At Marvel’s “Next Big Thing” news conference today, the publisher announced that writer Marjorie Liu and artist Mike Perkins will begin an open-ended run on Astonishing X-Men starting in March with issue #48.  This will be first time that Liu has undertaken a “team” book for Marvel. 

 

This iteration of Astonishing X-Men will feature Wolverine as the leader of a team that includes Warbird, Gambit, Iceman, Northstar, Cecilia Reyes and Karma.  While the new series will clearly focus on Wolvie’s side of the Regenesis split, the schism among Marvel mutants will not be central focus here, so fans seeking a major Wolverine/Cyclops throwdown would do well to look elsewhere.