Remember Nightcrawlers line about starting a new mutant religion?

[icon_uk]

Well, it looks like that's what he's going to do... sort of

From Si Spurrier and Bob Quinn comes....





From the Press Release

Since 2019’s House of X and Powers of X, writer Jonathan Hickman and a host of amazing creators have revolutionized the X-Men franchise. Now begins the REIGN OF X, the latest chapter in Hickman’s grand vision for mutantkind, and acclaimed writer Si Spurrier brings fans a groundbreaking new series: WAY OF X. Known for his high-concept storytelling on titles like X-Men Legacy and X-Force, Spurrier returns to the X-Men with a series that will explore some of the most pressing questions that have been raised in this thought-provoking new era. Led by Nightcrawler, a brand-new team of mutants will assemble to confront the dark mysteries of the X-Men’s new way of life.

Mutantkind has built a new Eden… but there are serpents in this garden. Some mutants struggle to fit in. Some mutants turn to violence and death. And the children whisper of the Patchwork Man, singing in their hearts…Only one mutant senses the looming shadows. Snared by questions of death, law and love, only Nightcrawler can fight for the soul of Krakoa. Only he – and the curious crew he assembles(including fan-favorites Dr. Nemesis, Pixie and Blink) – can help mutants defeat their inner-darkness and find a new way to live. This is the WAY OF X.

Here’s what Spurrier had to say about this bold new series:

“I should probably just tell a lie for the sake of a neat elevator pitch and say that Way of X is a story about the creation of a new mutant religion. But it’s not – not really. That’s kinda where it starts, for sure. Nightcrawler realises something’s wrong with the hearts and minds of mutantkind and sets out to fix it. But as he quickly discovers, this isn’t a job for priests and prayers … The question is, what do they have to become in order to fight it? Preachers? Cops? Executioners? Or something entirely new?

“Way of X is a smart, psychedelic tale about faith, science, culture, love and law. And Bamfing. Bamfing just for the joy of it.”

Sample page of promo art




More pages can be seen here

 

Comments

[thezmage]

So Justice League Dark but with the X-men?

[angelophile]

Yeaaaaah, not really helping with the whole 'mutants being a creepy cult now' vibe.

[shadowpsykie]

who's betting patchwork man is Legion?

[shakalooloo]

What does a group of immortals want with a religion? A group that has broken down and analysed the powers of their own bodies to such a degree that they can create mutant technology from the combination of them, no less. A guiding philosophy maybe, but a full-on religion?

[mastermahan]

Well, the ruling powers of Krakoa have been systematically isolating their followers and replacing everything human with a constructed mutant alternative. They have a new language. They boasted about their superior mutant educational system (which went from not existing to "hey, you guys do it"). They're independent from the human food system (and people keep asking Kate Pryde to bring them things like booze or eggs, so apparently walking through a portal to grocery shop is frowned upon).

So I imagine Chuck and Erik don't want their mutants following any human religions. They're severing all threads of commonality with humans, and that means not wanting them making pilgrimages to Mecca or taking communion. Thus, a state-approved substitute.

Or they want to offer definitive answers to the existential questions of what death means when it's reversible, whether a resurrectee is the same person, and why clones don't deserve resurrection.

Probably some of both, frankly.

[owlbrigade1]

At some point I just want someone to wake up in the old X-Mansion and find Bobby Ewing in their shower, and that is how they deal with all of this...

[alliterator]

So I imagine Chuck and Erik don't want their mutants following any human religions.

They have no problem with Kate Pryde wearing a Star of David. And I doubt Magneto would try to force anyone into following a different religion, considering his background.

No, the whole "mutant religion" thing comes completely from Nightcrawler, which makes sense since he's a Catholic, but now that he's part of a society that does not fear death, changes to religion are inevitable. Think of him like Martin Luther, really.

[themajesticmoose]

Indeed

Also Krakoa isn't forcing anyone to abandon ANY form of human culture full stop so I'm not sure where that idea comes from. Mutantkind having its own culture doesn't erase a culture/faith that mutants may also belong to and there has been absolutely nothing in the books that even imply that this is what Krakoa is trying to do. No mutant character in any of the books has been forced to give up their own culture, the Quiet Council has passed absolutely no laws of any such kind and we've seen that there are mutants on Krakoa that still have a connection to human friends, human family and human culture

We've seen some individual mutants basically going "Humans suck" but the opinion of an individual mutant is not national policy.

Someone can be two things. Just like someone can be both gay and Jewish or be both Black and a Muslim it's perfectly possible for mutants to have their own culture and also care about the other culture they belong to.

If this book portrays Nightcrawler or the Krakoan government trying to force a "mutant religion" on people who belong to another faith I agree that would be utterly horrifying but there's no indication in this solicit or in the one time Nightcrawler brought it up before now that he'd do anything of the kind.

And as Nightcrawler was the one who saved Kate's Star of David and gave it back to her when she was brought back to life it seems extremely unlikely that he's going to start trying to tell people they should abandon their religion if it's not his mutant religion

Nightcrawler wants to examine his own relationship with questions of faith and help any other mutants who are grappling with the same questions. It's entirely possible this series might do a terrible job with the concept but I'll give it a chance

And yes unless the writers have literally never read a comic with Magneto in it I sincerely doubt any of them think that he's the kind of person who would ever allow any kind of oppression or persecution against anyone based on their religion.

[deh_tommy]

Magneto is the kind of person who would allow oppression or persecution based on race, however, made worse after he was let into Moira’s head.

Sure they’re not forcing anyone to give up their old cultures, but that’s kind of encouraged. The Wuiet Council artificially created this culture instead of that developing naturally or gradually and forcibly implant the language they created inside everyone’s heads, and that’s kind of suspect how literally everyone either is or eventually becomes all “reject humanity, return to mutie”. Dani Moonstar told a Cheyenne girl that being Krakoan does not erase her Cheyenne identity when she was the one who literally said that humanity’s never made or done anything good.

[alliterator]

Dani Moonstar told a Cheyenne girl that being Krakoan does not erase her Cheyenne identity when she was the one who literally said that humanity’s never made or done anything good.

She said nothing of the sort. I think you are confusing Dani with Polaris.

From Jonathan Hickman’s New Mutants #1:

[deh_tommy]

Dani: So, finally, after [the mutant population began to boom], there were enough of us that we could begin to build a real community.

Sunspot: Which is where we came in. And the schools.

Dani: Which is also where it failed… as human ideologies and institutions were never built for something better.

Re: From Jonathan Hickman’s New Mutants #1:

[alliterator]

"The school failed us because humans never made their institutions better than they could" does not equal "humans never made or did anything good."

You took what Dani said and then took a giant leap to something she never said or even implied.

Re: From Jonathan Hickman’s New Mutants #1:

[deh_tommy]

Perhaps, but this is the same conversation that ends with Roberto taking offence to Dani calling him all man because (in his words) he’s all mutant, and when pretty much every other X-book (especially the Hickman penned ones) have the cast circlejerking each other over how awesome and morally superior they are to stupid humans, and the recent revelation that Krakoan children don’t even get a proper education beyond Exodus’ happy little sermons, I can’t help but wonder what else she could have possibly meant.

[mastermahan]

They haven't said anything about her Star of David. That's not the same as not having a problem with it.

Look at how her funeral went. They didn't give Kate a Jewish funeral - they created their own mishmash tradition. More significantly, Kate's entirely alive, human parents weren't there, so either the Krakoans banned them from attending or they didn't bother telling them their only child was dead. That's not exactly respectful.

[scorntx]

-Kate's entirely alive, human parents-

... wasn't Mr. Pryde at Genosha when the Mega-Sentinel killed everyone there?

[icon_uk]

Yes, and he's still dead as far as I'm aware, I don't think we've seen her mother in decades.

[mastermahan]

...yes. Damn, should have checked more than one wiki article about Kitty.

[alliterator]

They didn't give Kate a Jewish funeral

Lots of Jews don't have "Jewish funerals." Both my grandparents independently decided that they wanted to be cremated and have their ashes scattered, so we did that. That doesn't make either one less Jewish.

The fact of the matter is that nobody has mentioned having a problem with any religion on Krakoa. Even if they have a problem with religion, trying to ban human religions outright is something that seems so outlandish they would never do it. Especially since, again, Kitty is explicitly Jewish and I think Magneto would have something to say if someone tried to stop her from being Jewish.

At this point, trying to insist that the Quiet Council or Krakoa have issues with anyone being a part of a human religion when they have shown nothing of the sort is silly.

[nyadnar17]

I mean they aren't actually a society of immortals right? They are just a society where the State controls the means to bring you back from the destruction of your physical form under a set of specific circumstances.

If you die in certain places, if Cerebro's copy of you gets corrupted, if one or more of the Five die, if the State decides it sees no value in resurrecting your kind, if your mutant powers make resurrection impossible.

I mean the X-men know for a stone cold fact the metaphysical world is real, I would assume they would be very interested in trying to map it.

[alliterator]

What does a group of immortals want with a religion?

What does anyone want with a religion? Just because you no longer fear death doesn't mean that the comforts of religion and ceremony and shared catharsis go away.

[shakalooloo]

Well, religion chiefly gives comfort that there is some meaning to life, some greater being(s), an answer to what comes after eath. When you guarantee a respawn, the mysteries of the universe seem less pressing.

A society can have a spiritual, philiosophical side without being religious. There is a distinction.

[onsokumaru]

All X-books will have a sour taste as long as Rockslide stays dead, but still...
Spurrier is writing a team book featuring DJ, Loa, Pixie, Blink and Doc Nemesis!
Spurrier is writing Doc Nemesis again!
DJ, who is basically a blank page, but whose power (manifesting a different power depending of the music he's listening to) may be awesome in the hand of a creative writer, will be in a team book!
Between that, Hellions, X-Factor and SWORD, it's nice to see the underexposed mutants getting focus and great creative teams.
(Now bring back Rockslide you cowards. You're bringing back the Braddock girl, there is no excuse for not bringing back Santo)

[iamrman]

It's about bloody time the Fuzzy Elf had something to do!

[lordultimus]

Calling it - at some point, Nightcrawler will get ousted from his own religion by Exodus, who will turn it extremist.

[themajesticmoose]

I'm normally extremely nervous any time superhero comics try and tackle the topic of religion in any focused way like this, given just how genuinely awful most of the writers working for the "big two" are

But I've liked what I've seen of Spurrier's work so I'm...LESS nervous than I would be if certain other writers were tackling this project

I just really hope this will be good and they don't ruin Nightcrawler's character by turning him into some kind of fuzzy Fred Phelps. It's bad enough they ruined one of the X-men I used to really like (Beast) by first turning him into the worst kind of coward and traitor to his fellow mutants and then deciding to turn him into Lavrentiy Beria with blue fur

I really don't want them to ruin Nightcrawler as well by turning him into some kind of brainless bigoted piece of bible thumping trash.

[scorntx]

Kurt's looking... pretty sinister in that art there.

Guess if Blink's here she's not in Sword.
Shame.
(Unless, by some weird, random freak circumstance there were... two Blinks. Or she had some means of getting around that allowed her to be in two places at once.
... nah.)

[deh_tommy]

Does that *have* to be Nightcrawer? He’s one of the best and among the few positive examples of Catholicism in comics (maybe media in general) I’ve seen done well, and that’s kind of insulting to imagine he’d just turn away from his faith over the resurrection protocols given he of all characters should know there’s more to Christianity than belief in a Heaven. Imagine if Kitty or Dust suddenly decided they were done with their respective religion? Putting aside my own personal gripes, him being the arbiter of a new religion because death is meaningless now makes even less sense because (a)he’s died and gone to the afterlife before, and (b)he’s personally met his God.

[nyadnar17]

I agree as well. I am Protestant, but it feels nice to have any positive Christian representation in media.

I would LOVE a theology based book that dealt with the odd ball theological issues that pop up in comics (Does Donald Blake have Original Sin since he is a creation of Odin?) but that doesn't seem like what we are about to get here.

[arilou_skiff]

This, a new mutant religion could be interesting, but using Kurt for it feels bad and disrespectful.