Marvel's X-Men renaissance is continuing with a brand new title, scheduled for release this April. Children Of The Atom, by Vita Ayala and Bernard Chang, will focus on a brand new team of teenage mutants who are directly inspired by some of the most famous X-Men in history.
"The initial seed of the idea actually came from [Editor] Chris Robinson: What if the X-Men had sidekicks?" explained Ayala in a press release. "My take on it became, what would actual kids from our current time be like if they were X-Men sidekicks? What would Gen Z X-Men be like?"
Of course, this won't be the first time Marvel has introduced a "next generation" style X-Men spin-off populated by new characters. Titles like New X-Men back in the early 2000s dealt with the reinvention and resurgence of teenage students at the Xavier Institute Of Higher Learning--and provided readers with up close and personal looks at some of the coolest new mutants around (Icarus, Blindfold, Surge, we're talking about you). Though only a handful of these heroes would go on to be more than flashes in the proverbial pan, the precedent for new teenage mutants coming out of the woodwork to be taught by those who came before them has long since been set.
It does seem, however, that this book will be taking a page out of a more recent Marvel playbook and taking a more meta-fictional look at the impact of mutants on the greater in-universe society. "What makes the new cast special to me is that they are reflective of a lot of people I know who look up to what the X-Men stand for, and have taken it upon themselves to further those ideals. These kids are exactly the kids who, in real life, have posters of Storm and Wolverine in their rooms, who grew up seeing them as heroes and want to live up to that," Ayala said. Think something along the lines of Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and her adoration of Carol Danvers--except, you know, with mutants. Obviously, the similarities between these new characters and some of the most immediately recognizable X-Men on the planet are no accident.
Children of the Atom #1 hits shelves this April.