X-Men: Red is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics, featuring characters from X-Men stories.
The first series was an eleven-issue comic book series published by Marvel Comics in monthly installments between February and December 2018. It was written by Tom Taylor and illustrated by Mahmud A. Asrar. The book followed a new team of X-Men led by Jean Grey following her return in Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey.
The second series featured the conflicting mutant factions on the terraformed Mars, renamed Arakko.
Publication history
Volume 1 X-Men: Red is part of the X-Men franchise and a sister book to X-Men Gold and X-Men Blue, which began ten months earlier. It follows the events of the 2017–2018 miniseries Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey written by Matthew Rosenberg and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu. The series was promoted as part of Marvel's Fresh Start, a full company relaunch of publications. The first issue, released February 7, 2018, was written by Tom Taylor and illustrated by Mahmud Asrar. It was available in ten different variant covers. Taylor's initial plans for the series did not involve any crossovers with other comic series.
Jean Grey, a character recently resurrected after being dead for over a decade, assembles a new team with the intent to create a mutant nation. Her initial allies are Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Honey Badger, Gentle, Trinary, and Namor. They use Atlantis as their headquarters. After she attempts to convince the UN to recognize the mutant race as a nation with full human rights, Jean is framed for the murder of an English congresswoman by Cassandra Nova, who uses this to alienate Jean in the public eye and label her a fugitive. Jean's team is forced to act in secret as she continues in her goal to "heal the world".
An annual was published in May 2018, detailing the events between Phoenix Resurrection and X-Men: Red #1.
Volume 2 A second volume of the title written by Al Ewing was published during the "Destiny of X" relaunch of X-Men books and is a successor to Ewing's S.W.O.R.D. series. The series follows the mutants of Arakko, a living island that was relocated to Mars.
Main characters These characters are credited as main cast in the respective comics. Series and first credition Characters #1 #3 #5 #1 #3 #4 #5 #6 #8 #10 #11 #12 #13 X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 #15 #16 #17
Team rosters X-Men Character codenameReal nameNotes Honey Badger Gabrielle "Gabby" Kinney Joined in X-Men: Red #1. Marvel Girl Jean Elaine Grey Namor Namor Mackenzie Nightcrawler Kurt Wagner Wolverine Laura Kinney Trinary Shilpa Khatri Joined in X-Men: Red #1 (flashback X-Men: Red #2). Gentle Nezhno Abidemi Joined in X-Men: Red #1 (flashback X-Men: Red #4). Storm Ororo Munroe Gambit Remy Etienne LeBeau Joined in X-Men: Red #5.
X-Men Red X-Men Red was formed by Abigail Brand to police Planet Arakko.
Character codenameReal nameNotes Abigail Brand Leader. Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #2. Cable Nathan Summers Field leader. Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #2. Frenzy Joanna Cargill Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #2. Manifold Eden Fesi Joined and left in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #2 Mentallo Marvin Flumm Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #2. Random Marshall Stone III Vulcan Gabriel Summers
Brotherhood of Arakko The Brotherhood of Arakko was formed by Storm in opposition to X-Men Red and later fought against Genesis' army during the Genesis War.
Character codenameReal nameNotes Fisher King Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #1. Merged with teammate Xilo in X-Men Red (vol. 2) #14. Died in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #18. Magneto Max Eisenhardt Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #1. Died in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #7. Storm Ororo Munroe Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #1. Sunspot Roberto "Bobby" da Costa Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #1. Khora of the Burning Heart Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #5. Wrongslide Lodus Logos Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #10. Sobunar of the Depths Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #10. Left in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #13. Nova Richard Rider Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #12. Jon Ironfire Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #14. Kobak Never-Held Xilo Joined and merged with teammate Fisher King in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #14. Syzya of the Smoke Joined in X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #15.
Great Ring of Arakko
The Great Ring of Arakko is the governing body of Arakko.
Reception Volume 1 Prior to publication, the series generated interest for starring Jean Grey, a character who was killed nearly 15 years earlier in New X-Men #150 (February 2004). According to review aggregator Comic Book Roundup, the debut issue received an average score of 8.2 out of 10 based on 33 critical reviews.
In a review for Newsarama, David Pepose praised the plot of the book for its focus on the coexistence of humans and mutants, which he said was the main premise of the X-Men franchise. IGN reviewer Jesse Schedeen agreed, saying the "franchise has a bad habit of ... losing sight of the mutant metaphor and its allegorical power", but was glad X-Men: Red makes it a primary focus. Although they found Mahmud Asrar's art to be flawed but adequate, both of them liked Tom Taylor's portrayal of Grey and her supporting cast. Pepose specifically liked that Grey was a leader instead of a symbol, love interest, or target.
Prints Volume 1 Issue Publication date Writer Artist Colorist Comic Book Roundup rating Estimated sales to North American retailers (first month) #1 February 7, 2018 Tom Taylor Mahmud Asrar Ive Svorcina 8.1 by 34 professional critics 98,468 #2 March 7, 2018 8.0 by 15 professional critics 49,084 #3 April 11, 2018 8.1 by 10 professional critics 56,531 #4 May 16, 2018 Rain Beredo 8.2 by 13 professional critics 44,607 Annual #1 May 30, 2018 Pascal Alixe Chris Sotomayor 7.5 by 16 professional critics 38,444 #5 June 6, 2018 Mahmud Asrar Rain Beredo 9.1 by 10 professional critics 38,372 #6 July 18, 2018 Carmen Carnero 9.1 by 10 professional critics 36,808 #7 August 22, 2018 9.0 by 15 professional critics 39,634 #8 September 26, 2018 8.6 by 8 professional critics 39,763 #9 October 24, 2018 Rogê Antônio 8.2 by 9 professional critics 36,673 #10 November 7, 2018 8.5 by 10 professional critics 31,821 #11 December 12, 2018 8.8 by 5 professional critics 30,415
Volume 2 Issue Publication date Writer Artist Colorist Comic Book Roundup rating Estimated sales to North American retailers (first month) #1 April 6, 2022 Al Ewing Stefano Caselli Federico Blee 8.6 by 17 professional critics 26,735 #2 May 18, 2022 8.7 by 13 professional critics rowspan="18" #3 June 15, 2022 Federico Blee, Fernando Sifuentes 8.9 by 11 professional critics #4 June 29, 2022 Juan Cabal, Andrés Genolet, Michael Sta. Maria Federico Blee 8.6 by 10 professional critics #5 August 3, 2022 Stefano Caselli 8.3 by 9 professional critics #6 September 14, 2022 8.7 by 10 professional critics #7 October 5, 2022 Federico Blee, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo 8.6 by 6 professional critics #8 November 2, 2022 Madibek Musabekov Federico Blee 8.0 by 9 professional critics #9 December 7, 2022 Stefano Caselli 8.7 by 7 professional critics #10 January 4, 2023 Stefano Caselli, Jacopo Camagni 8.8 by 8 professional critics #11 May 10, 2023 9.1 by 7 professional critics #12 June 14, 2023 Jacopo Camagni 6.9 by 4 professional critics X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 June 28, 2023 Luca Pizzari, Stefano Landini, Raphael Pimento Ceci De La Cruz 7.8 by 10 professional critics #13 July 19, 2023 Jacopo Camagni Federico Blee 8.1 by 5 professional critics #14 August 16, 2023 Yıldıray Çınar 8.4 by 6 professional critics #15 September 13, 2023 8.2 by 6 professional critics #16 October 11, 2023 9.0 by 4 professional critics #17 November 8, 2023 8.0 by 5 professional critics #18 December 13, 2023 8.6 by 6 professional critics
Collected editions
Volume 1 # Title Material collectedPages Publication date ISBN1The Hate Machine X-Men: Red #1–5, Annual #11442Waging Peace X-Men: Red #6–11136
Volume 2 # Material collectedPages Publication date ISBNX-Men: Red by Al Ewing – Volume 1 X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #1–5152X-Men: Red by Al Ewing – Volume 2 X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #6–10136X-Men: Red by Al Ewing – Volume 3 X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #11–13, X-Men: Before the Fall – The Heralds of Apocalypse #1 120X-Men: Red by Al Ewing – Volume 4X-Men: Red (vol. 2) #14–18136
References
External links Official site