Astonishing X-Men #3 Variant by Simone Bianchi

Secret Wars #4 variant by Simone Bianchi

New Avengers #14 Advanced Preview

New Covers Featuring Psylocke

Milo Manara Psylocke cover not specified to which book. Find out on monday! Also, the Uncanny X-Force #35 Final Issue variant cover by Simone Bianchi.

Marvel Women by Simone Bianchi

Simone Bianchi

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 Art

        

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 Preview

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3
Written by: Rob Williams
Pencils and Cover by: Simone Bianchi

The Story: “Fear Itself” Tie-in! With The Serpent's destruction spreading across the globe and time seemingly running out for Planet Earth, Jonathan Standish and his Purifiers make their final move. How many human lives can they take before the 'devil' claims the souls of the human race? And can X-Force successfully track down the location of Standish's 'brain bomb' and the Purifier's main target? In the final moral battle against sin, can a mutant kill crew possibly win?

In Stores: September 21, 2011

        

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #3 Advance Preview

        
    

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2 Art

        

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2 Preview

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #2

Written by: Rob Williams
Pencils and Cover by: Simone Bianchi
The Story: “Fear Itself” Tie-in! With the events of Fear Itself causing worldwide panic, Jonathan Standish and his cell of rogue Purifiers look to take their murderous mission to the next level. Believing superheroes have brought about the end of the world, just how many innocents can these Purifiers kill? How many 'souls' can they save from the devil? And where will they strike next? If ever there was a group worthy of X-Force's lethal talents, this is it. But is there a grain of truth hidden in Standish's askew thinking?
In Stores: August 10, 2011

        

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 Art

        

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 Preview

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1

Written by: Rob Williams
Pencils and Cover by: Simone Bianchi

The Story: “Fear Itself” Tie-in! As armageddon hits the Marvel world in the events of Fear Itself terror grips the planet. An extreme faction of the mutant hate group The Purifiers believes that the end of the world has come, that the devil is here
for humanity and it is up to them to “save” as many human souls as they can before he strikes. Can X-Force stop their drive for worldwide suicide? And what, exactly, is a mutant kill crew afraid of?

In Stores: July 6, 2011

        
    

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 Colored Preview

        
    

Williams Purifies "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force"

CBR: This July, in the three issue miniseries "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force" by writer Rob Williams and artist Simone Bianchi, X-Force will hunt a new target, one that seeks to exploit the chaos of Marvel's summer event storyline. In order to achieve their objective, the team will have to confront a horde of heavily armed foes as well as tough questions and fears about the team's bloody nature. CBR News spoke with Williams about the project.

CBR News: Rob, in the past we've talked about how much you enjoy writing heroes and how much you enjoy darker and more gray-hued characters. With "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force." you seem to have landed an assignment that let's you do both.

Rob Williams: Right -- the whole hook with X-Force is that they're a kill crew. That's a definite line and you have to honor that or otherwise it's just another super hero book. I think writer Rick Remender has done a brilliant job of doing that in the regular series. The first arc in particular was great, and the ending really took you aback. It was bold, it was brave and it set a very, very high standard.

The culminations of Rick's stories have felt very organic. They haven't felt forced. The stories weren't daring simply because they involved super heroes killing people. The stories all felt true to the characters. There's a real trick to that, which we had to try and do with this miniseries as well. We don't want to do something sensationalist for the sake of it.

Is that tough to do on a project like this, an event tie-in miniseries featuring characters from an ongoing title that you don't write?

It's intimidating to do. Especially here because the standard of the "X-Force" book is incredibly high. Plus, it's a high profile book and it sells very well. Rick, the artists and the editorial team have been doing stellar work on "Uncanny X-Force." I think it's one of the best books Marvel is currently putting out. I trust editorial to tell me if I'm veering the characters away from their voices. I'm not too concerned about that. My concern is making sure this book doesn't feel like a let down compared to the regular series. [Laughs] The bar is set pretty high and we want to maintain that. So there's a certain amount of pressure.

I imagine it helps to have some experience writing the team's co-leader, Wolverine. Your first work for Marvel was a special Christmas themed "Wolverine" issue with Laurence Campbell, and you recently wrote the character again in the one-shot "What If? Wolverine: Father." What's it like coming back to the character?

Wolverine is a character I've read a lot of over the years, and his voice is easy to get because we all know it. So it's fun to write him, but the thing that I like about him is that's he got this great sort of moral grounding. He's a berserker at times and is one of the best killers on the planet, but there is a wisdom to him as well.

I think his choices are informed by a grim sort of realization that some things are necessary. That's why he and Archangel made the very pragmatic choice to form their own version of X-Force. Wolverine understands that Cyclops won't necessarily go this far, but he and the characters in X-Force feel like they're doing necessary work they believe in. Wolverine understands the responsibilities he has with this team. X-Force isn't something he jumped to on a whim or established after a burst of anger. He's taken a look at the world and believes in these hard choices. For him, this is an ethical decision. That's really attractive. It makes him far more interesting than just being a psycho with claws.

What about the other members of X-Force? What do you find most interesting about them?

They're all gray area characters, aren't they? They're all compromised in one way or another, but I also think -- and this is something that Rick nicely worked in -- they have all made the choice to be there. No one is there because they've been blackmailed into it. No one has got a chip in their head which is forcing them to play along or anything like that. They've made a political decision and one that they feel is necessary, for the greater good. That makes them heroic, even though a lot of people would take issue with what they're doing.

Plus, they're all just really cool characters. From a dialogue and writing point of view, Deadpool and Fantomex are just great to write. They spark off the page. Visually, Psylocke is one very cool character. She looks terrific on the page. All of these characters have been written so well that you feel they're three dimensional characters. It's a nice, tight group and they all get their page time. It's not diluted. You won't get one or two of them for just a panel a book. As a result, they've been given a great amount of depth. That's part of why the book has been so well written.

The cast of "Uncanny X-Force" is currently embroiled in a story arc titled "The Dark Angel Saga." Will that storyline affect "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force?" Or is this more of a story that happens in between the "continuity raindrops?"

Our mini is a three-issue story, and we wanted to keep it tight, contained and accessible. You don't have to have read an issue of "Uncanny X-Force" to pick up this series, but it still fits in. My intention is that it feels like three issues of the regular series. The team is basically coming into the events of "Fear itself," which are having great effect on the wider world.

This is your second "Fear Itself" tie-in. Your "Ghost Rider" ongoing, which launches in June, also ties into the event. What's the appeal of telling stories against a back drop like "Fear Itself?"

The stakes couldn't be any higher. The whole world is under threat here. This isn't a small localized event. With "Fear itself," it does look like to all concerned that the world is ending. That just sort of naturally leads to high drama. The stakes couldn't get any higher. It's just a great environment to tell stories in because everything is heightened. Everyone is right on the edge. It makes every story you tell feel naturally important.

How exactly does your X-Force mini tie-into the larger tapestry of "Fear Itself?"

The general populace of the Marvel Universe is unaware that the evil fear god, The Serpent, is behind everything. All they know is that it looks like the end of the world. It looks like Armageddon. That's causing a lot of people to freak out in different ways.

A splinter faction of the extreme anti-mutant religious group, the Purifiers, believes that it's not just mutants that are responsible for things. This is a group that's visually and technologically different from the main branch of the Purifiers. They have their own belief system. They feel all super-powered people are at fault for the world coming to an end, not just mutants. They think society has come to its end and people are morally bankrupt.

So the question we're asking through our story is, when you have a super hero team that's a kill crew, do these guys have a point? Maybe society's morals have gone down the toilet. X-Force will be forced to look at themselves and go, "As nutty as these super terrorists are, maybe they're right. Maybe we've brought on the end of the world." There's a line where Wolverine says, "We've all saved the world so many times, it stands to reason that sooner or later we'd fail." We're really looking at the ethics inherent in them being X-Force in the first place.

It's interesting that you're writing a story involving a religious sect's belief that the world is coming to an end right around the time some religious figures in America were predicting the end of the world. Did the predictions about the Rapture figure into or influence your story at all?

It wasn't something I was aware of at the time. I was putting the finishing touches on the series last week and then I read about all the Rapture stuff. So it wasn't something that was on my mind when I wrote this, but it's exactly the type of thing we're exploring in this story. Thankfully, the predicted Rapture wasn't quite on the same scale as "Fear Itself." [Laughs]

What type of scale is the conflict you're featuring in "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force?" How dangerous is this splinter group of the Purifiers? I've seen some covers, and it looks like they're armed with high tech and cybernetic weaponry.

Simone had the chance to design some cool looking battle suits and the Purifiers will be employing some high-powered weaponry. We're going to have some intense fight scenes. You need to create villains who are a threat. When you're dealing with incredibly powerful heroes, they need to go up against people who are a challenge.

Our villains aren't just interested in physical assaults, either. They're also after people's minds and spirits. Initially, they use the internet. In our first issue they broadcast a message to the world that says, "The end of the world is here and the devil is coming." So they're trying persuade people to die now, before the devil arrives to take them. They call out to people via the internet to commit suicide. That's a challenge you can't just punch.

Interesting. So a team of assassins is being put into a position where they'll have to stop suicides?

Yes. We talked about that. My editor and I talked about how X-Force is not just a kill crew. They operate that way for a reason, and the reason is to save lives. They believe that's what they're doing. They're not out there just to murder. It's all for the greater good. So again, we're trying to come up with a thematic ,emotional core to a book where it's not just about battles. It's something that's going to make the characters look at themselves and question themselves, where they'll wonder if they took the correct positions in the first place

What can you tell us about the man in charge of the Purifiers sect in this story? What's his background? Why does he feel the way he does?

He's a new character named Jonathan Standish. He's an ex-neurosurgeon. Basically, he has an epiphany and believes he's the chosen one, he's given the message from God to give to humanity. So he's out to save as many people as he can. He has an unshakeable faith and believes he's doing the right thing. The most interesting villains usually believe they are doing the right thing, and in his own warped way, he does have a point. Maybe if the super heroes hadn't existed then villains like The Serpent wouldn't have come along.

It's the "did Batman create the Joker" thing. Standish thinks the world would have been a far better place without super heroes and maybe he's got a point.

Where will Standish try and prove his point? What are some of the important settings in this story?

It's all set in America, and not just the cities. It hits the small towns, too. An internet suicide call goes out worldwide, too. A message on the internet can kill more people than any number of super villains.

From what you've described, "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force" really does seem like a story full of characters, conflicts and other elements Simone Bianchi could really sink his teeth into.

Yes, with Simone drawing the book it's going to look absolutely beautiful regardless of what I do. [Laughs] His take on the characters are great.

That's another thing that was important to us. Artists like Jerome Opena and Esad Ribic have been doing fantastic work on "Uncanny X-Force," and now Simone is providing some stunning pages here. It's a story with a great emotional core and socially relevant themes with the ideas of faith and terrorism and things like that. It's also got really, really big action set pieces. It's kind of a pseudo religious Hollywood blockbuster.

Sounds intense. I imagine with characters like Fantomex and Deadpool there will be moments of levity and humor in "Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force" as well.

Oh, yeah. That was part of the appeal of the assignment, especially with those two. Like I said earlier, they're so much fun to write. I really enjoy writing sarcastic characters. Plus, Deadpool's perspective gives the story a surreal bent. You need a bit of comedy in these stories because otherwise, with all the themes were talking about and the fact that we're dealing with a mutant kill crew, things would get dangerously dark and not particularly entertaining. These guys help keep the pace and levity up and put a few laughs in what would otherwise be some very dark material.

So it's got a sort of heavy aspect to it, but there's a lot of laughs in it, which I'm not entirely sure is appropriate. [Laughs] These are the types of books I like, though. You deal with a serious subject but you do so in a way that entertains as well. Hopefully it will provide something for everyone and fits in with the tone of the overall series.

Uncanny X-Force vs. Armageddon

IGN: In Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force by Rob Williams and Simone Bianchi, the team tackles an increasing threat from a group of extremists -- the Purifiers -- that believe Armageddon is impending, and they're holding superhumans responsible. We talked with Williams about the correlation between his story and the recent "rapture" theories, the book's ties to Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force series, and more. Marvel also gave us an exclusive first look at some pages from issue #1, hitting stores July 6, 2011.

        
    

IGN Comics: Fear Itself is a pretty topical event, and it looks like your Uncanny X-Force tie-in mini is keeping that tradition with its theme of Armageddon. With all of the rapture hoopla that just passed, was there any influence from those real-life predictions on this story?

Rob Williams: There wasn't, but the timing's become rather pertinent. I guess this is exactly the type of thing that Matt Fraction and company were feeding off with the core concept of Fear Itself. There's hard economic times for a lot of people, there's always some form of apocalyptic tomorrow just beyond the horizon, whether it was the millennium bug in 2000, the recent predicted rapture, the Mayan 2012 thing. Whether you believe in any of these things or not we certainly live in a world where extreme religious groups are driven to terrible actions by their beliefs. That's where our mini-series is coming from.

IGN: In Uncanny X-Force proper, we're about to undertake a journey that points to the downfall of Angel. Will those story beats be reflected in Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force?

Williams: Not really. We wanted to make this a self-enclosed storyline that will be accessible to new readers and which will, hopefully, appeal to regular readers of the core book. So we have three issues and a definite beginning-middle and end here. Rick Remender's planted plot threads in the main X-Force series - which I'm loving, by the way - and they're his to complete. I was pretty thrilled to be asked to have these characters for three issues. But the core X-Force story is Rick's.

IGN: X-Force typically operates behind the curtain, unseen. Is their mission throughout Fear itself going to be more overt or still on the down low?

Willaims: They're, by their very nature, a black-ops, covert team. The world, and the majority of the X-family, don't know they exist. That will continue here. Our finale takes place very much out in the open. But in a world where superheroes are commonplace, no-one's going to be able to identify X-Force as a definable team from their actions here.

IGN: Can you tell us what connection, if any, the "Purifiers" have to the God of Fear and The Worthy?

Williams: They're their little thematic children, even though the God Of fear doesn't have a clue about that. But that is enough to cause widespread loss of life, as you'll see in the story. The wider events of Fear Itself cause a lot of people to think that this is the end of the world. That's going to send this particular splinter group off the deep end. They believe that it's not just mutants who are the children of the devil, it's all super-people. And they think that the devil is here and about to take humanity to hell. So it's up to them to save as many souls as they can right now. The God of Fear would be very proud of their actions, I'm sure.

IGN: This tie-in sounds like it has more of a philosophical bent to it than some of the other minis that are coming. Is this something brought about by the nature of the characters?

Williams: It's about the power of belief. We wanted to write a story which dealt with the themes of Fear Itself. To ask what a mutant kill crew are afraid of. The Purifiers believe that the superhumans have brought the end of days down on humanity, that mankind's morality has sunk to the point where we've reached a tipping point to annihilation. And despite how crazy that might sound, X-Force are going to look at themselves, with all the blood on their hands, and wonder if, amidst the crazy, there's a kernel of a point there. There's a meta aspect to the story too - should superheroes, as a concept, really be a kill crew in the first place?

Plus a lot of widescreen action sequences. I kind of wanted this to be a big Hollywood action movie with a theological edge.

IGN: What does Simone Bianchi bring to the table for this book?

Williams: Unbelievable visuals and a ton of energy on the page. Everyone knows how good Simone is - and when I was told he was on this project the whole nature of it lifted. It's a treat to work with an A-list talent. As a writer you always want to play to people's strengths so giving Simone some killer action sequences was the plan. And I certainly think we've done that. There's two sequences in particular which would cost umpteen millions to put on a movie screen. I'm not sure how much Marvel are paying Simone but he's made this book look like a blockbuster.

Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force

This July, writer Rob Williams and artist Simone Bianchi dispatch Marvel’s breakout mutant black-ops team right into the heart of the year’s biggest comics event in Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1 (of 3)! The end is nigh and a group of hate-mongering extremists know just who to blame: super humans! But as fear rains down upon the Marvel Universe, Uncanny X-Force will be the only thing that stands between this band of frenzied zealots and mass murder on a global scale.

"What exactly is a mutant super hero kill crew afraid of? That's the question we had to ask,” said Williams. “A rogue cult of Purifiers believe that the actions of Fear Itself are the early stages of Armageddon and that they must kill many people as possible so their souls can ascend ‘before the devil knows they're dead.’ You can't question X-Force for wanting these crazies dead. But was it the actions of 'heroes' like X-Force that actually brought about the potential Armageddon of Fear Itself?”

Can X-Force cut down the Purifiers before they touch off a worldwide genocide? Or, with the God of Fear ascendant, will the team’s own trail of slaughter prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy? In their darkest hour, Wolverine, Deadpool, Psylocke and the rest of Marvel’s most cutthroat strike force will discover that nightmares really can come true, only in Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force #1(of 3) – on sale this July!

X-Force in Fear Itself

From CBR's Cup o' Joe Tom Brevoort column: Wolverine had almost no role in the main book of two of the last 3 big crossovers (there was no Wolverine in 'Civil War' or 'Siege'). Does he do anything interesting in 'Fear itself'?

Tom Brevoort: Wolverine has plenty of cool stuff to do during "Fear Itself," both alone and alongside both the Avengers and X-Force. Most of those events, though, are going to play out more in the tie-in series than in the central book. That’s the difficulty when you have so many cool characters and a limited number of pages to work with every month -- you need to constantly be focusing the story back on the characters who are at the center of it.

Uncanny X-Men #513 Variant Cover

Marvel has revealed the variant cover to Uncanny X-Men #513 by Simone Bianchi. It's Psylocke vs. Ares! The God of War looks good. Psylocke... looks unusual.