X‑Men Annual #1 turns team into sentient drawings to fight villain 'The Creationist'

X‑Men Annual #1 will send the team into a drawing to battle a villain called The Creationist, who has power over 'imagination itself,' Marvel's official synopsis says.

Marvel says the Creationist forces four artists to visualize monsters that tear through reality. The X‑Men must survive an attack where imagination becomes the enemy, appearing as unfinished pencil drawings amid a fully rendered world as they try to stop his nightmare visions from consuming the world.

The annual is written by Ryan Stegman and drawn by lead artist Steve Skroce, with additional pages from Sanford Greene and Stegman himself.

It spins out of the ongoing Uncanny by Gail Simone and artist David Marquez, which follows a Louisiana‑based team led by Gambit and Rogue training a squad of mysterious young mutants. Marvel says the entire X‑Men line is entering a new era called 'Shadows of Tomorrow' that will bring shake‑ups across the franchise, though Uncanny remains one of the flagship titles.

Marvel has the issue on sale March 4; it is not yet clear from the synopsis how the annual's events will tie into the wider 'Shadows of Tomorrow' shake‑ups for the rest of the line.

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