X-Men Kingbreaker News

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.

Marvel Select Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey) Figure

MarvelousNews has information about a new Rachel action figure. Diamond will be releasing a Jean Grey Marvel Girl figure with a Rachel Grey variant.

Here is how Diamond describes the figures:

The name Marvel Girl has always been a crucial part of the X-Men's history and now this new action figure release delivers the two women responsible for that! Sculpted by Sam Greenwell, the standard Marvel Girl depicts Jean Grey in her retro costume while the variant Marvel Girl features Rachel Grey's more modern look! Collect both to assemble the two pieces of the X-Mansion front gate!

You can see what the figures look like here.

According to Big Bad Toys, the Marvel Girl figure will be out in May 2009.

Cable Artist Jamie McKelvie is a Rachel Fan

iFanboy talked to artist Jamie McKelvie, who will be drawing Cable for issue 11-12, and he revealed that he's a Rachel fan and would like to draw Rachel:

Question: You've done Nightcrawler and now Cable....who is the next character you've always wanted to draw?

Jamie: Rachel Summers was always my favourite character when I was younger, but I think she's still in space? So who knows when I'd get the chance. Of the current X-crop, either more Nightcrawler or Pixie - a Pixie mini or something would be great.

You can check out Jamie's work at his official site http://www.jamiemckelvie.com and in Cable #11, which is due out in February.

X-Men: Kingbreaker #1 Preview

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

Marvel February 2009 Solicitations

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.

Marvel War of Kings Information

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

Duane Swierczynski Talks Cable and Rachel in X-Position

Cable writer Duane Swierczynski is the guest in this week’s edition of X-Position on Comicbookresources.com.

Duane talked a lot about what's coming up in Cable for Nathan and the Messiah Baby (or is she the Messiah Girl now?)

He was also asked about Rachel appearing in Cable, and gave a rather nondescript answer:

3) Also, any chance Rachel Summers will appear in “Cable” once she returns from space?
As Tom Petty once said, “The future is wide open.”

Warning, possible spoilers for Cable ahead:

Duane Swierczynski said a couple of interesting and alarming things about Cable's future.

First off, it sounds like the "baby" will be aging quickly, (Duane told X-Position, "So we always intended for the series to show the baby growing up quick") and as the baby grows up, Nathan will be growing older.

What's alarming is how Duane describes Nathan as, "a tired soldier who’s seen it all but has been pressed into service one last time for the most important mission of his career." That doesn't sound promising for Nathan's long term development or future in X-books. Even worse, Duane alludes to the potential that Nathan is not going to be coming back with the "baby".

Duane is clearly writing Nate as being at least in his late 50s and he will age at least 10, and possibly more, years as his young charge grows to be at least a teenager before she returns. Then Duane brings up doubts that Nathan will be returning.

While killing off the title character of a books sound unlikely, it does bring up the ol' "kill Cable off and bring back Nate Grey" argument again, especially when Nathan is being written as an old man in his 60s-70s and an old soldier on his final mission. I can't see Marvel wanting to continue that for very long.

That takes a lot of the joy of the speculation that Rachel and Nathan might, at long last, be reunited. I only started reading X-books again when it was announced that Cable would be in Adjectiveless at the same time Rachel would be in Uncanny X-Men. I assumed that there was no way they wouldn't interact if they were both X-Men at the same time. (Silly me). Now I wonder if it's going to be decades before that reunion ever happens, if ever.