Forget Fear Itself; the X-Men have their own problem brewing, and it's called X-Men: Schism Announced at WonderCon last weekend, the series will be written by Wolverine and Scalped writer Jason Aaron , with art from five A-List artists; Carlos Pacheco, Frank Cho, Daniel Acua, Alan Davis, and Adam Kubert are all set to do an issue of the series. The story finds Wolverine and Cyclops at a breaking point in their relationship as their conflict of opinion comes to a head and ultimately divides the X-Men forever.

In light of the announcement, we talked with Jason Aaron about the growing rift between the two characters and just what effect Schism could have on the greater Marvel Universe.Well, it'll affect the entire X-Universe and beyond that, just the Marvel Universe in general. It's going to have a huge effect going forward.The actual plot is pretty self-contained within the book itself. But certainly it's mainly a culmination of how we've seen the relationship develop between Scott and Logan over these last few years. The changes that Scott is going through in becoming general of the X-Men, and the role Logan has embraced as his number one solider. That's where we stand going into Schism and then we see things start to explode in the pages of that book.I wouldn't assume that it's going to be the same sort of Mageto/Xavier clash. It's still being kept secret as to what sparks this clash and certainly how things play out. These are unusual roles for both of these guys. Once they kind of stop for a moment and look back and see how far they've come since they first met, it's a long and winding road. This is a real big crossroads within that relationship.Certainly everything that these guys have been through together plays into this in some sense. When Schism opens, you'll really find them as Butch and Sundance. These are two guys who have had each other's backs for a long time now. They've been on this road for a while and Logan has been there as the good soldier backing up his general. Scott has led the way. That's where things start. And in the events of Schism, we start to see some cracks in that relationship.That'll be a big part of Schism, as well as the aftermath. It's kind of how the X-Men in general respond to this. Schism is pretty focused. Tons of X-Men play a part in it; I'm getting to write pretty much everybody I can think of in the X-Universe. Everyone pops up in this at some point. But at the end of the day, it's really a story just about Scott and Logan. It's not a story with one of them as the hero and the other as the villain; I think it's all about shades of grey and these two guys fighting it out in the midst of it.It's actually been pretty easy, because it's not a story about villainizing one character or another. At our most recent X-retreat, we were talking Schism; it's all the main X-writers and editors in a room together and we really started arguing things. We had people arguing to Scott's position in Schism and some of them arguing Logan's position. Both sides kind of thinking there is something wrong with the story in that they could only see one side of it. Then they realized that's perfect; we've got this room of people that are so completely divided on the role of these two characters, and that's exactly what we want. It's definitely a grey situation; it's one where I think fans of both characters can feel justified that their guy is right.Sure, sure.I will say that the stuff going on in Wolverine certainly bleeds into Schism. It's where Logan's head is at. The entire story of Logan going to Hell wraps up in the third arc of the book, which starts in issue #10. It's really the culmination of everything that's been going on in this first year of Wolverine. The end of that will be dovetailing with Schism. I mean, you don't have to read Wolverine going into Schism; certainly you can pick up Schism #1 and everything you need to know is right there. But if you have been following Wolverine and you go back and look at it, I think what he's going through in Schism and his reaction to that will make a lot more sense.Yes, yes. We'll certainly see the events of Schism play out almost immediately in the pages of Wolverine.There are actually five artists on this series. They are each doing a different issue. It's pretty much a murderer's row of talented artists. It's at least one guy that I've worked with before, and some other guys that I've been dying to work with. It's a great mix.Yeah, it was an editorial decision. It's one of those things where you can line up some great guys, but one guy will feel the pressure of turning out all five issues. This is a big book in terms of the effect it has on the X-Universe and the rest of the Marvel Universe in general, so you want to line up the big guns. For this it made sense; instead of getting one big guy to do it, why not five?I will say that in terms of some of the other characters that play a big role in Schism, there's a brand new Hellfire Club that emerges from this. In terms of new characters there is, without a doubt, one of my favorite villains that I've ever created that will play a big role in Schism. Coming out of Schism, he'll play an even bigger role. I'm really excited to do more with him. One of my favorite X-Men runs was Grant Morrison's run, so a big character that was a part of that run returns in Schism. The character has been seen here and there since Morrison created him, but he's coming back in a big way. Also, the stuff Kieron Gillen has been doing in Generation Hope factors in and we see Hope, the Five Lights, and the New Mutants characters having a role in Schism as well.Thank you!Stay tuned to IGN Comics for all things X-Men: Schism!