HOUSE OF X #1 PARTY VARIANT

It doesn't get much better than this! Absolutely delighted to pick this up. A great addition to my HOXPOX collection!

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"When two aggressive species share the same environment, evolution demands adaptation or dominance." With this ominous announcement appearing in comics on 13 March 2019 we knew something was coming. This was followed a week later with another one-pager which simply said "HICKMAN" and "JULY 2019". No more words were needed. Legendary writer Jonathan Hickman was involved and we had a launch date. Wild speculation followed! A few days later, alongside stunning artwork by Mark Brooks (which became connecting variant covers for HOX#1 and POX#1) Marvel Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski announced at Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at C2E2 that Jonathan Hickman would be writing House of X and Powers of X, with Pepe Larraz illustrating House of X, R.B. Silva illustrating Powers of X, and Marte Gracia providing colours for both. In an accompanying statement, Cebulski said, "We are excited to have Jon back with the Marvel family, and we could not have asked for a better creative team to help usher the X-Men into a whole new era. While we can’t reveal too much about the story just yet, these new stories will redefine the X-Men and their place in the Marvel Universe. This is a historic moment both new and passionate fans won’t want to miss.” Hickman added, "Let me just say that we have radical, radical plans for all of you. I grew up primarily a DC Comics guy; the only book I read of Marvel growing up was the X-Men. All the books I've done at Marvel up to this point, those were fantastic jobs - but they were jobs. This is was the first book I've loved before I started doing. I probably haven't been more proud of anything I've worked on than this. I think all of you will be pretty jacked. We're doing some different radical stuff. Two books that'll you have to read both to stay tuned, but there's a good reason for it."

Expectations were set. Very high! And it didn't stop there. Bleeding Cool got the text of Marvel's solicitations for HOX#1 and POX#1 10 days early! And we weren't disappointed -

HOX#1: "Superstar writer Jonathan Hickman (SECRET WARS, AVENGERS, FANTASTIC FOUR) takes the reins of the X-Men universe! Since the release of Uncanny X-Men #1, there have been four seminal moments in the history of the X-Men. Giant-Sized X-Men. X-Men. Age of Apocalypse. New X-Men. Four iconic series that introduced a new era for Marvel’s mutants and revolutionized the X-Men. In House of X, Charles Xavier reveals his master plan for mutantkind…one that will bring mutants out of the shadow of mankind and into the light once more."

POX#1: "Superstar writer Jonathan Hickman (INFINTY, NEW AVENGERS, FF) continues his revolutionary new direction for the X-Men. Intertwining with HOUSE OF X, POWERS OF X reveals the secret past, present and future of mutantkind, changing the way you look at every X-Men story before and after. You do not want to miss the next seminal moment in the history of the X-Men!"

About a week after the official solicitations release date, Bleeding Cool did it again. Under the headline "A Look Inside House Of X and Powers Of X – Fear The Future?" Bleeding Cool had another exclusive, this time stunning artwork from the pages of HOX#1 and POX#1, and a new ad for Powers of X including a new strapline not present on the solicitations: FEAR THE FUTURE. Bleeding Cool's Rich Johnston commented, "Fear the Future? What future is there to fear?" (Bleeding Cool, 24 April 2019). Marvel kept us all intrigued and excited as the days and weeks went by, in May Hickman sharing his thoughts on all things X-Men with Adventures in Poor Taste as part of its X-Men Monday column, and then with CBR, with more panels and internal pages revealed as well. At the same time, Marvel gave us a series of tantalizing teasers on social media, triggering more theories and rumours as we tried to decipher and interpret what each one might mean. And when it launched HOXPOX was 12 weeks we'll never forget!