Last night was the opening of the 2011 New York Comic Con commonly called “preview night.” It’s a chance for press, professionals and 4-day pass holders to be the first on the show floor to see what this year has to offer. NYCC has grown by leaps and bounds and the inclusion of a preview night brings it closer to being on par with the annual mayhem at the San Diego Comic Con. One of the key attractions of Thursday night is undoubtedly the lighter crowds and we took full advantage trying to take in as much as we could in the time allotted.

So what exactly can attendees expect over the next thee days? Read on…

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The X-Men Regenesis #1 one-shot ushers in the post-Schism status quo for Marvel’s mutant heroes that will be introduced across the X-Men line this Fall. We didn’t say much about details of the recently concluded Schism mini-series here at MLD, and much of that had to do with taking a wait-and-see approach after the Prelude to Schism series didn’t connect to it at all. I still enjoyed Prelude, but it was a point of frustration that put me off discussing the details here. Thankfully, Kieron Gillen’s issue chronicling the upcoming changes has put things back on track.

Spoilers for the dawn of Marvel’s X-Men: Regenesis era may follow.

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For the past two weeks, Marvel Comics has been releasing a set of their trademark silhouetted teaser images, this time focusing on the X-Men line. With the promise of big changes to the X-Men’s status quo following the current Schism series by Jason Aaron, these teasers suggest a very different landscape for Marvel’s mutants beyond Cyclops simply being at odds with Wolverine. It appears that Regenesis will be a line wide revamp similar in nature to 2004’s X-Men: ReLoad and 2000’s X-Men: Revolution/Counter-X.

The initial promotional image for November’s X-Men: Regenesis focused on the division between characters that would be part of the new Wolverine and the X-Men title and the relaunching Uncanny X-Men. As these latest teasers have rolled out, we now see that no less than eight ongoing X-titles will be part of Regenesis.

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Marvel’s X-Men: Schism series begins tomorrow touted as the “X-Men event of the decade.” That’s a bold claim considering recent X-events like House of M, Messiah Complex and Second Coming, but as the title suggests Schism does promise to divide the mutant community and shake up the X-Men’s current status quo. The publication of the X-line will also be altered by the on-page effects of Schism as a new volume of Uncanny X-Men along with a new book titled Wolverine and the X-Men will spin out of this series. In preparation for the debut of Schism, Marvel shipped a weekly, four issue Prelude to Schism miniseries by Paul Jenkins throughout June.

Spoilers for Prelude to Schism will follow along with a lot of speculation about what will drive the X-Men apart this Summer.

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I had already planned to write about the X-Men today with the movie premiering last weekend and lots of other X related stuff always on my mind, but Marvel’s announcement that they’re canceling Uncanny X-Men at issue #544 in October took things in an “all new, all different” direction.

I haven’t said much about it here, but a big summer X-Men event called Schism is starting next month under Marvel’s MMXI – Year of the Mutants banner. The premise is that Cyclops and Wolverine will finally reach an irreconcilable point of disagreement and the X-Men will be divided as never before. The creative team of writer Jason Aaron and artists Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Anuña, Alan Davis and Adam Kubert sounds phenomenal, but as a mini series announced in the midst of three other major events affecting the X-Men line (Fear Itself, X-Men: First to Last and Age of X) I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I certainly didn’t expect it to lead to the “cancellation” of the flagship Uncanny X-Men.

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