Marvel has announced two additional one-shots to spotlight some of the players in Jonathan Hickman’s Imperial miniseries. Imperial War: Exiles and Imperial War: Nova Centurian will both arrive this fall.
In case you missed it, Imperial is the latest project from Hickman, the architect of Marvel’s Ultimate Comics relaunch, the Krakoa era of the X-Men line and more. He’s working with Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini to redefine Marvel’s cosmic characters in Imperial, which kicked off earlier this month (I thought the first issue was pretty awesome myself). Marvel will publish five one-shots that tie into the event, starting with Black Panther and She-Hulk, and followed by two more in September.
Imperial War: Exiles looks like it picks up after the recent X-Manhunt event that ran through the X-Men titles. That event ended with Professor X and a resurrected Lilandra heading into space to save their daughter, Xandra. Hickman, Steve Foxe and Francesco Manna will show us what happens next for the star-crossed lovers and their genetically engineered daughter:
A coup at home has imperiled Shi’ar Majestrix Xandra, tearing her from the throne in IMPERIAL WAR: EXILES. Her only hope for survival lies in a mismatched group of renegades led by her father, Professor Charles Xavier, and her resurrected mother, Lilandra! But when faced with the awesome power of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, the only wayto survive… is to run!
“Mutantkind has looked to the stars since the 1970s, so there was no way we could leave the X-crew out of the Imperial master plan,” Foxe said. “Watching Jonathan build this intergalactic conspiracy was its own storytelling masterclass, and he built launch pads for all of us to tell some of the biggest stories possible on this new cosmic stage.”
Foxe offered a few hints as to who will be joining the duo as part of Team Exiles.
“This is a crew of Exiles in the truest sense of the word—a ragtag band of royals, aliens, scoundrels, robots, and furballs thrust together under dire circumstances,” he said. “And at the heart of it allis a family we’ve never really seen together in one place: Charles Xavier, Lilandra Neramani and their daughter, Xandra. But make no mistake—this is a breakneck space-chase story first and foremost, and Francesco Manna is knocking it out of the galaxy. Which is good, because if these Exiles slow down for too long… they’ll be exterminated!”
It arrives Sept. 3, to be followed a week later by Nova’s one-shot.
Richard Rider appeared in the first issue of Imperial as Star-Lord enlisted him to help investigate the story’s big murder plot. Hickman will be joined by Jed MacKay and Matteo Della Fonte on the one-shot, which will apparently tell us what’s happening with the Xandarian Worldmind — which I think we last saw being corrupted by the Cancerverse? I guess it’s still floating around out there somewhere.
“I’m very excited to take on the Human Rocket and explore the new cosmic stage defined by Imperial!” MacKay said. “The great galactic civilizations are moving into an all-new alignment, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where the last Nova Corpsman fits in when the pieces are put together.”
I’d be all for a MacKay-written Nova series, where he could redefine the character like he’s done with Moon Knight.
“Rich is really interesting to me,” MacKay said. “For a lot of his history he’s been defined as being a ‘new kid,’ from his Spider-Man-esque origin to his time with the New Warriors, even up to the opening of Annihilation. Now, he’s the last standard bearer of the old order, a veteran of a war that already seems so long ago, and the question is being asked…is a Nova still relevant in the wake of Imperial?”
Look for Imperial War: Nova Centurian on Sept. 10.