“All-New X-Men” Preview Art #MarvelNOW

The Marvel Comics relaunch, known as “Marvel NOW!“, is almost upon us.  One of the creative team shakeups coming out of Marvel NOW! is writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Stuart Immonen teaming up for “All-New X-Men“.  This book sees the five original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, and Iceman) transported from the 1960′s to present day.  What this does, instantly, is inject a teenage Jean Grey back into the mix.  Additionally, as it is widely expected that modern-day Cyclops doesn’t come out of Avengers vs X-Men alive, it gives us a fresh, clean, not bat-shit-crazy version of him, as well.

To give us a better idea of the look and feel of this new series, Marvel Comics has released a little bit of interior Stuart Immonen artwork.  Before getting to that, however, it’s worth taking a moment to include the official plot description of the Brian Bendis scripted series…

It’s a blast from the past as the original five students of Professor X — Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel and Beast — are plucked from the past and brought to the present. But what they find, the state that their future selves are in and the state of Xavier’s dream, is far from the future they dreamed of. And how will the X-Men of the present deal with their past coming crashing forward?

Okay, and now for that artwork I was talking about…

So, obviously, a lot of the fun of All-New X-Men is going to come from watching the teenage X-Men see the grown up, battle-scarred, and in some cases dead future versions of themselves.  What it will also do, however, is help wipe away some of the darkness and cynicism that has overtaken many (most?) of the X-Books over the past few years.  At its core, the X-Men were a team of young mutants fighting to make the world a better place for humans and mutants.  They were fresh-faced and naive, but committed to the idea of humans and mutants living in harmony.  All-New X-Men should go a long way towards bringing some of that youthful excitement back into the X-Universe.  Finally, it will be very interesting to see how 1960′s Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl, and Angel interact with modern-day Professor Xavier and Magneto.  And, just as interesting, to see how Magneto and Professor X interact with the original teenage X-Men.

All-New X-Men is scheduled to go on sale November 7th from Marvel Comics for the price of $3.99.  As more details from this new Bendis/Immonen X-Men series become available, I’ll be sure to keep everyone up to speed and in the know.  In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.