SyFyWire: After fan-favorite X-Men writer Jonathan Hickman mutated the comic series into two killer tales, House of X and Powers of X, he kicked off a whole new world for the ever-growing band of mutantkind in the Marvel comic world. Now, with some new books - like Giant-Size X-Men - flowing from his pen after the Dawn of X broke, the author's X-focused panel at C2E2 2020 broke down the future of mutantkind - manifesting as the next step in Hickman's grand X-plan: X of Swords.
The panel - which also featured Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski, Senior Editor Jordan D. White, and other X-men creators like Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard, Benjamin Percy, Vita Ayala, and Leah Williams - touched on plenty of other X-stories and their gorgeous covers, but Swords was the big draw.
The crossover storyline, which will affect the entire X-Men line, follows in the wordplay (letterplay?) tradition of Hickman's previous series, with another meaning referring to the Ten of Swords tarot card that symbolizes a destructive situation pinning down the subject - something that could be quite potent for a team of mutant superheroes.
The 15-part crossover led by Head of X Jonathan Hickman will show how ten mutants become the heroes that must defend their home of Krakoa. Armed with swords from all over the Marvel universe - past and present - they fight, slice, and stab towards mutantkind's ultimate, mystical destiny as this series looks to inform the future of the X-Men line at large.
In X of Swords, mutanddom society will be threatened “by powerful forces from the unknown,” according to a Marvel press release, and “ten mutants will rise up to defend their home. Arming themselves with legendary blades, both new and familiar ones from Marvel history, mutantkind will finally meet its mystical destiny.” Hickman will writing the “tentpoles” of the series alongside Exalibur scribe Tini Howard. Excalibur being both the current X-Men line’s magic-focused book, and the name of a legendary sword.
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
17 comments:
Fucking hell yeah. Mark Brooks does not disapoints. I am laughing at Cyclops lightsaber, I totally get it, because every swords reflects each mutants' ability. Just what we need, the next series is going to be called House of Shields. Like Pokemon Sword and Shield. You know what, let call the next one house of guns because Guns beats both.
Just a reminder to the author, you forgot to include Kwannon/Psylocke appearance in Fantastic Four/X-men Crossover. Also I am totally rooting for Psylocke and Betsy in getting legendary swords. I am so excited for the Marvel Universe to talk about powerful weapons in the world.
This blog doesn't cover Kwannon.
I understand, randybear. I kind of feel like the Psylocke/Betsy has become a strange conundrum.
Alright, I did a little bit of research for everyone that is interested. Here is a list of known Swords within the Marvel Universe. If you have others, please add them to comments. I would love to see your responses.
1.Ebony Blade
2.Muramasa Blade - (crafted two versions) Wolverine
3.Soulsword - Magif
4.Dragonfang - Possibly Mirage
5.Phoenix Blade - Rachel Summers
6. Odinsword
7. Twilight Sword
8. Excalibur - Maybe Betsy or Captain Britain
9. GODKILLER/ GRASSCUTTER - Gorgon
10. All-Black The Necrosword
The swords on this art piece that intrigue me are Doug's techno(Warlock?) Sword and also that Rachel is wielding the old Phoenix Blade from Brubakers run.
Also do we know anything yet about Kid Cable's sword?
Brian Braddock’s Sword of Might
Who do yall think will be the 10 heroes?
I think..in no particular order..
Wolverine (duh)
Magik
Psylocke (I feel this one being mandated)
Gorgon
Apocalypse
Xavier
Rachel
Brian or Betsy depending on who ends up wielding the sword of might
Doug
Cable
And who knows, there may be players not included on this promo piece.
...Okay?
Wow, I honestly don't know what to think. I mean, Hickman is leading the crossover, so I guess it'll be good, but the description of the story is vague - I know Marvel always withholds information, but this is TOO vague. For instance, WHY ten mutants (in universe, as out of universe we know it's a reference to the tarot card)? WHY do they need swords to fight whatever threat this is going to be, when they already have superpowers?
One interesting thing is that Brian is in the illustration, indicating he could be one of the heroes, yet the press release mentions ten MUTANTS... could he be retconned as a mutant? Hopefully not; one of the nice things about the Braddock twins is exactly their different life experiences due to one being a mutant and the other not.
It's also interesting how this art brings Domino, Doug, Scalphunter and even EYE-BOY, but not big guns like Magneto, Jean, Emma or Kitty. The representation of all X-books in the art is not an excuse, as it already has other (more relevant) characters from the same books as theirs, like Wolverine, Magik, Kwannon (I refuse to call her Psylocke) and Rachel, respectively.
Well, it starts in July, so I guess we'll see more details by April, when the July solicitations are shown. Maybe even in March, assuming there may be some sort of prelude in June. Anyway, I trust Hickman so far; hopefully he and the team of X-writers (Tini included) won't disappoint me.
Oh, and one more thing: while Betsy is in a book titled Excalibur, it's worth noting that she doesn't have the Excalibur. Last time I remember, it was with Faiza, right? Maybe Faiza could be one of the ten heroes; then again, she's not a mutant, is she?
Iceman, Cypher, Scalphunter, Eye Guy, Prestige, Cable and Domino never used swords as their weapon of choice. Shatterstar, Warpath, Kitty, Blink and Marrow use knives and swords.
I also refuse to acknowledge Kwannon as the new Psylocke it is all shades of wrong.
And Brian isn't a mutant indeed. I hate if they retcon him to be one. He wields the Sword of Might and his twin sister Betsy wields a psionic copy of the Excalibur.
Betsy's Captain Britain gloves are supposed to be white not blue. Another color mishap. Her hair color is a bit darker too. Great art nonetheless.
Usually I'm weary of big X-Events, both just X-team & any avengers/X book cross events. However, I mostly enjoyed Hickman's X-event & relaunch so I'll give this a go.
Yeah, me too. An interesting thing is that this is the first Hickman event where he isn't the only writer involved, unlike the ones from his Fantastic Four/FF and Avengers/New Avengers runs.
It's a tradition in the X-books that events are usually line-wide crossovers where each writer and artist are in charge of the chapters taking place in their own books. Sometimes it worked out great (X-Tinction Agenda, Messiah CompleX, Second Coming), sometimes... not really (Battle of the Atom, that Blue/Gold crossover in Mojoverse, and in a way AvX - yes, it happened in its own miniseries, but each issue had a different writer). Hopefully this one will fall in the first category.
By the way, it's interesting that even the Angel-like boy from Children of the Atom is in this art. I thought that book was going to be detached from the X-line, but apparently that's not the case.
And there's also that X-Corp book that will be launched this year; I wonder if it will come in time for X of Swords. Fallen Angels, Wolverine and Cable weren't in the recent solicitations, so they may be over by the time the crossover begins...
I think that we all agree that Kwannon never gonna be Psylocke. Betsy is Psylocke. and since they are developing the mutants A LOT, I'll totally support it.
I love how Psylocke/Kwannon is drawn here. Reminds me of the old days.
I agree that the butterfly effect belongs to Betsy.
Kwannon should have an eagle effect...as she always wanted to soar like one.
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