Marvel January 2009 Solicitations

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

Marvel's Top X-Women

Once again Rachel made one of Marvel's Take 10 lists. The Secret Cabal (a group of assistant editors and interns) selected Rachel as the 8th best X-Woman:

8. RACHEL GREY
First Appearance: X-MEN v1 #141 (1981)
Learn More About Her…here
Why She Makes the List: "Rachel Grey epitomizes two cornerstone of the X-verse: she has that Grey/Summers heritage and also comes from an alternate future, a theme common to many great X-stories. Rachel, therefore, is made for greatness. The former Phoenix and current Marvel Girl has an impressive battery of powers, including telepathy, telekinesis and a connection to the Phoenix Force. You've gotta respect someone who can not only rearrange the atoms of her clothes to make a whole new ensemble, but also make you think you're seeing a different outfit altogether—even if she has the potential to some day destroy a planet." – Secret Cabal member LiterateNitz18
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #466—Rachel must save her remaining family from the Shi'ar Death Commandos!

Overall, it wasn't a bad list, but Rachel getting beat by Dazzler, I mean, c'mon... Dazzler has barely been a member of the X-Men.

Cover For X-Men: Kingbreaker #2

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.

ClanDestine Mini-Series Trade Now Available

For those that didn't pick up individual issues of the recent ClanDestine mini-series, it's not available in trade hardcover.

Written and drawn by Excalibur co-creator Alan Davis, ClanDestine chronicles the adventures of the super-powered Destine family. This mini-series (Blood Relatives) has a cross-over with the classic Excalibur team (they appear in all five issues).

ClanDestine is a really underrated series. If you're a fan of Excalibur, consider picking this up. It's some of Alan Davis' best work, and it's great to see the old Excalibur team again.

Amazon has the ClanDestine: Blood Relative Premiere Hard Cover for only $13.59.

Rachel Super Hero Squad Figure Coming in December

Entertainment Earth is now offering pre-orders on Hasbro's Super Hero Squad Wave 11, which features a Rachel/Marvel Girl figure (packaged with Cyclops).

Previously it had been reported that Wave 11 would be coming out in the spring of 2009, but Entertainment Earth says Wave 11 will be shipping in December (but that date is subject to change).

So, possibly the Rachel Superhero Squad will be a Christmas present for Rachel fans (fingers crossed).

Marvel's Super Offspring

Rachel was included on Marvel's Take 10: Super Offspring List. Selected by The Secret Cabal (umm, aka a bunch of assistant editors and interns), each week Marvel highlights the best of Marvel.

The week, it was the children of Marvel characters, and the Summers kids overall did very well. Nate Grey was #10 and Nathan Summers came in #1 (the Secret Cabal are Cable fans). Rachel came in at #5:

5. RACHEL SUMMERS
First Appearance: X-MEN v1 #141 (1981)
Learn More About Her…here
Family Tree: Cyclops (Scott Summers, alternate reality father), Jean Grey (alternate reality mother), Cable (alternate reality half-brother)
Why She Makes The List: "X-Fans always wanted Cyclops and Jean Grey to have a kid, so what could go wrong once they (kinda) did? Plenty. Rachel Summers was born in a dystopian future, trained as a "hound" to hunt down her own kind and never got the chance to really know her parents. Then she came back to our time to find her father re-married and her mother supposedly dead. Despite all this hardship, she became a founding member of Excalibur, where she found redemption and a family. Years later and the hits keep coming—she's trapped in space at the moment fighting her evil uncle Vulcan—but she continues to be a beacon of hope." – Secret Cabal member RunawayJ
Spotlight Comic: UNCANNY X-MEN #466—Rachel Summers fights to save what's left of her family from the Shi'ar!

Friday News Bites for 10/3/08

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.

Chris Yost Answers Kingbreaker Questions on X-Position

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.