This year marks the X-Men’s 60th anniversary, so you can bet Marvel is pulling out all the stops to celebrate. Case in point, the publisher has announced X-Men: Days of Future Past – Doomsday, a new four-issue limited series written by Marc Guggenheim and drawn by Manuel García revisiting Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s groundbreaking Days of Future Past storyline. The first issue will feature a cover drawn by Geoff Shaw. No additional members of the creative team were mentioned in the press release.
Here’s how the publishers describes the limited series:
Told in 1981 within the pages of Uncanny X-Men #141–142, “Days of Future Past” enriched the X-Men’s mythology with the introduction of new core concepts like time travel and alternate universes, and raised the stakes of the X-Men’s mission by showing readers what the future held if they failed. Over the years, “Days of Future Past” has inspired spin-offs, film, television, and more, and now it’s time to witness the thirty-year descent into this iconic dystopic future where mutantkind was crushed under the full might of the Sentinel program!
Beginning at the pivotal moment that Kate Pryde desperately tried to alter in the original story and taking readers right up the legendary opening pages of Uncanny X-Men #141, the series will reveal all the dark history behind “Days of Future Past,” complete with the previously untold deaths of key mutant characters, super hero guest stars, and shocking revelations.
In a world where mutants are more than simply hated and feared, but not yet slain and apprehended, the assassination of Senator Kelly comes to pass, bringing with it the Mutant Control Act and Sentinels on every corner. But with mutantkind on the back foot, what lengths will Kate Pryde, Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Banshee, Cyclops, Angel, Professor X, and the rest of the X-Men go in order to find some way to survive? And what scheme of Magneto will bring about their ultimate DOOMSDAY?
Guggenheim has certainly written various X-Men books over the years but the chance to revisit the Days of Future Past timeline was too good to pass up. He shared:
“Growing up, I never thought I’d get the chance to write the X-Men as many times as I have. I particularly never thought I’d be able to play around in the amazing timeline that Chris Claremont and John Byrne brought to life in Days of Future Past. I still have the most vivid memory of visiting the stationery store where I used to buy my comics and seeing Uncanny X-Men #141 on the rack. That iconic cover blew my nine year-old mind.
“My goal with this story is to fill in some missing gaps in the thirty-year period that Kate Pryde summarized in just four panels back in the day. Prior familiarity with the original story won’t be required. The end result is an event that feels like the X-Men story to end all X-Men stories. At least, that’s the bullseye we’re aiming at!”
Editor Mark Basso added:
“This future timeline has always been such fertile ground for stories, and for the first time we’re getting the bigger picture only hinted at in various spin-offs over the years. There’s some details fans have been waiting decades to understand the context of, as well as completely untold facets that bring will bring the Days of Future Past fully into focus for the first time.”
Look for X-Men: Days of Future Past – Doomsday #1 (of 4) to arrive in stores and digitally on Wednesday, July 12th.
Such new ideas. Sigh.
Comments are closed.