Marvel Relaunching WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN: Are There Too Many Relaunches?

Marvel continues to figure out ways to relaunch their titles non-stop!  They cancel a title one month, people freak out, then they relaunch it the next month.  The latest rebooted title will be Wolverine and The X-Men in March.  And the genius thing is that the title is set up to be relaunched after each “semester!”  Very clever Marvel, well done.  

Yesterday Marvel released a teaser with the word “Future.”  I predicted that Spidey 2099, recently stranded in the modern timeline, was getting his own series.  Of course, my guess was horribly wrong.  Instead, Marvel is ending Wolvie and The X-Men with issue #42 in February, and they will be giving the title a spankin’ new #1 issue in March.  Jason Aaron‘s run encompassed the first year the school was in session, and this series will tell tales from the school’s summer semester.  Written by Jason Latour, with art by Mahmud Asrar, the title will focus on the kiddos such as Quentin Quire, Evan Sabahnur and Idie Okonkwo.  Also, somehow the madman Fantomax has joined the teaching staff.

In an interview with IGN, Latour stated:

As we’ve seen this first year or so of the Jean Grey School has been a hard road.  As a result we’ll begin with a lot of the teachers and students sitting on the the edge of their seats just waiting for the bell to ring. For a break, for a reprieve. Some of them even want to quit. With summer in session many of them have. Those that are left are the ones who basically have no where to go.”

So with that in mind, the center of it all are Quire and Evan and Idie. Kids who are among the most potentially powerful and dangerous mutants alive.These kids are Logan’s legacy, but as we’ve seen up to this point he didn’t have such a great track record with that stuff even when he was at his best. In them we could be witnessing the growth of the next GREAT team of X-Men, or the creation of the biggest threats the Marvel U will ever see. Everything we’re planning, the adventures, the threats, will reflect that journey.

Wow, well done Marvel.  You have successfully figured out a way to rationally reboot a title every year or so. I may mock the ridiculous number of relaunches in comics, but they work.  Fans love buying #1 issues.  So mazel tov Marvel, this may be one of your most clever sales plans in a while.

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Jay Deitcher, LMSW(@mrdeitcher) is an educator on comic history and runs successful Free Comic Book Day events yearly.  You can see a listing of his incredible articles at JayDeitcher.com.