Swashbuckling & Subterfuge As X Of Swords Shakes Up The Status Quo In Hellions #5, New Mutants #13, & Cable #5

Ten swords, ten champions, ten battles for the fate of the world. X Of Swords continues to build towards the tournament this week. First Austin Gorton & Liz Large remind us that “‘if you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin'” with Hellions #5 by Zeb Wells, Carmen Carnero, David Curiel, and Ariana Maher. Then Allison Senecal & Liz Large pause for a tender moment with a tender boy in New Mutants #13 by Ed Brisson, Rod Reis, and Travis Lanham. Finally Ian Gregory & Ritesh Babu take those silly Summers to space in Cable #5 by Gerry Duggan, Phil Noto, and Joe Sabino.

Hellions #5

Liz Large: It seems like just yesterday our team had returned to Krakoa to heal and come back to life after their first mission, but now we’re six issues into this crossover and it’s about to get wild. 

Austin Gorton: It’s X of Swords time for our intrepid band of mutants possessing questionable morals (and their poor handler), and with none of our featured players (presumably) set to participate in the big overarching tournament, the big question right off the bat is, how is this book going to fit into the larger crossover? The answer, it seems, is that it’s going to bring the jokes (and, uh, other more important plot related stuff). Shall we draw our swords and get into it? 

Hatch Someone Who Gives A #@$%

LL: This issue starts us off slow, with a flashback to before “Swords” kicked off and all of Egg’s eggs were destroyed. Unfortunately, they’ve successfully resurrected Empath, who is not any more pleasant as a result. He’s not totally sure what happened, but he’s annoyed, and he’s going to make that everyone else’s problem. My personal favorite here is Hope telling him to leave quietly, rather than giving him the huge resurrection ceremony we’ve seen others get. 

AG: Also, Xavier being all “uh, I think I left the stove on…” and peacing out to let Hope deal with the little snot herself. Empath is seriously the (best at being the) worst. But this little pre-credits flashback also does a lot to set the tone of the issue, as it mixes big, life-and-death stakes with genuine laugh-out-loud humor, which carries over into the next scene as the Quiet Council meets in the midst of the ongoing hunt for swords and general build-up to the big tournament. 

LL: The meeting was really interesting to me. I didn’t realize that they decided to be against the tournament entirely—I like seeing how fractured the Council is. It makes sense, knowing the people on it, but considering we’re in a crisis, maybe this isn’t the time. Kate makes a good point: sure, there’s political drama here, but shouldn’t we be more concerned about our people running off to get stabbed? 

AG: Especially with the Resurrection Protocols all effed up in the wake of X-Factor #4. Which prompts the brilliantly-festooned Mister Sinister to announce his plan: to send the Hellions out into Otherworld and grab the Arakko swords before their champions can, thereby invalidating the entire tournament. Going into this issue, I was curious how the series would tie-in to the crossover, especially without having one of the apparent sword-bearers in its cast. This seems like a pretty clever way for the book to both contribute to the event and also present a different kind of story within it, while also speaking directly to the focus of the series as “the one where the messed up mutants do off-the-books missions”. What do you think of Mister Sinister’s plan, and this contribution to the crossover on the whole? 

LL: I think it’s such a great fit. I’ve enjoyed the other books in this crossover, but I’m glad that the book is staying with the team for this. And the idea for their mission is a good one! Saturnyne didn’t specifically say they CAN’T do this, so it isn’t cheating. I do find Sinister’s move suspicious here, though. Considering that the team can’t be resurrected, sending them off with an impossible task is risky….which is why I was delighted to see the Council turn this around on him and force him to accompany the team. Magneto switching his vote after being antagonized was just perfect. This Council is like, 60% petty jerks who hate each other, I can’t imagine what they expected to happen! 

AG: From the beginning, I’ve questioned the efficacy of the Quiet Council as a governing body, and those questions only increase with each subsequent meeting. But while the parliamentarian in me questions the legality of Magneto’s vote switcheroo, the comics reader in me loves it. But the council has spoken, and for now, Mister Sinister is off to Otherworld! Which brings us to our first check-in with the team proper, as the stakes for their mission are cleanly laid out: success means they’ll be heroes (Nanny is delighted!). If they’re found out, it could mean the end of the world. And, of course, they’re going to Otherworld, so no resurrections. That, plus the news of Empath’s return, prompts a rumination from one Greycow [sic], who has some experience in the matter, on the nature of cloning, the soul, and identity. 

A Horse is a Major Responsibility 

LL: Orphan Maker is such a child and it is extremely unsettling. Nanny is right, the team should really stop cussing in front of him! But more seriously, speaking of clones….. guess who’s still running a cloning facility without permission from the rest of the Council? I have to say I was surprised by this, since the team JUST destroyed the last one! But it makes a lot of sense— Sinister wouldn’t give up a resource like the Nebraska facility unless he had something else waiting in the wings. In this case, the something is many, many clones of himself. His plan is to defrost one and send it on this mission in his place, but his clone has other ideas. 

AG: Like you, I was a bit surprised by the Mister Sinister clone reveal, and a little bit torn: on the one hand, like you said, we *just* got done dealing with an errant Sinister cloning facility. On the other hand, Sinister’s gonna clone, it’s what he does, so I guess the joke’s on us for being surprised. It does lead to one of the issue’s best bits, as Mister Sinister and his clone argue over who is going to lead the Hellions into Otherworld (and which one gets the cape), before deciding the matter via the Noble Contest aka Rock, Paper, Scissors. Tellingly for this book, and in light of Greycrow’s earlier conversation, we don’t ultimately see which Sinister – the template or the copy – is the loser who departs at the head of the team (with the cape).

LL: This team truly shows how great their teamwork is. Empath is back and not a single person cares that he got shot in the head, which is fair. Empath should be more worried than he is, considering if the team kills him again he won’t come back. As an added teamwork bonus, no one even bothered to tell Psylocke, who’s allegedly in charge, that Sinister is coming with them. But we can’t focus on that for too long, because we’re about to meet the most important character in this crossover: Princess Silkmane, a noble steed present in Jamie Braddock’s throne room. She’s been stolen from Saturnyne, and is beautiful. I cannot stress enough: if anything happens to this horse, I will challenge Sinister to a duel myself. 

AG: The amount of effs everyone gives about Empath (zero) is delightful. And yes, frankly, if Princess Silkmane doesn’t end up winning this whole tournament, what are we even doing here?!? Silkmane joining the Hellions is the result of an entertaining back-and-forth between Jamie and Mister Sinister as the latter negotiates with the former for passage through Otherworld, and it ends with the sight we never knew we were missing but now can’t live without: Nanny astride a horse. 

But the presence of Princess Silkmane unfortunately draws the attention of some of Saturnyne’s priests, which leads to a scenario in which Empath proves to be more than annoying pain in the butt and actually…useful. Did you find this to be a necessary development, to justify Empath’s continued involvement with the team, or would you have preferred he just stayed a whining/dead presence? 

LL: On the one hand, I think his powers are useful. On the other hand…Greycrow is going to wake up from this manipulation and murder Empath. If Empath is lucky, it will be after they get home. If I’m lucky, it will be before that. 

Seriously though, I think this mission is going to be a mess. From what I’ve seen in the past, Sinister has wild plans and minions, but that’s different from the sort of field leadership they need here. Psylocke and Havok are already criticizing him, and we all know how Nanny feels about him. Wild Child and Orphan-Maker will go with Psylocke and Nanny, and Greycrow isn’t thrilled with him either. Empath is a wild card, but he can probably be counted on to screw over any and everyone when given the chance. 

AG: As much as this issue sets up the immediate plot within the larger context of “X of Swords”, it also just layers on one potential conflict after another, and given the stakes of the Hellions’ illicit mission and the “no do-overs” status of the Resurrection Protocol, any one of those numerous conflicts could lead to disaster, which should be fun to read. So long as Princess Silkmane comes out of it okay. 

I Usually Have a Cape

LL: We got two data pages this week, both referencing different kingdoms in Otherworld. If you’ve been keeping up with Excalibur pre-Swords, you probably already knew about Avalon. It’s a stereotypical magical land, Jamie’s in charge, it’s linked to Britain on Earth, and the regime change is fairly recent. But the other data page covers Dryador, which has also had some recent upheaval and is now ruled by Famine and Pestilence, who consider it an extension of Arakko. The parallels between the Krakoa mutants and the Arakko mutants keep piling up. 

AG: Carmen Carnero, one of the few female pencillers to work on an X-Book, provides the art for this issue (and the next). Her style is a good fit, echoing the aesthetic Segovia brought to the series (they share an affinity for and strength with facial expressions) while still bringing something new to the table. Her body language is especially on point, with characters rarely just generically posed in a panel, but rather, drawn in a way that expresses their character or informs their dialogue. Orphan Maker, in particular, gains a lot in this issue just from the way he’s depicted via body language. In pre-pandemic times she was linked to a possible X-Corps book; no idea if that’s still happening, but one way or another, it’d be great to have her on an X-book regularly. 

New Mutants #13

Liz Large: Swords!

Allison Senecal: SWORDS! Sword-friends!

LL: After Hellions, I was a little worried we wouldn’t get too much sword content this week, but I was extremely wrong. 

AS: This event is playing fast and loose with the “fetch quest” set-up I think we were all lowkey expecting, and I deeply appreciate that. We got so much sword action in this one! 

LL: We really do. According to the poem (prophecy?) Lorna delivered, Doug will be one of the sword bearers—and Warlock will be his sword. Or, as Warlock put it, “Self will be your best sword.” I am OVERWHELMED and we’re just beginning. This issue is a doozy. 

“Excuse Me, Sir, That’s My Emotional Support Doug”

AS: *SOB* So…Doug. Douglas Ramsey. Let’s get into how our boy is handling this situation. He seems to be doing relatively ok, honestly? He’s not really in his 80’s space of “I’m useless in a fight” so much as he knows he’s useful to Krakoa, and also knows he’s not the best fighter (definitely the worst fighter?) in this tournament. 

LL: Yes! This issue was a great reminder that while Doug’s powers have varied wildly over the years in how useful/dangerous they are, right now he’s filling an extremely important role on the island. He’s the only person that’s fully able to communicate with Krakoa, and he’s serving as Krakoa’s voice on the Council. That’s vital, considering that everything mutants currently have rests on Krakoa— their homes, their safety, their tech, everything. 

AS: It worked well with the era it was introduced in, but I’m glad we seem to have left behind the *Bane voice* “violence is a language” Doug, and now get a more nuanced “yeah I can read your body language during a fight but my arm muscles still aren’t really excellent” Doug. [Ed. note: We love Zeb Wells and we love his New Mutants run, we just don’t like those beats for Doug] And yeah, especially going forward, with the possibilities concerning Arakko, I think his importance as a communicator is only just beginning. That said, does Arakko have someone similar who could step in if our baby son does die? I gotta assume they also have a translator for their half. [Ed. note: Redroot, The Forest]

LL: Good point— from what we’ve seen there are a ton of parallel roles. I wonder if after living so long there’s a potential that other mutants could have learned the language? This seems like something people should be working on! One thing I really want to praise is that this issue gave Krakoa so much personality, between the debates with Doug and the little angry faces we get to see on trees and other surfaces. Delightful, even as I spent most of the issue worrying about Doug. 

“STOP! In the Name of Doug” 

AS: I love that Doug’s main point is that he doesn’t want someone else in danger in his place. He keeps going back to that instead of actively worrying himself over being weak or something. It’s very cute and I love it and I love him and I hope he doesn’t die! But this does bring us to Exodus and his “potential solution”. I put that in scare quotes because it seems selfish on his part but also maybe not feasible at all, depending on the tournament mechanics?

LL: I wish Saturnyne had provided some clear rules! The plan in Hellions rests on the idea of a forfeit, but none of them can be sure how this works. I know magic is often finicky and doesn’t take well to being tricked, but when it comes to a group like this, who are all going off on dangerous adventures, it does seem like there should be a plan for what happens if someone dies in advance. Letting the person who killed them take their place sounds like a pretty simple way to handle the situation, right?

AS: Right? Like do you just need the right blade to light up the magic circle or does it need to be the combo of blade and swordbearer? Will we find that out? I want to know.*rattles bars* 

Exodus could kill Doug and then the sword won’t even work because uh, Warlock probably wouldn’t wanna. It also takes us to the line Yana gives Doug at the end. “It’ll be the last thing you ever do.” The whole crossover smacks of “misread this at your peril or find a loophole” so I kinda wonder (per that Excalibur cover in November) if she (or Betsy) is allowed to step in for him? I dunno, there’s so much to this. I hope Doug doesn’t die, and doesn’t have to, but… *insert guess i’ll die meme*

LL: Everyone is really united to stop Doug’s death, and I’m not sure if Krakoa or Illyana is trying harder. She’s doing her best to train him in sword fights, but honestly, even if his power is to know and implement body language, he still has little noodle arms!  (And Krakoa is not loving her teaching style.) He will probably be able to pull off some fancy footwork for a little, but honestly it looks grim. Considering that Illyana was there when Doug died the first time, this has got to be a lot, emotionally. 

Feelin’ Hot Hot Hot

AS: Last time he died, Yana sent someone’s ass to Limbo, so kinda hoping someone tries it. 

Uhhhhhhhhh so also….that Hothive data page? Can I just scream about these Otherworld data pages? This gives us YEARS of material to explore. I can not handle this. 

LL: That was OMINOUS. We’re obviously focused on what the X-Men are doing, but Otherworld has an entire new set of horrible things for them to experience. I have no idea how these locations will play into the tournament, but at the very least they’re just out there. Waiting. 

AS: I don’t even KNOW that we’ll see most of these DURING X of Swords, and that is fine by me. I want the next, like, ten years of Excalibur content to just be this. But also, this Hothive page specifically is probably Cable related…..maybe. 

LL: Normally, I complain about crossovers, but I really like how this is being handled. All three issues this week tie into each other so well—they’re not even entirely on the same planet, and yet all the dominos are falling into place. I love how everyone is setting up pieces for each other.

AS: It’s SO seamless! And also defying my expectations. I don’t know how this is all gonna go and that’s fine. Is Doug gonna die? I dunno. But if he does, there’s a whole mess of other things now thanks to the Otherworld messing with resurrections, so *brain explodes*.

LL: This could truly go either way. Maybe one of the other swordsmen is also not a great fighter! Maybe the Hellions are successful and whoever Doug is meant to face doesn’t show up. Maybe Warlock comes through with some wild sword power. Or maybe he dies! I truly don’t know what to expect here. I’d like to think that having everyone—Xavier, Exodus, Krakoa, Illyana— say how doomed he is is meant as a red herring. Fingers crossed, I guess. 

AS: *SOB* *AGAIN*

LL: You know who else I feel bad for? Mondo. He’s just having a terrible time in this series! He gets eaten by a nightmare, he gets used by Krakoa as a living jack o lantern….poor guy can’t catch a break. 

AS: Sorry to Mondo, but I would also use his body as a mouthpiece to tell Doug how much I love him, so. Wait-

LL: Everybody needs to use their own words! Except for everyone talking to Doug and making me sad, who should use fewer words. 

AS: Doug and Yana have always had such a great fun rapport and I think we are just gonna cry more later. Sorry, Liz. 

LL: Thankfully, there is one bright light in this dark world: Nanny rode a horse this week. 
AS: THIS EVENT HAS EVERYTHING.

Cable #5

Ian Gregory: X of Swords has finally come for Cable, and he’s actually pretty prepared, seeing as he picked up his sword months ago. This issue is a bit of a breather in terms of the wider story, but I think there’s plenty we can pick out.

Ritesh Babu: Absolutely. It’s a bit of a break, but we’re firmly thrust into the big Tournament Arc that’s now the focus of the line. 

Note: For those of you, like me, who may not be super into crossovers, or perhaps cannot afford to get all the books, especially given how things are right now, all you really need to read and ‘get’ this issue, if all you wanna do is follow Cable, is the X Of Swords: Creation #1 one-shot. If you’ve got that, you’re good, you’re set. You can read this issue, and you’ll get it just fine. 

Filler or Foreshadowing?

IG: Cable’s been hanging onto the Light of Galador for a while now, so he doesn’t get an exciting fetch quest or training session like in the other X of Swords books until now. Instead, this issue mainly focuses on exploring a plot point from Stasis, the SWORD space station. At first glance, this feels a bit like a filler issue for the wider X of Swords plot, since it doesn’t directly relate to the actual tournament. However, I also find it highly suspicious that this well-planned event would have a completely unrelated book a third of the way through, and Saturnyne did push them to head to the Peak.

Now that we know about Al Ewing’s SWORD series, and have seen the Peak appear on some of the promo art for it, we know that this will at least come back into play after the event. However, I also suspect that lots of what we see here is building for some late-stage reveals later on in the event. Sure seems like a portal to an unending army of H.R. Giger wannabes might be handy when fighting the hordes of Arakko.

I’ve suspected that we won’t actually see the sword tournament to its conclusion, and with these plot points seeded in, it seems likely that the whole thing will fall apart. The only problem I have with this theory is that this issue is a little too obvious in how it’s not related to the wider plot. It’s not foreshadowing hidden in plain sight so much as foreshadowing with a big red arrow drawn towards it.

RB: There’s absolutely a lot of set-up going on here. On the whole, going into this, I didn’t quite know what to expect, given the kind of book Cable has been, and the kind of story X Of Swords is. How would they click together? was my point of curiosity. And honestly, I find the mixture intriguing. The tone shift here is big from the typical Cable issues we’ve been reading. It’s less quite that airy and breezy YA-esque comic, with almost Bill and Ted time travel goofy tricks, and much more so like an episode of Quatermass or Doctor Who. Very specifically the ‘We gotta solve a mystery on a space-base’ episodes of Who. It’s a bit more serious, and it leans a lot more horror than any issues of the book have ever gone.

And given the chaotic squad of Hellions, led by Mr. Sinister, are on their way to stop the tournament before it ever even starts, breaking all of Saturnyne’s explicit edicts, I suspect no matter what, the tournament ain’t going as planned. Something’s definitely gonna go wrong at some point.

A Family Outing

IG: Some of my favorite X-Men content is Scott and Nathan bonding time, and with Jean in the mix this issue calls back to the lovely Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. Scott’s desire to take over for Nathan in the tournament is a nice sentiment, even if he can’t quite express himself (or, just as likely, Nathan refuses to listen). It’s a nice balance between Magik, who has confidence in Nathan and his abilities, and Scott who is worried for him. Then again, Scott’s stance on this is a bit hypocritical, when he asks how they could ask their children to fight for them. Buddy? That’s the X-Men’s whole MO.

RB: Scott is absolutely the protective dad trying hard to compensate in any way he can, especially because this is the chance he always dreamed of but never got. He just genuinely cares and wants to preserve this in any way he can, while being the best father he can be, in a way he perhaps feels he never got to be. It is just a delight to see. And yeah, that last point is hypocritical, but there’s a kind of honesty there that I enjoy? It feels real and tangible to me, the thing of thing a caring parent trying to be the best version of himself would say to his child, even if the reality doesn’t live up to the ideal he’s trying to paint.

IG: Jean calling Nathan “son” is always a nice touch, though Madeline Pryor is likely less than pleased. In general, I enjoyed the easy trust between Jean and Scott, and their supportive relationship with Nathan. It feels in some ways like they’re trying to be as supportive and kind as possible, and relishing the rare chance to re-do some parenting.

RB: I just love the whole family dynamic played here. There’s a scene here wherein Jean says ‘Don’t hold back, Scott’, and Scott responds ‘As you wish.’ and it’s got extreme Princess Bride energy.

It’s a lovely little moment that sums up what clicks about this entire set-up, because right after that bit, you have Kid Cable screaming MOM! DAD! ARE YOU OKAY?!…via telepathy, and it’s kind of absurdly bizarre superhero family stuff I dig, which is sort of packaged within a mini-bottle story, within a grand Tournament Arc.

IG: Scott’s final conversation with Magik (picking up very nicely on the threads in New Mutants) also provides some peak character moments – mainly his use of the phrase “noodling on some things.” There’s some foreshadowing about the Krakoa-bound telepaths trying to establish communication with the Otherworld, and I admit to be concerned about what Magik would consider suitable transportation. The final moment of this issue, Scott lying to himself and to Nathan that they’re going to be okay, also perfectly captures how I feel waking up every day.

RB: Again, just…Scott as a father reads as very real to me. Assuring his son that it’s all going to be okay, and believing it himself, because if he doesn’t, his son won’t when he tells him…god, it gets me. And then Jean telling Magik to watch over Cable, it’s all normal, honest and true stuff put into this highly bizarre set-up. It’s good stuff.

Vescora Vescada

IG: From my basic Googling, it doesn’t appear that the Vescora have appeared before this issue. They’re definitely giving off heavy Borg-vibes, with their desire to “categorize and cleanse” this reality. I do find their historical attitude to be interesting (if ethically unsound), given that they seem to want to commit omnicide in order to study and understand this reality. Each Vescora also appears to be visually distinct, though their full-body suits keep any real personality from shining through.

Unless we get more details on what makes the Vescora culturally / structurally unique, they don’t strike me as particularly exciting or memorable. Their function seems similar to the Negative Zone / Annihilation Wave, but without the history. If their plot function is to provide an unending source of unreasonable alien warriors, I wonder if the Negative Zone was thought to have too much history or was wrapped up in another story, and therefore unavailable. 

RB: They’re definitely new. I made the Quatermass/Who comparison above, and the Vescora strike me as very much from from the school of characters that show up there. It’s very much that format wherein there’s a new ‘monster’ introduced, haunting a base of some sort, with powers and abilities that defy our laws or understanding of the universe, and the cast has to deal with the problem. 

They are a stock alien race, for the most part, I’d agree, but given this is setting up an Al Ewing joint in SWORD, I wonder if they were a thing put together after discussions with him. For those unaware, Ewing’s done plenty of Doctor Who comic work and is a massive fan, but beyond that, his roots are in the British sci-fi space of 2000AD, so I’m curious what their larger purpose or function potentially is, on the basis that they’re not just throwaway characters/ideas here.

IG: All in all this was a solid issue, though a bit of a down to end the week on. Given the way scheduling was messed up in the pandemic, I wonder how much planning originally went into deciding which books ended a week in the reading order. This feels like a solid middle issue, but lacks some of the emotional and plot oomph we saw in Hellions and New Mutants.

X-Traneous Thoughts

• One of the best things about Quiet Council meetings is how Doug is always shown casually lounging in one of Tree Krakoa’s branches. 
• The meeting space for the Hellions is called “Purgatory,” which is almost too on the nose. 
• Sinister’s cloning program is referred to as illegal, but is it? It doesn’t involve killing humans, and I’m sure if Krakoa felt disrespected the facility could be collapsed. 
• Havok is, seemingly, normal throughout this issue, with no apparent indication of whatever mental possession he was suffering from in the series’ inaugural arc. 
• Sinister’s sartorial pedantry & obsessions continue to be a delightful running bit. 
• Toss up between what is the bigger dis: Sinister being called a “japer” by a passing Otherworldian, or Empath not knowing Otherworld from Narnia. 
• Empath describing Nanny’s horse riding as “we’ve got a real Humpty Dumpty situation brewing here” is what’s actually justifying his spot on the team. 
• You all ever just cry?
• I love Doug puns. Hope you all appreciated that. 
• “We’re family, Doug. We always have been.” JUST RIP MY HEART OUT. 
• If the Peak looks like a sword, then so does the strange Vescora pillar we get a glimpse of through Jean. It’s all swords, folks.
• Doug saying ‘Uh hi?’ gives me life here.
• This is Allison’s last issue covering New Mutants and we will miss her very much.
• But don’t worry, she’s still on Guardians Of The Galaxy and the upcoming Children Of The Atom
• Krakoan reads: Avalon