All New X-Men

The GLAAD Media Awards have always provided an interesting marker for the progress of queer representation in mainstream comics. While in the past many comics received nominations and accolades for achieving minimal levels of inclusion, the industry is now bustling with competition for the award, which celebrates LGBTQ characters and themes in comics. This year's shortlist is the biggest one yet, and the field is wide open for anyone to take home the coveted award.

Marvel's Monster's Unleashed still has the tie-ins we've come to expect from event comics, but rather than taking up space and derailing the ongoing creative team's story, Marvel is publishing one-shots, giving other creators a chance to pit Marvel heroes against classic Marvel monsters. Today, the publisher announced four more one-shots as part of the event, as the war against the monsters goes global.

Since the announcement of the Death of X crossover event between the X-Men and the Inhumans, fans of the Marvel's merry mutants have been worried that the end may be nigh for the Children of the Atom. These worries certainly weren't abated when Marvel released the Marvel NOW Previews book, which contained no mention of the ongoing X-Men titles continuing into October. At a panel on Thursday during San Diego Comic Con, Marvel editors and creators spoke about the tease of what Death of X might mean for the franchise, but several of the ongoing titles such as Uncanny, All-New and Extraordinary X-Men were confirmed to be continuing. The big news, however, is that Laura Kinney AKA Wolverine will be following in her mentor's bloody footsteps in a sequel to Mark Millar and John Romita Jr's "Enemy of the State."

Who are the greatest X-Men of all time? To mark the release of X-Men: Apocalypse, we came up with the ultimate list of the top 100 characters ever to wear the X as part of the extended family of Professor Charles Xavier's Westchester school. These are the very best heroes (and sometimes villains) in more than fifty years of stories about Marvel mutants fighting for a world that hates and fears them! The final list was determined by a combination of our expert panel's rankings and our readers' votes, and as you might expect, the results offer an amazing selection of icons, powerhouses, and gorgeous freaks --- not to mention a few unexpectedly popular weirdoes. But it wouldn't be the X-Men without embracing the appeal of the weird.

Who are the greatest ever X-Men? We’re going to try to answer that question with your help, by putting the spotlight on different individual X-Men from across the franchise’s long history and pairing up your votes with the votes and opinions of our panel of highly opinionated X-Men fans. Your scores will be added to ours to determine the top 100 X-Men. Today we're asking for your input on the greatness of two of the toughest young women ever to wield Wolverine claws, Kitty Pryde and Laura Kinney, plus the latest and youngest of the many Marvel mutant redheads. But perhaps most contentious of all, here's your chance to decide if Gambit is the best or the worst.

There have been two Hawkeyes for years. Now there are two Spider-Men, and soon there will be two Captains America. There’s officially only one Thor, but there’s also this guy named Odinson who readers still like to call Thor, while referring to the real Thor as Lady Thor or similar. But there’s only one Wolverine, and her name is Laura Kinney. No disrespect to James “Logan” Howlett, the original Wolverine. He was a great character, but he lived a long life and then died. His elderly counterpart from another world is hanging around, but that guy has no interest in being Wolverine. So that leaves us with a new Wolverine, with countless stories ahead and lots of room to grow. Which is why I hope Logan never comes back. I don’t say that with animosity. I grew up with Logan as Wolverine, but his story is over, and I genuinely think that’s for the best.

All-New X-Men has quickly proven itself to be a fan-favorite title within the X-Books since it started last year, with Dennis Hopeless, Mark Bagley, Nolan Woodard and Cory Petit bringing together a team of young teen characters to valiantly surge forward through a world that hates and fears them. Despite having everything stacked against them, the cast have struck home with readers due to their determination to fight back and proudly stand up for who they are... and not what the world thinks they might be. Although characters like X-23, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Idie, and Angel all stand poised in the dark shadows of their past and possible futures, the series stands out as a more purely entertaining and character-driven series than anything else. It's fun, and a lot of that fun is down to the immediate creative synergy between Bagley and Hopeless. ComicsAlliance caught up with Hopeless to get a closer look at the unruly team of teen heroes he's assembled, and to get a glimpse into what awaits the characters over the next few months.

The second story arc of Dennis Hopeless and Mark Bagley's All-New X-Men run begins in issue #4 next month, and the first chapter of "Flesh Wounds" sees Wolverine jumping headfirst into a fight with the Blob. Good old Fred Dukes appears to be powered up since his last appearance, and he's wearing a suit and tie. So regardless of how this story goes, congrats on getting it together, Blob!

The "All-New All-Different" X-books have announced their first crossover, sort of, starting in March of 2016. X-Men: Apocalypse Wars is being described as three separate stories, in each of the three main X-books (and each lasting only one issue, apparently) that all center on the X-villain who also happens to be the focus of the upcoming movie X-Men: Apocalypse. The issues also sport three matching covers, featuring Apocalypse, Archangel, and Kid Apocalypse.

The beginning isn’t always the beginning, especially in comics. The All-New X-Men #1 that came out this week, written by Dennis Hopeless and drawn by Mark Bagley, is not the first comic with that title and number. The previous All-New X-Men series began in 2012 and ended a few months ago with the departure of writer Brian Michael Bendis and the beginning of Secret Wars. And of course, the All-New X-Men were never exactly all new. That first series told the story of the original five X-Men — Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Iceman, and Angel — being plucked out of the past from their early days with the team and into the present, which to them was dark future timeline. This series picks up their story — minus Marvel Girl, who’s over in Extraordinary X-Men instead — and takes it in a direction that really does feel “all new.”