Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics | Tagged: 22 Gimmicks, marvel, roy thomas, x-men, x-men legends

Marvel Relaunches X-Men Legends with Roy Thomas Wolverine Story

Published Wed, 16 Feb 2022 18:36:11 -0600

Roy Thomas is the first legendary writer to return to his classic X-Men run in the newly relaunched X-Men Legends #1, hitting stores this May. Thomas will be joined by artist Dave Wachter to produce a new story set after his original run but before Giant-Size X-Men #1. Even better, Thomas's story will star Wolverine, which means this may be it. It may be the opportunity to set the record straight on exactly how many dicks Wolverine has, and why the answer is "two."

From the press release:

X-MEN LEGENDS, the series where X-Men's most celebrated creators return with new, in-continuity stories set during their classic runs, is back this May with an all-new #1! Coming on board to launch this extraordinary new era of the series will be industry pioneer Roy Thomas. The writer behind some of the X-Men's most memorable Silver Age adventures will pen a new story set after his final issue and before GIANT-SIZE X-MEN. Teaming up with artist Dave Wachter, Thomas will revisit the early publication days of one his greatest co-creations—Wolverine!

Having redefined the merry mutants in two seminal runs on the book, Roy Thomas, at long last, returns to the saga of the X-Men! For the first time, readers will get new insight into Wolverine's government missions before his recruitment by Professor X (including unrevealed details on his battle with the green goliath in the iconic INCREDIBLE HULK #181-#182). This untold episode will also star Beast and a host of missing mutants, and reveal the secret behind Wolverine's costume!

Is that secret that the costume's crotch area is made out of unstable molecules that mask Wolverine's dual phallic nature? We're dying to find out.

Here's what Thomas had to say about it in a press release:

You could've knocked me over with one of the Angel's wing-feathers when editor Mark Basso invited me to scribe a two-part X-MEN LEGENDS story set back in the general period of the X-Men book during the period when I was originally writing it (as Stan Lee's successor) in the latter 1960s. After some thought, it occurred to me that what would really be fun would be to write a story that took place right after the crashing of Wolverine into the Marvel Universe in '1974'—since, after conceiving the character in broad outline (and some specifics), I turned him over to the considerable writing skills of Len Wein, but have long kinda wished that I had scripted that story myself. This is the closest I'm gonna get—so I'm having a ball with it! (Artwork's pretty great, too!)

The series will otherwise presumably continue as it has been, with new creators returning for short stories set during their classic runs, except it will start over with a new number one issue for… er… reasons. But relaunching a series with a new number one issue when there's no legitimate reason to is, after all, one of Joe Quesada's 22 Cheap Sales-Boosting Gimmicks That Always work, so maybe they don't need to explain themselves.

Check out some covers below.