Revolution (comics)

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"Revolution" was the title given to the May 2000 issues of Marvel Comics' X-Men-related comic books, timed to coincide with the publication of X-Men #100. In each series, the "Revolution" issue represented a jump of six months after the previous issue's events. In most cases, "Revolution" also marked an attempt to send each series in a new creative direction, and to this end new creative teams were assigned to the titles. Many characters' costumes were redesigned. Finally, a "Revolution" logo was printed along the right-hand side of each issue.

The most publicized of these changes was the return of writer Chris Claremont to the flagship titles X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, after nearly a decade's absence. Claremont's lengthy run as primary X-Men writer (spanning the 1970s and 1980s) is widely considered the high point of X-Men publishing history, so his return was a huge selling point for Marvel.

Furthermore, three of the "Revolution" issues were launched under the guidance of popular writer Warren Ellis. Ellis would act as 'plotmaster' of these three series (rebranded Counter-X), working in collaboration with three co-writers: Steven Grant on X-Man, Ian Edginton on X-Force and Brian Wood on Generation X.

The excitement of the event was somewhat dampened by the fact that Marvel's timing was imperfect. Although May 2000 was the target date, some of the series involved had launched with all or part of their new creative teams a month earlier (although the "Revolution" logo was still printed on the May issue). Others, such as Uncanny X-Men, did not join the "Revolution" until June. Furthermore, Claremont stated in later interviews that he had ghostwritten several issues of various X-Men titles before the event.

The event also included nods to early-1990s marketing strategies such as printing variant covers (X-Men #100) and including trading cards (Uncanny X-Men #381).

Critical and commercial response to the "Revolution" event was somewhat disappointing for Marvel, and Claremont would leave both flagship titles after only 9 months. In July 2001 Marvel premiered a more successful lineup of Grant Morrison on New X-Men, Joe Casey on Uncanny X-Men, and Claremont on the new title X-Treme X-Men.

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The included issues, in order of publication, were:

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