Marvel’s most unusual to this year’s X-Cellent, which marked the seminal group’s return to the Marvel Universe. The first issue of the five issue miniseries goes on sale in print and digital March 15th.
next generation of X-Statix show up on the scene. And what about the X-Cellent, X-Statix’s dark, villainous counterparts? What role will they play in this series? The press release was mum on these questions, but did promise readers “more mutant celebrity exploits,” a hallmark of the classic X-Statix title. Milligan was excited to work with the Allreds once more, saying: “there are few finer feelings in comics” than working with them. Likewise, Mike Allred was quoted as calling he and his wife’s collaboration with Milligan “pure comic book bliss.”
X-Statix is Marvel decided to take X-Force back to its original concept; the characters Milligan and the Allreds created then became known as X-Statix, the name they have maintained to this day. The of X-Statix are cult favorites, especially Doop; the book remains a high mark of early 2000s Marvel. The book was a scathing (and prescient) critique of celebrity culture. And it was these criticisms of popular culture that made X-Statix such a unique book–one that still resonates with fans over 20 years later, a fact Marvel acknowledges in the press release.
X-Statix Was Ahead of Its Time, And Now The Team Is Back.
And over these 20 plus years, Milligan and the Allreds have managed to keep X-Statix fresh and compelling. The book skewered the biggest tropes of the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe; it was artsy, edgy and thoroughly unlike anything else Marvel was releasing. Milligan and the Allreds took the floundering X-Force and truly brought it into the modern era. Now, they have returned to the iconoclastic team once more, promising fans another joyride through the weirder corners of mutant celebrity.
X-Statix’s return comes at an interesting moment in the X-Men franchise. The X-Statix team has not been seen on Krakoa, the mutant homeland. Will The X-Cellent acknowledge this exclusion? Doing so would make for a good commentary on the X-Men’s Krakoan era and its many wonders; for example, how would X-Statix’s Dead Girl work with the Resurrection Protocols? While X-Statix’s forthcoming book may not touch on these concepts, it will serve up the celebrity skewering action that fans have come to expect of the X-Men’s most unusual team.
Source: Marvel.com
