Marvel’s Dawn of X Panel at NYCC Recap

To kick off the panel we meet the panel guests, which include C.B. Cebulski, Jordan D. White, Ed Brisson, Tini Howard, and Ben Percy. They start by talking about House of X and Powers of X, specifically Powers of X #6, which all shipped on time. They recount the series thus far and talk a bit about Krakoa, followed by shots of the series’ covers so far. Tini Howard says “my man looks so good on the left”, which is a cover of Apocalypse. Jonathan pitched this about a year and half ago, and all of his charts and graphs were part of the deal. They also reveal a fan has already gotten a Krakoan tattoo, the first of many.

White said “I can’t tell you what’s in it (Powers of X #6), but I can’t tell you what’s not in it. I’m going to tell you a few relevant things that aren’t in it. It won’t undo the status quo of what’s in House of X. Mutants are dying anymore, and that’s the new status quo.”

Start to talk about Dawn of X and show the trailer. Then we talk Cyclops. “He is the head captain of the X-Men, and he picks the missions and who will go on them,” White said.

“When people ask Hickman who is in the book, he says everyone,” Cebulski said. “This is the book that anyone can show up at any time in this book. Cyclops is going to be putting together various teams for whatever mission comes up, and this is endless action.” Shows future covers with Apocalypse, Magneto, Xavier, and Mystique (X-Men #5 and #6).

Marauders #1 is next, and then we get an interview

It’s a bunch of one and done adventures. We’re trying to give you one discreet adventure a month. It’s Cyclops and one rotating group of X-Men a month,” Hickman said.

Gerry Duggan then talks Marauders. “I’ve wanted to write a pirate book for a long time and didn’t know where I was going to do it, and when me and Hickman talked I finally had the chance,” Duggan said. “We are moving the medicines off of Krakoa to the humans and we’re on the underground railroad on the way back. Big surprises that we’ve held back in those books and I can’t wait for readers to check those books out.”

“I think of all the books that we’re doing after House of X, Marauders is the one that reaches the deepest into the mythos and lore we’ve set up, and he’s doing a good job,” Hickman said.

“She’s arguably the most powerful person on Kroakoa because she controls about 1 quarter of all the votes,” Hickman said about Emma Frost, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club.

“This is about as close-knit as the X-Men books have been in a long time,” Hickman said.

Then we move to Excalibur.

“To me, it instantly spoke to this idea of seeing mutants thrive and build cultural things that cultures don’t often build until they’re able to thrive and flourish. There are so many things that are open to them now, and now they have the opportunity to learn and grow and make art and magic, and that’s what this is the story of, and also being the story of one Betsy Braddock, who has recently been divorced from a body that was not her own, and we’re going to see her go on a journey as well. Along with her are some of my favorite X-Men characters, some I grew up loving,” Howard said about Excalibur.

Apocalypse has a journey too. This is his home too, and he’s got things he wants to build as well, and maybe he’ll finally succeed,” Howard said

It’s X-Force time.

“It’s an agency,” Percy said. “It’s a branch of government. It’s the mutant CIA. One half of this design you have the intelligence unit, headed by Beast. On the other side, you have the field ops, the wetwork, headed by Wolverine, meaning you have the head and the fist.”

He added, “This is a dirty book. This is a gritty book. Bad s*** happens in X-Force. On the final page of X-Force #1 something happens that will ripple through the entire line. Be there.”

They show an X-Force #5 cover with Forge and it looks amazing (Dustin Weaver). “Cool stuff gets made in the arsenal”, Percy says about Forge.

We move to New Mutants.

“Cannonball is off in space, so Bobby’s going to take his team into space and coax Cannonball to come back and see what a paradise Krakoa is, and it also involves the Starjammers. Sort of a classic New Mutants tale with a new spin,” Brisson said.

C.B. pulls up cover to New Mutants #5, revealing Boom Boom is a part of the team.

Next, Fallen Angels.

“The main focus of the book is going to be on Psylocke. There was a long story of Betsy Braddock being in her body and then taking it back again, so we’re going to go into her past and explore what that was like. Cable and X-23 are supporting characters, and they are all uncomfortable on Krakoa when this books starts out,” White said.

Husk and Bling are also revealed to be in Fallen Angels as part of the team.

“You are going to see X-23 in X-Force in the book, and that’s all I’m going to say,” Percy said after he was asked if X-23 would find her way into Wolverine’s wetworks team.

“There is no indication he is not Professor X,” White said after being asked if that was really Professor X.

They then reveal first Wave 2 book, and announce Benjamin Percy and Adam Kubert on Wolverine.

“My name is Benjamin Percy and my favorite mutant is Wolverine,” Percy said.