Marvel revives the ‘90s era X-Men for a new series

X-Men '92: House of XCII #1 cover by David Baldeon (Image credit: Marvel Comics)

What if the X-Men event House of X occurred in the '90s? We're about to find out in the new Marvel Comics series X-Men '92: House of XCII.

Writer Steve Foxe and artist Salva Espin are creating their own divergent variant Marvel universe in X-Men '92: House of XCII, taking Jonathan Hickman's seminal House of X concept and imaging it taking place in '90s X-Men heyday just after Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's X-Men, in the height of the 'Blue and Gold' era.

"Getting the opportunity to pay tribute to such an important era in mutant history 30 years later - and to remix the franchise-redefining work currently being done by creators like Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, and Gerry Duggan - is the definition of a 'dream gig,' especially with some of the WILD deviations we're taking from the source material," Foxe says in the announcement. "If I died tomorrow, I'd be happy…but please resurrect me ASAP on Krakoa."

If he's a mutant, he'd be up for resurrection - but either way, Foxe's X-Men fandom runs deep - deep enough that he speaks fondly of an X-Men action figure he bought back in the '90s - no not a popular one like Wolverine or Storm, but Garrison Kane of the Weapon X program. Now that's an X-Men fan.

In X-Men '92: House of XCII, Professor X, Magneto, and an as-yet-unrevealed "mysterious long-lived woman" will establish a mutant nation on the island of Krakoa. In the original House of X/Powers of X Moira MacTaggert was the third party, but Marvel says this new 1992 era series "won't be the story you know."

Maybe that's why Marvel isn't saying that the third party here is Moira? ... But if not her, then who?

Whomever it is, Espin seems born to draw new adventures of the '90s era X-Men for X-Men '92: House of XCII.

"I started collecting comics with the X-Men in the '90s. The character designs of this era have always been the most attractive and powerful to me," Espin says. "Those comics and the animated series made my imagination fly and very soon I began to make illustrations and mini-comics as a fan that I shared with my schoolmates. These were the first drawings that encouraged me to pursue the dream of becoming a comic artist. With this book, we intend to pay tribute to that powerful era that was the 90s. The moment when superheroes looked better than ever with colorful tight-fitting spandex."

So fill up your pouches, find your bomber jackets, and flashback to '90s X-Men beginning April 6 with X-Men '92: House of XCII #1 (of 5).

Keep track of X-Men '92: House of XCII and all the new mutant titles coming with our guide to all the new X-Men comics on their way.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)