SDCC | Abrams ComicArts to publish John Byrne’s ‘X-Men: Elsewhen’

I can’t say I ever expected to see this news, but hey, there’s no better time than the week of Comic-Con for a surprise. Abrams ComicArts and Marvel are teaming up to publish X-Men: Elsewhen, a collection of John Byrne’s alternate history X-Men story.

Byrne is one of the legendary artists of the new X-Men, if not THE legendary artist of the new X-Men that debuted back in Giant-Sized X-Men #1. Byrne joined writer Chris Claremont on X-Men with issue #108, shortly before “Uncanny” was added to the title. Together with inker Terry Austin, he drew some of the most well-regarded issues of the title, including the Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, the introduction of Alpha Flight and more. He left the title with issue #143, and went on to work on everything from Fantastic Four to Alpha Flight to Sueprman to Doom Patrol and so much more.

Cut to about seven years ago, and Byrne started posting these X-Men: Elsewhen comics on his Byrne Robotics forum. As the press release describes it:

“… the central conceit of the series involves Byrne’s return to those storylines, albeit with one major difference: the culmination of the ‘Dark Phoenix Saga’ saw Jean Grey, the Phoenix, make the ultimate sacrifice to save the universe from her power, which had grown too great for her to contain. In Elsewhen, however, the storyline picks up from that point but explores the never-published ending where Jean Grey survived the experience, albeit in a drastically altered fashion.”

Marvel Executive Editor Tom Brevoort shared those alternate pages some time back, and I can remember buying a special at some point that included an interview with the creators along with a look at the opening page for Uncanny X-Men #138 (which you can see in Brevoort’s post). Things would have worked out very differently for Scott and Jean.

Byrne took that idea further, basically creating more than 30 issues of an alternate history X-Men tale that followed from that point. The press release shares more details on what the story includes:

That story change results in an entirely different future for the team and the surrounding Marvel Universe of characters. In X-Men Elsewhen Volume 1, the characters return to Earth and face very different experiences in the Savage Land and beyond, in an expansive storyline that also features the Sentinels, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Spider-Man, and many other familiar faces.

“John Byrne has done something truly unique here,” said X-Men: Elsewhen series editor Chris Ryall. “He’s created all-new X-Men adventures that not only serve as a reminder of why Byrne’s past work on these characters was beloved and influential, while at the same time presenting all-new and relevant stories that will captivate newer X-Men fans as well.”

X-Men: Elsewhen will be released in three volumes as a part of Abrams ComicArts’ Marvel Arts line; they’ve published other high end books like Alex Ross’s Fantastic Four: Full Circle, The Super Hero’s Journey by Patrick McDonnell and The Avengers: Veracity Trip by Chip Kidd and Michael Cho. Volume one will be released in April 2026, with subsequent volumes releasing in Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. All three volumes will be released as 7.5 x 11 hardcovers with dust jackets, and feature well over 200 pages of story and art per volume, along with a number of additional features, totaling about 600 pages.

“We’re incredibly excited to be publishing X-Men: Elsewhen with John Byrne,” said Joseph Montagne, Publisher of Abrams ComicArts. “This project is something truly rare. It offers a chance to revisit one of the most iconic runs in comics history, told by the original co-creator in his own voice. Byrne’s passion for these characters comes through on every page. We’re proud to bring this long-awaited story to readers through our Marvel Arts line and to add such a meaningful project to this collaboration between Abrams and Marvel.”