Romance & Revelations As X Of Swords Creeps Towards A Conclusion In X-Men #14 & Marauders #14

Ten swords, ten champions, ten battles for the fate of the world. X Of Swords takes us out for dinner and a nice walk before sending us home twisted with a load of swords. First, Chris Eddleman & Robert Secundus take us back to Arakko in X-Men #14 by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asar, Leinil Francis Yu, Sunny Gho, and Clatyon Cowles. Then, Christi Eddleman & Vishal Gullapalli dance with death in Marauders #14 by Gerry Duggan, Benjamin Duggan, Stefano Caselli, Edgar Delgado, and Cory Petit.

X-Men #14

Chris Eddleman: So readers, Rob and I read this issue, and it had a lot to discuss you see. So we got on Zoom, as one does in the times of plague, and we sat down to discuss. Rob had a vile eldritch beverage, one of his noxious creations, while I had a delicious cup of cider. He had loud, boisterous opinions, he delved into theories about the nature of eternity, but also how this whole story was somehow like Last Days of Disco? I don’t know it was wild. I only had delightful opinions about parallelism and family. I dunno what’s up with Rob, but we’ll put these thoughts to paper I’m sure.

Robert Secundus: So, you know, as I recall it, we sat down on zoom to discuss the issue, but once we got going, while I poured myself a delicious and nutritious hot muscle cola, Chris violently cracked up a sputtering, monstrously fizzing apple cider that drowned out all other sounds. And I did monologue extensively about eternity and Whit Stillman, as I often do, but what apparently did not make it though the connection was that, shockingly, I think what is most notable about this issue is its profound distance from any relationship with the great Last Days of Disco. Anyway. Wish we could have come up with an introduction that is thematically or formally relevant to the issue we’re discussing today! But alas, we’re out of space.

[Ed note: Well as I recall it…]

Well, That’s Not What I Heard

CE: So we’ve crested the highest hill of the roller coaster that is X of Swords, and right before the plunge we get some much needed exposition. The framing of this story is Apocalypse talking to his long lost wife Genesis, recently revealed to be in possession of/possessed by(?) the mask that is Annihilation. Apocalypse is noticeably pretty betrayed by this so, with the pretense of a delightful stroll through the garden, his wife explains that the story that was so carefully crafted by Summoner two issues back was a boldfaced lie, or at least kind of a stretch of the truth. Unfortunately, that meant the structure of this issue relied incredibly heavily on the scripting, because other than the end caps by Asrar and Gho, this issue was largely the art crafted by Yu and Gho for X-Men #12. Did that work for you, Rob?

RS: Somewhat? I like the strong return to X-Men #12. It feels powerful to see something I’ve already read in a completely different context, and approach it with a completely different understanding. And it’s a weird, unmooring feeling to flash back to a comic I read a month and a half ago, when things are changing so rapidly all the time. I’m not sure that’s a good feeling to have, though it places us in Apocalypse’s perspective far more directly than I would have thought possible. I would have preferred some distinctions in the art– I would have liked some strong stylistic differences to note the difference in perspective, or, if using the same artist, I would have preferred some subtle differences that would reward close reading.

CE: I agree with you there. After my initial read, I read these tales side by side, and was a little bummed to find just how similar they were. That’s completely fine from a storytelling perspective, in fact that the best lies (even in fiction) contain a kernel of truth after all, but a lot of the changes were very subtle. The biggest one I noticed was that Summoner did not have Genesis’s perspective, and thus couldn’t (or was just lying) about the knowledge of the fight with Annihilation. However, and possibly more important, was Summoner more strongly elaborating on the depth of rumors regarding Apocalypse’s absence from Amenth, whereas Genesis simply dismissed them out of hand. It foreshadows later in the issue about how Genesis seems like only a semi-willing participant within Annihilation’s schemes, but Summoner is of course a true believer. I like how a small thing like that creates character. I think the Swordsman of Arakko are very fascinating and diverse antagonists and this helps craft that.

RS: One reason why those subtle distinctions may have fallen flat is, well, they were all expected. I don’t think that’s an example of bad storytelling, however; I think a certain kind of tragedy was clearly foreshadowed, and there’s dread in marching up to it and seeing that that doom is exactly what we worried it would be. Ultimately, I think both places where the narrative and the repeated art disappoint us will be far less disappointing in the future. When I go back to my X of Swords OHC, and it’s an hour or so between X-Men #12 and X-Men #14, I think it’s going to be far more powerful of a parallel, and of a flashback, then it is now, when it’s been so long, and time moves so weirdly, and we’re still in the middle of the event just begging to see what happens next.

CE: This is completely fair. To move a bit outside of criticism, I think things like this can be taken kind of from a not necessarily appropriate monetary perspective. Readers might feel “cheated” with less new art, and in some ways I get that but, a story is the sum of its parts, and even a reframe can be interesting. I think this will read very nicely as a recontextualization, as you say, especially with Apocalypse’s tale from X-Men #13 in the middle. But maybe a bit more original art would have been nice.

Genesis & Annihilation

CE: I find Genesis incredibly fascinating, something that I feel like I’m going to repeat until this story ends. Hickman has this knack for creating modern memorable villains in every franchise that he touches (the Black Order anyone?), and while we probably can’t fully give Genesis’s….genesis to him, I’m thrilled to read about her. She’s more Apocalypse than Apocalypse, ruthless in ways that he seems to have either abandoned or never held to in the first place. Is she a dark mirror of him, much like the rest of Arakko, or more complicated than that?

RS: I feel like she’s a mirror of Moira just as much as she is a mirror to Apocalypse. She’s an incredibly powerful mutant sacrificing everything in order that her people might survive. Moira’s power revolves around life, and though we don’t know much about Genesis, her name certainly implies that hers does too. And I think a primary point of comparison is going to be the Phoenix; we have another extremely powerful mutant woman who is taken over by a seemingly all-powerful force. And a dark mirror of the Phoenix, as “Annihilation” is the opposite of rebirth. There’s some dangerous territory here; a lot has been written about the misogyny of the “woman who gains power becomes evil” trope, and how the Dark Phoenix Saga participates in that, as well as a lot on the power of the Saga. We aren’t the right people, I think, to really discuss that in detail, but I think it’s important to point out the connection, and I think it’s important to point out where already Annihilation seems to be deviating from the standard trope. There’s no sobbing woman begging a man to stop her from doing ill, or to separate her from her power; when Apocalypse asks her to fight the force within her, we see no struggle of wills at all. For now, there seems to be a complete unity of character that is unusual in the trope. She began, as you said above, to be an unwilling or semi-willing participant– but I think that there is now only one will in play.

CE: She is a tragic character, taking the helm (literally) in this tragic tale. This reads to me like a woman who did everything necessary to save as many people as possible, and descended to even further depths to keep her people safe. In doing so, however, those people were lost, co-mingled with oppressive forces, which now she ostensibly controls. To use yet another reference, she took the power to prevent what she considered to be the greater evil, but in doing so will participate in an ultimate evil instead. It’s not like, imposed evil though as you said. She had hard choices, and is ultimately paying for them.

The Amenthans Have A Pathway To Many Abilities Some Might Consider…Unnatural

CE: Something I know you’re probably thrilled to dig into Rob, is the strange melding of the Arakkoans and the Amenthans into a hybrid culture and religion, which led to the birth of the Summoners. Genesis treats this as an abomination, a perversion of what it means to be mutants. It reminded me pretty heavily of the Uruk-Hai from Lord of the Rings, black sorcery created hybrids of orcs and men. It also paints our Summoner with a particular brush. He is a true believer in Amenth, and likely its dread religions.

RS: There’s a few things that tremendously interest me here. The first is the distinctions between the Vile School, the Summoners, and Amenth. We’re told in the final data page that the Summoners of both sides are devoted to a seemingly shared religion above their devotion to Arakko or Annihilation. What is the nature of that religion? What do they believe about Amenth, and how did that belief come to be united across such disparate peoples? Is that religion related to the Vile School, its eugenics programs, and its dystopian technologies? Is it related to the covens we see, standing in the circles of the Old Ways, the circles found in human magic, and their X Towers?If they are not devoted to the Golden Helm– could they be swayed to Krakoa? Would Krakoa want them to be swayed? And how do they compare to the Mutant Religion developing on that other island?

CE: Certainly a lot of questions. I found their brief mention interesting because of how much of a corrupting force they appeared to be on Arakko. They acted not only as peddlers of a religion but also as informers, perhaps some kind of secret police. After the actual war ended, they created a culture war, attempting to homogenize the two societies, it seems. This goes back a bit to Summoner being a real true believer, and possibly one of the more insidious antagonists due to his fervent beliefs. As we saw in Stasis, not everyone seems to be truly for this trial by combat, or even for the invasion of Krakoa. I think we keep beating this dark mirror analogy, but, there are lots of interesting comparisons to be made with the Krakoan mutants as well.

RS: Absolutely. Krakoa is a nation, a collective, but it doesn’t function entirely like a state. Krakoa’s strength is in unity, but also in individual choice to join that unity. It balances the identity and individuality of each citizen with the needs of the whole. Arrakko is a radically individualistic society that’s now an authoritarian regime. The individual is forced to serve the collective. I think the comparison is most prominent when looking at how the societies treat mutant powers– the very thing that in this fiction both unites these people as a group and marks their unique nature as individuals. On Krakoa, powers are celebrated and cultivated. The culture revolves around their use, and they continue to work to employ them in multifaceted ways; we saw how delightful that can be in the Empyre tie-ins. But on Arrakko, “stealth suppressors” have been placed to ensure that the mutants are weak. It’s particularly striking how Arrakko, at least in theory, has embraced utterly Apocalypse’s fashy social Darwinist thinking– but then is so afraid of its populace that it undermines that thinking entirely. This is supposed to be a society of the strong, and yet they fear strength so much that they make their citizens weak.

CE: That’s a really poignant observation. Apocalypse is kind of the one backing off of what seemed to be his ethos (now made moot by the invasion of the Arakkoans), since Krakoan society has become the strongest nation on Earth. I’m particularly interested in how the island Arakko itself continues throughout this event. It seems very much not an incredibly willing participant in these pro Amenth activities, and it’s only goal is to unite with Krakoa. Contrasted with the fairly united Krakoa (Mystique of course notwithstanding), Arakko seems to be a loose confederation, and I think this is going to come into play more as the story progresses. I generally was pretty okay about this issue. The reframe was neat, but the exact same art was a tiny bit groanworthy. But like you said Rob, it’ll probably read great later. This event is breakneck, and I’m excited to see the end later this month.
RS: I’m similarly excited, especially because we’re seeing so many hints at things moving towards what we saw in PoX (a series that featured the First Horsemen, if only briefly!). We’ve had TOWERS, and HIVE MINDS for a while, but now we also have MUTANT HYBRIDS. The build has felt slow, but I think looking back we’re going to see that the slight acceleration over all this time had built up to tremendous speeds.

Marauders #14

Christina Eddleman: Reunions are so sweet, and, Vishal, I’m so happy to be reunited with you for this week’s Marauders! While we’re not quite back to our normal creative team (I spy with my little eye, Benjamin Percy) or even really the Marauder’s crew, it’s nice to have the Mareaders together again.

Vishal Gullapalli: I’m very glad to be back, Christi, and I’ve gotta extend my thanks to Jude for doing such a great job on last issue’s coverage. [Ed. note: And keep an eye out for more Jude on Wolverine: Black, White And Blood later today] But we’re back and ready to have a very fancy dinner! I can feel my mouth watering just thinking about the 5-course meal our champions get to enjoy before their trials.

The Dinner

CE: It was difficult not to get incredibly hungry reading this issue. I’m a big fan of food and that menu was frankly distracting. Giant squid urine, bloodwine in bat-bone cups, brain mash – it all sounds so incredibly appetizing. Saturnyne sure does know how to throw one heck of a party. I had to stop and whet my appetite with a Globsnax… or five.

VG: Otherworld can throw a hell of a feast, but we have Globsnax. With how much… interesting food there was, I’m surprised the X-Men (and Arakkoans) had enough time to socialize and scout out their competition. But I guess that’s why they’re the mutants and I’m the human. But this socialization ended up being legitimately the best part of the issue, at least for me. Illyana is someone who I feel like needs to be present for every fancy dinner for the rest of Marvel comics, because she is an absolute delight in this one – trying to outdo Pogg-ur-Pogg, and trying to find a way to beat Isca the Unbeaten. The banter in this one issue is just incredible, and I can’t wait to get some more.

CE: I really enjoyed the spotlighting of a non-standard crew for Marauders in this issue. The dialogue is playful and natural in a way we’ve come to expect from this title, so even though our cast is different, this still feels like a Marauders book that happens to take place as a tie in to X of Swords. I’m grateful for this opportunity for interaction between the champions of Krakoa and Arakko. Magik and Gorgan’s encounter with Isca was exactly the fun I wanted from this issue. These playful exchanges are the perfect Amuse-Buche before stabbing! Not to mention, the ambience. Horny merfolk are the perfect appetite enhancer, aren’t they Vishal?

VG: They really are. I was honestly a bit confused with the water at first, but on a reread I totally see what’s going on and I love that this entire dinner party involved walking on water. Truly an otherworldly experience. We also got to be introduced properly to a few of the rulers of the Kingdoms of Otherworld, like Mad Jim Jaspers who is a delight and Roma who does not believe in wearing shirts. Truly, this entire affair felt like a real introduction to the way Otherworld royalty lives, and is somehow even more lavish than life on Krakoa. And as great as it looked to me, it apparently wasn’t even perfect! Mad Jim Jaspers had a lot of angry words to say about that.

CE: His assessment of both the food and the company was a delight. Not quite as compelling as our x-desk data pages became, but wholly appropriate to the issue. The odds he gives Krakoa are definitely not promising, but very entertaining. While this meal had lots of pretty trapping and fun dialogue, it did manage to artfully build its way to some of the more intriguing points in this issue. The first of these being… the dance!

The Dance

VG: So last issue, that you and Jude covered really well, was one of the best Storm stories we’ve gotten in a long time, and I feel like it’s marked the character finally starting to reach the level of importance she deserves. This scene, to me, feels like more of that, because Ororo feels like the most important person in the entire room. In East of West, Hickman referred to Xiaolian Mao as “The one who conquered Death.” And that’s what Storm feels like here – while she’s talking to Death she is always the one in control, and makes it clear that Death has no power over here. It’s breathtaking and I cannot get enough of it. [Ed. note: If you have thematically enjoyed the Krakoa era, you would probably like East of West]

CE: The total power move of both approaching Death for a dance and proceeding to submerge the pair in a whirlpool beneath the party was as aesthetically pleasing as it was self-assured. Storm’s poise and grace throughout the dance put her squarely in a position of control. She gave the sense of indulging Death’s curiosity for her own purposes which was incredibly sexy. While it’s difficult to gain any sort of nuance from her stoic, Anubis-headed dance partner, I really enjoyed the subtle expressions Caselli captured in Storm’s face. Even her features seemed less Anglicized than they have in previous issues.

VG: Yeah I really appreciate that the artists in general have seemed to have listened to criticisms of Storm’s depictions early on in DOX because the coloring and linework are both a lot better than they’ve been in the past. I do hope she gets a new hairstyle soon. Back to the dance, this scene’s only 3 pages, but it feels so much longer than that, because there’s so much packed into it. I’m also really intrigued by Death, as he seems to be the least… cold of the Horsemen. Which is ironic because War is literally on fire. But I am fascinated by this dynamic, partially because it’s a continuation of the Claremont trope of villains enamored with Storm, but also because while Storm is firm and in control, she is still incredibly passionate in her own way. This is really good character work.

CE: While a dance is a somewhat overt metaphor for combat and the delicate maneuvering leading up to this narrative point, it really does work well primarily because it’s so gorgeous to look at. But I have to know, is this a tango? A waltz? There’s a lot of dips going on here. And possibly no music? They’re underwater! The movie in my head reading this is experiencing a lot of dissonance. Okay, I’ve maybe looked too closely at this dance. Either way, ending with tentacles and fountains of water was a pretty spectacular bit of showmanship on Storm’s part.

VG: I’m much less familiar with the art of dance than you, but I do want to know more about it. If there’s one thing to take away from this issue it’s that Storm is getting the spotlight she has deserved for a long while, and it feels great. The other important thing to take away, though, is Wolverine’s propulsion of the plot.

The Death

CE: If Storm’s encounter with Death was nuanced and powerful, Wolverine brings us the exact opposite. His brooding throughout the issue spells trouble, and his early foreshadowing laden conversation with Storm had me on the edge of my seat throughout the issue. I wasn’t certain quite what he was working up to, but in his anger he made some incredible valid points. The first being that Brian should absolutely be using every tool at his disposal to put an end to this whole event. Do you agree, Vishal?

VG: I don’t know how I feel about it from an ethical standpoint but Brian’s tools to resolve the conflict peacefully would have been just as entertaining as the sword fights, so consider me undecided. I love Percy’s voice for Wolverine in this issue too – I don’t talk about it here much considering this is Mareaders, but Logan’s one of my favorite characters. He so visibly is convinced that he will never be able to have a happy future, but he’s fighting until his last breath so the people around him can have one in his stead. And that’s clearly visible here, as his entire motivation for not wanting the tournament to happen is because there are people he considers kids risking their lives, and he wants them to not have to go through these risks. His anger towards Brian is so palpable, and I honestly can’t blame him for it. I was also really into the depiction of his relationship with Storm – she knew exactly what he was planning to do, and encouraged him, because ultimately she has the same parental instincts.

CE: Percy gave us some spot on Logan here, and it really worked. Wolverine throwing in Brian’s face the fact that so many of the champions haven’t even lived long enough to be married or find a partner they’d want to marry was incredibly gut-wrenching and pulled at my heartstrings. When Brian remains resolute in his honor, you can see Wolverine’s last hope for a peaceful resolution crumble. Logan says what many of us are thinking, this entire tournament, contest, seems like an incredibly unnecessary loss of life at Saturnyne’s whim. His anger builds perfectly throughout the issue coupled with his downing drink after drink.

VG: This ends the way Wolverine knows all his stories end – he runs through someone with his claws. It’s built up to through the entire issue and is definitely a bit of a surprise, but ultimately it’s something that feels inevitable. Obviously this isn’t going to kill Saturnyne, though. She’s definitely a bit hardier than the average human, especially in Otherworld. I cannot wait to see the repercussions of this decision.

CE: The back-to-back Marauders issues made a lot more sense at this issue’s conclusion. The fallout from these SNIKTs is sure to be quite the ordeal. Wolverine’s seeming confidence that stabbing Saturnyne might actually kill her is definitely cute. You’d definitely think he’d know better. I envision this ending with either mild amusement or devastating consequences, and likely nothing in between.

X-Traneous Thoughts

Remember back when we speculated on what the Twilight Blade was and it was something completely new?
Remember a lifetime ago when PoX was releasing and speculation ran rampant about the “Abyss” mentioned, the meaning of that word in PoX, the meaning of that word in Hebrew Scripture, its relationship to the book of Genesis, and its relation to the void-prison on Krakoa? Well now we have “Abyssal prisons” related to a different sort of Genesis and though we have no answers, we do have [eyes emoji]
Limbo as well? Holy many hell dimensions does Marvel have?
The White Sword is such a wild card. I feel like we’ll have to keep an eye on him.
Yana chomping on the card after Pogg-Ur-Pogg did is a delight. I love her so much.
That bloodwine sure is an interesting color
When do we get to read Jim Jasper’s memoirs?
Krakoan reads: DINNER