Comics Official X-Men Convention News thread

[Specter313]

"You're not here for the DC 52, are you?" joked Marvel Director of Communications Arune Singh at the outset of the publisher's X-Men Regenisis panel at Fan Expo in Toronto this past weekend. The crowd laughed as C.B. Cebulski, Axel Alonso, Jason Aaron and Jeanine Schaefer took their seats to address the changes occurring in the Marvel Universe this fall, beginning with the events of "X-Men Schism."

"It really is the biggest thing to happen to the X-Men in a very long time" Alonso told the assembled crowd. "[We're] taking X-Men to a place most people thought they'd never go and really dividing them." Aaron revealed that issue four of the series "ends with the first round of the biggest, nastiest, gnarliest Cyclops vs Wolverine fight we've ever seen. We've seen these guys butt heads before over the years and tussle a little bit, but never anything like this. That carries over to issue five, and the fallout from that really redefines the X-Men universe for the foreseeable future. It creates new dynamics…to play out across the Marvel Universe." Singh asked where the idea for the new Hellfire club came from, and Aaron joked, "I'm just terrified of children, I guess. I say that as a father." He also promised the audience that the newly-introduced characters would stick around beyond the event.

Singh explained that Regenesis will revolve around the X-Men being divided into two camps, "one with Wolverine in charge and the other, I think we can say now, with Cyclops," citing the "X-Men Regenesis" one-shot in October as an ideal jumping-on point for new readers. "That's where we see the guys choosing sides," Aaron clarified.

"Both sides have equally valid perspectives, so it wouldn't surprise me if you guys in the audience, after you understand what the Schism is about, have to decide which sides of the battle lines you fall on," Alonso added. "We were talking about this, and I know who I stand with -- and it wasn't the same person Nick (Lowe) did. It'll be very interesting. Many years ago, when people took sides, either Cap or Tony, this is a very similar thing." Later in the panel, these divides were further clarified, with Cebulski and Aaron siding with Wolverine, Alonso and Schaefer choosing Cyclops and Singh waffling between the two.

"I was on the CBR X-Men message boards reading about Schism and who's right, and there was, like, seventy-five pages of arguments -- which I thought was awesome," Aaron said with a smile. "It's exactly what we wanted, 'cause that's what we were doing in the room that day when we were talking about it."

Singh proceeded to show the audience covers of the upcoming issues. Cyclops and Emma Frost (on the cover of "Uncanny X-Men" #1) will be joined by X-Man in the pages of "New Mutants" #33, which forms an interlocking cover with "X-Men" #20 (featuring Jubilee at the forefront) and "Generation Hope" #13 (with Sebastian Shaw).

Aaron spoke about the October launch of "Wolverine and the X-Men," calling the experience "the most fun I've had since I came to Marvel. I love it. If you read 'Schism,' if you read my 'Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine' stuff, this is kind-of in that vein. It's dark at times, it's crazy, it's emotional, but at the end of the day, hopefully, it's just flat-out fun." The book will feature new characters in addition to "characters from pretty much every era of X-Men history." Having never worked on a team book before, Aaron suggested his page rate be re-evaluated as Singh showed the covers to "X-Men Legacy" #259 (with Rogue), "X-Factor" #230 (with Havok) and "Uncanny X-Force" #19 (with Nightcrawler), taunting the audience to speculate on the characters still left in silhouette.

The conversation then took an unexpected turn towards the topic of crying. "Jeanine cries at the drop of a hat," Alonso deadpanned. "She holds the record in the X-office. I think the worst moment was when we were doing 'Second Coming' and we realized that we were going to be killing Cable. It was a necessary part of the story. He was sacrificed to save Hope. I looked across the table and I saw a little tear in Jason's eye. So I quickly fastened onto his weakness and pointed out, 'He's crying, he's crying!' In turn, I wiped my eyes clear."

Singh took a moment to acknowledge writer Mike Carey, who will be ending his run on "X-Men Legacy" before showing the cover to "Astonishing X-Men" #44, where Storm and Cyclops are portrayed in the midst of a passionate kiss, apparently in the process of cheating on their respective partners Black Panther and Emma Frost.

Discussion of Aaron's run on Wolverine resulted in a few chuckles from the crowd. "No one does violence like Jason Aaron!" Singh declared, as the writer broke down a madcap, "palate-cleansing" plot, featuring dragons and kung-fu. "Wolverine's gotta leave town. First, he wants his money, which he left in Chinatown. And somebody took it. It guest-stars Gorilla Man and Fat Cobra."

Schaeffer touched on the X-23's quest for a soul and team-up with FF and Daken's move to LA before Singh explained the idea behind Evil Deadpool. "I knew nothing about it until after I asked Daniel Way at Comic-Con [International], and he explained it to everyone this simply and I'll tell you all you need to know. Over the years, Deadpool had been cut up, chopped up, beaten to pieces -- those random parts of his body were thrown in a dumpster somewhere and came together to form Evil Deadpool. If I have to say anything else to you to make you buy this comic, you are not the right audience. So, please buy Evil Deadpool, because that is the coolest idea ever. And if someone cosplays as Evil Deadpool here next year, I promise to give you something really cool."

He then teased something called "Dead," which Alonso refused to elaborate on, and "Magneto: Not a Hero" by Skottie Young and Clay Mann, before offering a limited edition Archangel X-Force figure -- signed by the panel -- to the audience member with the best question.

A fan asked if Aaron's beard ever influenced his writing, prompting the admission that "pretty much every book I take over now has a character with a beard." Quite a few "wait and see's" were thrown around, but it was confirmed that Northstar will be a "dual resident" of both the X-Men and Alpha Flight.

"It's my feeling that DC's reboot of their titles has antagonized a lot of long-time DC readers," an audience member suggested. "Has Marvel marketing and Marvel editorial thought about reaching out to DC readers who'd like to read a comic book that's other than issue number one?" Singh, calling himself a DC fan -- especially of Stephanie Brown's Batgirl -- replied, "We create enough jumping on points with our number ones. We don't throw out 52 in one month. With our .1 issues, with very accessible events, we create a lot of good entry points for readers, whether they're DC readers, Image readers, Oni readers -- whatever they are."

Alonso added, "DC will do what it needs to do, and quite frankly, we hope DC does well. We respond better to good competition, and we're all in this together despite the snipes we do back and forth for theater and what-not. We want DC to be healthy. If they can take September, more power to 'em. It just inspires us to up our game the other eleven months, you follow me?"

It was also asked which of the 52 new DC titles the panelists were most excited to check out. Singh went with "Voodoo" and Schaefer chose "Wonder Woman" ("I prefer no pants!") while Cebulski said "anything Scott Snyder does."

A fan asked if Jubilee's loyalty to Wolverine would prompt her to act as a mole within Team Cyclops. Schaefer responded, "Jubilee has been through a lot lately. She's one of my favorite characters, so I'm really happy that she's back on the board and stepping up. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you what happens in the book, but she has her reasons, and they are her reasons. So if you like Jubilee, pick up 'X-Men,' because she's a huge part of it." Another fan asked if certain characters would be lost in the shuffle, leading Shaeffer to reassure the audience that the Marvel team had gone over an extensive character list, ensuring that "everyone has picked a side."

Jean Grey's death was brought up, prompting a round of applause from the audience in favor of the character's retirement. Cebulski reiterated that he was not involved in the "X-Men: Origins Wolverine" movie. Then, a woman asked which Marvel characters the panelists most identified with. The breakdown was as follows: Cebulski as Danny Moonstar, Alonso as "tortured" Scott, Aaron as Wolverine, Schaefer as Jubilee and Singh as Thunderbird 3. For her original inquiry, she won the Archangel figure.

The panel wrapped with a slide announcing Brian Wood as "coming in 2012."

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34162

 

[Specter313]

It's been a turbulent summer for the X-Men. Torn apart by the events of "X-Men: Schism," Marvel's merry mutants have split into two distinct factions, with Cyclops leading Utopia while Wolverine heads back to the X-Men's roots in Westchester. Now, the X-Men are going through a complete restructuring and "Regenesis." Marvel Comics writers Jason Aaron ("Wolverine and the X-Men"), Marjorie Liu ("X-23"), Brian Wood ("Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega") Kieron Gillen ("Uncanny X-Men"), Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning ("New Mutants"), Peter David ("X-Factor"), Greg Pak ("Astonishing X-Men"), James Asmus ("X-Men Legacy"), Editor Jeanine Schaefer and Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso took to the stage on Sunday at New York Comic Con to discuss the all-new relaunch, the fallout of "Schism" and raise questions about the all-new, all-deadly X-Men universe.

Moderated by Director Of Communications, Publishing & Digital Media Arune Singh, the panel kicked off with a short introduction of the star-studded panelists and some insight on the two factions of the X-Men, splitting the sides and going through the books in a quick-fire style, with each creator speaking a bit on their upcoming plans.

Kieron Gillen spoke on "Uncanny X-Men," and how he'll be taking Cyclops' team to become the world's greatest peacekeeping force. "This is the X-Men operating on a scale they never have before," said Gillen. "This is them trying to be the world's premiere super-team."

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's "New Mutants" will maintain the focus that Dani Moonstar's team has had since its formation. "Cyclops gave Dani the job of cleaning up the leftovers the X-Men have left behind them," said Abnett, citing that this was much more than just a mutant team with a roster that has a good deal of mutagenic diversity. "They're not a street cleaning team...they're about integration"

One of the more mysterious character appearances in the upcoming Regenesis is the that of Sebastian Shaw in "Generation Hope," written by James Asmus, who explained that Shaw's appearance in the book spins directly out of his most recent appearance in "Uncanny X-Men." When the Black King appears back on the grid, Hope's team follows their first directive and hunts down the new mutant signature. "The book is going to spiral wildly from there, including all the hormones and kissing that a teenage book should have," said Asmus.

Although not much was revealed about "X-Men," the panel did mention that Victor Gischler will be bringing the original vampire arc full circle, exploring more of Jubilee's role on the team.

One of the most exciting announcements was Greg Pak's "Astonishing X-Men," and while the writer wasn't able to talk about his plot (or the teaser image of Mohawk Storm kissing Cyclops), he did express his love of the characters. "The X-Men are the characters that will give me a tear in my eye, curl up on the couch and give me a manly sob," he said. As a teaser, he also mentioned that readers are "going to see some people who may not meet up at this time meet up in some unexpected ways." A teaser image was also displayed of a mysterious character with golden claws.

With the wrap-up of Team Cyclops, Team Wolverine was up with Aaron's "Wolverine and the X-Men" held up as the flagship book. Aaron did a quick overview, mentioning that the "Jean Grey School for Higher Learning" has Wolverine in the role of Professor X -- but with his own twist on being headmaster. "There's a Danger Room, but it's not the one we've seen before; there are classes, but they're not the ones we've seen before," he teased. "It's all thrown into a book where Wolverine wears a shirt and a tie."

The companion five-issue miniseries, "Wolverine and the X-Men: Alpha and Omega," heralds Brian Wood's return to Marvel, and he's starting off with a battle royale spinning right out of the pages of "Schism." "This is kind of Logan vs. Quentin Quire," said Wood. "They have a contentious relationship. They have it out here in a way you might not think. It's a confrontation that's on Quentin's terms almost entirely." Wood also mentioned that fan-favorite character Armor would be "a little bit of collateral damage."

The panel then saluted longtime "X-Men Legacy" writer Mike Carey for over five years helming the title before introducing his replacement, writer Christos Gage. Marvel Editor Daniel Ketchum filled the audience in on the book and how it continues Rogue's story as relates to her allegiance to Wolverine while addressing the possible love triangle between Magneto, Rogue and Gambit.

Next up was Peter David's fan-favorite book, "X-Factor," and while David was keeping things close to the chest, he did describe a bit of how Havok and Polaris came back under his wing. "The timing absolutely could not have been better in terms of the overall story I was doing," he said, referencing some of the tragic events that occurred recently in the X-Factor Investigations ranks. "It's really an all-time low as it comes to morale. The idea of Havok and Polaris, the former leaders of the team...coming back is more attractive to some members of the group and not as attractive to other members."

David also referred to how classic "X-Factor" fans would find a lot of value in the reunion of his original team. "It's been a lot of fun to bring them back to explore the new dynamics and really, really shake things up in the group," he said. "It's an incredible opportunity."

"Uncanny X-Force" will be continuing with Rick Remender as writer, despite the NYCC announcement of him pulling writing duties on "Secret Avengers." The teaser image featured Psylocke and Fantomex with Wolverine, Deadpool and Nightcrawler in the foreground. "It's important to pay attention to the art and see who's there and who's not there," said Singh. The PR guru then announced a brand new X-Men series, "Age of Apocalypse" by David Lapham and Roborto De La Torre, spinning directly out of Remender's current "Dark Angel Saga" storyline. The upcoming "Point One" one-shot directly addresses and will provide a lead-in for the new series.

"Wolverine" hits a milestone this year with the 300th issue and features Adam Kubert on art. Series writer Jason Aaron set fan expectations very high for the issue. "I'd say it's the biggest Wolverine solo story that I've done," he said. "Everything I've done in 'Wolverine' has been building towards this." Fans were also lucky enough to get a first look at Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi's "Wolverine" run next year that re-introduces Sabretooth.

The fans went wild when Marjorie Liu was introduced to discuss some of what she's got planned for "X-23." After finishing up the "Chaos Theory" arc, X-23 will be dealing with Hellion's return to the East Coast and getting a babysitting gig from the FF that goes horribly wrong. Rob Williams' "Daken: Dark Wolverine," by contrast, will be featuring fan-favorite characters, the Runaways, who, editor Jeanine Schaefer said, Daken might not be able to deal with with the brutal efficiency he typically employs. "He underestimates them a little bit," she said.

No X-Men panel would be complete without some "Deadpool" coverage, but fans may be saddened by the newest arc. Entitled "Dead," beginning #50, the Merc with a Mouth may finally succeed in finding Death's cool embrace. "At Marvel, we have a policy that none of our characters die," said Alonso, prompting laughter from the audience. "But you might be surprised."

As the panel wrapped, one of the most exciting teasers was displayed on screen with the "It's Coming" image featuring the Phoenix. Singh urged the audience to pick up "Point One" and assured them that it would answer a few of their questions. "It's really a Rosetta Stone for 2012."

The floor opened up for questions, and while there were some excellent points discussed, some amazing signs held up by Peter David (including "Hi, Mom!" "Han Shot 1st" and -- very late in the panel -- "I have to pee"), one of the most revealing was that there are concrete plans for "X-Statix" in the future, confirmed by Jason Aaron. "Doop is in 'Wolverine and the X-Men,'" he said. "There's a little teaser, but there are plans for them."

10-year-olds were asking some amazing questions, including one member who asked, "What political parties do the two sides support?" When asked which party he supported, the young man said, "Republicans."

"Would you side with Cyclops or Wolverine?" asked David.

"Wolverine," said the young man.

"Because Scott's more of a libertarian right now," joked Asmus.

However, the biggest reaction from both the fans and the panelists was when a 10-year-old boy dressed as Jack Power walked up to the microphone and asked, "Who is Jean Grey's true lover?" After the audience calmed down, Singh asked the young X-fan, "Who do you think it is?" The child then said, "Cyclops." For his audacious question, the young man was awarded an Archangel action figure, with the box signed by the entire panel.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=34963

 

[JewishHobbit]

Of all that it's the image of the Phalanx that has me most excited.

 

[Specter313]

Marvel teased "It's coming" before New York Comic Con, and though the actual event didn't provide answers per se, it at least provided some clues.

This image — first revealed at Saturday's "Cup O' Joe" panel and now released to press — certainly suggests something involving the Phoenix force, an entity most closely associated with founding X-Men member Jean Grey, who's been dead in comic book storylines since 2004.

Marvel didn't add any insight to the teaser at the show, but it does look like Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Olivier Coipel, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Adam Kubert and John Romita Jr. are all involved. Newsarama will keep watching this one as it develops.

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/marvel-its-coming-phoenix-teaser-111017.html

 

[JewishHobbit]

Phalanx would be different from Phoenix

That one only has me excited if it brings Jean back. Otherwise I'll just see what it is when it comes. Honestly, at this point I don't believe Marvel any time they tease Jean's return. It's gotten annoying and I've learned to never hold my breath.

 

[Specter313]

Gah, I'm tired and my eyes don't want to work right.

 

[joshtylen]

Wonder if they will just tease the Jean fans again. Surprised about AOA being an ongoing though. Looks like it will be a darker tone book too with Roberto De La Torre on art. Hope's it's good. Brood as a student in the wolverine book?
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[OutcryX]

AoA Characters..looks like a blend of AoA and AoX(which sucked)
What's up with all the baby nightcrawlers?

 

[joshtylen]

What's up with all the baby nightcrawlers?

yeah everyone's asking that but Aaron won't reveal it yet. They are either from another dimension or projections by Quentin to annoy Wolverine since Logan is forcing Quentin to be a student.