On October 3, the mutant called Shatterstar decides to go it alone.

A gladiator, a warrior, and a Super Hero…Shatterstar has been many different things, but throughout it all, he’s always been deadly. This fall, enter the darkness with SHATTERSTAR #1!

Written by Tim Seeley with art by Carlos Villa, the limited series will be a new birth for the long-beloved character. “I was 12 years-old when I first saw Shatterstar in the pages of NEW MUTANTS, and I was the perfect age to be intrigued by him,” the writer explains. “The dude’s an alien gladiator! And within pages of us meeting him, he stabs himself with his own swords in order to kill the bad guy standing behind him.”

Shatterstar #1 cover by Yasmine Putri

Seeley’s perspective on the character has evolved since then, and it seems that very evolution may be a focus of the new series. “My interest in him now is more in the ‘hardboiled noir’ aspects of the character,” he says. “He’s this guy whose life was violence for sport—and now he’s trying to move on from that. But it’s such a thin thread that keeps him in this new line of lawfulness, and it’s an easy one to break.”

What was Seeley’s pitch for this new book? “When the life he built crumbles, Shatterstar is forced to ask himself if he truly ever gave up the gladiator ring. The series will be part John Wick, a dash of Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, and infused with lots of lots of interdimensional X-Men Super Hero mythos.” Speaking specifically about that X-Men lore, Seeley says he was inspired by classic ’80s and ’90s X-Men stories: “I really stuck close to the Fabian Nicieza, Rob Liefeld stuff—especially those last few issues of NEW MUTANTS where you can see the purest form of this guy. I also really leaned on the LONGSHOT limited series by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams, as well as the ‘Shattershot’ storyline from the old X-Men annuals.”

Shatterstar has been many different things. On October 3, discover who he is now as Tim Seeley and Carlos Villa present SHATTERSTAR #1!