Is Jeff Lemire Going To Be The New Lead X-Men Writer?

By Nick Tylwalk | Jun 11, 2015

It’s not like Marvel is completely trying to act like the X-Men don’t exist. Cyclops is front and center in Secret Wars as one of the few surviving Earth-616 heroes, and there are plenty of mutant-filled tie-in books. But since the cold war with Fox is still in full effect, and the Inhumans being pushed as heroes who protect a world that fears them, it’s not incorrect to say the X-Men are being de-emphasized.

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Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool thinks that’s okay. As he points out, when the X-Men are left alone, creators sometimes knock the ball out of the park with great stories. The chance of an X-Men renaissance would be even greater with a top notch writer leading the charge, someone like, say, Jeff Lemire.

That might be exactly what we get after Secret Wars, as Johnston filtered through the Special Edition: NYC after-hours buzz to get the scoop.

"Well, I understand from rampant gossip among professionals in the bars following Special Edition: NYC last weekend, that he will be the lead writer on Marvel’s X-Men comic books, whatever they will be, after the Secret Wars event comes to an end."

Lemire has an exclusive contract with Marvel at the moment, though since he can still write Valiant titles and his own creator-owned stuff, it stretches the definition of “exclusive” as I know it. Nevertheless, he’s a talent with a proven track record at DC, and it was expected that he’d end up on something big this fall, like an Avengers title.

Instead, it appears he’ll be guiding the futures of Marvel’s mutants, whether they’re off on their own planet or still part of the new Marvel Earth after Secret Wars. It would certainly be cool to see Lemire work some magic and make people sit up and take notice of the X-Men books again, whether that’s really the intended goal or not.

(via Bleeding Cool, obviously)

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