Let what was split be whole again. The forces of Amenth march against the forces of Krakoa as •┤Ȧ├• executes a plan centuries in the making. Factions will be forged. Bonds will be broken. Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, Pepe Larraz, and Marte Gracia present, X Of Swords: Creation #1. Check out our coverage of the prelude issues as well!
Chris Eddleman: Since February, I’ve studied the blade. While everyone was worried about their Avengers movies, I mastered mutant magic. And now that the Arakkoans are at your gates, you have the audacity to ask me to team up with a dear friend and write a nice article about it? Well, okay.
I guess I don’t take much convincing. Well anyway, friends and readers, welcome to the start of our X of Swords coverage proper where Nola Pfau and I are going to each take a hefty bite out of this monster comic. To say I was excited to read this is a drastic understatement. To say I needed this comic like I needed fresh air in the toxic atmosphere of our current existence is maybe only a small understatement. I digress, but this was a delightful comic, and I’m excited to talk about it with my friend.
Nola Pfau: Well, I can’t really live up to that introduction, I usually start these things with a bit. Anyway, I like swords. I like X-Men. I like Tarot cards. I like ritual combat! I’ve been covering Excalibur on the regular here (and X-Force over at WWAC), so I was extremely primed for every single bit of Otherworld nonsense that came down the pipe in this opener. I’m uh. I’m very excited about this and I’m ready to go. Shall we, Chris?
A Betrayal That No One Saw Coming (Not Anyone, We Swear)
CE: We start this issue midbattle, which immediately reminds us (at least to anyone who forgot) why Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia are a dream team. The forces of Arakko are laying siege to Dryador, which definitely sounds like it should be populated by Tree People, but instead are populated by some fish friends. These are vassals of Opal Luna Saturnyne, and as such are sworn to protect her (as we see later, this kind of makes her a jerk). Anyway, these first few pages were a great start, as we immediately see our antagonists as a force to be reckoned with. However, it’s not ENTIRELY clear that they’re antagonists, as Apocalypse has also been sparring on and off with the forces of Otherworld. We then follow a lone messenger back to the palace of Saturnyne, where we get a frame by frame reenactment of the X of Swords FCBD special. Just like in previous previews though, we get slightly different wording of the panels. How did this opening treat you, Nola?
NP: Fish people ruling a tree kingdom? Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be a proper take on British myth without a fair dash of colonialism.
I think we are actually immediately meant to read them as antagonists; if the warnings in prior issues weren’t enough, there’s the fact that Otherworld is no longer under the hand of Morgan le Fay, but specifically under a puppet king installed by •┤Ȧ├•. That’s significant both in terms of the dynamics at play here (they aren’t attacking land held by an antagonist, but one by a protagonist) and in terms of the formalism and intentionality that things in Otherworld tend to require. They carry that too, in the way they speak; they invoke the names of Horsemen amongst themselves in ways that speak to power and ritual. It’s the sort of thing that this kind of world requires; and it’s the hinge of every great fae story; you have to be careful the kind of things you say, the pronouncements you make, and the words you choose, because they will absolutely come back and bite you if you’re not careful. Sometimes literally.
CE: It shows pretty nicely how these two somewhat different worlds (that maybe weren’t originally planned to play together) can nicely mesh. Pretty solid work from the Howard/Hickman writing team. I would say the ritual of Arrako also parallels that of its diasporic twin, Krakoa, showing a similar but distinct culture. But, unlike the formalism of Arakko, the somewhat undefined laws of Krakoa immediately are up for discussion, as •┤Ȧ├• was to tell everyone the schemes he’s been up to. The Three Laws certainly DON’T prohibit turning some other mutants into a crystalline interdimensional gateway, so he’s certainly in the clear for now. [Ed. note: Frankly, this feels like a loophole]
Poor Summoner and Banshee, last seen with perennial favorite Unus the Untouchable, have returned in retreat from Otherworld, where they were supposedly attacked by the forces of Amenth.
It’s interesting how the council takes all of this in stride, but more narratively interesting to me are two points—the first being that this story is SOLELY from the perspective of Summoner, much like our legends told in the last issue. I like this (as we will later see) unreliable narrator in the form of comics, the perspective feels more concrete as something drawn and colored. I like that the creators take the time to show it, rather than him just explaining in some kind of caption box. It’s grounding, it makes you want to believe it. The second interesting narrative is how active a role Krakoa takes in the decision making process, vetoing the council’s decision to destroy the External Gate. Krakoa is unyielding much like Apocalypse is in wanting to be reunited.
NP: Well, it’s not a hundred percent in stride. They do try to hold •┤Ȧ├• to account first, but by their own laws, he hasn’t done anything wrong. There’s no rule that he had to consult them before setting up a gate, and similarly, there’s no rule about what he did to the rest of the Externals; the law is kill no man, but if mutants are setting themselves apart from humans, does that law encompass mutant lives which can be queued for resurrection? It’s a thorny question, and the kind of thing that the Quiet Council really should’ve spent more time considering. Then again, we don’t read X-Men comics for their strong, healthy decision-making skills…
I love the storytelling of the Summoner, because it really draws you right in. Some of that is the panel work, like you said, and some of it is the singular viewpoint. Summoner is a monochromatic enigma with a sinister-looking smile, so of course we know that he’s up to something, because he’s in a Hickman book. Everything about him has read with a vaguely threatening menace since his very first appearance, and this bit is no different. In fact, I have to wonder, given the formalism already on display, and given the way he speaks, was the panel work here more than simply visualised story? He is, after all, standing amongst multiple telepaths, he is a mutant, if a strange one. I wonder if this wasn’t intentional subterfuge? A construction of events in his mind even as he told the story, in order to throw them off the scent. It’s notable too that when Rachel and Nate dive into Banshee’s mind to get an accounting of events from him, they’re also able to immediately pinpoint that something’s wrong, even though it takes a few for them to sort it out. That may not end up going any further than this, it may simply be a kind of coincidence, but I do find it intriguing, and it would certainly answer the question of sidestepping several omega level telepaths.
CE: No, it’s a very solid point, and one I definitely didn’t think about during first read. This story plays telepaths in a very specific but very cool way. I almost wonder if it’s naivety though, as mutants can surely trust mutants, right?
Speaking of naivety, a bunch of people volunteer for Apocalypse’s Unus rescue mission/meet up with his kids. Frankly, I love the crew that shows up: Havok, Polaris, Rictor, Beast (okay I love MOST), Archangel, Siryn, Rockslide, and M! I especially liked that they all had reasons for going, as X-Men missions often just seem like a random dice chart from an AD&D book.
NP: Hey now, that’s Angel, despite the wings. It even says so on the cast page! He’s also the one who reminds us that mutants definitely can not trust other mutants—he certainly doesn’t trust •┤Ȧ├• even a bit given their history, and he’s right not to. We pick on ol’ Warren a lot for being a himbo, but he’s one of the X-Men who has perhaps most significantly been betrayed by both human and mutantkind, and if he’s learned nothing else, he’s at least picked up a bit of caution when it comes to unsourced claims from individuals with enigmatic histories.
The random dice chart is a good comparison, and even though I don’t generally mind it (what reason do they need, after all, they’re X-Men, it’s what they do) you’re right, it’s good to see a deviation from that. Everyone here is personally invested and has a good reason to be present, except Hank, who belongs in the pit. Then again, I guess if you need someone to murder a whole lot of people without any qualms, he’s your guy.
CE: I’ve become a big fan of Monet recently, and she was in rare form in this issue, but I especially loved seeing a platonic Havok/Polaris reunion, and especially considering they basically went for the same reason- being representatives for their more “important” family members. Very dynastic, but they played well together. I think the writing team gave all of these folks (with the possible exception of Rictor) a pretty good character moment each.
NP: I also really loved the Alex/Lorna scene. It’s funny to see them both sort of just here to do a job, at the behest of their respective management. I was glad to see both Sean and Theresa too, even if just for once I would like to see Sean having a good time. Remember what that was like? I don’t think we’ve seen him much since Rosenberg’s Astonishing run, when he was like a…weird zombie almost?
CE: Once they’re through the gate all hell breaks loose though, with Apocalypse finally seeing his children, tears in his eyes, hearing about the death of his wife (I still think this will be more complicated later but, it’s what we get now). I buy this Apocalypse, the emotional one. He’s seemed cold and logical in the past, but it’s always been in the service of “the greater good” and in this case the good is reuniting his family. I kind of feel for the big blue guy here, even though he definitely deserves what he gets…betrayal!
NP: It’s one of those classic conflicts, because he just wants to be reunited with his family, and he never had thought that was possible before now. It’s a new angle for a guy who has largely been very stoic, solitary, and unknowable. On the other hand, if my dad left me in an alternate dimension to fight armies for untold millennia, I’d probably be pretty mad, too. I think that, given both Summoner’s already demonstrated penchant for lies (he is a summoner of many things!) and •┤Ȧ├•’s own personal history of not exactly being forthright with the truth, we’re in for some major revelations along the way as to what really happened with the sealing of Arakko.
CE: I need to cut in a little bit with this mention of Siryn. It reminds me of the panel beats as soon as Apocalypse is hit with the double stab. I mentioned back in HoXPoXToX, but Larraz can make incredibly dynamic layouts, and it starts as soon as the stab hits and Siryn lets out that NO. The kinetic nature of the storytelling kicks into high gear, and I felt like I was barely taking everything in. Each panel begs you to zip to the next one, it’s very well done. We get some casualties, with Summoner betraying someone we’re actually supposed to love, taking advantage of his knowledge of Rockslide’s weakness to bisect the poor kid. Let’s hope that’s resurrectable. Rictor is also unfortunately hit with one of those Pestilence arrows, so he’s likely toast too. I really buy Havok, Polaris, and M staying behind. They’re an incredibly tough trio, and it made for some fun interactions with…well… her.
Otherworld Martial Arts Sword Tournament
NP: I don’t think we really have much to worry about in regards to Rockslide being resurrected. It’d be silly to revisit that plot beat so soon after Kate. Let’s move on though…it would be rude, after all, to visit Otherworld without paying proper respects to its true supreme power, Her Royal Whyness, the Omniversal Majestrix herself, Saturnyne. And BOY did she get some stuff to do here. Her story intersects with •┤Ȧ├•’s children first when they send her a diseased messenger bearing the scepter of Dryador, aka that kingdom in the beginning that existed just to be destroyed, in very Claremontian fashion. I do mean that, too—I looked it up, and I can’t find a record of Dryador prior to this issue.
At any rate, the messenger delivers the news that Arakko has fallen, at which point Saturnyne immediately says she needs her cards. Now, I wonder, why would cards play a role of significance in an event called X of Swords? Perhaps she’s going to defeat the Four with a rousing game of Go Fish (too soon, Dryador? Dryador?).
CE: So, as I mentioned earlier, this scene (the Otherworld folks getting a tree creature, Saturnyne doing tarot) are directly out of the FCBD issue. There are some main differences though in the tarot reading. Specifically, in the FCBD issue, Glob Herman and Trinary are in the Four of Wands card, but have been replaced by Rockslide and Summoner, respectivly. I wonder if the ol’ Globster was originally meant to perish. The wording of the captions is different as well, but generally portrays the same message. However, the Ten of Swords in the FCBD specifically mentions betrayal , whereas in this issue it signals a light in the darkness ahead. That’s an interesting portrayal of the Ten of Swords (I’ve been reading a little tarot my own self, you see). Usually it means something to the effect of complete abject failure, but perhaps her Whyness is looking beyond the Ten.
NP: Well, it means failure after a fashion, yes, but it specifically tends to refer to the type of failure that comes with hitting rock bottom, or bemoaning fate. That kind of carries in the card’s imagery; which is a bit on the melodramatic side, usually it’s a single person with a full ten swords in their back, the kind of thing that seems a little excessive. One sword will kill a person just fine, usually! I mean, um. Allegedly.
Anyway…the thing about hitting rock bottom is there’s nowhere to go but up. In that respect, the Ten of Swords can certainly represent something dire, but that light in the darkness ahead could absolutely be referring to that interpretation. It’s always darkest before the dawn. The other thing that’s fascinating to me here is that the Ten of Swords isn’t specifically referred to as reversed, and indeed appears to specifically not be as she’s laying it down, but…the imagery itself is a thematic reversal of sorts. Instead of a person with ten swords in their back, we see the sword bearers, with nary a target in sight. Is that significant? I’m not sure yet, but it’s fascinating to me.
CE: It’s VERY interesting. It’s nice that we move from this directly into a datapage from Tarot [Ed. note: the classic 80s Hellions character], who keeps doing five card readings with the same repeated result. This renders us, the explainers, completely useless. We can pack it all up and go home. But anyway, the explainer of the meaning of tarot cards is pretty useful to folks reading, and I kind of kicked myself for doing so much extra research beforehand. I like the ending of “things seem serious.” Yeah, a 22-issue crossover level of serious. The question she asks, “What was the message? Can they tell me more?” is answered interestingly. The cards do not deviate, indicating a very clear message, and they absolutely cannot or will not tell her more. What does this mean, do you think?
NP: Yeah, Saturnyne starts off talking about how her vision of the future is clouded in darkness, and she’s sort of speaking dramatically here, with intent, like I mentioned before. Whereas some magicians you’ll see in comics will use specific arcane languages, Saturnyne seems to hold to certain ritualistic rhythms of speech; one can guess that, being the Omniversial Majestrix, she doesn’t have to try very hard to invoke a little basic magic.
So for the uninitiated, a tarot spread is generally laid out while thinking of a specific question you want answered, really holding that in your mind. Saturnyne’s question is kind of open-ended here, right? She just wants to see what the future holds, and she lays five cards down here: Judgment, the Four of Wands, the Hanged Man, the Eight of Cups, and finally, the Ten of Swords.
I find the way the art is rendered for these cards extremely interesting; it’s not just the Ten of Swords that varies, but all of them. Judgment typically depicts an angel bringing divine judgment, and here depicts •┤Ȧ├• with Summoner, while Saturnyne narrates about what rises to face them. So instead of a judgment from an angel upon the masses, we see the target of that judgment as •┤Ȧ├•’s past comes calling. Likewise, the Four of Wands typically represents freedom or celebration, but here depicts •┤Ȧ├•’s children carving a murderous swath. With the Hanged Man, we have the first explicit mention that the card’s contents do not align with the typical expectations; as Saturnyne says, no men hang. Instead, a crew of Krakoans march resolutely forward. This one is the trickiest to me, because the Hanged Man is often so specifically about reversal; about surrendering in order to win, or achieving control by letting go. The fact that this is the third card of five is also of note here to me; if you’re going to reverse something, it’s centrally located, and thus a pivot point. Finally, the Eight of Cups! It’s a card that’s generally associated with weariness, and letting go, or moving on. Similarly, it usually shows someone walking away from a scene, leaving cups behind. Here, though, it shows a woman in two guises, facing the viewer. She is immediate and present, framed in the background by symbols of life and death on either side. Every single card is a reversal, thematically.
I’m going on and on here but I do want to note that on the data page, we see mention that multiple people are pulling the exact same spread, all of them unable to quite parse it. Something is really going on here, and like in Summoner’s tales, there’s a whole lot of misdirection.
CE: Well, frankly that’s the kind of information I look for. I’ve done a lot of fancy book learnin’ with tarot, but the synthesis of a full reading is a bit beyond me. Your insight into the inverted nature thematically is pretty good, obviously they couldn’t just show a bunch of upside down images (unless?).
So, Saturnyne dips in and out of the story as Apocalypse and crew move towards betrayal, but always and completely in charge. She treats this entire issue, vocally and otherwise, as a game, but definitely one she doesn’t feel bad influencing from the start. As Apocalypse is stabbed, Rachel and Cable are in the Healing Gardens, gentle probing Banshee’s mind for the truth, that Summoner almost immediately betrayed Banshee and Unus. However, this is interrupted by Saturnyne, who puts an image in Li’l Cable’s head, which we’ll cover below.
I also particularly enjoyed how her tower was getting completely besieged, and then later brought to the ground by Polaris, but the Lady Opal is cool as a cucumber, but guarded, knocking Monet outside of her own psychic project, in a show against M’s insolence. I feel like the setup played a little bit with her possibly being under pressure, but if she is, she certainly isn’t showing it. We get a lot of “game” talk in this story. Saturnyne, Summoner, and Apocalypse all seem associated with playing the game. Saturnyne is the only one though, who seems to really be fully playing with a full deck, if you will.
Saturnyne decides to drop any pretense of being under siege, and literally freezes all of the combatants in place, before conferring with Death, since he did take over Dryader after all, leaving him her vassal. However, she turns him into a little chibi first, which is such a move.
NP: Chris, I deeply, deeply loved this scene. The thing about Saturnyne, and about the Otherworld, is that they’re just not as well known to American comic audiences as some other stuff. The original Excalibur run is thirty years old at this point, and for the first fifty or so issues, it was not even especially closely tied to X-Men as a property, despite featuring Kitty Pryde, Kurt Wagner, Rachel Summers, and the brother of Betsy Braddock. This has always kind of baffled me, because for my money, if you have a five-member team, and four of those members have very direct X-ties, you have a team of X-Men. That’s just how it is.
Anyway, I digress: Saturnyne is a BIG. DEAL. When she gets involved in events, it means we’re usually dealing with huge, reality-altering stuff. She’s the Omniversal Majestrix for a reason, after all, that means she personally has dealings in every single universe under the Marvel Comics banner. This is the equivalent of like…Monitor-level stuff in DC. It’s the level of a Crisis. It’s REALLY BIG. At the same time though…she hasn’t really…been around for a while, you know? She hasn’t featured prominently for quite a while, so it’s understandable that folks might underestimate her, or get her confused with a certain other iconic blonde (indeed, Saturnyne’s ability to be confused with other blondes is actually a key plot point of early Excalibur issues…).
All this is to say that when she decided to stunt here, to stop time, freeze everyone, and do it easily, well. That works for me, Chris. It really works for me.
CE: To gush a little more, she immediately moves into NOT doing her own dirty work, as this narrative moves into a quest/tournament arc as Saturnyne DRAWS the Ten of Swords, which is very literal in this case. Two sets of ten swords must be found (and as we see in the list, several already have), and then it’s time for some one on one fights. I love that Death immediately has his crew but, Saturnyne simply turns to Monet with a twinkle in her eye. Of course the X-Men have to fight, or their entire homeland is subject to invasion. A delightful bit of manipulation, and that’s thet setup for the rest of the crossover. Well, that and…what Saturyne imparts to Rachel and Cable…
Draw Your S.W.O.R.D.
CE: Which is a strange orblike object. Very odd. I love that Cable and Rachel decide that when the going gets tough, they gotta get their Mom and Dad, and Cable does one of those breathless explaining rants that parents understand so well. This plotline played out a bit in the background, but it clearly seemed a direct throughline. I think the way all of the plots collapsed into each other at the end was delightful comic crafting, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
NP: I also really, really enjoyed the way all of these disparate elements wove together. The only thing that took me out of that scene was Scott drinking his coffee with his cowl and visor on. It just seemed like the sort of thing he would’ve pulled it off, used his glasses for, you know? Especially given it was a quiet moment with Jean. [Ed. note: Though as we know from Cable, Scott loves eating in full regalia.]
That said, the way the knowledge was conveyed here was so fun! Jean links everybody up so that Nate can show them what Saturnyne showed him, and while Jean doesn’t recognize it, Scott does. This was a classic sort of cleverness that I really appreciated, because the thing itself was held back from the reader as well until this very scene, so we immediately feel aligned with Jean in the center of the panel; she sees it, like us, but doesn’t know what it is. It’s a neat trick that really makes us feel like part of the scene as it unfolds. At any rate, Slim Summers knows where to go and what to do, and wheeeeerre does he take them?
CE: To a random spot on Earth with teleporters? Oh, you mean after that, he takes them to a space station, specifically an abandoned one, where the orb that was promised appears. Finally we get some sword content, as a sufficient power source is needed to jumpstart the orb, which as it turns out, is a remote singularity drive, which would mean this space station is powered by a black hole. Sick. Said power source is Cable’s new cool Light of Galador sword, and in true comic fashion, he just kinda jams it in there. We get a very cool last page reveal…
NP: Is there anything more appropriate than Nate Summers having a space station for a sword? I really loved the way this tied the young Nate back to his original incarnation’s origins in the 90s, when he always had the AI Professor in his ear, thanks to his ship Graymalkin.
CE: This was a reveal that in February would have seemed completely out of left field, but after Empyre: Avengers Aftermath a few weeks back, seemed kind of inevitable. For those that didn’t read, it was revealed that sometime in the future, Abigail Brand would beat the heck out of Emperor Hulking and his crew, after proclaiming she was making something better than Alpha Flight (as in that issue, she quit). Perhaps some kind of SWORD…of X? This would explain why the station is empty but, I was ultimately kind of shocked this reveal came so soon. Space, and demons, and faeries? My goodness.
NP: It’s a whole lot! I felt that way about Summoner’s betrayal too, I expected it to come, but I didn’t expect it to come in the opening issue. It really raises the stakes to have that much happen at once. I gotta say, this was a mighty fine comic book, Chris.
CE: I kept really trying to turn on critic brain for this one, but the card was too stacked, of course this comic was great. It had great pacing between the 3 different coalescing plots, incredible action sequences, and lots of great points of character for the very large cast. If I had to nitpick, I could have done without the FCBD throwback but, this is really a better way to do it. It’s only frustrating because I wrote like 1500 words on it already. It was good to include, especially given how difficult said issue was to obtain. But what a way to start off a big story, they didn’t wait to do their big reveals, meaning we only have that much more unexpected beats to hit in the future. I’m glad we’re going to start getting three parts at a time in a couple of weeks, because I’m going to have troubles waiting.
NP: I have nothing else to add except that I cannot remember the last time I started an event with this much tightly-plotted leadup. When the entire pattern of a year of •┤Ȧ├•’s scheming paid off in a direct portal to both the Starlight Citadel and this event? Wild. This has me hype like Inferno.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- “Three….three was our number” Some Lord of the Rings-ass dialogue.
- It’s been said, but the design of the First Horsemen is incredible.
- The leaders of the various courts in the Otherworld may or may not factor in but, they’re some Excalibur/Captain Britain favorites: Roma, Merlyn, The Fury [Ed. note: it kills superheroes], and Mad Jim Jaspers?!
- Chris cannot overstate how much he loves Opal Luna Saturnyne. It’s nice how much this era of X-Men uses aspects from previous stuff without feeling like it’s playing the hits.
- Nola similarly cannot overstate this, as she owns the entirety of early Excalibur multiple times over and has been screaming for a reprint of the Captain Britain omnibus for ages now.
- The way deals and bargains are struck in Otherworld is delightful.
- Important to note that Fair and Foul courts in Faerie parlance DOES NOT mean good and bad. Do not mess with the Fae.
- As Nola’s current D&D character is often prone to saying, “Ugh. Faerie bull$#!%.”
- Krakoan reads: “A New Death” Uh oh. See what happens in X-Factor #4 next week.
Nola Pfau is Editor-in-Chief of WWAC and generally a bad influence.
Chris Eddleman is a biologist and co-host of Chrises On Infinite Earths.
