Right off the heels of the coversation we had in the DC relaunch thread about whether Uncanny qualified for being a continuous running series, Marvel announces they are cancelling Uncanny X-Men in October.
Uh oh ... Nu X-Men in the fall? (Just kidding ... we think)
Press Release
X-MEN: SCHISM Brings UNCANNY X-MEN To An End!
"All things must come an end...even for the X-Men, and this October fans will bear witness the end of an era as Uncanny X-Men #544 concludes the long running series. It’s all come to this! Years in the making, the seeds of dissent finally bear fruit as the events of X-Men Schism tear the X-Men and the Marvel Universe apart! When the dust settles, the state of mutantkind will irreparably be changed forever. Don’t miss the historic final issue of the longest running X-Men title this October, in Uncanny X-Men #544!"
Despite Flashpoint being a giant rip off of Age of Apocalypse, I really feel like this was an off the cuff move by Marvel to one up DC (as best they could) about relaunching their titles)
I fucking knew this was coming. In an interview, one of the dumbass editors stated "oh, I wouldn't consider it safe that we're never going to relaunch Uncanny." Pissed me off. And they wouldn't wait just 6 more fucking issues for an anniversary issue. Fucking bastards.
Damnit. I too would have been more ok with it this if it hit #550 first, but really wanted the book to go to #556 as that would have been 200 consecutive issues that I collected of Uncanny X-Men.
And what a way to go by having Greg Land as your final artist. Faaaaaantastic.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you see something change with all four of the books titled "X-Men" in some way.
I don't see how you can cancel Uncanny, but leave Legacy, Astonishing, and adjective-less alone with nothing changing. I see Astonishing possibly ending, and watch them rename the adjective-less book 'Uncanny' X-Men.
All I know, is after October in the whole comic industry, Hellblazer and X-Men: Legacy will be the longest continuous books (and both have gone through name tweaks). I remember a time when a high number was something to be proud of...now it's all about gimmicky things like this to increase sales. I hope they don't restart X-Men: Legacy, or if anything change adjectiveless to Uncanny X-Men and return X-Men: Legacy back to X-Men.
All I can say at this point is that nothing seems to be off limits. I won't be surprised to see the X-Books either thinned down, or, they'll be back to 'squads' with a Cyclops type side in one book and a Wolverine type side in another, almost like it's Us Vs. Them between the two books for a bit after the Schism fallout.
They're calling it the X-Men's Civil War, and that seems like what would happen. We already know we have sides picked at this point, so I'm wondering if they won't pair it down to maybe 2 books with a winning side in one and a losing in another, and that side on the run. I'm sure there'll be some kind of Uncanny relaunch so we'll see what happens I guess.
So...the 90s are happening again, right? Variants are making a comeback. Tons of new #1s. Writers and artists that became (and stayed) famous in the 90s are back. X-Men is going to split into 2 teams. DC is restarting history again. Doomsday is back. Age of Apocalypse occurred in DC (and to some degree in Marvel with Age of X).
Well, the rumor on BleedingCool for months is that the X-Men will separate into 2 different "teams" and then the rumor about a new book. Now Uncanny ending, they're thinking there may be 2 new books for each of the new teams created.
It's pure marketing scheme. Who knows, maybe they plan to cancel either one of the other titles to start over fresh. It is Johnston who did the rumor and while he is correct a lot he's also been mislead a lot. So it could just 1 new ongoing, but he is adamant about 2 new ongoings. If there are 2 new ones that pop up, I'll definitely drop Astonishing...
I wouldn't be surprised if Astonishing gets canceled. I mean, it would be the one to go since it really hasn't been as popular or successful as it was towards the last part of Whedon's run. I feel like the series has peeked already and is going to be on it's way out. I doubt they'd cancel X-Men since it's got low numbering, which would serve their purpose.
