Release: February 2026 | Writer: Alex Paknadel | Artist: Rogê Antônio | Colorist: Fernando Sifuentes | Letterer: Joe Caramagna
For the first time since the "Marvel NOW!" era of Marvel Comics, Cyclops finally has his own individual series! And what a time to give him his own run. With everything going on with the fallout from Age of Revelation giving us a Cyclops whose a more evil(ish) version of himself, does this series provide an alternative to that? Or just some more angry Scott Summers wanting to kill other mutants? Let's dive in and see!
*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!*
The Tough Leader of the X-Men
With the X-Men under attack at A.I.M's facility, Quentin and Magik are looking to be in dire need of help, and that help arrives in the form of a confident Scott Summers. He gives these A.I.M soldiers two options, eithee let his team go, or get their teeth knocked out. These soldiers aren't very bright as they lunge on their attack to Cyclops.
A soldier sneaks behind him and grabs him from behind, Cyclops smirks and shoots his optic blast around the room, having it ricochet around until it cracks the soldier in the head. Like the father figure Scott is, he scolds Illyana and Quentin about the dangers of diving in head first.
Speaking of diving in head first, Juggernaut shows up late to the party. Illyana tries to apologize but Scott says he doesn't need apologies, he needs soldiers. Much to the dismay of Beast who pleads with him back at their Alaskan HQ that they are NOT soldiers.
Scott changes the subject, asking Beast why he's on the rooftop with him. Beast gives Scott a note that has the name of Dr. Robyn Hanover along with her phone number attached to it.
Down in an dark coal mine of British Columbia, Mr. Donald Pierce is talking to what is presumed to be himself at first about mutants and how they are only a resource for the betterment of humankind. He exclaims how they can be used to make humans stronger than what they are. This is when we see that he's actually talking to these horrifying creations that he's working on. He's creating these half human, half cyborg human variations in this bloody laboratory which hero calls his “Reavers”. And to make matter's worse, these subjects are alive and are begging for help.
After executing one and turning his attention to the others, they devote their undying dedication to him going forward.
Back in Nebraska, Scott meets up with Dr. Hanover at the wreckage of the old orphanage he and Alex Summers attended as children. Dr. Hanover was there with them as well.
Dr. Hanover cries to Scott saying that she feels responsible for what happened to Scott as a child when he was in her care. She feels like she needs his forgiveness for not ensuring his safety. And with her being sick, she believes that this is her only time to apologize before hugging him.
Explosive Landing:
On the Quinjet given to him by Beast, Cyclops receives an angry call from Alex Summers. He scolds Cyclops saying that even though they aren't on great speaking terms, he could of at least called him when he visited their old orphanage before it's completely demolished for a Roxxon business building.
Down on the ground of the Northern Rockies that Cyclops is flying over is a child who is on the run. But she's not alone, two of Mr. Pierce's Reavers are chasing her down. Their names are Sockeye and Tearjerker. These two men argue constantly, and are only stopped by the sound of the Quinjet flying over them that they believe is holding members of the Avengers. Tearjerker doesn't miss this opportunity and shoots a rocket directly at the ship that Cyclops can't avoid.
Sockeye grabs Tearjerker and tells him that he's an idiot for doing that and that Mr. Pierce won't be happy. And almost right on time, Mr. Pierce who's underground tells them that they heard an explosion above them and he hopes that it doesn't involve them. Sockeye quickly rats out Tearjerker for shooting down an Avengers Quinjet leading Pierce to tell them to leave immediately.
Cyclops narrowly avoids death as he shoots off a parachute to bring him to safety. Unfortunately the Quinjet is destroyed in the explosion and Cyclops' luck keeps running out as flames from the jet spark up towards his parachute, leading him to collapse down into the trees. On the way day, he wacks his head on a branch, leaving him unconscious while he calls out for Jean.
As Cyclops comes to, he notices this fall actually destroyed his visor, leaving his eyes vulnerable and his optic blast uses all of his remaining mental capacity to shoot out into the sky. His crimson blast lights up the sky for all to see, even Mr. Pierce who now knows the Avengers weren't on that Quinjet. As a matter of fact, the thing he hates; a mutant was on that ship. But not just any mutant, the most popular one of all, Cyclops.
When he sends his Reavers out to retrieve him, he's doing so to "accelerate their schedule" of whatever they have planned. The same little girl from earlier sees a deer who she asks to guide her to a Mountie for help. Her mutant powers presumably appear to be speaking to animals.
The deer takes off and instead leads her to the unconscious body of Scott Summers who is laying in a field, completely bloodied from his fall.
Amazing Creative Synergy
While the writing isn't anything that's changing the world, it doesn't need to be. All it needs to do is fit the modern era of Cyclops without stripping away his tone and character that we've seen from this era of Scott Summers. And since this story takes place after X-Manhunt, Alex Paknadel does a great job of keeping that same voice that Cyclops had from that time period. This doesn't feel out of place at all and I feel like chronologically could be read along side those issues of the mainline X-Men series without Cyclops sounding different. So kudos to Alex Paknadel for that.
Ever since "From the Ashes" kicked off for the X-Men, Marvel's creative direction had a specific look for each team book. X-Men didn't look like Uncanny, which didnt look like X-Force, etc. Rogê Antônio did a great job of keeping that look and feel for this Cylcops series that I associate with artists like Ryan Stegman. Which is great. Sometimes when a new art direction is given for an individual series and it differs HEAVILY from how they look in a team book (example: Nightwing and Titans), it can feel like they are totally disconnected, even though they reference each other. This issue isn't thst. This issue feels like a natural extension of the mainline X-Men book. Which as an artist, makes me very happy!
Conclusion:
Going into this series, I was very curious about how they were going to tackle this. Was this going to be the Cyclops we always knew? Or is it following the current Cyclops that's held in an X-Men built protected prison for trying to kill Revelation?
Luckily, it’s the first option, which takes place soon after the X-Manhunt storyline. By placing this story in that timeframe, it’s a genius decision that provides the reader with a great alternative to the current X-Men mainline series. Including some of Scott Summers' lore—like his childhood—makes this a great jumping-on point for new and old fans who want to get into Cyclops as a character.
But as I stated in the creative team section, it’s not a book that steals the show for the week; it’s simply a good read that you can pick up if you'd like. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, it’s nothing to go out of your way to get. If you aren't a fan of what's going on with Cyclops right now but enjoyed his character progression before the Revelation stuff, then this is the book to get that modern pre-Age of Revelation Cyclops fix that you're looking for.