NYCC ‘24 Exclusive: X-Men books will join Marvel’s premier collection

At the “Marvel: Next Big Thing” panel at New York Comic Con on Thursday, X-Men editor Tom Brevoort, Jean Grey writer Stephanie Phillips, newly announced Ultimate Wolverine writer Chris Condon, Fantastic Four writer Ryan North, and editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski gathered to discuss what’s next for the Marvel Universe.

At the end of the panel at the Q&A, I approached the microphone to ask Cebulski if there were plans to bring the X-Men to the 6”x 9” format books in the newly announced premier collection. Marvel’s editor-in-chief confirmed that after the first initial wave of four titles, the company plans to release an X-Men book in this format as well.

Here’s what else was discussed and announced: 

ULTIMATE UNIVERSE: ONE YEAR IN cover by Stefano Caselli

The panel began with talks of the popular Marvel Ultimate Universe and a reminder of how the absolute timeline is happening in real-time and has been since the launch of Ultimate Spider-Man. The Ultimate comics remain one of the top-selling comics of the year so far and will cap off with Ultimate Universe: One Year In set to release in December which will see the return of The Maker, plus will tie in as the lead into this popular hero’s first story in this universe…

Ultimate Wolverine

Ultimate Wolverine #1 variant cover by Steve Skroce

As reported earlier that day, ULTIMATE WOLVERINE was announced at the panel featuring a new design by Alessandro Cappuccio. Written by rising industry star writer Chris Condon, In this storyline Wolverine is being used as the Winter Soldier serving as a personal assassin to The Maker along with his council members Magik, Colossus, and Omega Red. Preview pages revealed some very black and white uncolored pages specled with the occasional hints of blood red. There was a lot of silhouettes used as well – marking for a dark new beginning for one of the line’s favorite heroes.

“When Wil Moss called me and asked me if I wanted to take on this title, I jumped at the chance and immediately had an idea of what to do with it,” said Condon. “I’m bringing my essence of storytelling from That Texas Blood to the Marvel Universe with Wolverine, looking back at what came before and bringing us something new.”

“You might notice that there’s a Red Star on his costume and you might wonder why,” he continued. “If you look at that mask, there’s a muzzle on him and that’s because he’s wild”

Phoenix #8

The new Phoenix series continues this February and will feature some very epic battles soon to come as the struggle against PERRIKUS continues. Written by Stephane Phillips with art by Marco Renna, there are some big battles planned in the series run that will feature not just Gorr right now, but soon, Thanos as well, beginning in February of 2025.

This is a long anticipated battle between Phoenix and Thano’s first match-up. Perhaps the biggest takeaway in the panel was a confirmation that Phoenix will be transforming into something NEW. 

“Jean is going into a cocoon,” revealed Phillips while speaking at the panel. “Phoenix is going to transform into something new. A new cosmic Queen.”

X-Men 

The panel then shifted to talks about the upcoming X-Men crossover Raid on Graymalkin. It’s a 4 issue crossover event tying together X-Men # 8 and #9 along with Uncanny X-Men #7 and #8, where the team returns to Graymalkin prison, in what used to be the Xavier academy.

Timeslide

In lieu of the traditional Marvel timeless preview the line is going with a Timeslide storyline that sees Cable and Bishop, two time traveling men who don’t get along, hop across the timeline as special sneak preview of what’s to come this upcoming year.  Written by Steve Foxe and drawn by Ivan Fiorelli the series will featuring teasers of stories set for 2025 and will arrive in stores in December as Marvel’s last comic of the year.

Power Man: Timeless

Image Credit: Marvel Comics

A new limited series hitting February 2025, this story written by COLLIN KELLY & JACKSON LANZING and featuring Art by BERNARD CHANG will continue to see Luke Cage with the powers of Iron Fist, Sentry, and the Hulk. The story gets set in the modern era and will see the hero look for a place for his overpowered self in a sort of Galactic struggle. Here’s the premise:

HE IS UNSTOPPABLE. INDESTRUCTIBLE. INCORRUPTIBLE. IMMORTAL. And utterly alone. He is POWER MAN. Ripped from the breakout story in TIMELESS, the god-slaying, Gamma-powered, Iron-Fisted, Sentry from the future Luke Cage arrives in the modern Marvel Universe, only to discover a foe, and a mystery, that will challenge even his incredible abilities! From TIMELESS scribes Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and artist Bernard Chang, POWER MAN is a guided tour of the solar system that only Marvel Comics could provide!

“Astonishing” Infinity Comics

Image Credit: Marvel Unlimited

Available to sample online for free for a limited time with no login required, Marvel has launched a new ASTONISHING INFINITY COMICS line. As revealed in the panel, after doing research on what hits regarding its own data on the infinity comics via the Marvel unlimited app the past three years, the company has acknowledged the demographics had changed and are doing this initiative to bring it all together.

The comics are launching three new titles in ASTONISHING AVENGERS, ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN and ASTONISHING X-MEN. ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN will be written by Scott Aukerman (Spider-Man Unlimited Infinity Comics, Comedy Bang Bang) and drawn by Salva Espin (X-Men ’97 comics). The comics will also serve as tie-ins into the main comics including the X-Men from the ashes era and House of Harkness. Astonishing X-Men will join in December with Avengers in January.

One World Under Doom

Promo art by Greg Land

Finally, Editor in Chief C.B. Cebulski, VP & Executive Editor Tom Brevoort, and Fantastic Four writer Ryan North revealed info on ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM. FANTASTIC FOUR #28 will serve as the prelude to the story which will be about Reed Richards wanting to break into the magic dome Doom has hid himself in – seeking the Black Knight to help him break in. 

Spinning out of Blood Hunt where Doctor Doom manipulated Doctor Strange into passing him the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM will see Doom take over the entire world. It’s meant to be an action-packed series that will upend the Marvel universe and will feature a series of tie-in series and one-shots.

It begins in February with RISE OF EMPEROR DOOM, a five-issue series will written by Ryan North and drawn by R.B. Silva, of Powers of X and Rise of the Powers of X acclaim. Here’s the premise to what’s bound to happen:

Six months ago, Doctor Victor Von Doom became Sorcerer Supreme – then disappeared behind Latveria’s closed borders. For most, there’s enough going on in the world that Doom’s absence is not a priority, and some time without him feels like a blessing. Only a few recognize it for what it truly was… the calm before the storm. It is a storm that has now arrived. The world has woken up to a new reality: Doctor Doom, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, has magically taken over every broadcast medium on the planet and declared himself Emperor of the World – the ruler of a new United Latveria! And shockingly, impossibly, all of Earth’s leaders seem to be going along with this. Luckily, whether it’s mind control or Doombots, whatever’s affecting them hasn’t affected Earth’s heroes – and so they quickly form a strike team to stop Doom’s machinations. But will they succeed? And what happens when some begin to welcome their new Emperor with open arms, clamoring for One World Under Doom?

“ONE WORLD UNDER ROOM is the umbrella, impacting not just THE RISE OF EMPEROR DOOM, but the entire Marvel Universe,”  Brevoort explained. “To the Avengers, Spider-Man and more…Doom is going to impact every corner of the universe for 2025.”

“ONE WORLD UNDER DOOM sees Doctor Doom coming out of [Latveria], and overnight, taking over the world,” North said. “Every country is a province of a united Latveria, and everyone answers to Doom, and he is going to make some changes … He gets to show the world that he’s the greatest at what he does, and that might not be great for people not named Victor Von Doom.”

And that was just about everything in the panel, minus a few cover reveals. All attendees were given a special Emperor Doom variant of Fantastic Four #13.