The X-Axis – 14 January 2026
UNCANNY X-MEN #22. (Annotations here.) It’s a weird schedule, this month. You might have thought that the X-books were simply doing a soft relaunch and spreading out the launches of the new titles after “Age of Revelation”. But then you look at next week’s schedule, which has six X-books… and then the week after that seems to have just the one again. Baffling.
Whatever they’re up to, it means that Uncanny X-Men gets a more-or-less clear week for its return to regular stories. Gail Simone returns to the Mutina storyline from issues #17-18, as she shows up at Haven simultaneously threatening everyone with knives and demanding to be allowed to join the team for PR reasons, as if that was somehow a reasonable thing to request. This doubles somewhat as a Nightcrawler spotlight issue, in as much as it also features his first date with Mackenzie, and he’s the one who actually heads her off. But her storyline isn’t really tied to him more than any other regular cast member, although he is at least well placed to be the most open-minded X-Man about the possibility of redeeming her.
Mutina herself is the real spotlight here, and I think what we’re doing here is mainly an exercise in hinting at the personality that she keeps suppressed beneath her persona. I’m kind of intrigued by the implication that she knows an awful lot more than she ought to, given what we’ve heard about her to date, but I think she’s being set up quite well as a character who has become so subsumed by her public persona that we have to try and figure out what she actually wants here, even if she herself knows. This sort of thing doesn’t always come off, but Mutina’s behaviour feels like it doesn’t make sense because she’s a chaotic and conflicted character, rather than because of any gaps in thinking her through.
And her smiling half-mask allows David Marquez to alternate between her actual emotions and the way she chooses to be seen; if I have a criticism of the art, it’s that her mask gets knocked off in the final fight, and it’s rather easy to miss. (All subsequent panels take care to avoid giving us a clear view of the part of her face that we can’t normally see.) But it’s a typically beautiful issue, with his Kurt having a wonderful air of serene concern about him.
LOGAN: BLACK, WHITE & BLOOD #1. We also have the first issue of this anthology mini. I’m not a big fan of these spot colour anthologies – it’s a nice enough effect when you see it occasionally, but it wears thin pretty quickly for me. And, perhaps driven by the way Marvel choose to banner them, stories tend to gravitate very heavily to “What shall we do with red spot colouring? Ooh, maybe blood again?” “Arms Race” by Tom Waltz, Alex Lins and Cory Petit is pretty squarely in that category, I’m afraid. Logan’s fighting in the Korean war, his battalion get wiped out by Russian cyborg soldiers, he’s really quite angry about it, there’s some bloodshed. It’s all perfectly competent but there’s nothing new here, it doesn’t have any particular reason to use the colour gimmick, and a token gesture to this being a prototype version of the Winter Soldier really isn’t changing that.
“Times Square Red” by Saladin Ahmed, Adam Kubert, Arthur Hesli & Cory Petit is rather better: it’s Logan breaking off from a mission to deal with a serial killer in 1970s Times Square, and it’s much more interested in using the red for mood and seediness. It’s somewhat tongue in cheek – the adult cinema scene circumvents the problems of showing actual porn by doubling down on complete absurdity – but it’s actually a good little story that genuinely has a use for the colouring gimmick.
“Red Claws” by Larry Hama, Dave Wachter and Cory Petit is a lot more straightforward. It’s bestial Logan in the period after he escaped the Weapon X Project, saving some arctic wolves from hunters. There’s nothing really new here in terms of the story – Logan turning the tables on complacent human hunters has been done before and it’s done again here – but it does have some very nice looking, surprisingly delicate art. Wachter is good with animals, and the snowbound setting makes the colouring less gimmicky, since it’s at least drawing attention to the thing that would stand out the most.
So overall, not bad, actually. One genuinely good story, one middling to okay, and the other one is at least passable.
Huh. Three titles were selling well enough to avoid cancellation prior to AoR. Let’s put those three titles out without any other X-titles as competition. Then, let’s throw out five new launches the following week, expecting the fans to spend $25 on those new titles. I wonder what will happen? For some reason, X-Men and Uncanny did very well, but these other new X-titles are struggling. Is Marvel trying to get the majority of their X-line cancelled? I can’t think of a better way to accomplish it.
*looks at what X-books are out next week*
Lesse:
*The second issue of MacKay’s X-Men for the month
*Jeph Loeb “X-Men of Apocalypse”… thing
*Psylocke: Ninja. Continuity implant miniseries of a thing probably best left forgotten
*Rogue. Another miniseries that looks fairly pointless, but set in the present day(ish) this time
*Inglorious X-Force; An actual (notional) ongoing launch.
Honestly, IXF looks like the only possible victim there. Three pointless miniseries, another issue of X-Men and that.
Ah, so really only two launches, with Rogue a mini-series. It’s not looking good for X-Force again though. X-Men will sell, the fans buying Loeb’s Apocalypse won’t give that book up. Which means a lot of readers having to choose between X-Force, Rogue, or a comic with (what I’m assuming is) a Macy’s balloon version of Psylocke on the cover
I’m not sure what the venn diagram of “people interested in 2026 X-books” and “people who can afford precisely one additional book next week – not zero, not two, exactly one” is, but I feel like it’s not a circle.
There’s also Spider-Man & Wolverine 9, which is the penultimate issue of a cancelled series.
No, but I also don’t know the amount of people in 2026 who are only interested in reading the X-books to the exclusion of other books is either. The X-titles aren’t exactly popular like in the ‘90s, where fans were making sure they could buy every X-related comic. There is much more going on in the comic world than “Shadows of Tomorrow”, which are already competing with these new launches.
Michael> There’s also Spider-Man & Wolverine 9, which is the penultimate issue of a cancelled series.
Well, TBF, it outsold a lot of AoR titles…
“No, but I also don’t know the amount of people in 2026 who are only interested in reading the X-books to the exclusion of other books is either.”
That’s me! I’m only bothering reading X books as current books. I’ll get back to other Marvels some time soon (picking up from after King In Black), and DC some YEAR soon (I will eventually finish New 52…probably).
Just the X-books and North’s Fantastic Four for me. I might trade-wait the Wiccan mini, but that’s really the extent of my interest in the wider MU right now (especially with yet another all-consuming event around the corner)
Well, this is the X-Axis.
I mainly read comics from Image, Dark Horse, and Boom currently. The only Marvel titles I still buy are North’s FF and Ewing’s Thor due to the writers. When they leave, I’ll be dropping the final two Marvel books from my pull-list. At DC, Fraction’s Batman piqued my interest enough to give another DC book a chance after Hellblazer ended. I’m waiting to see what book DC gives Deniz Camp.
I’m following a couple of things to the end this month and the next. Mainly Strange Tales, Spirits of Violence, and Avengers. I’m picking up the Wiccan mini, Sorcerer Supreme, Dr. Strange, and Thor. I’m also going to continue following North’s Fantastic Four and hopefully Black Cat and Venom improves.
I like learning what’s on everyone’s pull lists.
From my LCS right now I’m buying ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN from Marvel (which is about to wrap up), THE POWER FANTASY (maybe ditto) and DIE: LOADED from Image, and ABSOLUTE BATMAN and ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN from DC.
But I’ve been steadily pruning my list because I’m transitioning toward only getting digital subscriptions, a consequence of a big move I’ve got coming. I’d be buying a good three books a week if not for that, just because that’s how much material I like to tuck into each Wednesday when I take my new comics to lunch.
The best stuff I read this year was “Tongues” by Anders Nilsen, “Ginger Roots” by Craig Thompson, and “Santos Sisters Vol. 1” by presumably a disgruntled former Archie cartoonist. Why would I purchase an X-Men comic when I know how low the quality will be? I still enjoy reading Paul’s recaps, especially when he’s clearly frustrated by the lack of thought put into a product that people used to care about.
The Krakoa thing briefly reignited my interest, then I realized it was going nowhere when Hickman left, now we’re back to doomscrolling hoping for another Morrisson or Casey to come along and insert some life into a long-deceased concept that is frankly only published because massive corporations value intellectual property over anything new and creative. If it’s not written and drawn by AI it might as well be.
Maybe Brevoort is right and they should turn Beast heel permanently, even if it doesn’t ring true to the character at least it wouldn’t be going back to the well for the millionth time.
Sorry for the rant, I just honestly don’t know what you do with the X-Men in 2026.
The release schedule is bad for customers, but more often than not these logistical issues aren’t that simple to solve. Marvel has been struggling with this for decades. I can’t imagine the publisher wants to be alternating between light and heavy release weeks like this, but I can imagine that they’re hamstrung by numerous financial and contractual pressures behind the scenes.
So uh, Chris V and I might be clones of each other: I’m also holding on to North’s FF and Ewing’s THOR until those creators leave, then I’m done with Marvel.
Just finished reading through Age of Revelation over the last week, wasn’t a fan. I dug some of McKay’s issues, but the event as a whole was just a slog for me.
I’m currently reading the X-books, but outside of those my comic reading is the thinnest it’s ever been. Punisher Red Band has been entertaining, but I’m behind on the newest issue of that. I’m a huge Ghost Rider fan, but I just can’t bother with Spirits of Violence after how much I disliked Spirits of Vengeance.
Oh, and I tried Absolute Batman and Absolute Superman, and they were absolutely not for me.
I do like how Marvel has already run out of characters they think can support a black, white & blood miniseries, so they’re just revisiting a character they’ve already done.
“Okay, what if we do Wolverine again, but we call it ‘Logan’ this time to distinguish it from the first one?”
“Oh, cool! And it’ll be all stories in his civilian identity, or from before he became a superhero?”
“Sure, I guess, whatever.”
After more than 40 years of comic collecting, I’m insanely picky about what I spend my money on. I’ve been burned too many times by promising runs that turned into crossover hell. Or that just bland out like the Krakoa era.
Right now I’m reading Absolute Martian Manhunter, The Power Fantasy, and Nice House by the Sea. I dip into Fantastic Four when it looks interesting.
I’m looking forward to Joshua Williamson’s Legion of Super-Heroes, but I have doubts that it will live up to expectations.
Since nobody’s made the easy joke, I will.
It’s so nice of the stars of Uncanny X-men (i.e. the Outliers) to let one of their minor background characters take on Mutina!
With X-men comics in 2026, there are two ways to go: have a traditional setup with excellent writing or take a bold direction and execute it at least adequately. Where the comics are now is that they’re slightly different than the traditional setup with mediocre execution. That’s the average across the line, there are some books that execute better than others.
Apparently there was a coloring mistake on one of the X-Men United #1 covers. A colorist colored Lorna red.
The quartlerly sales figures for the last quarter of 2025 are out. DC actually beat Marvel in market share- DC got 32.6% and Marvel got 29.6%.
These aren’t complete figures but they seem to line up with what everyone here is saying about not reading many Marvel books any more.
It looks like Marvel’s strategy of flooding the market with mid-to low-selling books didn’t work.
Heads are probably starting to going to start to roll at Marvel soon. Akira Yoshida should be worried about keeping his job as Editor-In-Chief. But Brevoort will probably be in danger of losing his job as X-Editor. His strategy of flooding the market with X-Books didn’t work and that culminated in the disaster that was Age of Revelation. But who would replace him?
(He probably should keep his job as FF editor since that title seems to be doing well.)
Marvel’s averaged 4-5 books/month for me for 7 years, though it can swing wildly from month-to-month. This month, it’s Nova and FF from Marvel, but I’ve bought all MacKay’s Moon Knight stuff, so when Marc Spector starts up next month, throw it on the pile. I’ll probably try Generation X-23, and I’m thinking about giving Moonstar a shot. That’d be 5 books, at least for a while.
How much I buy from other publishers varies from month-to-month. If John Allison and Max Sarin collaborate on something, I’m on it. Ditto Si Spurrier w/Matias Bergara. Otherwise, it’s whatever mini-series I saw in the solicits that happened to catch my eye.
Michael> The quartlerly sales figures for the last quarter of 2025 are out. DC actually beat Marvel in market share- DC got 32.6% and Marvel got 29.6%.
If that’s accurate, very interesting. It’s one of those little ironies that DC actually appear to have benefited from the massive AT&T cuts in spite of everything, which doesn’t say much for the people who were efficiency-saved.
Michael> (He probably should keep his job as FF editor since that title seems to be doing well.)
That wouldn’t happen. Brevoort is THE most Group Editor at Marvel. If he is seen to have failed with the X-books to the point he needs to be removed, pretty much the only way is “out”.
I dip into Marvel stuff in digital occasionally, other than that I get Saga trades, Trese trades, and Lazarus: Risen floppies. Sometimes more, like the Denny O’Neil Question omnibuses.
Lazarus: Fallen, that should be.
SanityorMadness> “If that’s accurate, very interesting. It’s one of those little ironies that DC actually appear to have benefited from the massive AT&T cuts in spite of everything, which doesn’t say much for the people who were efficiency-saved.”
If that’s the case, that’s one of the longest long games in recent history, considering AT&T sold off DC to Discovery in early 2022! I can picture the board room now: “let’s see, what can we do that will make our most negligible business unit beat its only significant competitor in sales for the first time in 30 years?” “I’ve got it! Let’s lay off a bunch of staffers, sell the parent company to an entertainment group that panders to the lowest common denominator with shows about 1000 lb sisters, Honey Boo Boo’s family, and polyamory, and then in about 3.5-4 years, sales of our over-priced colored paper will barely beat the competition!”
It’s that DC has hit on a winning formula with its “All In” relaunch and the “Absolute Universe” after floundering around for years being more concerned trying to write line-wide stories about the definition of the DC Multiverse and what is the current state of the DCU’s continuity. Not exactly captivating to casual readers (which is something of a misnomer, as comic books don’t really seem to have “casuals” anymore, but using the term in the sense of fans who aren’t beholden to only reading one company’s properties). How fresh that the solution DC finally settled upon was to, basically, return to the post-Crisis direction. Find creators who seem to have genuine ideas for the characters, let the creators tell the stories they want to tell, and not be overly concerned about the minutiae of continuity (although still maintaining continuity for the “All In” books).
Meanwhile, the idea about Marvel is that it is out of ideas and running in circles trying to rely on doing the exact same things over and over again.
DC capturing more market share is what I expected based on the opinion of the people running the comic shop I visit (which, granted, is just one store, but the quarterly sales figures would seem to back it up). They are talking about how popular DC is right now, with customers telling them to put every “All In” title on their pull-list. Meanwhile, they are disappointed with Marvel not trying to do anything to make their books more appealing. Marvel seems to be coasting on the multiple covers to even do as well as they are doing.
Batgirl’s the only thing I’m getting from DC at the moment (I liked Ewing/Lieber’s Metamorpho mini fine), but isn’t letting the creative teams tell the stories they wanted to tell theoretically the notion behind the “Marvel NOW!” stuff of the 2010s? Waid and Marcos Martin/Paolo Rivera/Chris Samnee on Daredevil, the Fraction/Aja Hawkeye, G. Willow Wilson’s Ms. Marvel, etc.
Granted, Marvel couldn’t resist the urge to have at least some of those titles do tie-ins to the stupid linewide event of the moment (Duggan’s Deadpool went from 5 issues of Original Sin tie-ins to 4 issues of AXIS tie-ins with maybe a 1-month break in between), so maybe that’s a difference. It definitely worked for me, at least. I bought a lot more Marvel in 2013-2014 than the previous 3 years, or any year since.
@Derf
Oh, I’m not saying there was any sort of plan of the sort involved – it was pure corporate hack’n’slash of the sort that generally wrecks the place that had to make the “efficiency savings”.
That’s why it’s surprising, and says not-great things about the people who were got rid of.
Marvel is doing something very similar to DC’s All In/Absolute books in their Ultimate line. They just haven’t generalized the strategy to the main Marvel universe yet.
I’d be surprised if that move wasn’t right around the corner. They’re probably waiting for better timing, like when the current Ultimate books end. Or nearer to their next big movie (is Spider-man next?).
If that’s not the plan, then maybe they just don’t like money? That would explain a lot of their recent decisions.
Yes, about the Marvel NOW (always in capitals). I was reading a lot more Marvel books back then. I think the problem with Marvel is that the novelty from the 2010s has long worn off (and maybe the overreliance on crossovers to boost sales also). They’ve been relying on relaunching their books from a new #1 at the drop of a hat. It seems to be their only reaction when the sales start dropping on a title.
The problem is that constantly relaunching books can as easily be seen as a jumping off point for long-time fans who are looking for a good stopping point, as it is as a starting point for new or lapsed readers.
Yes, this has also been a problem at DC since “The New 52”, but right now, they seem to be getting the goodwill of fans that Marvel has used up and that DC had failed to gain since the New 52 turned to dreck.
This won’t last forever. Eventually, the readers will start to lose interest in the “All In” direction, the Absolute line will face the same problems as the Ultimate line faced after a few years, and DC will start relying on trying to relaunch books from #1 again. It’s just a question of if Marvel can get its act together between now and the point where All In meets fatigue.
I read the X books, Ultimate Spider-Man and a sample of this and that as it launches for Marvel and have been doing the Fraction Batman and DC KO from the Distinguished Competition. I had been on Aaron’s TMNT but that just ended and don’t know if I have a second run of Turtles in me
Generally anything not big 2 is more of TPB read for me, but I’m way behind on that stuff.
The problem with Marvel these days can be illustrated with three words: Spiderverse vs Venomverse.
The comics, almost the whole line, is so risk averse that it’s not far from just publishing reprints.
Right now, I’m buying Ultimates, Ult Spider-Man, Ult X-Men, Ult Wolverine, FF, Thor, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers, Captain America, Nova, World of Tomorrow, & Amazing Spider-Man from Marvel. Most of those comics are decent-to-good. FF and Ultimates have been exceptional.
From DC, I’m buying: Ab. Marian Manhunter, Ab. WW, Ab. Batman, Ab. GL, Batman, Detective, Batgirl, Supergirl, JLU, DC K.O., and Action. Most of those are decent-to-good. Ab. MM & Ab. WW have been exceptional.
I’m also buying Transformers, GI Joe, Void Rivals, Skinbreaker, Power Fantasy, Assorted Crisis Events, Everything Dead & Dying, Escape, Cul De Sac, Survive, Save Now, Planet Death, and Good As Dead. Most of these are decent-to-good. PF, ACE, and Escape are exceptional.
Looking at this list, I could cut about half of it and not miss them. I like having a big ol’ pile of comics to read on Wednesday and Thursday. If/when I have to cut down, most of the comics I’d drop would be Marvels. With the Ultimate line coming to an end, I think FF, Thor, and Hulk would be the series I’d keep. I’m more invested in what’s happening at DC or in the indie books. The writing and art have been better.
That said, weird that I’m buying 3 Robert Kirkman comics when I’m not a huge fan of his writing. The powers of good art, nostalgia, and an imprint being limited to 3 books compel me.
Mike Loughlin> That said, weird that I’m buying 3 Robert Kirkman comics when I’m not a huge fan of his writing. The powers of good art, nostalgia, and an imprint being limited to 3 books compel me.
Huh, Transformers, Void Rivals and what’s the third?
Either way, the FCBD Energon Universe Special has *four* stories, so looks like another book’s getting added. (Probably MASK since Kirkman’s Transformers is dedicating a bunch of pages to setting that up)
@SanityOrMadness: the 3rd Kirkman book is Skinbreaker, a series he’s doing with David Finch. The artwork in the series is absolutely stunning. Finch has spent years working on it, and it shows. The writing is okay, but I don’t care much about the story because I’m staring at each page in awe.
Void Rivals started out good, but I’ve been losing interest lately. I’ve read most of the Walking Dead and Invincible, and both series suffered from repetitive plotting, flat characterization, and saggy storytelling as they went on. VR might be headed in the same direction.
After DWJ’s Transformers, I was sure that the next creative team wouldn’t be able to live up to that run. After reading the first few issues of the Kirkman/ Mora run, it turns out I was right. Mora’s art is great, of course, but he’s leaving soon. There have been well-written sequences and sub-plots (Thundercracker’s being the highlight) but a lot of stuff I don’t care about or dislike (every scene with General Flagg). The heart that informed DWJ’s work on the series is mostly gone.
Bleeding Cool’s Weekly Bestseller List is out. Uncanny X-Men 22 came in 4th. This is good- it seems to have recovered from the low sales during the last two months of Age of Revelation.
In today’s X-Men Monday, Eve Ewing explained that the reason why Scott will oppose the Graymatter Lane school is because he doesn’t fully understand how it works and thinks ne that having everyone gathered in one place where they could be vulnerable is a mistake.
That doesn’t make sense, since Scott is probably the most familiar with astral constructs outside of an actual telepath.