First Look: X-Men Forever #1 Cover

X-Men Forever #1

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Marvel has provided Newsarama with your first look at the cover to X-Men Forever #1 by Tom Grummett, due in June.

We discussed the project with writer Chris Claremont during this year's New York Comic Con, who gave us the lowdown on the storyline - which picks up from Claremont's last issue of X-Men - 1991's X-Men #3.

Newsarama: Have these plans for the X-Men been laying in wait for 18 years? Or are these all new?

Chris Claremont: Plans never “lie” in wait; they go out for strolls, they get into arguments, they strike up a conversation with other ideas and the next thing you know, they have grandchildren you never saw coming. Sometimes, they find themselves attracted to a different project and make a new life for themselves, while other ideas wander in from parts unknown and take up permanent residence. Sorta like Wisteria Lane. It would be a sad thing if these ideas had been sitting in limbo for 18 years. The world that they—and we—inhabit today is far different from the one that existed in 1991-92. Can you imagine what it would be like if we were all still listening to Marky Mark and watching Kevin Costner run around in green tights? Seriously, though, there are some touchstones with these characters than remain true, regardless. That’s the foundation on which we build.

NRAMA: Looking back at your body of work on the X-Men--was this concept difficult to come back to? How hard is it to ignore nearly 20 years of continuity?

CC: Coming back to the X-Men is never difficult. Quite the contrary, it’s a true pleasure, like visiting old and dear friends. [X-Men] Forever allows me not just to pick up where I left off, but to show the reader the unexpected. Forever allows me to pick up where I left off with the freedom to take the series in whole new—and unfettered—directions. The characters here are totally up for grabs. All of the presumptions that we’ve gotten used to over time no longer apply; relationships that we’ve come to take for granted are suddenly cast in question.

Think about that a moment—say we’re used to a romantic relationship between a couple of characters. But suppose that applecart gets overturned, suppose one of the characters finds themselves attracted to someone new and unexpected, what then? Suppose we go down that road, where might it lead?

Readers will discover right from the start, in the on-line preview, the events of the “Magneto” trilogy which appeared to bring that story to its conclusion, burst open a door on a whole new world. I put it to readers who think they know me and the X-Canon—to guess correctly where I’m taking you from here—you have no idea.

Click on the above link for the full interview with Claremont.