As Marvel’s Avengers versus X-Men event looms on the horizon and Avengers: The Children’s Crusade wrapped up this week, this edition of Standard Deviations takes a look back at the set of variant cover images from 2005’s House of M. The Scarlet Witch’s “no more mutants” spell has been a defining moment for the Marvel Universe and set both of these recent series in motion. While the significance of House of M‘s story is clear, the series was also one of the first high profile examples of the return of variant coves since their hey day in the 1990s speculator market.

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Last year we spent some time talking about the relaunch of Marvel’s Avengers line here at MLD. These series introduced the publisher’s new Heroic Age that introduced new lineups, new creative teams and new threats. It was a good time to give all of these titles a shot. Some of the books really captured my attention, others did not, but they all have their appeal. As we gear up for this year’s Fear Itself crossover, the books are wrapping their current arcs and headed for some changes that make now a good time to revisit them.

Some spoiling may occur.

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The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, C2E2, went down this weekend in the Windy City. There was a lot of news from all over, but below are the things that stood out to me.

We Are the X-Men

The teaser images released last week were to showcase a new ongoing series simply titled X-Men coming in July. An interview with writer Victor Gischler and artist Paco Medina reveals that the book is intended to show the X-Men integrated in the Marvel Universe via guest stars team ups (possibly explaining the inclusion of Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Blade and Elektra in the promos). The first arc involves mutants vs. vampires.

Accompanying this announcement was another great Adi Granov image featuring a number of X-Men mainstays and word that Uncanny X-Men and X-Men: Legacy aren’t changing anything other than art teams. Of course, this could be to avoid spoiling anything in Second Coming.

New X-Force

An X-Force relaunch titled New X-Force is coming in September from writer Rick Remender and artist Jerome Opeña. It seems the current series will end at the close of Second Coming, which actually makes a lot of sense given the way this series and Cable launched out of Messiah Complex. The new book features a team led by Wolverine whose membership is currently a mystery, though the silhouettes look like Angel, Psylocke, Nightcrawler and Fanomex. Not sure how I feel about this one…

Secret Avengers

Speaking of mysteries, the full line-up of Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato’s upcoming Secret Avengers series was revealed. I managed to guess some correctly, others not so much. Featuring an espionage theme and characters spanning the Marvel Universe (Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, Black Widow, War Machine, Ant Man, Beast, Nova, Moon Knight, and Valkyrie), I think I’m definitely in for this one.  Plus I’m a huge fan of Beast.

Avengers: Children’s Crusade

This new project announced from Young Avengers creators Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung probably has piqued my interest the most. Avengers: Children’s Crusade involves the Scarlet Witch, her children and the Young Avengers, House of M and at least Magneto if not the rest of the X-Men. The book is slated to begin in July.