In conjunction with the end of Marvel's Secret Wars story line, the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe reboot, and long-time writer Brian Michael Bendis' departure from his work with the publishing company's X-Men franchise, Marvel is releasing all of the variant covers from Bendis' last issue for Uncanny X-Men. (Uncanny X-Men #600, to be exact.)
The issue not only marks Bendis' wrap-up with Marvel's longest-running line Uncanny X-Men (originally titled The X-Men upon its first publication in 1963), but as well as the end of his run with All-New X-Men. While Bendis has worked for Marvel since 2000, he joined the creative teams for both lines in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
For the uninitiated, All-New X-Men takes place immediately post-Avengers v. X-Men, and follows Cyclops after he breaks out of prison and teams up with Emma Frost, Magneto, and Magik to go up against humans who are dead-set on persecuting mutants, freeing imprisoned mutants in the process. Uncanny X-Men also features a continuation of that rebellion, as well as the founding of the New Charles Xavier School for the Gifted.
According to a press release issued by Marvel, "each of these stunning variant covers showcases a different era of Marvel's Merry Mutants, brought to life by some of the X-Men's most memorable artists," which include names like Art Adams, Paul Smith, Rick Leonardi, Adam Hughes, Olivier Coipel, Ed McGuinness, Leinil Yu, and Kris Anka.
Uncanny X-Men #600 will also feature almost 40 pages of original material in addition to the main storyline – all written by Bendis – accompanied with art by Anka, as well as Stuart Immonen, Chris Bachalo, Sara Pichelli, David Marquez, Mahmud Asrar, and Frazier Irving.
As for Bendis, his last issue of Uncanny X-Men has left the writer feeling bittersweet, and a little nostalgic to boot:
"It's absolutely lovely. One of the great joys of this job is that if you play your cards right you get to meet your heroes, you get to work with them sometimes, [and] you get to feel their embrace. Then you're like 'Oh my God, I'm actually writing the Uncanny X-Men I read as a kid' and someone right now will say that same thing in 20 years when they're doing it. It's a true honor."
Check out some of the variants below.
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