Truth

“X of Swords: Chapter 12”
X-Men #14
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Leinil Francis Yu with Mahmud Asrar
Color art by Sunny Gho

“X of Swords: Chapter 13”
Marauders #14
Written by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy
Art by Stefano Caselli
Color art by Edgar Delgado

• I was wondering how Mahmud Asrar was handling the deadline crunch of seemingly getting put on a third of last week’s Stasis special while being assigned to draw four other issues in the crossover, but now we know the answer: He only drew the framing sequences of this issue, and the majority of the issue is made up of repurposed Leinil Francis Yu pages from X-Men #12. Jonathan Hickman has made use of the old “reuse the art” trick before, but this is a particularly bold move, reframing the history of the mutants of Arakko as told to Apocalypse by Summoner from the perspective of Genesis. Whereas Summoner was trying to mislead and trap Apocalypse, Genesis is telling him the hard truth of things. It’s like hearing the same song played in a different, far more melancholy key. 

This creative decision is as artful as it probably was quite pragmatic, though it does make you wonder what the compensation deal was like for Yu in this situation.

• It’s interesting to see where Summoner and Genesis’ accounts differ and converge, with some bits of their stories perfectly aligning on particular panels. The most blatant deviations come towards the end of the story, with Genesis revealing that the demons of Amenth had bred captured mutants to create a hybrid warrior race and the demon conjuring Summoners, and that Genesis indeed killed the prior host of Annihilation and was obligated to wear the Golden Helm of Amenth and command its armies. And though she put this fate off for many years, she eventually gave in and all of Arakko succumbed to Amenth. This led to the conquest of Dryador, and onward to the next goal of taking Krakoa. The final text page of this issue is heartbreaking, spelling out the truth of Arakko: The mutants there are “prisoners in their own land,” oppressed by the Amenthi hybrids, the Summoners, and the Golden Helm. What was previously implied is now very clear – Arakko must be liberated from Amenth and the mutants loyal to Amenth. 

• Isca the Unbeaten plays an interesting role in this story – her power to never lose compels her to side with inevitable victors, which directly led to her sister Genesis being corrupted by Annihilation and Arakko falling to Amenth. She’s a narrative echo of Cylobel from Powers of X, who was bred by Nimrod to betray her fellow mutants, but the notion of people who are genetically compelled to turn against their own is an odd and potentially contentious theme for Hickman’s macro story. However, just as Cylobel turns against Nimrod, it seems very likely that Isca will side with Krakoa by the end of this story. But whereas this is a redemptive act for Cylobel, wouldn’t this just be another convenient turn of events for Isca? And besides, how exactly is surrendering one’s loyalties not a form of being beaten? 

• The “vile schools” of mutant-Amenthi hybrid warriors is another echo of a plot point from Powers of X – the breeding of chimera as a warrior class of mutants by Mister Sinister. And what’s going to be the comic in this storyline to really engage with the vile schools? Hellions, the series featuring Mister Sinister as the lead.

• There’s such a sad poetry in Apocalypse having to face this brutal survivalist ethos he’s been living with for centuries from the perspective of now having Krakoa, and seeing in Krakoa a real possibility of true mutant culture and prosperity that is entirely alien to these Arakki people who can only see a zero sum game of survival or destruction. Genesis sees only softness and weakness in Apocalypse and Krakoa, but she has lost all context for true civilization. The Arakki fight merely to conquer and survive in their miserable lives, but the people of Krakoa have something to truly treasure and protect.  Genesis is blind to the power of that motivation. 

• Marauders #14 is a welcome tonal shift from X-Men #14, reorienting the story back to the perspective of the X-Men swordbearers as they meet their counterparts from Arakko for the first time at a banquet hosted by Saturnyne. Much of the story focuses in on Storm, who carries herself with absolute confidence as she rebuffs the romantic advances of Death, and on Wolverine, who is openly contemptuous of Brian Braddock for not taking advantage of Saturnyne’s love for him to prevent the tournament. There’s also a fantastic little scene in which the Krakoan captains Magik and Gorgon look for weaknesses in their opponents and test Isca, who manages to spook even them. 

• Stefano Caselli noticeably steps up his game for this issue, and really outdoes himself in drawing the surreal banquet hall of the Starlight Citadel. He does some stellar work with body language and facial expressions through the issue, and is particularly impressive in how he conveys so many distinct personalities and interpersonal dynamics in the party scenes. He was very well cast for this sequence of the story. 

• Since starting this site I’ve paid a lot more attention to X-Men comics fandom, and doing that can be like stepping into a weird alternate universe in which everyone dislikes Wolverine and finds him boring. I can’t relate. But this issue, as with most Wolverine comics written by Benjamin Percy, makes a great case for why he’s such a widely beloved character. His brutish no-bullshit attitude is a necessary contrast with the pomp and circumstance of Saturnyne’s banquet and the absurd formality of her contest. When he stabs her on the last page it is a genuinely cathartic moment, even though it’s quite clear there’s no way he’s successful in this tactic. 

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. 

History

“X of Swords: Chapter 9” 
Excalibur #13
Written by Tini Howard
Art by R.B. Silva
Color art by Nolan Woodard

“X of Swords: Chapter 10”
X-Men #13
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Mahmud Asrar
Color art by Sunny Gho

• This issue of Excalibur features guest art by R.B. Silva, who turns in his last X-Men interior pages for the foreseeable future as he moves on to become the regular artist on Fantastic Four. His work here is typically excellent and brings the grandeur, atmosphere, melodrama, and romanticism that’s in Tini Howard’s stories but missing from usual artist Marcus To’s pages. Howard’s plot moves along the macro story of X of Swords but plays out like a self-contained fairytale in which Saturnyne pits Betsy and Brian Braddock against one another in a ploy to strip Betsy of the mantle of Captain Britain and return it to her beloved Brian, but it all backfires on her in the end. By the end of the issue Betsy is affirmed as the one true Captain Britain and wields Saturnyne’s Starlight Sword, and Brian becomes Captain Avalon, retains his Sword of Might, and is given a new role as the protector of his brother Jamie’s realm in Otherworld. It’s a happy ending, at least for now. Howard’s narration at the end doesn’t bode well for the Braddocks. 

• X-Men #13 is more of a fable. The story is mainly focused on a flashback to Apocalypse’s life on Okkara that fills us in on what his wife Genesis was like, and shows us what actually happened as she and their children took off with Arrako into Amenth. The story we’ve seen before, which presented Apocalypse as a more decisive and heroic figure, is inverted – he was left behind by Genesis, who deemed him not strong enough to join them. His mission over all these years was given to him, to make the world strong enough to stand against the hordes of Amenth. Suddenly everything about Apocalypse makes sense, and the power-hungry despot is now a tragic romantic figure. 

• This issue establishes that the mask of Annihilation effectively is Annihilation – or, more accurately, the Golden Helm of Amenth. The wearer of the helm controls the hordes of Amenth, but the helm controls the wearer, which must be fit enough to be worthy of it. Apocalypse must face the avatar of his own cruel survival-of-the-fittest ethos, and likely rescue his beloved wife from its influence. It’s hard to imagine he’ll make it through this; it would feel like a cheat for this to not end in tragedy for the newly sympathetic archvillain. 

• Mahmud Asrar shifts his art style a bit for this issue – his linework is a bit thicker with chunkier blacks and more negative space, occasionally somewhat resembling the style of Mike Mignola. This is very effective in his depiction of the Golden Helm of Amenth and his evocative renderings of Okkara and war with the creatures of the dark world. Asrar is particularly good at conveying Apocalypse’s deep, centuries-old sorrow. His enormous bulk, once so intimidating, now looks like a manifestation of his overcompensation, and of the incredible weight of the loneliness and grief he carries with him. The first panel of the penultimate page, in which we see him looking down at his reflection in a pool of water before gathering the parts of his sword The Scarab, is a moment where we see him in a fully honest moment. There’s no one to observe him, no audience for his shows of strength, and so you see him without the clarity of purpose that was driving him for ages. In that panel he’s a sad old man who has been betrayed by his lost children, and must face the possibility that he’s wasted his long life. 

Creation

“Creation”
X of Swords: Creation
Written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard
Art by Pepe Larraz
Color art by Marte Gracia

I’m shifting format slightly for this one, this is all going to be in “some notes” format.

• Pepe Larraz’s return to X-Men a little over a year after the end of House of X is as auspicious as it ought to be – the triple-sized opening chapter of a major crossover, as befitting an artist who has emerged as a defining – and more importantly redefining – artist on this franchise. Larraz’s pages here are top quality and play to his strengths in world-building and his raw talent for drawing evocative environments, nuanced body language, thoughtful page layouts, and perfectly paced and composed dramatic moments. It feels like a gift to read pages as well illustrated as this – the level of craft is above and beyond, particularly in a thing like the opening panel of the issue in which he effectively depicts a vast army with incredible elegance and economy of line. 

• The issue re-uses, recontextualizes, and in some cases alters the pages previously seen in the Free Comic Book Day special promoting this event. The tarot reading sequence feels right as the proper beginning of the story rather than merely a trailer for it, and I appreciate them using the obscure mutant Tarot’s interpretation of the cards drawn as a text page. It’s a clever bit of hand-holding for those of us who are either only dimly aware of tarot or totally ignorant. It’s interesting to note that the figures on The Hanged Man card have been changed somewhat – Banshee to Siryn, Glob to Rockslide, Trinary to Summoner – but I suppose that’s simply a result of plot revision. 

• Archangel was mostly played as a joke in his Angel persona in Empyre: X-Men, so it’s nice to see him depicted more seriously in this story, where his extremely fraught relationship with Apocalypse is foregrounded to highlight that while he’s essentially the protagonist of this crossover the X-Men have a very bad history of being traumatized by him. 

• It’s also nice to see Monet once again at the forefront of a story, as she drives much of the action plot in the second half of the issue in which the X-Men confront Saturnyne. Between this, House of X, Empyre X-Men, and Giant Size X-Men: Storm, Monet has been positioned as a major X-Men character and this makes a lot of sense – she’s a character with a big personality and a diverse list of extraordinary powers, making her an obvious person to place on the front lines of any battle. I like the way the typically haughty Monet is set up as a foil to the even haughtier Saturnyne here, and her casual mention that she’d be interested in taking Saturnyne’s job at some point. Maybe that’s just a funny line, or maybe it’s foreshadowing – we’ll just have to wait and see. 

• In the lead-up to X of Swords we were led to believe that Apocalypse was the one pulling all the strings, but as we see in this issue he’s been manipulated just as much as he’s been manipulating the mutants of Krakoa. His Caesar-esque betrayal by Summoner and his the Horsemen is hardly a surprise but still hits with some emotional resonance and we’re fully aware of what a crushing disappointment this is for Apocalypse after centuries of waiting to be reunited with his lost family. And of course, at the end of this issue we see that Saturnyne has been playing everyone all along, and has set up a conflict for her amusement or potential gain in which he’s only just a pawn. It looks like a big part of this story will be Apocalypse being forced into true humility. 

• At least a third of this story is rooted in the Captain Britain mythos developed by Alan Davis, Alan Moore, and Chris Claremont in the 1980s – most obviously the presence of two Captains Britain in Betsy and Brian Braddock, but also Saturnyne, the Starlight Citadel, and Otherworld. The map of Otherworld is intriguing, with references to expected characters like Jamie Braddock, Roma, and Merlyn, but also a few somewhat unexpected characters from this mythos like Mad Jim Jaspers and The Fury. The most surprising thing here is the suggestion that the missing all-powerful omega mutant Absolon “Mister M” Mercator is most likely the “unknown” regent of a realm called Mercator.

• The biggest curveball in this opening chapter by far is the revelation at the end of the issue that somehow S.W.O.R.D., the intergalactic intelligence agency created by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday in Astonishing X-Men, is somehow part of Saturnyne’s scheme. I can barely even speculate on how that fits into all this with Arrako and Amenth and Otherworld, but I like the feeling of having no idea where this plot is going. 

• As the issue ends we learn that the macguffin driving the plot of this crossover will be some kind of tournament between the swordbearers of Arrako and Krakoa, and we’re given the name of ten swords that will be wielded by X-Men who’ve been indicated on either the Ten of Swords card in the reading early in the issue or the covers of forthcoming issues.

Some of the swords are obvious – Magik possesses the Soul Sword, Cable recently acquired The Light of Galador in his solo series, Cypher is bonded with Warlock. The Sword of Might would be Brian Braddock and the Starlight Sword would be Betsy Braddock. Skybreaker would be for Storm and The Scarab would be for Apocalypse given their respective themes as characters. Gorgon has a history with Grasscutter and Godkiller in previous Hickman comics, and I would assume Magneto would take the latter if just for the pompous name. Muramasa, a blade infused with Wolverine’s soul, is obviously meant for him, which is troubling as that one also appears as the 11th sword of Arrako. Hmmm.

Amenth

“Amenth”
X-Men #12
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Leinil Francis Yu
Color art by Sunny Gho

“Amenth” is a tremendously ambitious issue focused almost exclusively on world-building in advance of the X of Swords epic beginning next week. It’s quite a lot to take in. In 14 pages we’re presented with Summoner’s abridged history of centuries of a mutant society stranded in the fallen world of Amenth after the “Twilight Sword” of “the enemy” split Okkara into Krakoa and Arrako. We learn that the mutants of Arrako are led by Genesis, the wife of Apocalypse. Genesis was betrayed by a fellow mutant and killed by Annihilation, the god of Amenth. As we enter X of Swords, Apocalypse is called on to liberate the surviving mutants of Arrako from the siege of Annihilation and the hordes of Amenth. We’re left with some question of Apocalypse’s motives at the time of Okkara’s split, and his motives now. 

It’s all very good set up for the next big story, and establishes the most radical changes to X-Men mythology since House of X/Powers of X. The notion of an entire separate lost mutant society with centuries of history is wild, as is the revelation that Apocalypse is not the first mutant but rather the first of the second generation of mutantdom. There’s still quite a bit of story ahead in X of Swords, but it seems to me that the likely result of that story is the first level up in mutant society in terms of the galactic scale presented in Powers of X #2. It’s the next step in the evolution of Krakoa as a society towards greater scale as the macro story moves along – the alliance with the Shi’ar being an eventual logical step, and I suspect we’ll eventually see Krakoa ascend to some stage of “worldmind.” And then, maybe in the end…the Phalanx. 

This is Leinil Francis Yu’s final issue as the regular artist on this series and his work in conveying the grand scale of this plot is outstanding. Hickman’s plot is extremely demanding, with pages in which every other panel represents major historical moments on a large scale, and Yu delivers without making it all feel too heavy and overwhelming. I particularly like the way he drew the sequence with Genesis entering palace of Annihilation – it feels both Biblical and alien, and full of small details that suggest yet more history to be told. Yu has been a mainstay of Marvel Comics – and of X-Men projects – for over 20 years, and his work on this past year of X-Men with Hickman has been a career pinnacle for him. They’ve worked together on Avengers in the past, and in that series he was also pushed to draw sci-fi on a grand scale. It’s another example of Hickman seeing what an artist is truly capable of and pushing them to the next level. 

Onwards to X of Swords!