"Revolution" was the title given to the May 2000 revamp of

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...

-related

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, timed to coincide with the publication of ''

'' vol. 2 #100.

Publication history

In each series, the "Revolution" issue represented a jump of six months after the previous issue's events. In most cases, "Revolution" also marked an attempt to send each title in a new creative direction. To this end, new creative teams were assigned to the titles. Many characters'

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

s were redesigned, and a "Revolution" logo was printed along the right-hand side of each issue. The most publicized of the changes was the return of writer

Chris Claremont Christopher S. Claremont (; born November 25, 1950) is a British-born American comic book writer and novelist, known for his 17-year stint on ''Uncanny X-Men'' from 1975 to 1991, far longer than that of any other writer,Claremont, Chris. ''Marvel ...

to the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

titles ''

'' vol. 2 and '' Uncanny X-Men'', after nearly a decade's absence. The event also included nods to early-1990s marketing strategies, such as printing

variant cover In comic books, a variant cover (sometimes variant edition) refers to an issue of a comic book printed with multiple covers, each with unique cover art. The first comic book marketed with a variant cover was the 1986 first issue of '' The Man of St ...

s and including

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other ...

s. The excitement of the event was dampened by Marvel Comics' timing, as most of the series involved had launched with all or part of their new creative teams a month before the event, even though the "Revolution" logo was still printed on the May issues. ''Uncanny X-Men'' did not join the "Revolution" event until its June 2000 issue. Furthermore, Claremont stated in later interviews that he had

ghostwritten ''Ghostwritten'' is the first novel published by English author David Mitchell. Published in 1999, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was widely acclaimed. The story takes place mainly around East Asia, but also moves through Russia, B ...

several issues of various X-Men titles before the event.

Counter-X

As part of the Revolution event three X-titles, ''X-Man'', ''X-Force'', and ''Generation X'' were to be show-run by a longstanding creator working with new writers and artists. Originally Rob Liefeld had been approached to take over the titles, but turned down the offer when he found out he would be unable to hire his own colorists.

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

was then approached, and the Counter-X line was born. Ellis plotted the general direction for each of the Counter-X books, and initially co-wrote each title with

Steven Grant Steven Grant (born October 22, 1953) is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series ''The Punisher'' with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper. Biography Comic books Grant has ...

on '' X-Man'',

Ian Edginton Ian Edginton is a British comic book writer, known for his work on such titles as ''X-Force'', '' Scarlet Traces'', '' H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds'' and ''Leviathan''. Career Ian Edginton is known for his steampunk/ alternate history wor ...

on ''

X-Force X-Force is a fictional team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team first appeared in ''New Mutants#New Muta ...

'', and Brian Wood on ''

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

''.

Aftermath

The "Revolution" event was poorly received by fans and critics, leading to Claremont leaving ''X-Men'' and ''Uncanny X-Men'' after nine months. The X-Men line of books were revamped again in July 2001 with Grant Morrison writing '' New X-Men'',

Joe Casey Joe Casey is an American comic book writer. He has worked on titles such as '' Wildcats 3.0'', ''Uncanny X-Men'', '' The Intimates'', '' Adventures of Superman'', and '' G.I. Joe: America's Elite'' among others. As part of the comics creator grou ...

writing '' Uncanny X-Men'', and Claremont writing the new title ''

X-Treme X-Men ''X-Treme X-Men'' is the name of two comic book series published by Marvel Comics, the first from 2001 through 2004, and the second from 2012 through 2013. All 46 issues of the first series were written by Chris Claremont, and featured a glo ...

''.

Bibliography

The included issues, in order of publication, were: *'' Cable'' #79, with new writer Robert Weinberg and recently arrived penciller Michael Ryan and inker

Andrew Pepoy Andrew Pepoy (born 1969) is an American comic book writer and artist. Career Pepoy began working as a professional artist while still in college at Loyola University Chicago. He has worked on a large variety of comics, including ''Superman'', ''S ...

. *'' Gambit'' #16, with recently arrived penciller Yanick Paquette and inker

Sean Parsons Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

. *''

'' #63, with new co-writers

and Brian Wood, new penciller

Steve Pugh Steve Pugh ( ;) is a British comic book artist who has worked for American and British comic producers including DC Comics, DC, Marvel Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse and ''2000 AD (comic), 2000 AD''. He broke into the industry in ...

, and new inker Sandu Florea. *''

'' #100, with returning writer

, new penciller

Leinil Francis Yu Leinil Francis Yu (born 1977) is a People of the Philippines, Filipino comic book artist, who began working for the United States, American market through Wildstorm Productions. Career Leinil Francis Yu was first recognized after winning the ''W ...

, and new inker

Mark Morales Mark Anthony Morales (February 19, 1968 – February 18, 2021), better known by the stage name Prince Markie Dee, was an American rapper, songwriter, producer, actor, and radio personality. Morales was a member of the Fat Boys, a pioneering hi ...

*''

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

'' #150, with new writer/penciller

Steve Skroce Steve Skroce () is a Canadian comic book and film storyboard artist. He is of Croatian descent. Biography Skroce broke into comics in 1993 on the Clive Barker series ''Ectokid'' for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint. He went to work on the Marv ...

and new inker

Lary Stucker The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent local ...

(with "special thanks to"

Larry Wachowski Lana Wachowski (born June 21, 1965, formerly known as Larry Wachowski) and Lilly Wachowski (born December 29, 1967, formerly known as Andy Wachowski) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans ...

, and limited to a four-month story arc). *''

'' #102, with new co-writers

and

, new penciller Whilce Portacio, and new inker Gerry Alanguilan. *'' X-Man'' #63, with new co-writers

and

and new artist Ariel Olivetti. *'' Uncanny X-Men'' #381 (June 2000), with returning writer

, new penciller

Adam Kubert Adam Kubert (; born 1959) is an American comics artist known for his work for publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including work on ''Action Comics'', '' Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine'', ''The Incredible Hulk'', ''Ultimate Fantas ...

, and new inker Tim Townsend. *'' Magneto: Dark Seduction'' #1 (June 2000), the first issue of a mini-series by Fabian Nicieza, Roger Cruz, and Andy Owens.

Collected editions

The Revolution stories by Chris Claremont have been collected in a

Marvel Omnibus ''Marvel Omnibus'' is a line of large format, high quality, full color, hardcover graphic novel omnibuses published by Marvel Comics. The ''Marvel Omnibus'' series reprints comics previously printed in single-issue format. Unlike Marvel's '' Esse ...

* ''X-Men: Revolution by Chris Claremont Omnibus'' (collects X-Men (1991) #100–109; X-Men Annual 2000; Uncanny X-Men #381–389; X-Men Unlimited (1993) #27–29; X-Men: Black Sun #1–5; Bishop: The Last X-Man #15–16; Cable (1993) #87, 904 pages, August 14, 2018 ) Other titles were collected as

trade paperbacks A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, ...

*''Cable: Revolution'' (collects ''Cable'' #79–96, 440 pages, April 25, 2018, ) *''Wolverine: Blood Debt'' (collects ''Wolverine'' #150-153, 112 pages, July 30, 2001, ) The Counter-X run was collected with its own sub-branded trade paperback: * ''Volume 1: X-Force'' (collects ''X-Force'' #102-109, 192 pages, July 2008, ) * ''Volume 2: Generation X'' (collects ''Generation X'' #63-70, 192 pages, October 2008, ) * ''Volume 3: X-Man'' (collects ''X-Man'' #63-70, 192 pages, December 2008, ) * ''Volume 4: X-Force'' (collects ''X-Force'' #110-115, 102; Rough Cut, 176 pages, August 2012, ) * ''Volume 5: Generation X - Four Days'' (collects ''Generation X'' #71-74, February 26, 2013, ) * ''Volume 6: X-Man: Fearful Symmetries'' (collects ''X-Man'' 71-75, material from X-Men Unlimited (1993) 31, 152 pages, April 23, 2013, ) * This volume was solicited for release but cancelled in March 2013 before being published.

References

External links

*{{comicbookdb, type=storyarc, id=816, title=Revolution
"The Six-Month Gap"
a detailed review of "Revolution" at uncannyxmen.net Comics by Chris Claremont Comics by Warren Ellis X-Men storylines