I don’t know about you, but I’m a little tired of only hearing about DC after the last week and a half, so Marvel has seen fit to release a bit of news themselves. Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily the kind of news I want to hear.

On Thursday, Marvel revealed that they would be ending one of their flagship titles when Uncanny X-Men comes to an end in October with issue #544. The issue will be written by Kieron Gillen with art by Greg Land and will tie into whatever happens in the upcoming X-Men: Schism event.

The solicitation for the issue reads like this…

All things must come an end”¦even for the X-Men, and this October fans will bear witness the end of an era as UNCANNY X-MEN #544 concludes the long running series. It’s all come to this! Years in the making, the seeds of dissent finally bear fruit as the events of X-Men: Schism tear the X-Men and the Marvel Universe apart! When the dust settles, the state of mutantkind will irreparably be changed forever. Don’t miss the historic final issue of the longest running X-Men title this October, in UNCANNY X-MEN #544!

I’m sure a lot of people are looking at this as some kind of reaction to DC’s whole renumbering scheme, but Marvel has done this a bunch of times before with all of their major titles, so that part of it shouldn’t be surprising. I’m also pretty confident that Marvel was planning this well in advance of DC’s announcements, it’s just a weird bit of timing that makes it look like Marvel is trying to steal a bit of DC’s steam (of course, it’s just as possible that Marvel just came up with this plan this week).

Does this mean the end of the title? Doubtful. The X-Men are too successful a franchise and Uncanny remains the flagship title of the line. I expect we’ll be learning about a new first issue along with a new creative team. I’m hopeful and pretty confident that Gillen will remain as the writer of the title, as his run just started a few months ago. I’m also hopeful that Gillen will soon be joined by his Phonogram partner Jamie McKelvie on art detail, but that’s pure speculation.

Once X-Men: Schism starts up in July, we’ll have a better idea of what events lead up to the end of the Uncanny X-Men and what will be coming next. What we know about Schism largely revolves around the dispute between Wolverine and Cyclops. In a press conference on Friday, Schism writer Jason Aaron and Marvel Editor Nick Lowe discussed the cause of the dispute as having been building for years and coming to the head with the return of Quentin Quire, otherwise known as Kid Omega (originally created by Grant Morrison during his run). Expect events from Uncanny X-Men, Uncanny X-Force, and Wolverine to tie into Schism.

I have been enjoying the X-Men books more in the last few months then I have in years, and I hope that whatever happens in Schism and whatever brings about the end of Uncanny X-Men doesn’t disrupt the quality of the books.

Let us know if you’re looking forward to Schism and what you think about the end of the line for Uncanny X-Men.

[Source: Marvel]