What's Next For Rachel

So, it's 2010 and we still don't know what Rachel will appear in next. However, it is becoming clear what Rachel will likely not appear in: Realm of Kings and the X-Event Second Coming.

The "Starjammers" are in Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard, but that has turned out to only be Ch'od and a newly restored Raza. In Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #2, Rachel, Alex, Lorna and Korvus are said to have gone to Terra - what the Shi'ar call Earth. However, it's not clear that they have actually returned to Earth, especially since it's news to the X-Writers that they're back.

When asked about this on X-Position last week, Chris Yost said:

Are there any plans to do another X-Jammers miniseries? It doesn't seem like they will be in "Realm of Kings." Or, will Alex, Lorna and Rachel return in time for "X-Men: Second Coming?"

Yost: I actually thought they were showing up in one of the cosmic books pretty soon, but we have had talks with the X-office about bringing them home. They are not forgotten.

When Yost was informed about RoK:IG and that cosmic writer Dan Abnett has said that the X-Jammers will not be in Realm of Kings because they were reclaimed by the X-Office and are involved in X-Continuity, he replied:

Re: Havok/Polaris/Marvel Girl - I wasn't aware of them being returned to Earth in Rok:IG, but knew we had access to them again. Nick Lowe and I had been talking here and there about bringing them back.

So, we have X-Writers who could use them, but aren't. And the cosmic writers believe they can't use them, but they can. Very, very frustrating.

With Second Coming beginning to be solicited, that means if there aren't definite plans to bring them back now, they aren't going to be in Second Coming. And with the new teams coming out of Second Coming being determined soon, then it puts in question if they will be back before the end of 2010.

Rachel Minimates Figures Coming Soon

Diamond announced that there will be two Rachel figures in the upcoming Minimates Series 33.

The mini figures (which are similar to legos type figures) come in two packs. Rachel's Marvel Girl style figure will be paired with a Sentinel with a classic Excalibur Phoenix variant.

The figures are expected in stores in late February.

Starjammers Question in X-Position

This week's X-Position with the X-Editorial staff included a question about their plans for the X-Jammers, but unfortunately there wasn't really an answer:

Matthew Buckley has a wandering mind that seems to drifting upwards...zmostly towards outer space.

Do you guys have any plans for the X-jammers?

NICK LOWE: As of our plans right now, they aren't going to be back to earth too soon. But we love Havok and the rest as much as you do. Promise.

But at least the question was asked, and the X-editors know they haven't been forgotten.

Marvel Select Marvel Girl Figure Now Available

The Marvel Girl Marvel Select figure is now available. It should be shipping to stores today, and a few have been popping up on eBay.

ActionFigurePic.com has photos of the packaging.

Rachel and the Starjammers in Realm of Kings

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. :(

Starjammers News from Fan Expo

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."

Marvel Select Marvel Girl Figure Coming Soon

According to DiamondSelect's site, the Marvel Select Marvel Girl Rachel Grey Variant will be coming out on September 9th.

The figure was sculpted by Sam Greenwell and features Rachel in her old green & yellow costume outside the Xavier Institute Gates.

Rachel in Claremont's New X-Babes

Chris Claremont revealed in a recent interview that Rachel will be part of his upcoming new project called X-Babes (Yes, "babes" and not "babies". Luckily, this isn't the final title and I'm praying it changes before it is released.)

Here's what Mr. Claremont had to say about the project:

I have the very great privilege of working with the amazing Italian artist, Milo Manara, on a very special X-Men project, featuring Storm, Kitty, Sage, Rogue, Psylocke, Rachel, & Emma Frost. Yes, all women! The title is still being worked out, but the in-house title is X-Babes. For those of you who know Manara's work – and if you're an adult you should check him out – this is everything you would imagine. This is the first time this preeminent European artist has ever done superheroes, and he's having so much fun! First publication is in Italy, in time for Lucca. Look to the publisher's web site: Panini, as well as a cover story in the Italian magazine La Rebulica this September, for a first look. Marvel will publish in the US next year.

War of Kings leads to Realm 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.

What's Next For Rachel and the Starjammers after 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.