X-Men Monday #308 – Jed MacKay Talks X-Men: Age of Revelation

Welcome, X-Fans, to another uncanny edition of X-Men Monday at AIPT!

Enter now… the Age of Revelation… coverage! And how about that event-appropriate feature image? Thanks, as always, to AIPT’s co-owner and Content and Media Manager, David Brooke, for bringing my concepts to life!

OK, so we’re not officially in the Age of Revelation yet (the transition takes effect in X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture #1, on sale October 1, 2025), but you have gotten a taste of what you can expect from the surprise prelude, X-Men: Age of Revelation #0. And what better way to prepare you for the latest X-Men epic than an interview with Jed MacKay, who, in addition to writing the two one-shots I mentioned, also writes the upcoming Amazing X-Men and X-Men: Book of Revelation event tie-in series. (And these are just Jed’s X-books!)

Despite his heavy workload, Jed somehow managed to find time to talk all things Age of Revelation — so let’s see what he has to say!

AIPT: Welcome back to X-Men Monday, Jed! Based on everything we’ve seen so far, you appear to be the main story architect behind the world of the Age of Revelation event. X-Fan Ryan is wondering if you can share a bit about your thought process as you planned the framework of this story and the world-building around it, leaving room for your fellow X-creators to develop their own Age of Revelation storylines. Also, how does the work you’ve done on Age of Revelation differ from what you did during the Blood Hunt event?

Jed MacKay: I think there are a lot of similarities between my time spent planning Blood Hunt and that spent planning Age of Revelation, not the least of which are the massive nervous breakdowns involved in each. But seriously, both had a somewhat similar ask, as far as I was concerned: turn the world on its ear, provide a clear through-line for the central story, and provide plenty of blank space for everyone else to do their things.

In Blood Hunt, I was concerned with the Avengers, the Stranges, the Midnight Mission gang, and Bloodline and Dracula as they were set on a collision course with Blade. In Age of Revelation, it’s a little different — I’m moving between a hero book (Amazing X-Men) and a villain book (X-Men: Book of Revelation), and seeing what happens when they meet in the end. In both events, we’re talking about a world transformed, and a world is an extraordinarily large thing in which to tell stories.

AIPT: Of the announced comics tying into Age of Revelation, you’re writing X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture, Amazing X-Men, and X-Men: Book of Revelation. As X-Fans put together their reading lists, what can you tell us about the role each of these plays in the overall event’s narrative?

Jed: I touched on it before, but X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture is a bookend of the event, leading us into it. After Overture, Amazing X-Men follows our heroes as they try to put things to rights, while X-Men: Book of Revelation puts us right at the heart of Revelation’s operation in Philadelphia, seen through the eyes of his newest Chorister.

AIPT: X-Fan Joshua says, as someone who loves the current X-Men and Uncanny X-Men series, what can you tell us about Age of Revelation that will make it feel more than just another alternate timeline story?

Jed: Age of Revelation is a story that will have long-running effects through the X-line, specifically in X-Men. And I understand that’s what we always say about these kinds of things, but we’re going to see some revelations (ho ho ho) through the story that answer some questions that have run since our relaunch, as well as set the tenor moving forward.

AIPT: At the end of X-Men: Age of Revelation #0, you write about the appeal of picking up the Revelation thread, as he represented a new faction in the post-Krakoa Marvel Universe. X-Fan Key wonders, as you developed your plans for Doug, what were some approaches to leading mutantkind that Doug would naturally approach differently than Apocalypse? Did anything stand out to you right away?

Jed: I think what’s most interesting to me about Doug as Revelation is that he’s an optimist and an idealist, thrust into a role that often grinds that right out of people. Doug’s intentions are pure in Year 0. By the time we get to Year X, we see what has become of them and what he plans to do in response to that.

AIPT: When you’re dealing with alternate realities, long-time comic readers can quickly become cynical. But for a writer like yourself, what creative opportunities does the Age of Revelation storyline offer in terms of exploring Cyclops, Beast, Psylocke, Animalia, and other characters you write monthly?

Jed: I think what I like most about it is the “secret history” of it all. We catch up with characters who have been changed by 10 years of chaos, and it’s always fun for me to see them as they are now and wonder how they got there. We’ll see a lot of relationships between characters having changed from what we’ve known, and though some blanks will be filled in, others will be left for the readers to speculate upon (and how that could foreshadow the future).

AIPT: We can’t get too far into this interview without talking about gun-toting, battle-ready Glob Herman. What has the Age of Revelation done to our beloved Factory chef? (And do we know what Ed Brisson thinks?)

Jed: Ed is a good friend of mine, so I’m always quick to keep him apprised on what new Glob developments there are. As for how we got this hard-edged Glob, we’ll see that transformation and the surprising mentor who helped him along!

AIPT: X-Fan Harry G wonders how you decided who from your X-Men roster made it onto the Amazing X-Men team. What dynamics did you want to explore?

Jed: For me, it was a combination of adding unexpected characters that would be interesting have on the X-Men (Schwarzchild), current characters who have levelled up over the years (Jen Starkey/Animalia, Glob Herman), and not being afraid to let some of my characters go (Psylocke and Quentin being on the side of Revelation, Temper being off with the Unbreakable X-Men), as well as fish-out-of-water viewpoint characters like Cyclops and Beast.

AIPT: X-Fan Justin from The X-Wife Podcast notes that Darkchild holds an interesting space in Amazing X-Men’s solicitations. What stands out about this version of the character vs the part of Illyana she recently made peace with in the Magik series?

Jed: Magik and the Darkchild have always had a push-and-pull relationship, most recently identified as the Darkchild wanting to protect Illyana. In Age of Revelation, we’re going to see what happens when the balance in that relationship no longer exists, and the Darkchild must be a monster in a world of monsters.

AIPT: It was fun to see Strobe, Dragoness, Chrome, and other more obscure mutants appear in X-Men: Age of Revelation #0. (X-Fan Sky points out Chrome hasn’t been seen in 34 years!) How did you approach filling out the ranks of Revelation’s Seraphim and Choristers?

Jed: I was looking for mutants that had some history that people could point to, without occupying more popular ones that other people might want to use. So there was a lot of window shopping through older X-antagonist groups — Acolytes, Mutant Liberation Front, etc, for characters that would have just the right profile to drop into the ranks of the Seraphim.

For the Choristers, it was a little different — what defines a Chorister is a very particular powerset, so Revelation’s current Choristers are four of the power-enhancing mutants we’ve seen in the past — Fabian Cortez, Chance, Topaz, and Khora of the Burning Heart. Of course, when you throw a new Chorister into such a contentious environment, as we do in X-Men: Book of Revelation #1, the balance shifts quite dramatically…

AIPT: Finally, you’re collaborating with some amazing artists across these Age of Revelation titles — Ryan Stegman, Mahmud Asrar, and Netho Diaz (not to mention Humberto Ramos, who kicked things off). Safe to assume X-Fans are in for some eXtraordinary visuals?

Jed: It’s an embarrassment of riches, as always. Humberto, Ryan, Mahmud, and Netho each approach this verdant apocalypse with their own particular flair, and it’s really fascinating to see such a varied range of takes on the same world. I think readers are going to be really excited to see what’s coming up!

AIPT: And the great news is, readers get to see new Age of Revelation art in this very article. But first, Jed, thanks for stopping by X-Men Monday!

Here’s the release schedule for the comics Jed discussed:

• X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture #1 — October 1, 2025
• Amazing X-Men #1 — October 8, 2025
• X-Men: Book of Revelation #1 — October 22, 2025

And now, this week’s eXclusive art, courtesy of our friends at Marvel. First, these X-Men: Age of Revelation Overture pages from artist Ryan Stegman, inker JP Mayer, and colorist Marte Gracia.

And here’s a look at a few Amazing X-Men #1 pages from artist Mahmud Asrar and colorist Matthew Wilson.

Next X-Men Monday

In the next edition of X-Men Monday, writer Erica Schultz returns to discuss her Age of Revelation tie-in series, Laura Kinney: Sabretooth!

Until next time, X-Fans, stay eXceptional!