keep up with the core X-books, let alone the fact that they’re all 3.99.

  34. Why is a book about an all-female X-team called X-Men? I tried reading into that but ended up in disgusting places.

    All joking aside, this sounds pretty frickin’ great, but I’ll have to wait for the trade. I’ve never been able to keep up with the core X-books, let alone the fact that they’re all 3.99.

  35. Very excited for this book. Love the cast, the creative team and so glad they stuck with the name. No reason not to.

  36. You have a great cast with a great writer and an incredible artist? I’m going to buy this thing in a fucking heart beat. (Pardon the language)

  37. Does this make an even number of Avengers and X-Books*? Let’s see…

    Uncanny Avengers (bridge title)

    All-New X-Men
    X-Men Legacy
    Cable and X-Force
    Uncanny X-Force
    Uncanny X-Men
    Wolverine and the X-Men
    Age of Apocalypse

    Avengers
    New Avengers
    Dark Avengers
    Avengers Arena
    Young Avengers
    Secret Avengers
    Avengers Assemble

    I know I’m missing something that wasn’t new in the wake of Now!, but that’s seven books for each franchise at least. So, now instead of Avengers bloat, you get Avengers bloat and X-Bloat. Glad I don’t pull any X-books.

    • Crap…forgot the adjective-less that this article’s about.

    • X-treme X-men. Damn there are a lot!

    • @neums: If you aren’t pulling any X-books, how are you so sure it’s bloat? Marvel has been publishing something between 4 and 10 X-titles at any one time for at least 20 years!

      Admittedly, I’m a big X-fan, but I think Marvel has been doing a fantastic job the past few years differentiating the “mission statements” and creative tones of the various X-books.

    • @Ken: Based on that comment I have a question for you. I used to me a HUGE X-fan back in 90’s and have tried reading Uncanny off and on over the last five years or so since I’ve been back into comics but could never really get into it like I used to. I’m currently reading no X-Books but am very ready to dive back into them. As a big X-Fan, what are your favorites and what ones would you recommend to someone who hasn’t read much X-Related stuff in a while. (Note: I have read some of the big events, House of M, Messiah Complex, Messiah War, so I have a rough understanding of the overall X-Continuity.)

    • @USPUNX: Right now, I don’t think you can go wrong with either All-New X-Men or Wolverine and The X-Men.

      Wolverine and the X-Men has been really doing it for me (the most recent arc being a notable exception) as far as capturing a classic X-Men feel (Classic meaning that early-to-mid90s era, where the stories weren’t necessarily light, but had a more fun feel to them). And even during AVX, WATXM deftly managed to tie-in to the even while moving it’s own story forward too. #24 is the next issue and promises to be a “date night” issue, so it should be fun. Ramon Perez comes on in #25 for the next arc, so the art is in more than capable hands.

      Your enjoyment of All-New X-Men will probably depend on how much you like Bendis. I think he’s doing a great job so far, but I tend to enjoy his work. This is more of the “summer blockbuster” X-Men — not really dark, but more serious than Jason Aaron’s book. This book is currently on a very brisk publishing schedule — I think to counter Bendis’ leisurely narrative pace — so you might prefer to wait for a trade. On the art side, Immonen is running a clinic in this book.

      X-Men Legacy is coming out of left field, but I think Si Spurrier is off to a great start turning Legion into a fully realized character. He’s also kind of taking the piss out of a lot of X-Men tropes, which is something I appreciate (despite my love of those tropes). Think of it as if Marvel hired Vertigo in the late 1990s to produce a PG-13 rated X-Men book.

      So my recommendation would be to check out the next issue of Wolverine and The X-Men (next week) and take it from there!

    • Thanks Ken! I read Wolverine and the X-Men for an arc but dropped it for budget reasons. Sounds like the perfect time to jump back on!

    • Ken, I only say bloat based on the sheer number of the books out there. I only know of it from the Avengers side of things because I pick up all those books, so I can hazard a guess how much this kind of thing can suck for fans of both Avengers and X-Men, based soled on the sheer number of books they’d be pulling per month.

  38. sold, but I would add dazzler as a guest star for a few issues

  39. i think the reasoning for mohawk storm coming back is that its a hostage deal, they start drawing storm with the mohawk and Chris Claremont wont write any books for another 4 years

  40. I’ve been wondering what this one was going to be, but I never expected to be this surprised or excited. This may be the jewel of the second wave!!

  41. You had me at mohawk.

  42. Of course Kitty Pryde had to be in it! There’s another one for the pull list.