The X-Men Annual #1

History

The issue went on sale March 3, 1992 with a May 1992 cover date, edited by Bob Harras under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco. Fabian Nicieza — then the regular writer of X-Force and soon to take over the adjectiveless X-Men title itself — scripted the lead story from layouts by Jim Lee, whose imminent departure to co-found Image Comics meant his involvement was reduced to structural breakdowns rather than finished pencils; the actual penciling was distributed across a jam roster that included P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Dan Panosian, Greg Capullo, and Mark Texeira. The backup villains-gallery story was scripted by Dan Slott — later a long-tenured Amazing Spider-Man writer — representing some of his earliest credited work at Marvel.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Lead story: 'The Slaves of Destiny (Shattershot Part 1)' — script by Fabian Nicieza, layouts by Jim Lee, jam pencils by P. Craig Russell, Brian Stelfreeze, Adam Hughes, Stuart Immonen, Dan Panosian, Greg Capullo, and Mark Texeira; cover also by Jim Lee.
• First appearance of Mojo II (Mojo's compassionate clone), seen only in shadow at the conclusion of the main story; his face and identity are not revealed until X-Men #10–11 (July–August 1992).
• Backup story 'X-Men Villains Gallery' scripted by Dan Slott (among his earliest Marvel work), with pencils by Karl Altstaetter — a Danger Room countdown in which Wolverine walks Jubilee through the X-Men's ten greatest enemies, concluding that their true greatest foe is hatred and intolerance.
• Villain characters appearing in the backup (including Trevor Fitzroy, Shinobi Shaw, Omega Red, Fabian Cortez, the Marauders, Magneto, Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, Dark Phoenix, and others) appear exclusively as Danger Room holographic constructs, not as active participants in the story.
• First chapter of the four-part 'Shattershot' annual crossover, continuing in Uncanny X-Men Annual #16 (Part 2, art by Jae Lee), X-Factor Annual #7 (Part 3, art by Joe Quesada), and X-Force Annual #1 (Part 4, art by Greg Capullo) — the first self-contained X-office annual crossover event.
• The issue's main story is set between X-Men (vol. 2) #7 and #8 in continuity, following the Blue Team's earliest missions.
• Bonus material includes schematic blueprints of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and the X-Men's Blackbird jet by Eliot R. Brown, plus a multi-artist pin-up gallery featuring Tom Grummett, Andy Kubert, Mike Mignola, Sam Kieth, and others.
• Later collected in X-Men Epic Collection vol. 20 — Bishop's Crossing (2022) alongside the surrounding X-Men (vol. 2) issues.

Cast · 40 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)