The third flagship title for the X-Men line relaunch after the end of the Krakoa storyline is designed to be exceptional.
Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero’s Exceptional X-Men rounds out the main lineup with a team led by Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde, and three all-new mutants named Bronze, Axo, and Melee.
The new “From the Ashes” title begins with Kitty getting as far away from her fellow mutants as possible by taking a job as a bartender in Chicago, before frenemy Emma Frost walks back into her life and offers her the chance to one again mentor a new generation of mutants.
Ewing said “Longtime fans of Kitty Pryde can count on the kinds of adventures you expect from her as a classic favorite, while I hope new and old readers alike will get to love this all-new team of young mutants. Kitty, the one-time kid sister figure of the X-Men, has to reckon with her own memories—good and bad—of being a child of Xavier as she navigates a role as leader and mentor for a new generation of mutants who are trying to make their way in a time of crisis.”
Ewing also tried to strike a balance between new and established characters in the comic, and said, “I always try to strike a chord between appealing to veteran comics fans and new readers, but since so many people fell in love with the X-Men as teens and this book is about a team of young folks, that feels especially important to me here.”
Carnero “fell in love” with new characters immediately and said “I love that they are such opposites. Eve had very clear personalities, hobbies, musical tastes, how they feel… And when it came to designing them, it all developed naturally, and the whole team had a clear vision of what their final looks would be. I can’t wait for readers to meet them.”
The two flagship titles already announced include Gail Simone and David Marquez’s Uncanny X-Men (in stores on August 7) and Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman’s X-Men series (out on July 10).
Other titles recently announced for the Marvel mutant initiative consist of Mark Russell and Bob Quinn’s X-Factor title (available on August 14) and Saladin Ahmed and Martín Cóccolo’s new Wolverine series (on September 11).
Check out Carnero’s cover below and look for Exceptional X-Men #1 at you local comic shop on September 4.
Stay tuned to Conskipper for all of your X-Men news!
