Exceptional X-Men #2

Name: Exceptional X-Men #2
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Dec 2024 · Marvel · 3.99 USD

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About this Issue

Exceptional X-Men #2 (October 2024) delivers the first full appearances of Thao Tran (Melee) and Alejandro 'Alex' Luna (Axo), completing the core trio of new mutants at the center of Eve Ewing and Carmen Carnero's post-Krakoa series. By rooting their debuts in the mundane cruelty of high-school bullying at a Chicago soccer game, Ewing deliberately echoes the original New Mutants and Generation X tradition of grounding mutation in adolescent social experience rather than world-ending spectacle. The issue also develops the ongoing tension between Kitty Pryde's reluctance to mentor and Emma Frost's eagerness to recruit, a dynamic that critics noted carries clear thematic DNA from classic Claremont-era X-books. As part of the 'From the Ashes' relaunch — Marvel's first comprehensive X-Men line restructuring after the Krakoan Age — issue #2 is the chapter in which the new team's roster becomes fully legible for the first time.

writer Eve L. Ewing · artist, inker Carmen Carnero · colorist Nolan Woodard · letterer VC's Travis Lanham · cover Carmen Carnero

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $3

CGC 9.8 · 25 in census $62*

CGC 9.6 · 1 in census $30*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

Exceptional X-Men was announced in March 2024 at a South by Southwest panel as one of three flagship titles in the 'X-Men: From the Ashes' relaunch, with Tom Brevoort overseeing the entire X-line editorially. Eve Ewing, already known as an acclaimed author outside comics, and artist Carmen Carnero — a Marvel Stormbreakers honoree — were chosen as the series' creative team, with Carnero later describing Ewing's character concepts (complete with defined personalities, hobbies, and musical tastes for each new mutant) as fully formed enough to make the visual designs emerge naturally. Issue #2, on sale October 9, 2024, with a cover date of December 2024, expanded on the foundation laid by issue #1's introduction of Bronze (Trista Marshall) by bringing in the final two new mutants Ewing and Carnero had designed for the series.

Trivia · 8 facts

First full appearance of Thao Tran (Melee), a Vietnamese-American teenage mutant with invisibility and intangibility powers similar to — but distinct from — Kitty Pryde's phasing ability (Marvel Database, confirmed first appearance credit).
First full appearance of Alejandro 'Alex' Luna (Axo), a Chicago teenager whose empathic power causes people around him to involuntarily confess their secrets, with his own skin shifting color in response to the emotions he senses (Marvel Database; Marvel character profile).
Written by Eve Ewing with art, inks, and cover by Carmen Carnero; colors by Nolan Woodard; letters by VC's Travis Lanham; edited by Tom Brevoort (Marvel Comics official issue page).
Released October 9, 2024; cover-dated December 2024; part of the 'X-Men: From the Ashes' publishing initiative that relaunched the X-Men line following the end of the Krakoan Age (Marvel, Wikipedia).
Kate Pryde is the featured protagonist; a flashback sequence in which she reflects on her own mentor Storm (Ororo Munroe) runs through the issue, thematically linking the new generation of mutants to Kitty's own origin as a student under established X-Men (Marvel Database synopsis; AIPT review).
Emma Frost (the White Queen) appears and maneuvers to take a hand in guiding the new mutants, establishing the central mentor-rivalry dynamic between herself and Kitty that drives the series (official solicitation; CBR).
The issue features multiple variant covers, including covers by Terry Dodson & Rachel Dodson, David Baldeón & Jesus Aburtov, and Miguel Mercado, in addition to Carnero's standard cover (Marvel Database).
Melee's power of intangibility intentionally parallels Kitty Pryde's own mutation, a narrative device Ewing uses to force Kitty into an unplanned rescue — and into reluctant mentorship — during the soccer-game confrontation (Major Spoilers review; Screen Rant).