Revolution (Marvel Comics)

"Revolution" was the title given to the May 2000 revamp of Marvel Comics' X-Men-related comic books, timed to coincide with the publication of X-Men vol. 2 #100.

Publication history

In each series, the "Revolution" issue represented a jump of six months after the previous issue's events. In most cases, "Revolution" also marked an attempt to send each title in a new creative direction, and to this end new creative teams were assigned to the titles. Many characters' costumes were redesigned, and a "Revolution" logo was printed along the right-hand side of each issue.

The most publicized of the changes was the return of writer Chris Claremont to the flagship titles X-Men vol. 2 and Uncanny X-Men, after nearly a decade's absence.

The event also included nods to early-1990s marketing strategies such as printing variant covers^[1] and including trading cards.^[2]

The excitement of the event was dampened by Marvel Comics' timing, as most of the series involved had launched with all or part of their new creative teams a month before the event, even though the "Revolution" logo was still printed on the May issues, and Uncanny X-Men did not join the "Revolution" event until its June 2000 issue. Furthermore, Claremont stated in later interviews that he had ghostwritten several issues of various X-Men titles before the event.

Counter-X

Furthermore, three of the titles involved in the event, (X-Man, X-Force, and Generation X), were rebranded to Counter-X. Writer Warren Ellis plotted the general direction for each of the Counter-X books, and co-wrote each title with Steven Grant on X-Man, Ian Edginton on X-Force, and Brian Wood on Generation X.

Aftermath

The "Revolution" event was poorly received by fans and critics, leading to Claremont leaving X-Men and Uncanny X-Men after nine months. The X-Men line of books were revamped again in July 2001 with Grant Morrison writing New X-Men, Joe Casey writing Uncanny X-Men, and Claremont writing the new title X-Treme X-Men.

Bibliography

The included issues, in order of publication, were:

• Cable #79, with new writer Robert Weinberg and recently arrived penciller Michael Ryan and inker Andrew Pepoy.
• Gambit #16, with recently arrived penciller Yanick Paquette and inker Sean Parsons.
• Generation X #63, with new co-writers Warren Ellis and Brian Wood, new penciller Steve Pugh, and new inker Sandu Florea.
• X-Men #100, with returning writer Chris Claremont, new penciller Leinil Francis Yu, and new inker Mark Morales
• Wolverine #150, with new writer/penciller Steve Skroce and new inker Lary Stucker (with "special thanks to" Larry Wachowski, and limited to a four-month story arc).
• X-Force #102, with new co-writers Warren Ellis and Ian Edginton, new penciller Whilce Portacio, and new inker Gerry Alanguilan.
• X-Man #63, with new co-writers Warren Ellis and Steven Grant and new artist Ariel Olivetti.
• Uncanny X-Men #381 (June 2000), with returning writer Chris Claremont, new penciller Adam Kubert, and new inker Tim Townsend.
• Magneto: Dark Seduction #1 (June 2000), the first issue of a mini-series by Fabian Nicieza, Roger Cruz, and Andy Owens.

Collected editions

The Counter-X run has been collected as trade paperbacks:

• Counter-X:
  • Volume 1: X-Force (collects X-Force #102-109, 192 pages, July 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3304-6)
  • Volume 2: Generation X (collects Generation X #63-70, 192 pages, October 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3305-4)
  • Volume 3: X-Man (collects X-Man #63-70, 192 pages, December 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3306-2)
  • Volume 4: X-Force (collects X-Force #110-115, 102; Rough Cut, 176 pages, August 2012, ISBN 0-7851-5973-8)
  • Volume 5: Generation X - Four Days (collects Generation X #71-74, February 26, 2013, ISBN 0785167307)
  • Volume 6: X-Man: Fearful Symmetries (collects X-Man 71-75, material from X-Men Unlimited (1993) 31, 152 pages, April 23, 2013, ISBN 0785167315) * This volume was solicited for release but cancelled in March 2013 before being published. ^[3]

See also

• One Year Later, a similar DC Comics event

References

External links

• Revolution at the Comic Book DB
• "The Six-Month Gap", a detailed review of "Revolution" at uncannyxmen.net