io9
Ever wondered what would happen if the X-Men all got slightly more incestual as a group? The answer awaits you in the first issue of next month's new series GeNext, where classic X-Men writer Chris Claremont gets to fantasize about what would happen if the members of Marvel's mutant favorite franchise got "busy" with each other, as the kids would say. And this one can genuinely label itself as "Because the fans demanded it!"
The origins of GeNext are somewhat unusual; waaaay back in 2005, Marvel Comics held an online poll giving fans four possibilities for Claremont's next project for the publisher. Each of the four (The others were a continuation of his 1980s dystopian Days of Future Past storyline, a "What If the X-Men Had Been Formed by Professor Xavier and Magneto" series or a story asking whether the X-Men should have lived in Asgard, mythical home of the mighty Thor. Yes, that last one was really an option) was related to the X-Men, the franchise that Claremont made into the multi-media juggernaut it became during his initial 16-year run on the title (He rejoined the franchise in 2000, and has remained on the fringes of it ever since), and the idea that caught fans' imagination was something that, back then, was just called Next:
Witness today's generation of X-Men if the Marvel Universe aged in real-time. Both the first and second teams of X-Men are approaching 50 and the New Mutants are now in their thirties. This series will follow this new generation of X-Men and the new reality they find themselves in.
Cut to three years and one near-death experience for Claremont later, and Next has become GeNext:Who are the children of the X-Men? And what happened to the original team, Professor X, and Magneto after over 30 years of conflict, victories, and tragedies? Now, at last, the answers arrive as beloved X-Men scribe Chris Claremont reveals an all-new generation of mutant teens!
The new five-part series doesn't just raise the possibility of Claremont dealing with his own aging by putting yet more words into the mouth of an overweight balding Cyclops, but also acts as a stealth sequel for an earlier Claremont project, X-Men: The End, which acted as his last word on the franchise and characters. Well, last word until money raised its ugly head, of course.
The first issue of the series is due in stores May 14th.
First Look: GeNext #1 [Marvel.com]
Comments
Interesting. I always kind of wondered when they would give up the main guys and focus on some other ones, given nearly all of them will have to die eventually...
I might have to pick this up...
I can not wait for this to come out, I really like Claremont, and thankfully, I can use my power of sight to read these comics!
I'm guessing Glowing Eye Boy is a young cabal? Which is kind of a bore. We know all about Cabal and frankly, who cares?
I like the idea but it's been a while since Claremont did anything really cool. In a few years, he'll be Stan Lee, only more pompous.
They did one of those series with "Children of the original [blank]" a while back.
Wolverine had a daughter with Elektra, who for some reason had Psylocke's power in addition to her healing factor.
This could have made for an extremely interesting series. Could have. Could.
@Gyrus: I would assume that it is, in fact, Nathan Summers, however it is likely a non-cannon version of Nathan (later Cable). Claremont's last book, The End, was an Elseworlds style story about the X-Men, and since a bunch of people are dead in current continuity I would think that this book is outside canon as well.
Claremont was always a better ideas guy then script writer. He came up with some brilliant concepts on his run, but his dialog is often terrible.
Do you mean Cable? And I would assume since the storyline is picking up after all the previous generations of X-Men are getting old, that it couldn't really be Cable since he's been around a while, time traveling abilities aside.
@braak: A goddamn Wolverine/Elektra kid is a goddamn dream for both 1980's goddamn Frank Miller, and 2004 self parody goddamn Frank Miller!
@iJake: But considering its a non-canon version that isnt AN OLD WOLVERINE (fuck that Ultimate stuff) would be pretty cool I think, especially without the technorganic virus.
I'm just so completely over the X-men. Have been for years now.
@Dead Air ummm Dead Air: Weirdly, the whole thing just came out as "Primary colored awkward high school years remember how great Spider-Man was?"
No Frank Miller attached.
@Gyrus: Agreed. Claremont has become a toxic factor in which X-books I'll read. Him and Chuck Austen should be lowered into a pit and made to fight to the death. The winner is then shot.
@iJake: yes, I meant Cable. Firefox does not like the Marvel Stylebook of Proper Nouns with Capitol Letters as Names. Maybe I should turn off my custom dictionary... Oh technology, why do you taunt me so?
they look kind of .. boring. what happened to mutants looking like mutants? or the sort of "handicapped by my own powers" look of Cyclops or Chamber? in all fairness, i haven't read it so it might feature these kind of details.
I love the concept of resetting the X characters and putting it in real time and looking at their kids.
Clarmont is hit or miss with me.
@DSTRYA: Also, I want their powers to be mixed up in volatile ways.
Like Colossus has a kid with Marrow, or something, and that enables him to grow giant, deforming metal bones out of his body.
yay! More X-books. Just what the marketplace needs.
John Byrne had this idea first with Superman/Batman:Generations.
"Beloved X-Men scribe Chris Claremont..."!?
I never beloved him. I never even really be-liked him!
@braak: The kid with Wolverine and Psylocke's powers was the daughter of Wolverine and Psylocke. Not Wolverine and Elektra.
@Defendant: Well, while that makes a hell of a lot more sense, I had it in my head as Elektra. Maybe I saw her, and just identified her as Elektra, because I wasn't reading very closely?
Who can say with me? No one.
Anyway, I'm sitting down now and coming up with all kinds of outlandish power combinations for mutant offspring.
They probably changed the name from Next to GeNext to avoid confusion with [and/or lawsuits about] John Byrne's Next Men for Dark Horse...
I'm not generally a fan of alterna-future timeline stories [unless they relate to the here-and-now, like Days of Future Past], but I guess it depends on the writing. Spiderman 2099 was great, but that had Peter David at the helm...
@braak: It's tricky, because you don't want to combine people that have powers that are too much alike. Like, you wouldn't want to combine Wolfsbane with Wolverine, because that'd be a waste.
But Wolfsbane with Multiple Man, maybe, and their kid could just make a bunch of werewolf clones everywhere.
Or if you combine Cannonball and Storm, maybe he could just tool around on a giant tornado all the time. And shoot lightning.
None of these are as much fun as invincible organic-steel exoskeletal spikes.
@Defendant:
Braak was right. The kid was named Wild Thing. She was Wolverine and Elektra's kid. This took place in the MC2 Universe, where the Spider-Girl series takes place.
[en.wikipedia.org]
...My name is Oedipus Snikt, I'm the second best at what I do, until I find my dad. Then I'll be the best. and it won't be very nice. I have a healing factor, bone claws and the ability crush your larynx with my mind, oh and I have a dragon... and I come from the future... and uh... I'm here to ah hell. My suspension-of-disbilief module just imploded.
We mocked up a bunch of mashups for X-Offspring ahead of the X-Men movie (I used to work for AnotherUniverse.com). The best by far was the daughter of Marrow and Blob. Her name was Big-Boned, as in "I'm not fat; I'm Big-Boned!" I have her whole Claremontian internal monologue and origin story mapped out. (It involves Marrow wanting to get really drunk and later really regretting it.) Let's see Claremont top that.
Too bad the artwork looks like utter crap.
Sigh. So bored. The last interesting thing that Marvel did with the mutants was Peter Milligan & Mike Allred's X-Force cum X-Statix, and Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men, a gift to the franchise's future which Marvel promptly turned around and crapped all over.
OK, I'm being harsh: Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men has been awesome, but only because it hearkens back to the prime of Claremont's tenure.
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