Welcome back to the latest edition of The All-New Uncanny X-Piles! Where it’s all about the Children of the Atom all the time. If you’ve been keeping up with their exploits lately then you know several huge revelations have hit the X-Men courtesy of Jonathan Hickman’s House of X and Powers of X. Now we enter the mutant’s first big event of the year with X of Swords and it’s final three chapters leading up to the big finale and see if they stick the landing on this one!
X-Men #15
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Art: Mahmud Asrar
Colors: Sonny Gho
Letters: Clayton Cowels
Cover: Lenil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho
We’re inching closer to the finale here and as the battle rages in Otherworld, the Quiet Council is making tough choices as Hickman ups the ante on Krakoa. It’s an interesting issue that not only gets us ready for the inevitable big fight, but lays some smaller plot points that are sure to have huge ramifications later on. As Apocalypse and Genesis finally fight the deciding battle, Cyclops reminds the Quiet Council that the X-Men are still heroes and they must do what heroes are meant to do. This ends up being a conversation that Hickman has play out in great form with everyone getting their moment to shine.
Asrar and Gho’s artwork balances the two battles taking place perfectly. Apocalypse versus Genesis is a bloody, violent exchange as Cyclops’ words are juxtaposed against the action taking place during that fight. The debates at the Quiet Council are filled with great character moments that make solid use of the classic nine panel grid to move the conversation. All of this comes together and moves the story in the right direction to get us ready for the finale 3.5/5
Excalibur #15
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Tini Howard
Art: Mahmud Asrar & Stefano Caselli
Colors: Sunny Gho & Rachelle Rosenburg
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Cover: Lenil Francis Yu & Sunny Gho
Krakoa won but Annihilation wasn’t feeling that so it was time to change the rules and kill everybody!
Howard delivers an enjoyable, chaotic mess in this issue with both sides finally beginning to clash as the army of Arrako demons advance on the battlefield to slaughter the Krakoans. A moment that provides several great moments here as allegiances shift, Annihilation makes their move and Storm reminds us she’s an Omega Mutant for a reason! However, the cliffhanger moment that comes at the end where we find that Saturnyne’s plans didn’t play out like she wanted was a moment that fell a little flat for me, mainly because Howard had been on a roll with the action taking place between the two teams of warriors.
Asrar and Gho delivered a battle between the armies that did not visually disappoint. Storm holding back the massive armies and striking Annihilation with the lightning were huge moments that were enhanced with dark and moody colors. While Caselli and Rosenburg gave us the brief moments in the citadel with a cleaner look that was the total opposite of the brutality taking place on the battlefield. And though I may not have cared too much for the cliffhanger, they made it look great with that mosaic and Saturnyne’s despair over the revelation. 2.5/5
X of Swords: Destruction
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Jonathan Hickman & Tini Howard
Art: Pepe Larraz
Colors: Marte Garcia
Letters: Clayton Cowels
Cover: Pepe Larraz & Marte Garcia
Before even diving into the story, the finale that comes in X of Swords: Destruction is a gigantic display of how much of a fantastic art duo Pepe Larraz and Marte Garcia are! Every page is filled with ebbs and flows of great visual moments that do nothing but elevate the narrative and deliver cinematic worthy action from panel to panel. You think you’ve seen one big moment then BAM, they hit you with another that outshines the previous one. Annihilation decapitating a Captain Britain Corps member is a wonderful display of power and movement while the X-Men coming to the rescue was a get up and cheer moment. Jean uttering that classic phrase hits even harder because of how great everything looks. The internal battle between Apocalypse and Annihilation played out through the helm as panel breaks is another piece that raises the bar here.
Now as far as the story goes, the more impactful moments take place between Apocalypse and Annihilation. He’s fighting a battle on multiple fronts and his motives and hidden agendas are going to have huge ramifications. It’s this character development that makes me wish we got more of it throughout the 22 chapters of this event. Saturnyne’s endgame transitions her to another level and might even hint at some of the future events we saw in the HoX/PoX books.
This issue being as good as it is also points out further cracks in the event we began to see several issues back. Did it have to be 22 chapters long? No. Were the swords actually that big a deal here? Not really, since only a few were used. However, this issue does end the event on a high note that opens up so many questions going forward. 4/5
All my choices led me to this…
I regret nothing and I accept where this road leads.
Apocalypse
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Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
X of Swords was about 11 issues too long and the swords weren’t even that big a part of the entire story! I’d give the entire event a 3/5. Destruction was absolutely fun though and plenty of fan service with Apocalypse being a true badass!