A first look at Bachalo's designs for the cast of Brian Bendis' "Uncanny X-Men"

Last week, Marvel Comics continued teasing its extended Marvel NOW! launch window with a new one-word image teasing an "Uncanny" series by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo. Bachalo has confirmed that the teased book is indeed an relaunched "Uncanny X-Men."

On his personal blog, the artist stated the decision to make the move from Jason Aaron's "Wolverine and the X-Men" was difficult, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to relaunch the new "Uncanny X-Men."

"It's me an Bendis on a new launch of the series," Bachalo said. "This was a tough one as I was really enjoying my time on ['Wolverine and the X-Men'] but Brian asked for me to help him launch the new Uncanny and how do you turn down that offer?"

Bachalo went on to mention the challenges of launching a new series, the shift in tone for "Uncanny X-Men" from years past under Bendis' watch and redesigns for characters across the board.

"Launches are tough as there's a lot of ground to cover to get things rolling," Bachalo said. "Characters are re-imagined, writing styles adjusted to, locations established. It's a tough learning curve that typically takes a few issues to figure out and grow comfortable with. We're still very early into the creative part so hard for me to comment on exactly what to expect. The daring part is that the tone of the book -- feels like, its early -- will be a little darker. Characters powers have been 'adjusted' as a result of the Phoenix Five fallout and I was asked to redesign costumes for the entire cast. Everyone. Plus, as of today, there are two "new" mutants. It's a big jump that I'm sure will turn a few off but, we're betting on, that most will welcome and enjoy. One thing that you can count on is that Brian will always give you something worth reading. He never fails to be interesting. Launch is two issues in February."

"Uncanny X-Men" by Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo launches in February 2013.