Earlier this week Marvel released a teaser for Destiny of X, the next phase of the current Krakoan status quo for the X-Men titles. The teaser included titles for several new series, including Immortal X-Men, Legion of X, Knights of X, and X-Men Red. Today the publisher has released more details on one of those books, Immortal X-Men, which heralds the return of writer Kieron Gillen to ongoing work within X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe. The series teams Gillen with Trial of Magneto artist Lucas Wernock for stories focused on the leaders of Krakoa, the Quiet Council. The series will sport covers by Mark Brooks.
Here’s how Marvel describes Immortal X-Men:
The Quiet Council rules the Krakoan age, for better… or worse. Now, shaken by INFERNO and X LIVES / X DEATHS OF WOLVERINE, they strive to hold together—no matter how much they want to tear each other apart. Take a seat in the room where it happens. “It” being “the most powerful people on Earth deciding the fate of the whole planet.” Prepare for sinister secrets to be revealed and learn that some secrets are more sinister than others…
Professor X. Emma Frost. Destiny. Mystique. Storm. Nightcrawler. Kate Pryde. Colossus. Sebastian Shaw. Exodus. Mister Sinister. Each of them has their own vision for Krakoa and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. Will mutantkind survive the experience?
(Points for the Hamilton reference, Marvel.)
Gillen, who is also currently writing Marvel’s Eternals series, has spent plenty of time with Marvel’s merry mutants in the past, having ten years ago helmed an extended run on Uncanny X-Men, as well as the 12-issue Generation Hope and 5-issue S.W.O.R.D. series. In a statement accompanying the announcement of Immortal X-Men, Gillen expounded on how the new series spins out of what’s currently going on on Krakoa:
“So, the match is lit, and IMMORTAL X-MEN is a book about the burning. To speak in a Hickmanian idiom, this is the New Avengers to Gerry’s Avengers. This is the book about Krakoa, and the Quiet council, with all its muffled screams. It’s about a group of people, some of whom are convinced they’re in the West Wing, some who have designs to be in House of Cards and at least one who knows they’re in Veep. It’s big ideas, politics, fights and fashion, lies, creation and destruction, all told across the widest possible canvas, in time and space. It’s some characters I’ve written before, with the volume turned up. It’s me falling in love with some characters I’ve never touched. It’s me somehow talking Marvel into paying me for having this much fun.
“Returning to the Inferno nod, Lucas Werneck is basically fire on the page. He’s someone who absolutely nails the tone of the book. When we do quiet and real, the characters have so much charisma it feels like stars are on the page. When we do big and impossible, he makes it real, and takes your breath away. Mark Brooks on covers is another treat. His gifts in creating form and charisma are obvious, but he’s throwing ideas at the page with a huge velocity. People are going to be poring over his first cover like it’s a piece of art at the heart of a conspiracy, as if every line means something. Which is lucky, because it does.”
Personally my favorite issues of the post-HoX/PoX era X-books have been the ones focused on the Quiet Council and the political intrigue of running a nation, so Immortal X-Men sounds like it’ll be right up my alley. Look for the first issue of the series to arrive in stores in March 2022.
