X-Men: Blue and X-Men: Gold Team Books Announced By Marvel Comics

In Spring 2017, Marvel Comics will launch ResurrXion, a line-wide relaunch for the X-Men and Inhuman families of titles. This week we've had the X-Men line teased, with Cable, Generation X, Jean Grey, Weapon X, and Iceman all announced earlier this week, now it's time for the team books, and Marvel is reaching into the past for inspiration. Two new X-Men team books will launch as part of RessurXion: X-Men: Blue and X-Men: Gold.

In an announcement on Marvel.com, editors Mark Paniccia and Daniel Ketchum revealed the two new team books, as well as the general mission statement and tone of the ResurrXion banner.

"X-Men are heroes. These mutants have saved the world enough times, they deserve to be called what they are," said Paniccia of the relaunch. Ketchum said that at the end of Inhumans vs. X-Men, "The X-Men have a future... Extinction is no longer staring them in the face," and ResurrXion is designed to see what they do with it.

Paniccia promises a return to what made X-Men the most popular comics for a couple of decades, with "adventures, groundbreaking science fiction, heartbreaking romance, element of surprise."

"When I was first introduced to the X-Men as a reader back in the [Chris] Claremont/[John] Byrne days I was always on the edge of my seat," he said. "I want readers to feel like they are on that same emotional roller coaster that made me come back month after month. I want to tap into that same creative energy that had us feeling what the characters were feeling, rooting for your heroes and cheering them on during battles where you thought they had no chance."

Blue and Gold will be "quintessential X-Men team books," Paniccia teased. "You're going to dig them and maybe even feel a little competition between the books, trying to outdo each other. If I do my job right, there will be readers who are Team Blue or Team Gold."

Ketchum pointed out that the names are reflective of that (blue and) golden era of X-Men comics, and that both will "boast all-star lineups and the adventures they embark upon are fitting of their statures."

While they didn't tease much about the other titles, they did reveal that Generation X is a "school book" with "plenty of teenage drama, school uniforms, awkward kissing, and young X-Men being thrown into peril that would test the mettle of even the most seasoned veterans. And Jubilee."

The final tease of the interview, though, will probably get X-Men fans talking more than any of the titles, more than any speculation about team line-ups or even the full ResurrXion relaunch. Ketchum offered up a one-liner that simply begs speculation:

"It's always the Phoenix. Always."