Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 10, 2024 | 5 comments

The Claremont-Byrne classic gets a 45th anniversary spotlight…

You might have heard bits and pieces about this but now we can tell you officially: Marvel in 2025 will continue its yearlong Facsimile Edition concept, with Fantastic Four and The X-Men getting the kind of treatment that Secret Wars and The Amazing Spider-Man did in 2024.

Specifically, we’ll see 12 issues of the Dark Phoenix Saga — Issues #131 to #142 — monthly, starting in January. For Fantastic Four, it will be the first 12 issues by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby — and you can click here to read about that.

In addition, as in 2024, there will be extra slots that will allow Marvel to produce other Facsimile Editions not connected to those titles. (This year, it was an assortment of mutants, Godzilla, Kraven the Hunter and Captain America.) For January, it will be a new printing of The Amazing Spider-Man #129 Facsimile Edition. Click here for the skinny.

Dig the solicitation info, which will be officially released later in October:

X-MEN #131 FACSIMILE EDITION

Written by CHRIS CLAREMONT & JOHN BYRNE

Penciled by JOHN BYRNE

Cover by JOHN BYRNE • VARIANT COVER BY TBA

Kitty Pryde meets more of the X-Men in a vital chapter of the Dark Phoenix Saga! When Cyclops, Phoenix, Nightcrawler and the mutant pop star Dazzler save a young girl as she flees her pursuers from the Hellfire Club, little do they know she’s destined to become one of the most iconic X-Men of all! But with Storm, Colossus and Wolverine still prisoners of the White Queen, the young Kitty Pryde must lead her new allies back into the lion’s den to come to their rescue. Can Emma Frost withstand a psychic battle with an increasingly ruthless Jean Grey? And will Dazzler accept an offer to join the X-Men? It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting X-MEN (1963) #131.

32 PGS./Rated T… $4.99

On Sale 1/29

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Several thoughts:

— The Dark Phoenix Saga generally is considered to begin in X-Men #129. So why is Marvel starting the run at Issue #131? Likely because #129 was released as a Facsimile Edition in 2023 and #130 was released as one this year.

— Marvel is doing these yearlong runs so they can collect the issues — ads and all — into Gallery Edition hardcovers, which are slightly smaller than Bronze Age treasury editions.

— The storyline began in 1979, but most of it played out in 1980, so next year will be its 45th anniversary.

— The variant cover price has yet to be announced. I believe it will be the same as the regular cover.

— Obligatory Price Comparison: An unslabbed, high-grade original copy recently sold on eBay for $71.

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MORE

— First 12 Issues of LEE and KIRBY’s FANTASTIC FOUR to Be Re-Released as FACSIMILE EDITIONS. Click here.

— AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129: Marvel to Publish New Printing of FACSIMILE EDITION. Click here.