Glob is going to sacrifice himself and save the day, the end.

@thunderscream: As satisfying as that theory is, reality is often disappointing.

At Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at Comic-Con@Home, power-mad X-Editor Jordan White talked with X-Men writers Tini Howard and The Gerry Duggan of Comics, Gerry Duggan, about the X of Swords crossover event. There wasn't a whole lot of information revealed at the panel, but the writers did discuss which characters' stories make them most excited about the event.

"As the person that's been writing Marauders, I'm very excited for this story because of Storm's part in it," said Duggan. "Finally, you know, there's a super, super cool story that we've been dying to tell. When you see Russell Dauterman and Matt Wilson's cover for Marauders, you'll understand why I'm so excited about this story for Storm. We should show that cover. I'm going to show that cover."

"

So these guys are like the Black Order for Apocalypse??

@cattlebattle said:

"

So these guys are like the Black Order for Apocalypse??

Shush. Their the first new villains we've gotten in over a decade

I'm pretty sure that's not true. Now if you said that they're the first interesting villains we have got in over a decade....that'll be different, but, time will tell for that.

I guess it makes sense Apocalypse would have like an honor guard. He supposedly conquered civilizations in the past and was worshiped as a God in some of them as well and he could modify people so it could totally be explained how his followers have such longevity. Either way, I don't know, this crossover is giving me "Fear Itself" vibes

Oddly enough...I may actually be right about that if we're not counting human enemies.... Bendis had the Future Brotherhood in 2013, but otherwise i can't think of anyone new who had powers and showed up in a x-title.

Honestly it's a 2 month 23 issue crossover that requires alot of explanation for Apocalypses's background, Hickman's Krakoa and a mild awareness of whats happening in at least 4 of the current x-books.. So it's getting me a little nervous....

.....but at the same time outside of HoX/PoX idk the last time the X-Men had myth arc crossover that wasn't an alternate universe. Soooo screw it, i'm throwing aside my conflicted thoughts and embracing Fear of Swords or whatever.

Well, 2010 was ten years ago and I think the kid Hellfire Club debuted in there somewhere. I'm pretty sure there were some others in there too in smaller roles that you just don't remember....I mean it's not like the X-Men print like 5 thousand titles a year due to pointless spin off everywhere, so, who can remember it all?? Peter David was still writing X-Factor into the 10's and wrote All, New, All different somewhere in there as well and that had new villains...were they good villains?? That's a matter of opinion.

Whatever it is, I am sure I'll dislike it, and not because I'm a hater either, but because a lot of what Hickman has already done hasn't clicked with me and he seems to have just ignored most continuity altogether. Then there's also the fact that Hickman is well known for building things up with hype only to flub on the delivery. "How the are the X-men being resurrected!!??" "Intriguing mystery!!" "Oh shit--wait, it's just Goldballs and four other random mutants doing it, that's disappointing". I also like how he hyped up his use of Mr Sinister with "wait until you see what I do with him" and it just turns out he made him into a sassy homosexual of some kind that's also almost inexplicably a mutant. No thanks, man.

Eh, ok. I'll give it to you.....just seems like that Bendis/Marvel Now Era was so much longer ago...

I see where your coming from....

I was getting a bit put off by the lack of satisfactory payoff to alot of these ideas Hickman has brought into the narrative myself. I would've suggested rereading his X-Stuff from the beginning to get a look at the sheer scope of what he's done and what we've already seen expanded on....but ultimately if your familiar with his style as a writer but aren't satisfied with the end result of these mysteries and little inserts it doesn't really address anything.

Honestly, I'm looking more into 2021 when it comes to X-Men development anyway.... we were supposed to be long finished with something that hasn't even been touched on yet with X of Swords and things like the Moira X books and the Magneto/Apocalypse/Xavier flower event were supposed to be out in December...but now it looks like the next EXCITING part of this Era won't be showing up until well into 2021.

I feel like Hickman's run is similar to Morrison's, where they seem to be kind of poking fun at the X-men franchise while writing it.

It's like all the fans complain about how ridiculous it is that all the X-men come back to life all the time, so Hickman just amplified it so now they really all can resurrect at any time. Then he acknowledged that all the fans complain about the over abundance of retcons and the unnecessary over complication of things in character's pasts, so Hickman was like "let me tell ya all about Moira ten lives, lol". The whole thing is sort of silly when you really apply thought and a lot of things make virtually no sense, it's the same with Krakoa originally being a mutated island with human sized fuana running around, only to be revealed to be an ancient battleground for mutantkind. I am waiting for him to reveal that Toad is really the reincarnated vessel of Charles Xavier's grandfather, who was the most powerful mutant alive and altered reality to create the Phoenix Force and Captain America's shield.

I mean, for the most part, it seems like his whole story so far should be taking place in an alternate reality, and by the time it's all over, we may wish it had.

Unus the untouchable?

I just cant....

Maybe im the only one but I cant get excited about this at all

hmm? Its likely the first great apoc story though

While Swordsthemselves here do come off as gimmicky and pretty random hook, everything else about this story looks pretty damn intriguing, which by itself is rarity nowadays. I'm in.

Oof I love it + maybe finally some solid apoc feats👀👀👀

@koays: Putting alot of faith in Tini then aren't you.

If it was about defending Krakoa then fine maybe but the idea of these swords. Like why would I grab a sword when I can level mountains with my eyes or have unbreakable metal claws come out of my hands or control weather or literally use telepathy or telekinesis to shut off someone's brain. Magik running around with that ridiculous sword that looks like a whole overhead florescent light is stupid enough

I like how everyone is engaged in some intense sword combat and Wolverine is just lunging at that giant alligator dude.

X of Swords Creation: Solid issue. Good start.....though it does seem like this may end up as a lot to keep track of.

@koays: Yup. Apparently, Tini’s Excalibur was tying into the Arrako plot the entire time.

Not gonna lie, Apocalypse felt very out-of-character. I would say that the writers simply forgot how Apocalypse is usually portrayed were it not for how his children speak and how they referred to him as “a titan”. Im guessing this was an attempt togive nuance to Apocalypse. I don’t know how to feel about that.

Can’t say I didn’t see the confrontation coming. I am just trying to get handle on whose who and who is aligned with who.

Yea....i think one of the interviews or solicits mentions delving into Apocalypse "in a way we've never seen before" so I get it.....It's just because we've never seen him like this its' hard to judge where it's going and if it will go TOO far in humanizing Apocalypse.

Not gonna lie, Apocalypse felt very out-of-character.

LOL. In Hickman's run so far almost everyone has been out of character, like Sunspot is basically Ferris Bueller and Mr Sinister is Perez Hilton . This stuff just reads like Hickman's fan fiction with X-Men characters.

@pyrofn: @koays: I just can't imagine Apocalypse letting his guard down so easily, especially in the midst of what he's trying to accomplish.

It’s because he normally wouldn’t. To be fair, we have never seen him with children, though, aside from Evan, which happened only because his mind was manipulated. The fact that it’s only happening now is what makes it intriguing, since this far, his actions have not been out-of-character prior.

Good book! 👌

Apocalypse has always shown to some extent that he strives for Mutants. Tho not so much in an emotionally caring way as shown recently with his Family.

Like many stories, LOVE/loyalty can play a major factor with plot/subplot or reasons for war...

Lotz of spin-off stories, introductions, and even retcons can originate here!

Lotz of spin-off stories, introductions, and even retcons can originate here!

Everyone can be resurrected...so why are they all freaking out about getting Banshee and Apocalypse to a healer? Also...pretty sure Summoner KO'd Rockslide permanently by slicing his psionic essence in half...can he be resurrected from that?

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book a ton...there are just some things that don't line up....and maybe that's by design.

@thunderscream: Lol....I don't give a damn if you can resurrect me a million million times.... If you see my ass bleeding out you better get me the to a f&%king healer

Lol, I think koays hits the nail on the head. Death may not be much of a problem, but trauma and pain are still a thing. Not to mention you only get resurrected by a ‘confirmed‘ death. If your body is loss, they won’t do anything until they find you.

This seems really interesting. Im just worried that I wont be able to follow it all.

Good start to the event. Can’t say I’m too shocked at the ”traitor’s” reveal. It has a really nice pace so far and i absolutely love that they are fleshing Saturnyne out more. Her character has so much potential and she was badass this issue. Emma take note. 😂

Went to read an Xmen comic and Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the rings middle earth broke out!!

Or really I should say Game of Thrones thats what it is.

Does anyone else feel like this whole swords concept is stupid? Is it just me? Like I can get with mutants from another dimension or world invading with armies or demons or whatever.....ok. But mutants who literally control the weather and energy are using swords to fight.....yeah this aint working for me. And I know Hickman is better than this. Tini Howard lawd have mercy!! Guess the wish for more grounded Xmen stories is dead huh. I would like to have an alternate at least though, supposedly we got 20 something chapters of this

I am pretty sure the gimmick of the sword thing is brought out to be an arbitrary requirement made by Saturnyne. The mutants are merely cooperating to avoid war with her from what I understand. It‘s Tini Howard, so it’s not the easiest for anyone to follow honestly. In fact, descriptions of of the behind the scenes things in interviews with White and Howard lead to the thought that it’s all Howard’s idea.

It is very likely a blend of two different ideas mushed together.

@pyrofn: probably. Its just so unnecessary. Especially when we already have a plot that could be woven into the story. Not that Apocalypse having children and then being shunted off into some different dimension or demonic realm in a war wouldn't work. But now that these mutants are back and looking to invade now this seems to be the perfect time for a backdoor deal with Sinisyer to start up the Chimera program. Especially since these new Arakko mutants are considered godlike. So yeah upgrading all the mutants on Krakoa to fight a war makes sense now. But swords

That would have been an interesting plot point to explore. I’m thinking that Hickman probably has the Chimera plotline planned for later stories (unless Children of the Atom is that plotline, which I hope to god or isn’t).

I went back to the “AiPT!” interview to make sure I’m not speaking the wrong info. Jordan confirms that X of Swords is the marriage of two ideas into a single event. I quote and will link:

“AIPT: Fair enough! Now, X-Fan Miguel2004 was wondering what the process was for creating such a large mythology for Arakko and Amenth. Was all that mostly Jonathan Hickman or a more collaborative effort?

Jordan: That’s a great question. It was a collaborative effort–I mean, I think the people who did the heaviest lifting on that were Jonathan and Tini. A lot of the Amenth and Arakko stuff was Jonathan and a lot of the, well, there’s another big section of it that was Tini–I don’t want to say too much of what it is yet. You’ll see shortly. But as with all things in our current X-Office, everything is pretty collaborative. So, while Jonathan was the main font of Amenth information, people were always throwing in ideas. And when Tini started generating mythology for a number of things that you’re going to see shortly, yeah, again, people would chime in and go, “Oh, but what about this too?” And we’d work it in. It’s been great. There’s a lot of interesting stuff in there. We learned a lot of things in X-Men #12 about–I don’t know what to call it, but history? Legends, I guess? Of fables, parables? I don’t know. Really interesting stuff. And there’s a lot more to learn. So, keep your eyes out.”

Here is the link if you want to read for yourself.

https://aiptcomics.com/2020/09/21/x-men-monday-76-x-of-swords-week-1/

But as I thought, it is a strange idea. Very strange. And if you have been reading Excalibur, or at least read a single issue of Excalibur, you can basically see that what Tini writes is not exactly in the realm of realism. @koays loves to make fun of the fact that it’s so hard to follow.

@pyrofn: yeah it is. Like I said it doesnt feel like Xmen its more high fantasy magical realm stuff. COTA wouldnt be terrible if its done right. But i was always skeptical about this event with Tini Howard.

You said it, Rob.

Oh wow, Hickman didn't pay attention to continuity?

I

Don't

Believe

It.

They should have left well enough alone. There's a few parts of Xmen that are best left forgotten or should altered and retconned out of existence.

On a side note. These original horsmen kids of apocalypse. I just happened to see that they are the same ones from HOX when Moira was his lady... I wonder if there's anything to that

Ok....I really liked this issue. We got some stakes, we got rid of the plothole and everything is set up for the fetch quest arc thats about to come up.

I'm with it.

One thing I really liked about this issue though, is that it wrapped up everything it established by the end of the book. Like by the end of this issue everything you might have asked in the start or questioned in the previous issue was answered and now we're ready to move on to the next issue without any plot questions left unanswered or mini-stories to try to remember to follow.

This is actually pretty great considering how long this event is since it means we don't have to keep going back to the beginning to figure out wtf happened.

Makes things really easy to follow, so I hope they stick with it.

Anyway I'm thinking of keeping scores for every issue as it comes out-

Issue 1- 7/10

Issue 2- 8/10

I liked today’s issue a lot as well.

It brought an interesting twist to the whole Resurrection Protocol that was not on my radar. Still not crazy about the swords gimmick that is about to go down. New X-Men vol 2 fans will prob be feeling the blow from this issue though.

Overall, I give the issue a 8/ 10. It’s an establishing issue that kept my interest. Added new lore bits from angles I was not looking towards and the art was, as always, well done.

Another good issue!

Apocalypse might be gettin a serious buff coming up..??..

He is at the very least gaining swordsmanship feats.

Yes... Heh

He also flexed his TP defenses!

Only in resistance. As far as the comic is concerned, his psi-shielding is either gone or not powerful enough to block Rachel.

Still a good update to his psi-resistance that was sorely needed.