Stasis

“X of Swords: Chapter 11”
X of Swords: Stasis
Written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard
Art by Pepe Larraz and Mahmud Asrar
Color art by Marte Gracia

• The issue opens with more dazzling worldbuilding from Pepe Larraz, who establishes the look of five kingdoms within Otherworld in five evocative half-page panels. I’m particularly impressed by his design for the angular and minimalist architecture in the Kingdom of Sevalith throne room and the dusty junk shop vibe of Jim Jaspers’Crooked Market. I also love his designs in Saturnyne’s Starlight Citadel, particularly the quasi Deco aesthetics of the elevator scene at the end of the issue. Larraz’s raw draftsmanship is extraordinary, but the way he pulls in visual reference points from the more stylish ends of art and design history really pushes him over the top – even a lot of his most impressive peers can’t step to the casual sophistication of his post-House of X pages. 

• The parliament scene at the top of the issue further teases the question of what’s going on in Mercator, this time all but confirming that the realm has been taken over by the nearly omnipotent omega mutant Absolon “Mr. M” Mercator. The design of the unnamed representatives of Mercator is very creepy, recalling the sort of faceless enigma figures of Grant Morrison and Richard Case’s Doom Patrol but also ceremonial religious garb, kind of an ultra-goth Catholicism thing. Mercator is a very obscure character that has not been used in many years, so I get the impression Hickman and his writing staff will be reinventing him quite a bit – there’s not really anything from his previous appearances to suggest conquering realms and lording over these sort of solemn weirdos is something he’d be into. But hey, if you’re all-powerful, why not play god? This may turn out to be the most literal exploration of Magneto’s “you have new gods now” annunciation at the start of Hickman’s run. 

• Mahmud Asrar’s pages in this issue depict the gathering of the Swordbearers of Arrako and introduce a few as-yet unseen characters – Redroot the Forest who turns out to be a rough analog to Cypher as the “voice of Arrako,” Pogg Ur-Pogg who’s basically an endlessly greedy crocodile-like monster from Amenth, and the somewhat inscrutable warrior Bei the Blood Moon. The most intriguing scene involves Famine and Death recruiting the ancient White Sword of the Ivory Spire, who has a complicated backstory that puts him at odds with Annihilation and the Horsemen going back centuries. I’m not that invested in the details of this so much as I find it interesting that Saturnyne’s selection of Arraki swordbearers are not at all a united front. Aside from White Sword’s ancient vendetta, there’s also the bad blood between War and Solem, and the non-mutant Pogg Ur-Pogg mostly seems like an agent of chaos who does not care at all about the Arraki mutants. Is this Saturnyne’s way of sabotaging the Arraki champions and giving favor to Krakoa and Avalon? 

• The issue ends on the reveal that the Golden Helm of Annihilation is worn by none other than Apocalypse’s wife Genesis, which isn’t at all surprising – like, I just kinda figured this was the case just from looking at early promo images and the plot has been unsubtly gesturing towards this all along – but it does land with the appropriate emotional impact on Apocalypse, for whom this is indeed a soul-shattering shock. Hickman and Howard continue to make Apocalypse a genuinely empathetic figure, and at this point it’s quite moving to see him process such immense disappointment and betrayal. They’ve succeeded in making this character an underdog and having that reversal be poignant in that his whole reason for being for all these years was his disdain for underdogs.