rachel-summers.com news

So, the War of Kings epilogue, Who Will Rule, is out today, but we still don't have any more clues as to what is next for Rachel and the Starjammers. There's no answers about why they walked away from the fight in War of Kings, or what they might do next. In fact, they're barely in the issue.

We have to turn to some of the recent Q&As from folks at Marvel to get some answers, but it's really just more wait and see than anything.

At Fan Expo Toronto a few weeks ago, a fan asked at the Dark Reign Panel where the Starjammers will be next was asked, and Marvel's CB Cebulski answered that they will be in both the X-Verse and Cosmic books, but more on the Cosmic side of things for now.

Marvel's Ben Morse was asked on ComicBloc's forums about what Alex meant by walking away and replied to see Who Will Rule and Realm of Kings. Since Who Will Rule offers no help on the subject, hopefully something will be in Realm of Kings.

Ben also recently posted that Lorna would be in the Realm of King minis.

However, none of the press that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the writers of all of Realm of Kings) did when it was first announced even mentioned the Starjammers. So, there's no indication from them that the Starjammers are even involved in Realm of Kings.

Realm of Kings starts with a one-shot in November, and then runs until April in several mini-series along with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard - This will focus on the Imperial Guard searching for Black Bolt and Vulcan in the Fault. DnA have talked about this fleshing out the members of the Imperial Guard and how they are a military unit, not superheroes.

The Starjammers don't exactly fit into the story, especially since DnA have said it will be very militaristic. I can't see the X-Jammers blindly following Gladiator like good soldiers. And including the X-Jammers would overshadow the Guardsmen that DnA want to focus on.

Realm of Kings: Inhumans - DnA haven't said too much about the storyline here, except that it will pick up Crystal's narrative and that it will address the fallout from War of Kings and with political intrigue with the Kree and Shi'ar.

The Starjammers could be involved in this (especially with Lorna's ties to Crystal and Luna) but as part of a large cast of characters.

But since the X-Jammers' mission was to kill Vulcan, and they have never had any interest in the Shi'ar (especially considering how much damage the Shi'ar have inflicted on them and their loved ones), it would be strange to see any of them with an interest in Shi'ar politics or helping the Shi'ar people.

Nova #31-35 - This will deal with Nova bringing Darkhawk to justice for killing Lilandra.

Wanting to find Lilandra's killer might be a something that would interest Alex, Lorna and Rachel. Adding the Starjammers might also boost the sales of Nova, which is one of the lowest selling titles for Marvel.

Guardians of the Galaxy #20-24 - The Guardians will deal with the Fault, which will bring back a lot of old 70s Cosmic characters.

While the X-Jammers could appear here, they likely wouldn't have a large role.


X-Books
In the X-Titles, there are quite a few crossovers taking up most of the books, which may make it difficult to bring in a bunch of new characters and integrate them back into the X-books.

In X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men Legacy, Necrosha will be happening from the fall into early winter, while Uncanny X-Men is dealing with Magneto and the fallout from Utopia. Matt Fraction has said that the next year of Uncanny will happen in a very short period of time, so catching up with the X-Jammers probably isn't in the cards.

Then some time in the spring or summer, the final chapter of the Messiah Trilogy will get underway.

Cable would clearly be involved in the next Messiah crossover event, but it would be nice to see them address something with the Askani between the current Brood arc and the crossover.

In Cable (vol 2) #6, baby Nathan being taken by the Askani to the future was recapped, but simplified to Scott giving Nathan to Rachel directly. While it parallels the current situation with Scott giving Hope to Nathan, it did change the original events and the sacrifice Scott had made giving his son to a stranger, rather than trusting his daughter.

When asked whether this was a mistake or something done deliberately, Duane Swierczynski said it would be addressed later.

While nothing has been said about what's next for Cable and Hope following the Brood, it would be nice for Cable to actually provide some sort of education for Hope in the Askani religion. Cable (vol 2) has been seriously lacking anything Askani related, and could benefit from adding some depth to Nathan's character.

So, if Rachel can't be in the Messiah trilogy, it would be nice for something Askani related to be mentioned. She was prominently featured in the Messiah War Sourcebook, so it's not like she had been forgotten, even though she's in space.

Another possibility would the the recently announced S.W.O.R.D. title featuring Agent Brand from Astonishing X-Men along with Beast and Lockheed. Since it deals with space (although around Earth), the X-Jammers might fit.

And eventually someone needs to go rescue poor Kitty in the giant rocket floating through space, but nothing announced yet about when/where that will happen.


Unfortunately, it's more wait and see. But considering how little the Starjammers were used in War of Kings, the most likely scenario is similar with them appearing in a few panels here and there in various Realm of Kings titles, until eventually returning to the X-Books some time after the third part of the Messiah Trilogy is over some time in the summer or fall of 2010. :(

Labels: Realm-of-Kings, War-of-Kings

The Starjammers came up at the Dark Regn Panel yesterday at the Fan Expo convention in Toronto, Canada.

CBR had this recap in their coverage of the panel:

The Starjammers will appear throughout the X-Titles as well as the more cosmic books occurring in the Marvel Universe.

"The Starjammers have always been interesting - we just had our X-Men retreat a couple weeks ago and they kept coming up," said Cebulski.

"You'll be seeing them."

Labels: War-of-Kings

Here we go again... Marvel announced today at Wizard World Chicago that War of Kings is leading into another event called Realm of Kings, which is starting in November.

Cosmic Marvel writers Dan Abnett and Dan Lanning explained to IGN that there will be two mini-series: Realm of Kings: Inhumans and Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard, tie-ins with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy and a one-shot prologue.

War of Kings ended with Vulcan and Black Bolt sucked into a hole in space, and Realm of Kings will deal with the fallout from that.

The question is how does it impact the Starjammers, who "walked away" from the situation in War of Kings #6. Will they stay and help with the hole in space, or go home? And can they even get home with all the destruction that's been caused?

Hopefully there might be answers tomorrow at the X-Panel at Wizard World Chicago.

It's so frustrating that it seems so close to Rachel coming home, but now another obstacle has been placed in the way.


Update: According to CBR's recap of the Mondo Marvel panel, the panelists was asked about the X-Jammers returning home:

Will the X-Men Starjammers characters be returning to Earth? "Thaaaaat... would be telling," McCann said.

It's worth noting that X-writers Chris Yost, Craig Kyle and Jason Aaron are at Wizard World Chicago, were on the Mondo Marvel Panel and will be at the X-Panel tomorrow.


Update 2: No news about Rachel or the Starjammers out of the X-Panel on Sunday. Marvel did announce a S.W.O.R.D. series and a Dark X-Men series which Rachel's alternate reality brother, Nate Grey, will return in.

Labels: War-of-Kings

War of Kings is almost over, so it's time to look to the future. Within the next few months, hopefully there will be news on what's next for Rachel and the rest of the X-Men stuck in space.

Hopefully it means she'll be returning home, since there’s been considerable speculation that she will be headed to X-Force. But so far there hadn't been any concrete news, but here is a recap of what’s known so far.


Will there be a Starjammers mini-series or ongoing series spinning out of War of Kings?

I doubt it, but it probably one of the only viable options for Marvel.

According to cosmic writers and editors at Marvel, following War of Kings there are "stories" in the works and "talks" about mini-series, but nothing solid.

Cosmic Marvel editor Bill Rosemann told IGN that, "As has happened before, new stories will grow out of War of Kings...." and Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning added, "Each 'event' so far has a character or characters that have emerged to their own titles, Nova and Guardians respectively, War of Kings has given us an even larger cast of classic Marvel characters to explore and develop. Given the chance, we are more than happy to continue to do this in whatever format is available."

Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada said in Cup o' Joe on CBR: "There are talks of other titles – there definitely are – and of giving certain characters that haven't had a title of their own, a shot at perhaps at least a mini series and maybe more. But once again, a little too soon to announce that. But there have been talks."

At the Cup o’ Joe Panel at the San Diego ComicCon on July 25th, Quesada was asked about plans for DarkHawk following War of Kings, and he responded that there are plans, but it is too early to talk about them. He said within 6 weeks there would be cosmic news.


Last fall, Marvel's CB Cebulski told fans at the Dublin Comic Con that the plan was for there to be Inhumans and Darkhawk series spinning out of War of Kings, but it all depended on sales and what fans wanted.

An Inhumans series would make the most sense, and the entire event seems like a launching pad for the Inhumans. However, the question is whether Marvel sees enough sales potential with either of them.

In terms of Darkhawk, it is highly unlikely that a Darkhawk series will be spinning out of War of Kings since sales of his two mini-series have been dreadful. The War of Kings Darkhawk mini-series and War of Kings Ascension (featuring Darkhawk) have sold less than Nova and GotG, and near the cancellation level for any on-going series. (War of Kings Ascension #3 only sold 23,680 copies, according to ICv2 and the War of Kings: Darkhawk mini-series sales averaged 24,645 according to Publishers Weekly.) So, any plans for Darkhawk would be as a member of an existing ongoing.

While X-Men: Kingbreaker didn't sell all that well for an X-book, it did outsell current cosmic Marvel books Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy despite the 3.99 price tag. It averaged sales of 33,216 copies an issue according to Publishers Weekly. But would Marvel want another X-book, especially a low selling one?

It seems the intent was to launch new series out of War of Kings with little respected characters like the Inhumans and Darkhawk and reinvigorate them the way DnA have done Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy - which launched out of Annihilation.

Then, would they really want to launch another X-books which X-fans would want as part of the X-verse, not part of Cosmic Marvel?

Joe Quesada did mentioned in Cup o’ Joe on CBR that there will be new X-books launching in November. That likely includes the new Dark X-Men book, and possibly other previously announced books such as the delayed Sex & Violence mini-series.



Return to the X-books?

There’s been no direct news about Rachel returning to X-books, other than speculation.

At HeroesCon in June, Fraction said that Alex and Lorna would not be in Uncanny:
Might Havok and Polaris return to the X-Men? Fraction said that while he doesn’t have any specific designs for them, others might.

That doesn't exclude Rachel, but it suggests that Uncanny won't provide some sort of conclusion to the Vulcan storyline that left the three in space in the first place.


What's Next?

Hopefully there should be an announcement in the next month about post-War of Kings plans, but it remains to be seen if that will include anything related to the X-Men.

There wasn’t any news out of the huge San Diego Comic Con, which was to be expected since that seemed a little early. It’s also in the middle of convention season where Marvel needs to spread out their announcements over several months.

The last issue of War of Kings comes out August 5, 2009, which is right before the Chicago Comic Con (fka Wizard World Chicago).

That’s the first convention where an announcement about "what’s next for the Starjammers" could come, since Marvel wouldn’t want to spoil the outcome of the last War of Kings issue to its release.

Chicago Comic Con is August 6-9, so that's after War of Kings #6, but before Guardians of the Galaxy #17 in late August and the War of Kings: Who Will Rule epilogue which comes out September 2nd. So, the announcement might not be until after that.

Fan Expo Canada is August 28-30th in Toronto and Marvel will have a large presence there. So, if there isn’t any news in Chicago, it might come in Toronto.

If any Rachel fans are in attendance at those conventions, make sure to ask about any plans for Rachel, Alex and Lorna. Hopefully we can get some answers about what’s next for them sooner rather than later.

It's been a long wait for them to return to X-books, and hopefully we’re in the homestretch now.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Just an FYI, I'm no longer going to be doing War of Kings updates. Even though Rachel will be in it, her role appears rather limited and it seems like a waste of time covering it.

Space stories just aren't my thing so I have very little interest in what is going on in WoK besides Rachel.

The site will be covering any news about Rachel's potential return to earth or anything Rachel related in the earth based X-books.

Labels: War-of-Kings

War of Kings writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) are once again on the interview circuit, and there were several WoK related interviews this week, along with preview art from War of Kings.

In an interview with IGN, DnA talk about how the X-Jammers will get involved in WoK and reveal that they will be in the Guardians of the Galaxy WoK issues:

IGN Comics: While we're on the subject of tie-ins, I wanted to ask about the Starjammers' involvement. Principally this storyline seems to be a dispute between the Shi'ar and the Inhumans. How will Havok's team be involved, particularly once the Kingbreaker mini-series wraps up?

DnA: They're involved in a major way. Polaris's family ties to the Inhuman Royal Family will carry them into the fight, and their involvement will play out through the main series and through the Guardians issues.

IGN also has several pages of preview art (pencils only) from War of Kings #1, including a page that includes Rachel in one panel and the cover for War of Kings #2.


DnA were in the X-Position hotseat this week, and the Starjammers and Rachel were mentioned:

1) Will the Starjammers interact with any of the cosmic crew? Getting Ch'od and Rocket in the same room just sounds golden.

DnA: The Starjammers and Guardians of the Galaxy will be undertaking a mission together so the chances of some fur flying are high!


2) Any possibility of Rachel Summers staying in space and joining the Guardians? The Phoenix Force has always felt like it belongs more in the cosmic books than the X-books, and it would certainly lend them some valuable power. And let’s face it, the team could use more women.

DnA: We're going to talk to editor Nick Lowe about that right now!


1) As a huge fan of the Starjammers (particularly Polaris), I, like many other fans of these characters, are excited and grateful to know that after nearly three years, the Shi'ar storyline is finally heading towards its big ending with “X-Men: Kingbreaker” and “War of Kings.” However, it's unclear to us what kind of role the Starjammers will play in the event. Will they have more of a main role, or will they be supporting characters?

They are definitely front and center and play a significant role in the course of the story.

War of Kings editor Bill Rosemann filled in for Joe Quesada in My Cup o' Joe on Myspace.

JM: War of Kings is another book on your plate. Whereas I think it’s clear this doesn’t hit the marquee value of a Secret Invasion or World War Hulk, this is a pivot point in the Marvel Universe, right?

BR: Definitely. The very cool thing about this is that our bosses basically said, “Hey, you know these Shi’Ar toys in the Marvel toybox? You wanna play with these?” And we said, “Yeah! Would love to! That’s cool!”

So we took two expanding empires—the Kree and the Shi’Ar—heading toward each other, with the central notion of “What happens when these two huge kingdoms collide?” I would say it is as big as Secret Invasion to the Marvel cosmic junkies—this is our Super Bowl. But War of Kings also has a lot of appeal to fans of the Marvel Universe period. X-fan who like the Shi’Ar? They’re here. Fans of the Inhumans? We have them. You’ll see characters like Blastaar, Darkhawk and others pop up. So there will be some great opportunities for people who haven’t sampled the cosmic books to check this out. We’re treating it as a big tentpole event.

And when Dan and Andy sat down with Joe Quesada and Tom Brevoort and all, we decided that we would only tell this story if it legitimately changed the Marvel Universe. It’s gotta move things forward. And Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning absolutely wanted to do that. They have a very clear vision of where they see the Marvel cosmic universe going, and how it will affect the “mainstream” Marvel heroes. And here we are.

It also included the same War of Kings preview art IGN has.


In addition, War of Kings Saga is now online for free at Marvel Digital and Marvel has updated the War of Kings official site with new graphics.

Labels: War-of-Kings

CBR has posted a seven page preview for X-Men: Kingbreaker #2. Rachel appears in the seventh page, which the unletter version was included in the Chris Yost X-Position a few weeks ago.

Interestingly, on the recap page, Rachel is called Rachel Summers. I think this is the first time she's been called that in an X-book in since Uncanny X-Men 472.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Today there were several Rachel related comics out today.

Rachel continues to be a character in the back-up story, The Sentinels, in X-Men Noir #2.

Rachel does not appear in Secret Invasion: War of Kings. The issue is mainly about the Inhumans and Skrulls, and Vulcan only appears in a few pages at the very end. The Starjammers are not in the issue nor mentioned.

Rachel and the Starjammers are in the War of Kings Saga, a free comic that recaps the major comics that lead into War of Kings. There is no new material in the comic, and it's funny how Marvel avoids saying Rachel Summers or Grey by calling Rachel only Marvel Girl throughout the whole issue.

If you didn't get WoK Saga at your local comic store, it likely will be put online for free prior to the start of the event.

Also, Rachel's "niece", the Messiah Baby/Child, received a name in Cable #10.


War of Kings writers Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett will be answering questions on X-Position next week. Check the bottom of this page for how to submit questions.

Labels: War-of-Kings, X-Men-Noir

Kingbreaker writer Chris Yost was in the X-Position hotseat this week.

He was asked about whether or not the Shi'ar can still track Rachel through the Deathmark, something Rachel fans have been speculating about for a while now.

Question: Also, will certain things be clarified in this series, such as Korvus' mysterious sword and Rachel's attachment to this unique (if not inferior) form of the Phoenix Force? Or Rachel's Deathmark on her back? Whatever the answers, you should be congratulated on the job you've done so far…

Yost: I cannot comment on this “Phoenix” stuff you talk of. I assume Rachel's Deathmark is still in place, and that's how the Shi'ar are chasing them across space. The Death Commandos have been hounding them since the end of “Emperor Vulcan.” The X-Jammers are on the run, they keep moving. Does hiding out by a power source like the M'Kraan crystal mess with the Deathmark signal? Maybe.

The article also includes some excellent preview art from X-Men: Kingbreaker #2 which features Rachel in a new X-Jacket.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Here's a run-down on this week's news about War of Kings.

My Cup O' Joe #36 has some preview art from Secret Invasion: War of Kings, along with some hype for the event (although, absolutely no mention of the Starjammers).


Marvel released a trailer for War of Kings, which shows some of the previously revealed covers and preview art. Rachel is shown on the Kingbreaker #2 cover, but that's it.


Marvel also has an interview with Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (DnA) about the Inhumans and War of Kings, and Vulcan is mentioned (no Starjammers).


Newsarama has an interview with DnA about War of Kings, and the Starjammers and Kingbreaker are mentioned, but not entirely good news:

NRAMA: Since you have the Shi'Ar showing up, are you having to coordinate this with the X-Universe at all?

AL: Yes, we've been coordinating with the X-Men office, and we're actually coming out of the X-Men: Kingbreaker mini-series that's putting the pieces from their side of the story in place. It won't involved the X-Men directly, but we'll deal with the cosmic side of the X-Men, including Vulcan and the Shi'Ar and the Starjammers. Obviously, they're fundamentally tied up with the X-Men side of the universe, so we had to get permission and work closely with them. And previously, they weren't included because they were tied up with the X-books, so this was great for us. It's great fun to finally feel out that side of the cosmic universe that we hadn't dealt with as far as logical galactic players on that sort of scale.

NRAMA: With all of the stories that are setting up War of Kings, from Secret Invasion: Inhumans to X-Men: Kingbreaker to the stories in Nova and Guardians, is War of Kings something that a newcomer to the Marvel cosmic universe can understand with Issue #1? Or should they start with the Secret Invasion: War of Kings one-shot?

AL: Absolutely, they can pick up the Secret Invasion: War of Kings one-shot, because it really does set the scene. Obviously, when writing something like this, you'd like the readers to be engaged enough with the stories we're telling that they want to pick up every book. But we're realistic enough to realize that you can't burden someone with that, because you can actually alienate people. So if they want to pick up the Kingbreaker mini-series, they'll get an extra piece from that side of things. It's kind of supplemental reading that helps flesh out and round out the entire story. But it's not necessary.

Calling Kingbreaker "not necessary" isn't exactly promising... I can understand DnA wanting to do a self-contained story, but it's becoming more and more clear that this is really a Cosmic event and the Starjammers are minor, supplementary characters.

Labels: War-of-Kings

CBR has the advanced X-solicitations for March, including X-Men Kingbreaker:

X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #4 (of 4)
Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST
Penciled by DUSTIN WEAVER
Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
The road to the WAR OF KINGS is paved here! The X-Men cosmic event of the year ends with a bang as the X-Men and Starjammers face the collective might of the Shi’Ar Empire. It’s a family affair as Havok fights his brother Vulcan and Lilandra takes on her sister Deathbird. Can the X-Men and Starjammers dethrone the mad Emperor?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Kingbreaker #4 will be in stores on March 18.


Edited to add: Marvel.com has added the War of King information:

WAR OF KINGS # 1
The Story: In the aftermath of the Secret Invasion, Black Bolt has led the Inhumans on a shockingly savage path to restore their strength and security. But that path has brought them into direct confrontation with the Shi’Ar Empire – and their mad ruler Vulcan! Who will get in the first strike? Who will fall on the bloody battlefield? Who will rule? The Imperial Guard, the Starjammers, the Inhuman Royal Family and more of your favorite sci-fi characters are locked on a collision course…and it all starts here! Join the acclaimed team
of Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (NOVA) and Paul Pelletier (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) for a pivotal turning point in Marvel’s
cosmic history!
Rated T+ …$3.99

In Stores: Mar 4, 2009

Also, Marvel's Hotline also has an audio interview with Chris Yost about Kingbreaker.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Marvel's War of Kings is just around the corner, and the editors writers and artist have been making the interview rounds to give some hints about the story. Unfortunately, so far no specific news about Rachel's role has yet been revealed.

SciFi.com has an exclusive look at War of Kings cover, including one that features Rachel and the rest of the Starjammers. Marvel's March solicitations should be out next week, so there should be high quality versions available then.

Editor Bill Rosemann has this to say to SciFi about Marvel War of Kings, "In Secret Invasion, The Skrulls thought they could get away with kidnapping and replacing the Inhumans’ king. They thought wrong. Black Bolt, one of Marvel's most powerful heroes, is back on his throne. Woe to those who have wronged his family. Enter War of Kings, as Black Bolt and the Inhumans look to secure their rightful place in the stars--only to find that the mighty Shi'Ar empire has different plans."

It also lists that artists Paul Pelletier, Bong Dazo, Brad Walker, Wellinton Alves and Andrea DiVito will be involved and the first issue of War of Kings will be out in March. A free comic, War of Kings saga, will be out in January to catch-up new readers unfamiliar with the stories and characters.


Marvel has an interview with Paul Pelletier, who will be drawing the Secret Invasion: War of Kings one-shot and the War of Kings limited series. Nothing specifically Rachel or Starjammers related, but it does have some preview art from SI: WoK.


Last week, Marvel interviewed War of Kings writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.


On a side note, it's really starting to annoy me how marginalized the Starjammers seem in War of Kings. It's very clear that The Inhumans are the stars of the heroes side, followed by the Guardians and Nova, with the Starjammers off to the side. I understand that there's over 30 main characters in WoK, but why bring back the Inhumans

Sigh....

It's such a shame that Rachel is being wasted in this, when she could be in the Cable/X-Force cross-over Messiah War instead.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Comics Continuum has posted a 8 page preview of X-Men Kingbreaker #1.

Rachel is featured on the 8th page (the previously released page with Rachel, only now with words).

Labels: War-of-Kings

Many people wondered what was up with the color of Rachel's Phoenix firebird in the X-Men Kingbreaker #1 Preview art that was released last week.

Colorist Nathan Fairbairn posted on CBR that it was an error and he's fixed it so that it's the proper blue color.

Here is the original:



Here is the corrected Rachel Grey as the Phoenix (Blue):





The same thing happened with Emperor Vulcan. Rachel's Phoenix glowy- eye thing was orange in the preview art, and was changed to blue by the time the first issue came out.


Also, Chris Yost discussed X-Men Kingbreaker in a brief Q&A on Marvel.com.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Marvel has released a five page preview of X-Men: Kingbreaker #1 from Dustin Weaver, which is quite impressive. Rachel is featured on the third page in full Phoenix firebird attacking a Shi'ar ship.

http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.6097.FIRST_LOOK~colon~_X-Men~colon~_Kingbreaker_%231

Labels: War-of-Kings

CBR and Marvel have advanced Marvel February 2009 solicitations for X-Men Kingbreaker and other War of King tie-ins that Rachel might be included in:

X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #3 (of 4)
Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST
Penciled by DUSTIN WEAVER
Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
The fuse has been lit in the Shi'Ar Empire and an intergalactic powder keg is about to explode. After the shocking events of last issue, the rest of the universe just found out how dangerous Vulcan is... but right now Vulcan is more concerned with a now free HAVOK and POLARIS. And as the ruthless new Imperial Guard hunts down MARVEL GIRL, everything begins to converge. Will there be any X-Men left to fight the WAR OF KINGS?
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99


MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: WAR OF KINGS
Written by JOHN RHETT THOMAS
Since the early '70s, Marvel's cosmic comics have occupied a corner of the Marvel Universe that has provided some of the best and biggest stories the company has ever produced. And now, in the shadow of the twin triumphs of ANNIHILATION and
ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST, and springing directly from the action of SECRET INVASION, comes WAR OF KINGS! As DARK REIGN confounds planet Earth, the Inhumans are on a collision course with the Shi'Ar Empire. Anyone who has been following the action from X-MEN: DEADLY GENESIS through EMPEROR VULCAN knows what's in store for Black Bolt when he squares off against the most powerful mutant among the stars! It all sets up the kind of sweeping cosmic event that will provide some awesome reading pleasure through 2009 — and SPOTLIGHT is here to give you full insider access with the creators and characters behind the event!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

The good news is this probably means War of Kings will start in March if a Spotlight is coming out in February.

But I have a problem with Vulcan being called “the most powerful mutant among the stars”. Vulcan is so overpowered it’s not funny, but Havok and Rachel should be able to give him a run for his money on that one. Especially with solar-charged Alex and Phoenix-powered Rachel. With Polaris’ powers being technically non-mutant, I guess that would exclude her. I realize Marvel wants to overhype Vulcan for a major crossover event, but after Deadly Genesis, RaFotSE, Emperor Vulcan and Kingbreaker, this is getting tiresome.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Very little info is available about Marvel's War of Kings, the upcoming cosmic crossover event that Marvel is either keeping really hush-hush (due to Secret Invasion, maybe?) or is just not promoting very well.

Marvel still hasn't made any announcements about what exactly the format of War of Kings will be, besides the lead-up books that have already been solicited.

A couple of weeks I mentioned War of Kings to a few of the guys at my LCS, and they hadn't really heard of it and weren't clear on what it was.

So, here's my rundown of what's been said online about War of Kings so far:

Basic Premise:

Vulcan's expansion of the Shi'ar Empire brings him into conflict with the Black Bolt of the Inhumans (due to the Inhuman/Kree alliance). This causes all heck to break out space, drawing all of the cosmic characters into the battle. How all of that happens (especially why the Inhumans are on the collision course with the Shi'ar) will be set-up in the initial Secret Invasion: War of Kings one-shot

Issue List:

Lead-Ins:

Secret Invasion: Inhumans 1-4 (August 2008 - November 2008)
Guardians of the Galaxy 8-10 (December 2008-January 2009)
X-Men: Kingbreaker 1-4 (December 2008 - March 2009)
Secret Invasion: War of Kings One-shot (January 2009)
War of Kings: Darkhawk 1-2 (February 2009-March 2009)


Main Storyline:

War of Kings 1-6 (Starting in March or April 2009, written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) (Mini-series)


Tie-Ins (Just speculation):

Guardians of the Galaxy 11-14
Nova 23-26 (this likely won’t be where a major part of the story plays out, but may be impacted by the events of War of Kings)

Characters That Will Be Involved:

Shi’ar - Vulcan (Gabriel Summers, Emperor of the Shi'ar), Deathbird (Vulcan's wife, and former Empress of the Shi'ar), Imperial Guard, Shi'ar Death Commandos (in X-Men: Kingbreaker)


The Starjammers - Former X-Men Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey/Summers - Vulcan's niece), Polaris (Lorna Dane), and Havok (Alex Summers - Vulcan's brother), Ch'od, Raza, Korvus (sigh, unfortunately), and Lilandra (former Empress of the Shi'ar and Deathbird's younger sister/Vulcan's sister-in-law).


No X-Men, other than the X-Starjammers - According to Nick Lowe to IGN, the only X-Men participating in War of Kings are the Starjammers. And don't expect anything about Kitty Pryde and her magic space bullet to be addressed in it either (that was asked about at SDCC).


The Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Triton, Karnak and Gorgon)


Nova – DnA told NovaPrimePage that “Although Nova won't play a central role in War of Kings like he did during Annihilation, the story arc in his book will be very much determined by the Shi'Ar/Inhuman struggle.”


Guardians of the Galaxy - I have very little knowledge of the cosmic Marvel and anything going on with the Guardians of the Galaxy or Nova. It seems like the Guardians have been going through a radical lineup change lately and I have absolutely no idea who any of the characters are or what is going on, so I'm the last person who should be writing any sort of guide for them. I can't find a good source of info online, so Wiki is your best bet.


Darkhawk – Former New Warrior Darkhawk will have a two issue WoK mini-series from writer C.B. Cebulski and artist Harvey Tolibao

Continuity/Required Reading

Other than the lead-ins, the following stories are needed to understand what’s going on, especially with Vulcan & the Starjammers:

Uncanny X-Men 466-471 (Shi’ar massacre of the Grey family)
X-Men Deadly Genesis 1-6 (Vulcan is revealed)
Uncanny X-Men 475-486 (Xavier takes an X-team after Vulcan)
Emperor Vulcan 1-5 (Vulcan vs the Starjammers)

Annihilation
Annihilation: Conquest
Guardians of the Galaxy

Preview Art:

Secret Invasion: War of Kings:
Preview Page 1

Preview Page 2

Kingbreaker #1 Preview

Labels: Emperor-Vulcan, War-of-Kings

The Marvel January 2009 solicitations have been released, and the lead-in to War of Kings is in full swing.

X-MEN: KINGBREAKER # 2
The Story: Marvel Girl, Korvus and Lilandra are the only resistance to Vulcan’s reign, but Vulcan aims to end their rebellion. With Havok, Polaris and rest of the Starjammers in prison, they don’t stand to get much help. The Shi’Ar Empire is expanding under Emperor Vulcan’s reign… Come see the road to the WAR OF KINGS!
Rated T+ …$3.99

In Stores: Jan 21, 2009

War of Kings officially gets underway with a one-shot in January. No indications on whether or not the Starjammers will appear (especially considering it's being released between Kingbreaker 1 and 2 coming out), but it sounds like Vulcan will be involved.

SECRET INVASION: WAR OF KINGS ONE-SHOT # 1
The Story: It’s finally here…WAR OF KINGS! The Secret Invasion may be over, but the Inhumans are still reeling from the terrible wounds inflicted on them by the Skrulls. And this time, the Royal Family and their massively powered people have been pushed too far! You have never seen the Inhumans like this – and it’s only the beginning! Plus: How will the empire-expanding Vulcan react to these recent universe-shaking developments? Before this double-sized shocker is over, vengeance will be had, daring alliances will be forged, and the first shots in a destiny-changing battle will be fired! The acclaimed team of writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (NOVA) and artist Paul Pelletier (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) unite to revamp heroes, reveal villains and rock the universe!
One-Shot/Rated T+ …$3.99

In Stores: Jan 7, 2009

Labels: War-of-Kings

Marvel has released the cover for X-Men: Kingbreaker#2.

The good news it is featuring Rachel, Lilandra and Korvus, but, unfortunately, it's not some of Brandon Peterson's better work.

In other news today, Nick Lowe was answering questions this week in CBR's X-Position, and was asked about the lack of female characters in X-books:

Is there any chance that the X-teams will be getting an estrogen injection? I've always felt that the books were at their best when the teams were evenly split between men and women, but it seems like a lot of the best female characters (Kitty, Rachel, Lorna, Betsy) have been pushed aside. I think any of these characters could enhance the X-books, so why not use them?

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Rachel and Lorna are still around. Just because they’re out in Shi’Ar space doesn’t mean that they aren’t important. As for the X-Men in San Francisco, we totally agree with you. Don’t be surprised if you see more of Dazzler, Domino, and another surprise lady.

Nick, considering how utterly irrelevant Rachel and Lorna have seemed to the core X-books, I'm not sure I see how they are important while in Shi'ar space.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Here's a quick round-up of the news from around the web this week related to Rachel Summers, Kingbreaker and War of Kings:

IGN talked to X-Editors Nick Lowe and John Barber about the future of X-Books, and the Starjammers and War of Kings came up. Unforunately, it doesn't seem like any of the other X-Men will be helping the Starjammers:

IGN Comics: Unsurprisingly, Havok and the rest of the Starjammers are going to be playing a large role in War of Kings next year. Outside of the main event and the Kingbreaker prologue, will the X-Men be caught up in this storyline? Will the main team be reunited with these castaways anytime soon?

Lowe: The X-Men won't play a role in War of Kings. They've got enough on their plates. But definitely check out Kingbreaker. You'll get to see some of the best Havok/Polaris stuff in years.

Y'know, if Scott's brother was captured and on the verge of being executed, and Rachel, Lilandra and Korvus are the only remaining Starjammers fighting the whole Shi'ar empire, you would think Scott might actually be interested in sending someone to help??? It's not like the X-Men have that much on the plates in San Francisco...

The X-Editors go on to talk about future crossovers, which hopefully the X-Jammers and Rachel will be back on earth for:

IGN Comics: Outside of these two events are there any big, encompassing event books that the books are building towards, a la Messiah Complex. Given the success of MC, is a follow-up at least being considered by the various writers and editors?

Lowe: There certainly are. We have a big plan for the summer of 2009 that will have big ramifications with the rest of the Marvel U, and then we have a huge "Messiah Complex" style crossover coming in 2010.

Speaking of War of Kings, on Marvel.com, there is a video interview with Cosmic writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Marvel has also opened their War of King hub, but there isn't much there yet.



Comic Book Urban Legends brought up the never published Phoenix Limited Series:

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: Rick Leonardi and Chris Claremont began work on a Phoenix mini-series that never saw the light of day.

STATUS: True

Reader Jonathan Nathan suggested this one, and yes, apparently Chris Claremont and Rick Leonardi began work on a Phoenix mini-series spun out of Uncanny X-Men that was canceled after pages were already finished!

You can read more about it this site's Phoenix Limited Series page.


To wrap up this week's new bites, here's some fun fan art done by Carly Monardo, which is "What if Rachel was drawn by Gary Baseman":



Check out Carly's blog for a lot more great Excalibur artwork.

Labels: Miscellaneous, War-of-Kings

X-Men Kingbreaker scribe Chris Yost was in the X-Position hot seat this week, and had a bit to add about what happens in Kingbreaker with Rachel:

Let’s get to those “X-Men: Kingbreaker” now, courtesy of Askani's Flame:

1) At the end of “Emperor Vulcan,” we saw that Rachel (along with Lilandra and Korvus) is out of Vulcan's grasp and on the run. Will we see her growing into more of a leader and leading the offensive to rescue the rest of the Starjammers? Also, is there any chance of a rematch between her and Gladiator or a battle with the Death Commandos?

Rachel's sole purpose in life is to rescue Alex and Lorna now, and she's trying it pretty aggressively, you could say. But she's a bit of a hothead, so Lilandra and Korvus have to rein her in a bit. It's three people against an Empire now. Rachel vs. Gladiator round 2? Yes, but not the way you might expect. Much, much worse.

2) Polaris is again captive at the hands of a madman. Will this cause her to lose the sanity she has regained over the past few years?

No. Polaris is too strong for that. The only thing she's going to lose is restraint. Aw, yeah.

3) Will any of the galactic players outside the current ones found in "Emperor Vulcan" have cameo roles in "Kingbreaker" (i.e. Medusa, Nova, etc.)?

You'll see the universal reaction to what Vulcan is doing. He's aggressively expanding his empire, and he steps on a few toes along the way. And by 'stepping on toes,' I mean killing people.

Labels: War-of-Kings

CBR has the December X-Solicits early, including the Kingbreaker solicit:

X-MEN: KINGBREAKER #1
Written by CHRISTOPHER YOST
Penciled by DUSTIN WEAVER
Cover by BRANDON PETERSON
WAR OF KINGS lead-in!

The X-Men have been defeated. Havok , Polaris and the Starjammers are being held and tortured in the most secure prison in the universe. Marvel Girl, Korvus and Lilandra are being hunted by the Imperial Guard. Vulcan is Emperor of the Shi'Ar Empire and his expansion has begun. No King will stand when Vulcan and his armies are done. Join Christopher Yost (X-FORCE) and Dustin Weaver (Star Wars:KOTR) as they spin the story of a fight against insurmountable odds. Do not miss this mini-series that will change the shape of the Universe and pave the way for the War of Kings.
32 PGS./One-Shot/Rated T+ ...$3.99

The solicit says it is a One-Shot, but this is probably a mistake since previous articles stated it was a four part mini series.

Update: Chris Yost confirmed on CBR that it is indeed a mini-series, not a one-shot.

Also, Kingbreaker will hit stores on December 17th, just in time for Christmas. :)

Labels: War-of-Kings

Marvel released the cover of X-Men: Kingbreaker today. The cover art is by Brandon Petersen, who recently drew the covers of the X-Men: Divided We Stand mini-series.

You can view the cover here.

Dustin Weaver will be the interior artist for Kingbreaker. He previously worked on several Star Wars series for Dark Horse, including Star Wars: Rebellion and Knights of the Old Republic.

You can see some of his work on his blog here: http://dustinweaver.livejournal.com/

Labels: War-of-Kings

It's been rather quite on the Marvel War of Kings & X-Men Kingbreaker front the past few weeks. After the Kingbreaker announcement in August, there's still no definitive word on what series will be a part of Marvel War of Kings or when it will start.

It is possible that this week there was a War of Kings planning session at Marvel with Nova & Guardians of the Galaxy writers Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett.

Dan Abnett reported on his blog that he and Andy are in New York on Wednesday for "a script conflab with Marvel".

So, maybe all the details for War of Kings has yet to be hammered out?


The Quarter Bin posted an interview with Andy Lanning, but few details were given about War of Kings:

Q: You’re going to be tackling another space opera later this year with War of Kings. What can we expect in the battle for the skies?

Andy Lanning: We’re planning a truly epic cosmic tale of warring species: it’s a battle for succession and territory. For the first time since we started writing the cosmic books, we get to link the Kree Empire and the other parts of the Marvel universe we’ve been playing with, with the Shi’Ar Empire from the X-Men titles. We’re also adding the Inhumans to the mix which should result in a unbelievable levels of action and excitement which will have ramifications throughout the Marvel Universe.

Q: Please tell me there’s a chance for a Starjammers/Guardians of the Galaxy team-up.

Andy Lanning: Given the playground we’re working in, that’s distinctly possible!

In this week's MyCup o' Joe (with fill-in C.B. Cebulski), a reader asked a question about Rachel, Alex and Lorna, but received a vague answer:

Posted by Jason on Aug 12, 2008 5:26 AM

3) Will Havok, Marvel Girl and all the other heroes captured by Vulcan be returning to an X-Man series?

JQ: Jason, thanks for the kind words, some good questions here.

3) Sooner than you think! Keep an ear to the ground.

This question was asked a while ago and it seems like this MyCup o' Joe included a bunch of old questions Joe answered before Fan Expo, when Kingbreaker was announced.


If Kingbreaker is on schedule and the first issue comes out in December, it will be solicited in two weeks. So hopefully there will be some sort of big announcement about the artist and possibly the lineup of titles for War of Kings before then.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Chris Yost has been doing the interview rounds for the upcoming Starjammers mini-series, X-Men: Kingbreaker, and a few more details have been released:

In the Comic Book Resources interview, Yost reveals that Kingbreaker takes place several months after Emperor Vulcan:

“The Shi’ar Empire is aggressively, violently expanding,” Yost told CBR News. “And while Vulcan is leading the charge, it's still his brother Havok that's on his mind.”

“Vulcan is an emotional wreck,” Yost explained. “His twisted life has messed him up pretty bad, and him not killing Havok and the X-Jammers is the question on the Shi'ars minds for sure. Does he enjoy torturing them? At first, maybe. But he wants something more. He just doesn’t know how else to get it.”

At the end of Emperor Vulcan, it was assumed that Rachel and Korvus met up with Lilandra and fled. Yost explains in Kingbreaker that:

“They’ve been on the run, hunted by Imperial Guardsmen and Death Commandos alike. They're intent on finding the rest of their team, and liberating them from Vulcan's grasp,” Yost said. “The group dynamic is rocky to say the least. Lilandra was dethroned, betrayed, and now is working with two people that aren't particularly fond of her. Marvel Girl is mess after choosing Korvus' life over that of a whole species [In “Emperor Vulcan” she chose to save Korvus instead of the Scy’ar Tal]. And Korvus is taking stock of his life. Rachel was the only thing that was keeping him with the X-Men, and now she's putting distance between them. He's can't help but love her, but at the same time, he's been a prisoner most of his life. His heart may not be in this crusade.”

Yost also talked to Wizard, and gave a few added details:

YOST: In the meantime, you've got Marvel Girl, Korvus and Lilandra who ended up free. Vulcan's been hunting them down relentlessly. They're trying to find their friends and free them, but Vulcan's not letting up at all. He's using the Death Commandos, the Imperial Guard, the entire might of the Shi'ar Army to find the Phoenix and kill it.

And it seems like there's a few surprises planned:

Question: Anything you'd like to add?

YOST: The one thing I'd say is that there are a few surprises in store. It's not going to be just another Vulcan vs. Havok thing. We've got some tricks up our sleeves.

Labels: War-of-Kings

Marvel finally updated with more details about X-Men: Kingbreaker, the Emperor Vulcan follow-up that will lead-in to War of Kings, what was announced at the X-Panel yesterday at Fan Expo in Toronto.

X-Men: Kingbreaker will be a four issue mini-series that begins in December. No artist has been announced so far. As previously announced, it will be written by Christopher Yost.

Marvel.com has an interview with writer Chris Yost, which describes what the series will be about:

... but right now he's focused on breaking Havok, whose refusal to break is driving Vulcan crazy—well, crazier, as the case may be.

But while Vulcan fills much of his days and nights torturing his big bro as well as Havok's lover, Polaris, and Starjammers teammates Raza and Ch'od, the aforementioned Shi'ar expansion also remains a high priority, one that will drag the Empire and their unstable ruler into War of Kings.

"The Shi'ar are back to their aggressive, conquering ways and Vulcan is at the forefront," reiterates Yost. "For his own reasons, he's determined to make the Shi'ar the preeminent force in the universe.

Yost has these teaser about what's in store for Rachel and the other Starjammers:

"Marvel Girl, Lilandra and Korvus [are] still free," notes Yost. "Now more than ever, their goal remains unchanged. Whereas before it was personal for Havok, now it's personal for all of them. By the time it's all over, they'll either be the tightest, most bonded group of X-Men ever, or they'll be dead."

Of course all this just scratches the surface of what to expect when X-MEN: KINGBREAKER debuts just in time for the holidays, as Yost gives a tantalizing mini-preview of what's to come:

"Death, torture, intergalactic war, revenge, jailbreaks, the hunt for the Phoenix, a team of superpowered alien murderers, brother versus brother, and the lead in to what could be the greatest cosmic event of all time."

More from Chris Yost on Newsarama:

NRAMA: Are Havok, Polaris, and Rachel going to continue to be exiled in space for the time being?

CY: While 'exiled' may not be the right word, they'll be operating in space for the immediate future. They could have gone home after “Rise and Fall.” They probably wish they had, actually.

NRAMA: These books have a uniquely dysfunctional family dynamic; care to discuss? Vulcan seems to dislike Rachel Summers in particular...

CY: I'm a huge fan of the Summers family, and I love that one of them went crazy insane and became a villain. Not like 'hanging out with the Goblin Queen' or 'semi-possessed by Apocalypse' villainy, but wholly sociopathic, full on villainy.

You'll see in Kingbreaker that while Vulcan has some very obvious goals, something else is weighing heavily on his mind... his family. And yes, he doesn't care for Rachel, something that's only going to get worse.

Labels: Chris-Yost, War-of-Kings

During the X-Men Panel at Fan Expo in Toronto Canada today, Marvel announced that the Starjammers’ story will continue in X-Men: Kingbreaker, which will lead-in to the War of Kings Cosmic crossover events.

Kingbreaker will be written by Chris Yost (writer of Emperor Vulcan). This is likely a 4-6 issue mini-series that will likely start in December. (Although, Peter David said during the X-Panel said it would start in November, it was not included in the November Solicitations released by Marvel earlier this week).

No further details were revealed during the panel, but expect interviews and further announcements this weekend.

A fan asked the panel whether Kitty Pryde and the giant space bullet will appear in War of Kings, and the answer was (unfortunately) no. (Too bad, considering how close Rachel and Kitty are, but it's likely Kitty's fate will be handled in one of the core X-books.)

Stay tuned for further War of Kings and Kingbreaker updates this weekend!

Labels: Emperor-Vulcan, War-of-Kings

Marvel Comic Editor Bill Rosemann was filling in for Joe Quesada at MyCup o' Joe this week, so naturally there were some questions about War of Kings:

JM: Okay, so War of Kings is probably your next big über-thing. What's the nutshell on that?

BR: You have Vulcan expanding the Shi'Ar Empire at a frightening pace. You have the Inhumans…well, I can't yet say what they're up to until Secret Invasion: Inhumans hits…but they're up to something big! Those two trains are locked on a collision course and we're lining up an amazing collection of creators to document the fireworks. That's right, Abnett & Lanning get to play with all the toys now!

JM: We seem to keep coming back to War of Kings. Now whereas I don't think this is gonna be a Secret Invasion- or World War Hulk-level deal, it will be pretty far-reaching for you guys, right?

BR: What's so fun about seeing War of Kings come together is the way Abnett and Lanning are stepping back, spotting all these different threads, and weaving them all together into one big ol' knot. They understand how all the characters and situations from the X-Men and Heroes and cosmic corners of the Marvel U all relate to one another and why now is the time to let their story unfold. So, yeah, this event won't have as many chapters as some of our other blockbusters, but we're guessing that all sorts of readers will be interested in and enjoy the craziness being cooked up.

Labels: War-of-Kings

All of the major comic news sites have interviews with writers Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (AKA DnA, who write Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, along with the Annihilation series), and Marvel editor Bill Rosemann. Here are the Starjammers related highlights:

From IGN:

IGN Comics: Can you break down the basic structure of the story? What titles will it encompass and when can fans expect to see it in stores?

Rosemann: Seeds are being planted now and throughout 2008 in titles such as Secret Invasion: Inhumans, then the opening shots will be fired in early '09. And never fear, as the armies march closer to the battlefield, Marvel will be releasing the official list of War of Kings titles.

DnA: Battlelines are being drawn up right now, all will be revealed as we move from the end of '08 into '09.

From Newsarama:

While Marvel's previous "cosmic" events -- Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest -- have mostly been relegated to cosmic characters that don't touch the rest of the Marvel universe, this event will involve much of what is going on now throughout the 616, particularly in Secret Invasion. For example, Marvel editor Nick Lowe said at Marvel's Secret Invasion panel that Chris Yost will be writing something with Vulcan that will lead up to the event and will include Havok, Polaris and Marvel Girl.

NRAMA: It looks like the Shi-Ar will also play into this. You haven't worked with them before as part of your cosmic stories, have you? What's that going to be like to get your hands on those characters?

AL: No. When we were doing the Annihilation stuff, [Ed] Brubaker was doing the Rise and Fall of the Shi'Ar Empire stuff. So at that stage, the Shi'Ar were kind of off the table for us, because they obviously had their own involved storyline that Ed was working on with the X-Men books. Obviously, now, things have lined up quite nicely so that we are able to involve them in the War of Kings story. It's yet another great cosmic classic that we're getting to work with. Basically, we've done the Kree, we've had Skrulls, so it's been a nice progression to work our way up to the Shi'Ar.

DA: The nice thing for us is that sometimes the characters out of the X-office do remain sort of separated because they have a continuity all their own. And the Shi'Ar are so important, cosmically speaking, I'm glad we get to use them now, because otherwise there would have to be an increasing question in Marvel readers' minds that we've had these Annihilation events, so why haven't we seen the Shi'Ar in them? You'd think it would be affecting them in some sort of way. So it will be great to show there's that we're sort of linking up different parts of the Marvel Universe, and it's really exciting.

AL: It's almost like the Shi'Ar Empire has been sitting there like they've had very noisy neighbors. This is them starting to bang on the walls and yelling to shut up. [laughs]


NRAMA: An advantage of the timing of doing a story with the Shi'Ar Empire is it now has a character like Vulcan, who has been explored quite a bit lately and has ties to the Summers characters in other parts of the Marvel Universe. Can you talk about Vulcan's role in this at all?

AL: Not too much. Not beyond the point that everyone will know going into this book that Vulcan is taking the Shi'Ar into an overly expansive time at the moment. They're kind of expanding their empire. So that, more than anything, at some point, is going to make him butt heads with some of his cosmic neighbors. And that -- and seeing what their reaction to that state of mind is -- leads to what's going to happen in the War of Kings event.

NRAMA: We've see the Starjammers in the teasers as well. So are they going to be playing a part in this?

DA: All the people you've seen in the teasers will play a part, greater or lesser, in this story. We're drawing together strands from different parts of continuity, and it would be remiss of us not to make sure that anybody who would be affected doesn't get touched upon. So we get to connect up characters that wouldn't otherwise have met, necessarily. And I think that's great. It has that sense of cosmic scope where everyone really is in the same universe. And also, if we've done this correctly, all of those characters will have some role to play in the greater story as well.

From CBR:

When the “War of Kings” finally does erupt, it won’t be a simple Good vs. Evil type of conflict. “This isn't a traditional heroes versus villains story, but it is going to have a true epic scale with clearly defined sides,” DnA remarked.”

“Each side of this battle thinks they are right " which makes it awfully deadly for those caught in the crossfire!” Rosemann added.

The titles and tie-ins which will make up “War of Kings” have yet to be revealed, but readers can expect a prologue and a core mini-series which will be written by DnA.

Labels: Emperor-Vulcan, War-of-Kings

At San Diego Comic Con, Marvel has announced War of Kings - which the "Who Will Rule" teasers were alluding to.

Here is CBR's report from the SDCC Secret Invasion Panel:

Regarding the cosmic characters and the "who will rule" teasers -- it's called War of Kings, a Secret Invasion tie-in. It begins in August with Joe Pokaski's Secret Invasion: Inhumans. Vulcan will play a big role, as does Havok, Polaris, Marvel Girl and more. A slide then appeared depicting Black Bolt. "That guy is going to be pretty pissed off," Pokaski said.

Is War of Kings next summer's huge event? Will there be more cosmic stuff? Lowe: "It won't be a summer event, but a winter/spring event."

McCann: "It involves a great deal of cosmic characters and threads. All of that comes crashing together."

From Newsarama:

(Nick) Lowe talked about Vulcan's role in "War of Kings," saying "We've got something coming up at the end of this year with Vulcan that Chris Yost has a very big hand in," saying you'll also see Havok, Polaris and Marvel Girl.

Polask discussed Black Bolt's role in "War of Kings," saying that "we're going to see a different side of the Inhumans," and that Black Bolt will be "pretty pissed off."

IGN has a small report about War of Kings and will have an interview with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and editor Bill Rosemann tomorrow morning.

Marvel now has an interview with Dan, Andy and Bill:

At the heart of War of Kings will be Vulcan, the current emperor of the Shi'ar and the spark set to potentially ignite universal chaos. Introduced by Brubaker as the third Summers brother, sibling to the X-Men's Cyclops and Havok, when last we left Vulcan he had solidified claim to his thrown in the X-MEN: EMPEROR VULCAN limited series written by Chris Yost and seemed set to pursue bigger and bloodier conquests.

"Vulcan's a complicated guy with a seriously screwed up personal history," notes Abnett. "[He's] not the most stable of leaders and [now the Shi'ar] are aggressively expanding their empire. This will put them at loggerheads with the universe around them and will certainly color their response to any potential [obstacles] that might come their way."

Those obstacles will include Havok and his team of Starjammers, including fellow X-Men alumni Polaris and Marvel Girl, though both editor and writing team declined comment on how the middle Summers brother would pose a threat from within the prison he found himself confided to following EMPEROR VULCAN.

More updates to follow.

Labels: Emperor-Vulcan, War-of-Kings

So far, there hasn't been any word about what will be next for the Rachel and the Starjammers. With Emperor Vulcan’s cliffhanger ending with Havok, Polaris, Ch’od and Raza captured, and Rachel, Lilandra and Korvus regrouping and Vulcan announcing plans to expand the Shi’ar Empire and kill Professor Xavier, obviously the story will continue – the question is where and when.

A short story with Alex and Vulcan will be appearing in Divided We Stand Issue 2. So they haven’t been completely forgotten.

Emperor Vulcan scribe Chris Yost posted on CBR that “There are plans, from even before I came onboard”.

So what could those plans be?

In light of everything that’s happened in Messiah Complex, a Shi’ar invasion of Earth or even a rescue mission seems unlikely.

Professor Xavier is, for all intents and purposes, brain dead. X-Men becomes X-Men: Legacy and will for at least 12 issues be an Xavier solo book with Xavier trying to piecing his memories back together. Vulcan coming to kill him is rather pointless until he recovers.

Meanwhile, the X-Men are officially disbanded while Scott figures out what to do next.

Could Rachel returning to Earth with news of Alex and Lorna’s capture bring the X-Men back together? While it's nice to think that could happen, all signs point to the return of Magneto in Uncanny X-Men 500 as what will bring the X-Men together – a classic storyline for such a major milestone issue. Another space story in Uncanny any time soon seems highly unlikely.

Ed Brubaker stated at Wizard World Los Angeles in 2007 that he had no interest in finishing the story, preferring to leave it as a dangling storyline for another writer to pick up. So as long as he is writing Uncanny X-Men, it seems incredibly unlikely the story will continue there in any form.

That would leave the Vulcan story for either a crossover event (with the X-Men, Marvel Universe or Cosmic Marvel having to stop a Shi’ar invasion) or a separate miniseries.

Is Vulcan even popular enough to carry his own crossover event, whether it’s within in the X-books, Marvel universe or Cosmic Marvel? Space X-Men stories are generally unpopular, Vulcan himself hasn’t caught out with readers and Rise & Fall of the Shi’ar Empire isn’t all that well-regarded of an arc. Sales did steadily decline for Emperor Vulcan, and it wasn’t just fans of Rachel, Alex and Lorna who were thoroughly pissed off at the lack of an ending with Emperor Vulcan. Will that limit the possible avenues to finally end this story?


Some of the possible places for the story to continue:


Secret Invasion

One of the other problems with Vulcan and the Shi’ar attacking Earth is that they have to wait in line for the Skrulls to finish their secret invasion.

Editor Tom Brevoort told IGN that the X-Men will be involved in Secret Invasion, but it will be handled in a separate limited series to avoid disrupting the X-books’ plans for the aftermath of Messiah Complex. This likely will be similar to X-Men: Civil War and will deal with any X-Men revealed to be Skrulls. It's incredibly unlikely anything with the Shi'ar will be involved.

Could something following the Secret Invasion involve the Shi'ar, like a Skrull and Shi'ar alliance? Perhaps, but there is no proof of anything like that happening.


Starjammers Limited or Ongoing Series

From what we heard this time last year, some at Marvel are dead set against another Starjammers series because historically they’ve done poorly.

Emperor Vulcan has sold marginally well, but with sales to comic book stores around 36,000 copies and lots of unsold copies still on the shelves, is there a mandate for an ongoing? Probably not, unless it's another limited series killing time until the "plans" to finally happen. But with the backlash from the last non-ending, would Marvel put other another filler series?


Annihilation

Currently, Marvel is wrapping up the second Annihilation storyline, Annihilation: Conquest (the last issue is out in April). Sales have been okay, but nothing spectacular, with the Conquest books selling less than Emperor Vulcan. Hints have been dropped that there could be another Annihilation series, but it probably wouldn’t be for at least six months or a year. There are also hints that the cosmic Marvel characters could get involved in Secret Invasion.

Former Annihilation editor Andy Schmidt is one of the writers involved in Divided We Stand #2, prompting speculation the Alex story could be a bridge to bring the Annihilation/Cosmic Marvel characters into the Starjammers/Vulcan storyline.

It would be just like Marvel to want to prop up the sales of the Cosmic Marvel titles by adding the X-Men, Starjammers and Vulcan to the mix.


Guardians of the Galaxy

Out of Annihilation: Conquest is coming new Guardians of the Galaxy ongoing series in May, and there has been speculation that they could go and help the Starjammers.

Writer Andy Lanning told Marvel:

"One of our first stories will deal with somebody taking advantage of the aftermath of CONQUEST to expand their power base. [And] apart from the new threats and menaces, we're planning on the return of at lest one old, old foe and an even older hero."

If Vulcan is looking to expand the Shi’ar empire, he’s a likely candidate to be taking advantage of the aftermath of Conquest.

If the Starjammers and Vulcan are going to be part of Cosmic Marvel instead of the X-Titles, the Guardians getting involved in stopping Vulcan or rescuing the Starjammers is a strong possibility.


Uncanny X-Men and Legacy

Like previously stated, it’s unlikely that any Starjammers or Vulcan story would take place in Uncanny or Legacy this year since they are still dealing with the aftermath of Messiah Complex.

Once Xavier recovers from his brain injury, he could gather a team and go help the Starjammers in Legacy.

Or, the story could continue in Uncanny once Ed Brubaker is no longer writing the book.

In several years, there could be an X-crossover with multiple books getting involved in stopping Vulcan. The X-writers don't seem eager to do another crossover event any time soon, and the storylines coming out of Messiah Complex could play out for years to come.

One point often brought up in discussions about an X-Men rescue mission is Scott having to go save his little brother, and how Scott’s involvement would once again repeat the pattern of Alex never escaping the shadow of his older brother. Unfortunately, if the other X-Men are involved, it would be impossible for Alex to avoid being overshadowed by Scott, especially after Scott has solidified his role as commander-in-chief of the X-Men following Divided We Stand.


Astonishing X-Men

Axel Alonso mentioned that there will be a strong sci-fi theme in Warren Ellis’ Astonishing X-Men run (which is expected to start in July 2008). It seems unlikely that it will deal with Vulcan, since Astonishing is designed to be less continuity heavy than the other X-books and the sequel to a long running space storyline wouldn’t easily accessible to new readers.


My conclusion:

Unfortunately, I think all signs point to the Starjammers becoming part of Cosmic Marvel and the most likely scenario is that the rescue mission will be in a Cosmic Marvel title like Guardians of the Galaxy and then Vulcan will be the antagonist for Annihilation 3. Then in several years, Vulcan could target Earth and Xavier and that would be a storyline for one of the X-books or an X-crossover.

Last year at Wizard World Los Angeles, Rachel fans heard an ominous report from a fan who spoke to Ed Brubaker and got the impression that the characters left behind at the end of Rise & Fall of the Shi'ar Empire would be in space for a very, very long time. It wasn’t merely them being written temporarily out of X-books, it was a permanent status quo change. Vulcan becoming Emperor seems to have been part of a long-term plan to establish him as a reoccurring, major villain, and it looks like those left behind were intended to become the new Starjammers for the foreseeable future.

Of course, WWLA '07 spurred the Bring Rachel Home Campaign. Whether or not that worked remains to be seen, but it appears that Emperor Vulcan was merely trying convince fans to like Vulcan and the new Starjammers, and filling time before whatever “plans” are going to happen.

For me, I absolutely hate space stories and wish this would all end as quickly as possible and Rachel would be back in one of the core X-books.


Update 8/26/08 - Marvel has announced that the Starjammers' saga will continue in X-Men: Kingbreaker, a mini-series that will start in December and will serve as a lead-in to the cosmic cross-over event, War of Kings.

Read the latest news about Marvel's War of Kings

Labels: Emperor-Vulcan, War-of-Kings