“It’s incredibly exciting to finally tell the story of the infamous ‘third’ Summers brother. Twenty-five years in the making, to see the truth about Adam-X revealed – and drawn so magnificently by Brett Booth – is one of the most surreal experiences of my career!” Nicieza said in the press release. “Getting the opportunity to tell this tale while kicking off the new ‘X-Men Legends’ series is a x-tremely x-citing!”
As a result of being fired by Bob Harras in 1995, Nicieza never got to reveal Adam-X was Cyclops and Havok’s half-brother, and the third Summers brother was eventually revealed to be Vulcan (Gabriel Summers) in Ed Brubaker and Trevor Hairsine’s 2006 series “X-Men: Deadly Genesis.” As “X-Men Legends” will be in-continuity, Adam-X may still turn out to be related to the siblings. The comic should not be confused with the 2000s video game series, which expanded into the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance franchise.
The decision to hire Booth has already drawn criticism: journalist Oliver Sava tweeted, “Seeing Marvel double down on Brett Booth is extremely discouraging.” It comes in the wake of members of the X-Men fansite Xavier Files’ recent decision to not cover the main “X-Men” title while he fills-in on the art, which stems from a 2014 incident where Booth allegedly encouraged abuse against former editor Janelle Asselin after she criticized a “Teen Titans” cover by Kenneth Rocafort. Marvel have yet to comment on the allegation.
