Heavy is the head the wears the crown of Sol. Storm is the stranger in the strange land of Arakko and upstarts plot at the every turn. But come at the queen, you best not miss. Al Ewing, Guiu Vilanova, Fernando Sifuentes and Ariana Maher deliver SWORD #8.

Nola Pfau: Well, after the entire month of August off, we’re finally back! SWORD #8 is here, and alongside it, I’m pleased to welcome Corey as my new ongoing writing partner. Say hi, Corey!

Corey Smith: Hi, Corey!

Nonsense aside, I’m thrilled to be here full time, especially considering both of the other books I’ve been covering have ended this month. I was dangerously close to having free time again! But as busy as my schedule might look, it’s got nothing on our reigning Regent of Sol.

Nola: Hey, I’m glad you’re here, too! You’re right about ‘Ro’s calendar, though, whew. She sure went from background to busy in a hurry.

Someday We’ll Find It, The Morlock Connection

Nola: One thing that definitely struck me about this issue is that, after a full month off, we come back to a story that doesn’t involve the actual team whose name is on the front cover at all. That’s not really a complaint, mind you…I’m really glad to have something dedicating this kind of page space to the culture and society of Arakko now that it’s been founded! It would be pretty disappointing if it had faded into the background.

Corey: I know a lot of people have been clamoring for an Arakko book (myself included, honestly), but this is the next best thing. Arakki culture is easily one of the most fascinating things to come out of this era, a remix of the Morlocks that blows the original out of the water, and the focus on their culture this issue is something I genuinely enjoyed. And while Storm may have more on her plate than merely being a member of the eponymous SWORD, she’s had enough of an undeniable presence in the book these past couple of months that I didn’t even blink while I was reading this.

Nola: Yeah, I mean, I clocked it but again, it’s not a complaint. This is deeply interesting stuff, and as much as I love what Ewing is building with Brand, I could easily take that team as a backup feature to what’s going on here. I like your point that it’s a remix of the Morlocks, because that’s a great way to put it. We’ve seen this kind of thing before, this society that’s built around leadership-by-combat, but Arakko’s specific stances about the flexing of their mutant powers as a right not only to exist, but to rule, really kind of charges the concept in a new way, one that celebrates mutant status, instead of the old Morlock standby of self-hatred. I just wish that we could get past the “Storm has to fight a duel for leadership” thing.

Corey: If I’m being entirely honest, the fact that we’re getting that story again is what made the Arakko/Morlock comparison click for me. It’s not that this was a bad Storm issue, by any means — it’s a hell of a lot better than when Marauders had a redux of the infamous sewer fight earlier this year, but I’m not sure it’s something we need to see again anytime soon. I’ve always been frustrated by how every Teen Titans run seems to feel the need to rehash “Trigon” or “the Judas Contract”, and there’s a similar phenomenon whenever Storm gets any sort of focus.

This issue’s saving grace, beyond Ewing’s superlative voice for the character, is that the challenge served to provide some much-needed insight into Arakki culture. I can only hope that Tarn’s disdain towards treating the concept of a challenge as some huge, unique event, means that we won’t need to see another take on this sort of story again for a while. “Storm is badass” is the message this issue provides, and we can hopefully just take it as read from here, and let her do stuff.

What In Tarn Nation

Nola: Ah, yes, Tarn. Let’s talk about Tarn.

I think there’s another reason for this particular story to exist beyond the objective fact that Storm is badass, and that’s that, for all that Arakki mutants celebrate their mutation, they have thus far tended to measure strength only in terms of mutation. This is interesting, because the point of Storm’s various gladiatorial combats in the past has generally been to educate people that she is more than just someone who controls the weather; she is a capable and canny combatant in her own right. While Arakko certainly also needed that lesson, they got another one to boot, to wit: the mutation doesn’t define the mutant. I think the lesson here going forward isn’t just about Storm’s capability as a leader, but also about what the Arakki have to learn about how they value strength. Tarn made for a great mouthpiece on this, with his genomic powers, he assumed the fight was over the moment he altered her DNA. His undoing here wasn’t just in underestimating Storm, it was also in being overconfident in his mutation.

Corey: Tarn has been a standout since his first appearance, and this issue was no exception. That said, I think he’s exactly the sort of person who shouldn’t receive a lesson about how inner strength can be more important than the strength of an individual mutation, though it’ll be a blast to see how he inevitably perverts that platitude. He’s obviously been set up thus far as a darker mirror to Sinister (an impressive feat, considering Sinister’s history), so I have to admit that it was a surprise to see him go from sarcastic “respect” for Storm at the beginning of the issue to the genuine article at the end. From what we’ve seen, “You are of Arakko,” and “perhaps even of Amenth” is one hell of a compliment, especially coming from one of Arakko’s rulers, and especially when that ruler is Tarn the Uncaring. Here’s my question, Nola: do you think the compliment was sincere, or just a game on Tarn’s part?

Nola: I think the compliment is sincere enough, because he’s not often surprised by people, but also, as much as he considers it a compliment, it’s not really one, is it? Tarn’s so contemptuous by nature that even this one is backhanded, condescending. He still thinks he’s above Storm (a thing I look forward to him learning is wrong eventually), and he talks down to her despite having been maneuvered into a loss. I also agree with you that maybe Tarn doesn’t need that lesson, but I still think it’s a good one for Arakki mutants as a whole. As for putting Storm in that role, I’m of two minds. She naturally tends to lift up other mutants around her, but I don’t know that I necessarily want to lock her into the role of Wise Mentor for an entire planet, you know?

It’s interesting you mention Sinister, and not just because we saw Tarn pop up over in Hellions, but also because I’ve been rereading through some of his earlier stuff, and prior to the Funny Sinister of the last decade or so, he was originally much more like Tarn. He had a very similar nature, condescending and egotistic, convinced of his own superiority and dismissive of anyone else. The one thing that really limited him in those days was his absolute laser focus on the Summers bloodline, a thing that Tarn the Uncaring well…doesn’t care about. Given Sinister’s eventual chimera project is meant to be on Mars, I’m really curious what that’ll mean for the two of them.

Corey: They’re both villains, so they might be allowed to hook up! Maybe the teal chimera is the love they’ll find along the way.

Court Is In Sections

Nola: The other big thing this issue is the expanded understanding of the Arakko Council. Unlike Krakoa’s twelve, Arakko only has nine seats. Storm sits at the head of the Table of Day, and the other listed tables are Dawn and Dusk. Obviously, we have three sections of a full solar cycle here, excluding only Night, and of course there are rumors of three more seats. I’m…very slowly building some theories on what this means narratively for the Great Ring (as the Arakkii council is named), but I’ll need to learn a bit more before I dig into it. Corey, what did you think about the way this stuff is laid out?

Corey: I think it’s definitely interesting that the Arakki council is named after a solar cycle, rather than a full year like Krakoa’s. It could be symbolic of the fact that its membership could be more fleeting, of course — by nature of Arakki culture, membership is open to challenge in a way that its Krakoan counterpart isn’t. It could also speak to the fact that, long-ass titles and official poet aside, it’s considerably less pretentious than the Quiet Council. Our Earth-based mutants are still concerned with building a nation, but Arakko is far past that point, and their centuries long war against Amenth means they didn’t have the luxury of pontificating.

Nola: That’s a great point, yeah. I was also very taken with the rules of who was deferred to and when—it’s so clear cut, and the thing that it really reminds me of is less a government and more a military, which I suppose tracks with a culture that’s been at war for thousands of years. The thing that interests me about it is the Chekov’s Gun of it all, you know? Why introduce it unless they were planning on using it? I’m calling it now: Mutant War.

Corey: Oh, I think that has to be inevitable sooner or later! X of Swords wasn’t quite decisive enough of a victory, I think, for Arakko to take it as read. We’ve spent the past year seeing the ways the two cultures still don’t see eye to eye, and I can’t wait for it to come to a head! Lodus Logos is going to craft the ultimate interplanetary subtweet, and war is going to be the only response. When that does happen, I’ll be very interested to see what role Ororo takes!

Nola: I mean, as long as it’s not another gladiatorial battle story…

Final Thoughts

In addition to the gladiator thing, this is also the second issue where someone has just randomly thrown a knife at Ororo.
Lodus Logos is giving me “What if Nightcrawler, but Arakkii” vibes and I kind of love that.
Assuming you read the Arakkii characters as Black-coded (which is backed up by text, and Corey will happily go on about), no white characters have lines in this issue. Excalibur could never.
Krakoan text reads: LETHAL LEGION

Lex Smith

Lex Smith is probably tired right now. They're definitely trying not to think about everything they have to write! When they're not staring at a blank Word document, odds are they're tweeting, playing Pokémon or wondering how they ended up with such a smart-ass kid.