X-Man #11

Name: X-Man #11
Brand: Marvel

Jan 1996 · Marvel · 1.95 USD; 2.75 CAD

“The X-Cutioner's Song”

About this Issue

X-Man #11 marks the first meeting between Nate Grey and the anti-mutant vigilante X-Cutioner (Carl Denti), folding a villain first introduced in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 (1993) into Nate's still-forming 616 status quo. The issue also draws Rogue into Nate's orbit and plants the narrative seed that sends him toward Muir Island — and Moira MacTaggert — as the series began building a supporting cast around the displaced Age of Apocalypse refugee. Arriving under John Ostrander's newly inherited stewardship of the title, the issue represents a deliberate attempt to integrate X-Man more tightly into the wider X-Men line after creator Jeph Loeb's departure. The story's ironic chapter title, 'The X-Cutioner's Song,' playfully riffs on the unrelated 1992–93 crossover of the same name, underscoring the self-aware, continuity-dense tone Marvel's X-office favored in the mid-1990s.

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writer John Ostrander · artist Steve Skroce · inker Bud LaRosa · inker Rob Hunter · colorist Mike Thomas · colorist Graphic Color Works · letterer Pat Brosseau · cover Steve Skroce, Bud LaRosa

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History

The X-Man ongoing series had been conceived as a four-issue Age of Apocalypse tie-in by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Steve Skroce, but its popularity during that 1995 event earned it an ongoing slot. Loeb departed the title around issues #6–9 due to reported creative differences with editor-in-chief Bob Harras over the book's direction, and John Ostrander stepped in as scripter. By issue #11, Ostrander was writing the book with Skroce continuing on pencils, under the editorial watch of Jaye Gardner with Harras as editor-in-chief. The issue was published under the 'X-Men Group' brand at a cover price of $1.95 and also appeared in a Newsstand edition variant.

Trivia · 8 facts

Written by John Ostrander; pencils and cover art by Steve Skroce; inks by Bud LaRosa and Rob Hunter; letters by Pat Brosseau — published January 1996 by Marvel Comics.
Story title: 'The X-Cutioner's Song!' — an in-joke reference to the unrelated 1992–93 crossover event of the same name.
First meeting of Nate Grey (X-Man) and the X-Cutioner (Carl Denti) in a direct one-on-one confrontation.
Guest stars Rogue (Anna Marie); Professor X (Charles Xavier) and Moira MacTaggert also appear.
Rogue's suggestion that Nate seek help on Muir Island directly sets up the next story arc, bridging this issue to #12.
X-Cutioner (Carl Denti) was created by Scott Lobdell and Jason Pearson and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 (June 1993); his character concept — an FBI agent who arms himself with stockpiled alien and Shi'ar technology to hunt 'criminal' mutants — is central to the conflict here.
Nate Grey himself was created by Jeph Loeb and Steve Skroce as an Age of Apocalypse character — a Mister Sinister-engineered telepath/telekinetic grown from Cyclops and Jean Grey's DNA — who was transported to Earth-616 after the AoA reality collapsed.
The X-Man series originally planned as a four-issue miniseries was promoted to an ongoing after reader demand; Ostrander had taken over scripting duties from Loeb by this point in the run, with Terry Kavanagh eventually becoming the long-term writer.