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 some huge revelations have hit the X-Men courtesy of Jonathan Hickman’s House of X and Powers of X. And now we enter the mutant’s first big event of the year with X of Swords! Here we take a look at Chapters 4 & 5 and see how the event holds up so far.
X-Force #13
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Art: Viktor Bogdanovic
Colors: Matthew Wilson
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Cover: Dustin Weaver & Edgar Delgado
Wolverine and Solem’s quest for the Muramasa blade brings them face to face but Percy has the two form an uneasy alliance to survive Hell and the Hand.
Percy focuses more on Solem here which makes sense because after all this time there’s not much we don’t know about Wolverine. We also get everything we need to know regarding the abilities of the Muramasa blade as Solem finds out a hard and bloody truth regarding the cursed sword. Though it’s a bit confusing to see Wolverine shocked at Solem’s adamantium when he’s faced enemies like Cyber in the past. Other than that bit of oddness, Percy wraps up this first meeting between the two warriors quite well. We’re also left with one hell of a cliffhanger that I actually hope pays off after the tournament is completed.
Wilson and Bogdanovic still deliver visually here and nothing changes from my previous praise given to the art team. The action sequences are intense and Bogdanovic’s colors add to the hellscape as the air looks and feels thick with ash. The only thing that stands out as questionable is the depiction of the Muramasa blade itself. At one point the sword is depicted as being a curved katana and next it’s straight. It’s just one of the small things that may not stand out to some but it jumped out to me throughout the book. 3/5
Marauders #13
Publisher: Marvel
Writer: Vita Ayala
Art: Matteo Lolli
Colors: Edgar Delgado
Letters: Cory Petit
Cover: Russell Dauterman & Matthew Wilson
Storm is on her quest for the sword she will need for the tournament and just because it’s in Wakanda doesn’t make this any easier for her.
Vita makes it quite plain that Storm’s request for the sacred sword of Wakanda is not an easy one. Skybreaker is a literal piece of Wakandan history and culture it’s Vita’s interplay between Shuri, Storm, and the Queen-Mother that really puts this issue over. As happy as Shuri is to see Storm, Vita has her ask a very direct question and depending on how it was answered would dictate the rest of the meeting. This small moment shows Vita’s excellent grasp of not only the situation but the characters themselves. From here Storm lays out the entirety of the situation at hand. now I’m not entirely sure if this was their intent, but Vita makes this totally comfortable for a new reader that may just be getting into this event or just picking up this issue for the first time. The Storm and Shuri moments are tense and build to an ominous “goodbye” between the two as it seems as if both already know what’s coming and things won’t be the same after.
All you had to do was trust me.
Storm
Lolli and Delgado’s visuals offer a variety of eye candy. From Storm’s flashbacks of her own character evolvement to the tale of Skybreaker and again the Arakko flashback. Each one stands on it’s own as an impactful moment. There’s a panel of Shuri’s eyes narrowing as she’s feeling Storm out and you already know what she’s thinking. We get a costume change as Storm arrived wearing her white costume but when it’s time to do what must be done she switches to the black one which changes the tone. It’s also nice to be reminded that not only is Storm an Omega Level Mutant but when the moment calls for it she’s got hands too and will put a beat down on those who stand in her way. Lolli’s action sequences really amp up the pacing of the issue and the detail of the character’s expressions synch with the narrative quite well.
There’s a lot of good to be said about what the creative team did here and especially Vita’s writing of the Storm, Shuri, and T’Challa. Also making the fifth chapter in an event book this accessible to a possible new reader is a huge plus as well. Of course, one could argue why didn’t Storm just wait for T’Challa to get back but how exciting would that really be? What we got here was everything that makes a comic fun to read and that’s what counts! 3.5/5
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