The syndicated television series Mutant X will be back for a second season.  The Marvel comics-based series was the subject of a lawsuit from Fox, which felt that Mutant X impinged on the highly popular X-Men movie series (see 'Fox Sues Marvel Over Mutant X').  In spite of the lawsuit (which was resolved by an ambiguous ruling in August, see 'Mutant in the Middle'),  Mutant X producer Tribune Entertainment forged ahead with the series, which has done quite well in syndication in spite of some zoom-laden camera work and less-than-stellar production values.  Veteran comic writer/artist Howard Chaykin supervises the writing team on Mutant X, which may well account for the series' ability to triumph over the increasingly long odds facing syndicated programs.

 

The world of syndicated TV is quite a bit more decentralized than its network counterpart.  The fact that stations in San Francisco, Detroit, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, and St. Louis decided to renew the program was enough for the Tribune company to green light a second season.  Since each station can choose to renew or not, Mutant X may not return on every station that is currently running it.  Again ICv2 will attempt to alert retailers if any major metropolitan areas are in danger of becoming Mutant X free zones next fall.  The first Mutant X comic book from Marvel, originally slated to debut last fall (see 'Marvel Reschedules Mutant X Comic') is now scheduled to ship in March (it is listed in the January Previews).