A new X-Men team debuts in July’s kickoff

Finally, Marvel Comics is ready to begin a new era for the X-Men as a team. The new squad will feature mostly familiar faces, with some new additions.

X begins again

Marvel Comics’ X-universe has been rolling with a ton of new elemtns over the last few years. It’s more or less been a soft-reboot for the mutant corner of the Marvel U, with writer Jonathan Hickman taking over.

From the tiny (and living – let’s not forget that) island nation of Krakoa, mutants now have a homeland. The dream of Charles Xavier is seemingly dead and buried on its shores, as mutants both heroic and villainous share its confines. Then there’s the whole thing with “death” effectively being meaningless thanks to mutant leadership and Krakoa itself, and you have a storyline that bears very little resemblance to classic X-anything.

Well, get ready for a little more familiarity. Yes, the X-Men are back. You might not have noticed they were gone, since there’s been so much mutant stuff loaded into Marvel Comics lately, but this July will debut the first X-Men team since the Krakoa nation was founded. This one coming from the creative team of writer Gerry Duggan, artist Pepe Larraz, and colorist Marte Gracia.

So who are these new X-Men? The roster will consist of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Sunfire, Rogue, Wolverine, Synch, and Polaris. So that’s a mixture of team mainstays and some new additions there. Oh, and as you can see in the promotional image, that’s not the Wolverine that you were probably thinking of.

Mutation variation

Speaking of “images” too, there’s are going to be a few associated with this new debut. Marvel has lined up a cadre of artists for variant covers, and much in the same vein as the iconic Jim Lee art for the 90s X-Men #1, there will be a connectable cover line as well. Those will be from series-artist Pepe Larraz.

As for who will be working on those variants…

• Juann Cabal – Professor X 
• Carmen Carnero – Marvel Girl 
• Peach Momoko – Sunfire
• Iban Coello – Synch 
•  R.B. Silva – Cyclops 
• Natacha Bustos – Wolverine 
• Patrick Gleason – Rogue 
• Joshua Cassara – Polaris

Look for all of the above to hits stands this July the 7th. If you’re looking for the first appearance of the team itself though, you won’t have to hang on for that long. The new X-Men will arrive with this June’s Hellfire Gala, an event that’ll be tying into all of the current X-books.