Keeping Up With The X-Men

Now is a great time to be reading Marvel Comics’ X-Men. Whether you’re already an avid comic reader or someone new looking to get into the X-Men comics, this new line-up of mutant heroes is the perfect jumping-on point. Here’s a spoiler-free reason why:

It’s a whole new world for the X-Men. Marvel recently let all their X-Men titles come to an end and started a mini-series across two titles written by Jonathan Hickman. Hickman is an incredible world-builder in comics and wrote two 6-issue mini-series, House of X and Powers of X, that laid the groundwork for essentially a retcon of every mutant history timeline.

What happened? Without giving away the ending, Charles Xavier (aka Professor X) with Moira MacTaggert and Magneto band all the X-men and mutant-kind together–even their mutant enemies–to form their own sovereign nation on the island of Krokoa, a living mutant island. And every mutant born on earth is a citizen of their country.

It’s 12 issues together and collects nicely in collected trade paperback, and it’s everything you would need to know about the rest of the titles going forward referred to as Dawn of X.

X-Men

Every X-men comic title comes with a rotating team of X-Men members. For their main title, the team consists of Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, Rachel Grey, Havok, Cable, Corsair, and Vulcan. This is essentially the relaunched title of the property and a perfect jumping-on point. We learn X-men’s place in the world. They’ve just declared to the world they are their own nation and the consequences of which have made them targets from those threatened by their power.

New Mutants

The old team is back! Yes, the classic line up of superhero mutant besties is together again. Magik, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, Mirage, Karma, Chamber, and Mondo are off a space adventure on the spaceship Starjammer and their band of space pirates. Who are the New Mutants? They began as a group of second-generation students from Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters going back to the ’80s.

Fallen Angels

There is a new villain causing havoc in Japan, and he is the first Homo Novissima to appear in this franchise relaunch, Apoth. In other timelines, the Homo Novissima are super-humans created by science, and Apoth is behind the spread of a new drug that’s causing wreck and destruction in Asia. That’s where our Fallen Angels, Kwannon, Cable, and X-23 come in. Kwannon has a deep story about the Japanese assassin whose body was taken over by X-Men telepath Psylocke. Fallen Angels is Dawn of X’s darkest title of the bunch.

Marauders

Kate, aka Kitty Pryde, leads the X-Men Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Storm, Pyro, Bishop, and Iceman on a mission to rescue mutant citizens and defend the shipping lanes of trade for their newly founded country. They’re funded by the Hellfire Trading Company, and not everybody is okay with this new power structure.

X-Force

This series is known for its clandestine shadow operations, and this new series is no exception. Right away, the X-Men run into a threat that up-ends their failsafe plan of survival. So it’s up to Beast, Jean Grey, Sage, Wolverine, Kid Omega, and Colossus to neutralize that threat with extreme prejudice.

Excalibur

Remember Psylocke? That’s Betsy Braddock, who is returned to her body as Captain Britain and her team Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor, and Apocalypse have to jump dimensions to Otherworld where war has broken out, and it’s up to them to stop it.

Children of The Atom, Wolverine, and beyond

So what’s coming up? Expect to see a new series by Jonathan Hickman called Children of The Atom in the coming months featuring a new set of super-powered mutants working under the mentorship of established X-Men. Think of them and the NEW New Mutants. February starts Wolverine’s solo title with a massive double story first issue. And later on, look forward to Giant-Size X-Men with the telepathic duo Jean Grey and Emma Frost!

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