The Flaming Lips Set To Guest-Star In Upcoming X-Men Comic

Since the 1990s, mainstream comics have been engaged in a weird love affair with 'period' titles, from the far-off eras of Spider-Man 2099 and DC Universe, Year 1000 to the days-gone-by of Marvel 1602 and beyond.

More recently, the obsession has been with throwback nostalgia titles, as seen with the breakout success of DC's Batman '66, a modern-day comic book set in the world of the camp 1960s universe of the old Batman TV show, and the company's planned relaunch of several Hanna-Barbera titles (Scooby Doo, Space Ghost etc) as contemporary re-imaginings. Likely hoping to mirror that success, Marvel Comics has recently launched the similarly titled X-Men '92, which brings back the characters and fantastically gaudy yellow-and-blue of the mutants' iconic animated series that ran from 1992 to 1997.

To help bolster the appeal, as Billboard reports, Marvel has announced that seminal weirdos The Flaming Lips will be featured in the series' upcoming sixth issue, due for release in August. According to frontman Wayne Coyne, the issue will see Professor Xavier's band of superpowered students serve as show security for the band behind She Don't Use Jelly, which, uh, hadn't been released at the time this comic is set.

"Being in an X-Men comic where they actually run security at one of our shows... I should have written a song about that," Coyne told Billboard. "I mean... before it really happened."

The Flaming Lips will be joined in-print by fellow '90s outfit The Toadies, with the appearance of both acts steeped equally in satirising the ridiculous lengths to which comics often went during that decade to make themselves marketable (it was a dark era of holographic covers and value-less variants as 'collectors' flooded and destabilised the market) as well as personal affinities for the bands in question.

Said co-writer Chris Sims, "It really all started with us joking about the kind of stunts they'd pull in comics in the '90s, and [co-writer] Chad [Bowers] and I going, 'Hey, wouldn't it be great if we could get a real-life band to appear in the issue, like they did with celebrity guest appearances back then?'"

"The Flaming Lips and The Toadies are two of my favourite bands, and each had a profound impact on my musical tastes growing up," Bowers echoed. "Rubberneck for The Toadies, and The Soft Bulletin and really everything behind it for the Lips. Getting to reference not just the bands, but the music and what those songs meant to us is pretty surreal, and unlike anything either of us imagined we'd be doing on X-Men '92.

"Now, if we can just convince Marvel to let us keep [Flaming Lips drummer] Steve Drozd on the team when this arc's over..."

Check out the full cover for The Flaming Lips' issue of X-Men '92 below, and you can buy the series from issue #1 at Marvel's website.