Marvel's Judgment Day event is building toward its endgame, and beginning in September the series writer Kieron Gillen will bridge the penultimate and final issue of the main six-issue limited series with three one-shots, each featuring one of the players of the three major teams at the heart of the conflict - the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals.
September 28's AXE: Avengers #1 is by Gillen and artist Federico Vicentini then in October Gillen teams with Francesco Mobili for AXE: X-Men #1 and Pasqual Ferry for AXE: Eternals #1.
At least those are the announced dates. AXE: Judgment #4 is currently scheduled for September 14, so for these specials to bridge issues #5 and #6, AXE: Judgment #5 would have to go on sale September 21 or 28.
These one-shots spotlight Iron Man, Jean Grey, and Ajak, respectively as they tackle missions to try to penetrate the Progenitor Celestial and shut it down, facing their own ultimate judgment as they go.
According to the publisher AXE: Avengers #1 "strip Iron Man of his armor like never before" and Tony Stark finds himself "entering" an armor that can kill the entire world.
AXE: X-Men #1 examines Jean Grey's relationship with the Phoenix Force, revealing the mystery behind their connection "once and for all."
"It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. Yet: "I am fire and life incarnate! Now and forever," reads Marvel's offbeat description. "Which part of 'Now and Forever' is confusing to you? As one world burns, can Jean Grey justify her existence after burning another?"
Finally, AXE: Eternals #1 stars leader Ajak and examines her past decisions surrounding the Celestials and her plans to lead the Eternals during Judgment Day.
"I wanted Judgment Day to be a huge scale event book, but also really be absolutely about the people in it - that's Marvel comics to me," Gillen says in Marvel's announcement.
"When we say SUPERHUMAN we mean both SUPER and HUMAN. These specials really drill down on that, giving a deep-dive personal horrorshow for the three sides in the crossover, centered on one of their main players - Tony Stark, Jean Grey, and Ajak. With their history, can they really justify themselves? Let's find out, in this dungeon-delve-as-psychogeography hell trip."
Each one-shot features a connecting cover by Nic Klein along with a variant connecting covers by Salvador Larroca all seen below.
Judgment Day could go down as one of the biggest Marvel events in some time - but how will it rank among our list of the best Marvel stories of all time?
