WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO -- X-MEN PANEL

ROSEMONT, ILL. -- Marvel Comics kicked off its Wizard World Chicago panels on Friday with an X-Men panel.

Short-staffed because of problems with flights out of New York, the panel featured editor-in-chief Joe Quesada (not talking as much as usual because of illness), staffer/writer C.B. Cebulski and artist Skottie Young.

Following are highlights:

* Cebulski said Endangered Species will include returns of several characters from the past.

* X-Men: Messiah Complex, starts in November and runs through January, and Cebulski said "great things" will come out of the even in February.

* The Astonishing X-Men run by Warren Ellis and Simone Bianchi will begin next summer. "We're keeping the same feel, sort of a distilled version of the core X-Men, with linear story-telling" Quesada said.

* Young said that New X-Men #42-43 will be "good little in-between issues" between the current Magik story and the Messiah Complex event.

* Quesada said he can't revealed details about where Messiah Complex is heading, but the Endangered Species story will contain important elements.

* Marko Djurdjevic will have a second interior gig after Daredevil #100, but it can't be announced yet. Quesada said his interior art will be in Djurdjevic's "painterly style."

* Quesada said the "ticking clock" started by the Scarlet Witch is important in getting the X-Men back to their core.

* Cebulski said that while the X-Men were always considered a family, they will now be looked at as an army.

* Quesada said the end of the Joss Whedon/John Cassaday run of Astonishing X-Men will have impact on continuity.

* Quesada said Messiah Complex will be very "mutant on mutant" as the X-Men deal with problems "within the family."

* Young said he was excited to bring some of the "junior varsity" members of the New X-Men to the forefront.

* Exiles #100 will start a new arc and there will be an Exiles/New Excalibur crossover. "I think you'll be seeing some interesting changes on the teams there," Cebulski said.

* Quesada said the cast of characters will remain the same in Astonishing X-Men.

* Quesada said there are plans for another Marc Silvestri project following Messiah Complex, but it's too early to announce.

* Paul Cornell is taking over New Excalibur. "It's one of those dream projects," Quesada said, having met with Cornell in London recently. "It was the book he's always wanted to write at Marvel."

* Cebulski reiterated that there will be a change in the Excalibur lineup, and that the characters will show up in Messiah Complex.

* Will Juggernaut turn bad? Quesada said not necessarily, but there's always a possibility of characters who have flipped to flip again.

* Will Storm stick around in the X-Men books? Quesada said Storm's marriage to Black Panther was not intended to keep her out of the X-Men titles. The characters' previous alliances remains. "It can't but help add some tension," Quesada said.

* There are plans for Gambit.

* Quesada said that Cable will be "a character on the rise."

* Asked if Messiah Complex will result in creators changes, Quesada said there will be some.

"You're going to enjoy a real cohesiveness in the X-Men Universe we haven't had in a while," Quesada said, noting he feels line editor Axel Alonso will leave an imprint just as Bob Harras did.

* Cebulski said that Nightcrawler was definitely a character discussed at the recent X-Men summit in Los Angeles. He said he was hoping the character will be less brooding and more swashbuckling.

* Quesada said that the 198 are the known and registered mutants and there might be more out there.

* Asked about villains after Messiah Complex, Quesada said, "It's definitely going to get old school."

* Quesada said that Marvel is working to keep Wolverine's guest appearances to a minimun, but he feels the character has been a great addition to the Avengers.

* Asked if Romulus will be followed through in Wolverine: Origins, Quesada said yes.

* Cebulski said that Alonso is extremely interested in Deadpool.

* Asked about his shift in art style, Young said, "It just comes down to playing with it and trying to set new goals."

Young said that the darker comedy elements lended to his style for Cable/Deadpool covers.

* Asked about the 616 Magick, Cebulski said, "I'll just say, summer 2008."