We draw our swords, one last time, for one epic conclusion. Chris Eddleman & Robert Secundus talk X-Men #15 by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar, Sunny Gho, and Clayton Cowles. Then Charlie Davis & Nola Pfau tackle Excalibur #15 by Tini Howard, Mahmud Asrar, Stefano Caselli, Sunny Gho, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Clayton Cowles. Last everyone teams up just like Hickman & Howard do with Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia for a firework filled finale in X Of Swords: Destruction #1.

X-Men #15

Chris Eddleman: Rob, this is the ending trilogy, and in some ways we’re back where we started. X-Men and Excalibur kicked off on this journey, and they’re going to be what lead us home…or rather what lead us to *reads notes* Destruction?! Oh my goodness, and here I was hoping for a happy ending. But before that, we have a score to settle—quite literally, as Gorgon tied Arakko and Krakoa, and it all comes down to wife guy Apocalypse and his very estranged wife Genesis.

Robert Secundus: Things have escalated so much. Our Editor said he just kept hearing the Lord of the Rings soundtrack throughout this story, and yeah, I think that tone is fitting.We began this story with individual sword-quests that gave us quieter character moments and established individual arcs moving forward; it escalated into an at-times humorous and at-times horrifying fae tournament; now we enter full on Epic Fantasy. It’s huge, and exciting, and sad, and I think, by the end, it will be triumphant. Let’s dive in to our last day of talking about SWORDS.

Does It Need Doing?

CE: Rob, it’s been a pretty slow burn that Cyclops and Jean have mostly been chilling either aboard a massive space station or on the lovely paradise island that they’ve called home but, we’re finally getting some action on their part. However, they’re more heroic natures are put to the test as the mutant couple have to contend with a still relatively new addition to the X-Men canon- a lot of bureaucracy. So as we have seen before, it’s time for a meeting of the relatively bossy “Quiet” Council. 

RS: From the end of HoXPoX, we knew these cracks would only grow. The Council is a tremendously interesting but clearly flawed solution to the problem of governance, and here we see a couple major limitations: 

1. The members have other responsibilities that may conflict with the Council or distract them from their political responsibilities. 
2. When such conflicts, distractions, or complications arise, the carefully constructed balance between The Big Guns, The Bad Boys, The Money Makers, and the Superheroes is overturned.

CE: Rob, this is possibly the best description of the various courts of the Quiet Council that I’ve ever seen, and it’s wonderful, and I’m only a little mad that you came up with it. Jean says a line here that I really empathize with—”I know their answer: because what we’ve built is bigger than what you want.” This is a simply put but elegantly stated issue here. The Krakoan Council is built to think of the needs of a nation, and can’t compromise on the integrity and ultimate safety of the community, and as such cannot send a large force of battle ready mutants and squander their security. However, Jean and Scott cannot simply leave anyone, least of all their recently reclaimed teenage son, to die in another land and be gone forever. 

It’s a “needs of the many” issue weighed against a “no compromise” issue. Kind of an unstoppable force vs. immovable object. As we know, Cyclops’ secondary mutation is being incredibly stubborn.

RS: The solution is really, really wonderful. Another problem of the council is that it lacks checks– there’s Krakoa, but as the council is unelected, there is no check from the people. Krakoa needs political leaders to keep it physically safe, but it also needs moral leaders to ensure it is just. It needs the one thing that, we find out, the government has decided is illicit– it needs the X-Men. And so Jean and Scott leave to bring back the X-Men to the book named for them.

CE: I find it interesting the various factions on the Council. The heroic ones, who by and large wish to, or are already, fighting in this battle. Duh. We have the leadership, who very much empathize with Scott and Jean but have to do what they must. We have the villains, who are all in favor of this pragmatic decision. And then we have the Hellfire Club, who are split in three exactly. Very symmetrical. Anyway, the decision that is made is that anyone who goes must give up their spot on the Quiet Council, which ultimately means that Jean has to give up her spot. Likewise, the gates to Overworld are being permanently closed, and so they’re all on their own. Mostly. Kind of. Rob, I love a particular in this scene and many other Quiet Council discussions— the return of the nine panel grid. Do you think this is simply pragmatic for space, or something more?

RS: I think, generally, this issue used layouts to great effect: 9 panel grids for the talky scenes, granting a focus often on individual characters, ensuring clean and clear dialogue flow, and setting a clear pace for the comic, and more modern Widescreen Comics layouts to show us the JUICY JUICY ACTION.

CE: Yeah, Asrar really crushed these panel layouts. I was pleased with the X-Men — Excalibur continuity that we got with him on pencils. But anyway, I think we need to delve into a name that we haven’t heard in….well about a year I guess.

Then It Will Be Done

CE: So we get an interesting data page in the middle of this book, flashing back to early Krakoan history, discussing both the foundations of the nation and some erasing of what came before- specifically the name and concept of the X-Men. This is just a couple of pages, but I think it really warranted some special attention that I thought only the ToX-Men could provide. I think it makes a lot of sense in-story for the mutant nation to try to downplay the term “X-Men.” It wouldn’t be particularly attractive to the “villains” and it makes Xavier seem like even more of a dictator. However, Rob, I think this data page and this issue at large serves a particular function, specifically bringing the concept of heroics into this. I’m sure you know what I’m thinking about.

RS: “A bloo bloo bloo The X-Men are villains now, gathering sufficient power such that your oppressor can no longer control you is evil, a bloo bloo, I want pouches and guns and cleavage and exactly the X-Men stories I read when I was twelve, because it was good then and they were heroes.” Is that what you’re thinking about?

CE: Yeah, this a direct rebuke (whether intentional or not) to the idea that the X-Men have no heroics left in them, and they’re part of an authoritarian or fascist death cult, or whatever. The X-Men work best when they have some authority they’re rebelling against, which was often like, conservative evangelicals, or the U.S. Government. Now, one of the prime critiques of them is that they’re now in power. but, we now have a sub-faction of heroes, of X-Men, that “find these terms unacceptable.” They’re rebelling against authority, albeit a more benevolent one, to do what they feel is right. And even though villain X-Men wasn’t a prime critique of mine, dammit it felt pretty cool, didn’t it? 

RS: Once again it’s redefining what it means to be heroic or villainous in this story. The Council isn’t evil, but if we frame rebellion against as necessary, that would imply they’re the villains; the rebellious X-Men aren’t evil, but if we frame the Council as good and necessary, that would imply they are the villains. 

Remember, over in Excalibur, the setup Saturnyne has between the priesthood and rangers? [Ed. note: If not you better, it’s important.] Forces which are on some level oppositional, even though they both ultimately serve Saturnyne’s will and the Citadel? I think the same sort of thing is happening here, where the opposition between the two elements of this society, if we zoom out, is collectively for the greater good of that society. Here is where I’d also start to talk about the governing Council and the people’s X-Men in terms of communism and anarchism if I had had the foresight to actually learn about that stuff instead of angelology but alas, alas.

CE: Look, my dumb ass was picked for biology stuff, which has been woefully absent as of late, so I’m really flying by the seat of my pants here. Please give me a genetics thing. All I can yell about is how “fittest” doesn’t mean strongest, it means most likely to make viable babies…which lends an interesting reading to this book. Anyway, I see the X-Men as a force of good for the little folks, and I’m thinking the main title is going to continue in that vein as we go on. 

All are mutants, but few are X-Men. 

When Forever Ends

CE: And now Rob, it is time for our main event of the evening. In this corner, clad in a giant evil mask that is trying to subsume her will, it’s GENESIS. And the challenger, the Alpha and Omega, but mostly Omega, Big Poppa Pac, Apocalypse! That’s right, woven in this narrative is the final fight—that between husband and wife for the sake of their respective children. This is a climactic fight, light on powers but heavy on swordplay. I particularly enjoyed how Genesis did not don Annihilation, saying that she was initially going doing so to spare Apocalypse the sad fate of seeing her eyes. What a crock.

RS: I think it’s interesting how this is set up in parallel to the argument in the council. The Council VS The X-Men; Apocalypse VS Genesis. They are two things that in the moment appear in opposition even though their overarching goals (in this case, the survival of the fittest, the survival of mutants, the prosperity of the once-united mutant island of Okkara). I also think it’s interesting that Apocalypse only begins to win when his sword is broken beyond use, and we only advance to the final battle when he rejects the swordfight, and the tournament, and all of Saturnyne’s rules altogether. But he doesn’t do so here out of arrogance, or frustration– his rejection is one of mercy and love.

CE: He has such an fascinating demeanor. He states after being bereft of his weapon that he will yield to absolutely nothing, including love. This is what the English teachers call foreshadowing. But anyway, I think this crossover has made me feel for Apocalypse in ways that I didn’t before. It even seemed a little bit going in that he was going to be villainous in some way, but he’s in a few ways been a primary protagonist for this crossover. But, what really made me feel for Apocalypse was his refusal to finish this fight, only for the reason that after millenia, he wasn’t ready for his relationship and his reunion to be over. It’s of course, probably not the safest move, as this issue closes, but says a lot about En Sabah Nur’s true nature. We already learned earlier the survival of the fittest plan was to prepare the Earth for the coming of Amenth, but we also know his deep devotion, and how much he cares for his community. Never expected to write that about him, really.

RS: Apocalypse began as a replacement for The Owl; he became a Stretchy Mastermind at the heart of Archangel’s most iconic story; then he spent decades occasionally giving characters Emo Upgrades and nonsensically pursuing Xanatos Gambits that remain difficult to untangle. His most famous story is about an alternate universe version of himself. Apocalypse is iconic, but I think this is the first Apocalypse story where I care about Apocalypse. Not Archangel, not Evan, not Wolverine-but-he-has-one-hand. I care about Apocalypse here, and I care about him as a character moving forward. This is something I never would have guessed a year and some change ago, when you and I sat down to annotate HoXPoX. That final page splash of Apocalypse was not one of the elements that most excited me. But here we are.

CE: And then, like a videogame, the poor guy had to fight phase two the final boss, now with added scary mask. I really enjoyed this issue a bunch. I think the entire team was in sync, and putting out their top level work. I enjoyed the pacing with the fight interspersed with the deliberation, which I now consider a Hickman special after issue #3 of the flagship. There’s still two more chapters, including our chunky finale, and I’m excited to get into it with…a few more folks.

Excalibur #15

Nola Pfau: Well Charlie, here we are, at the end of things.

Charlie Davis: The end of all things. Oh well…maybe not ALL things. But a whole lot is shaken up in this one. We played some cards that were right on the money and others that are still on the table, but here on the edge of the cliff…how are you feeling? 

NP: Well, a little bittersweet. You’re right, it’s not quite the end of all things, but it is going to mark the end of my time writing about Excalibur! It’s a little sad, since it’s a book I absolutely love, but I do have to say I’m looking forward to picking up coverage on that first issue of S.W.O.R.D. when it comes out!

But before we get there, we still have these other ten to worry about. A lot’s happened since last issue—just about all of the contest, in fact! 

CD: You’re right. I hate to see you go, but space awaits you, my friend. 

Everything has happened so much and I’m happy to say that it seems things have come full circle in this issue. Last issue we started with a shattering, this issue we see what it was all for. This might be going in reverse, but shall we talk about Betsy first? I feel like we should talk about Betsy first. 

Getting To The Corps Of It All

NP: All right, let’s talk about Betsy first. She’s technically the first mutant we see this issue, it’s just that she’s gone all to pieces. One of Saturnyne’s assistants brings her all of those pieces in a chest, not unlike when child Nola used to pull the bucket of Legos out to play. Saturnyne dumps them out onto the floor to start playing, and frankly I’m appalled—my mother taught me to use a blanket to play on, to make clean-up easier! When you’re done, you just grab the blanket’s corners, gather them up, and you can lift the entire mess in one move to put it away again. I really feel like Her Royal Whyness should’ve figured a trick like this out by now.

CD: I guess maybe you only use a blanket when you’re sure you’re gonna have leftover pieces you aren’t using. Saturnyne uses all these shattered bits, every last one. It’s a bit like putting together a puzzle, Saturnyne even asks Shogo for some help like she needs another set of eyes to identify the corner pieces or something. I’ve thought a lot of things about Saturnyne through this whole event and I find it fascinating that for someone so in control, someone who saw the end of all of this as preordained…how could she have not seen all the pieces of the puzzle reassembling into Betsy? She seemed shocked at the outcome, the beautiful stained glass portrait of Betsy signaling the rebirth of the Captain Britain Corps but in Betsy’s image. Or maybe not surprise…maybe she’s just irritatedly resigned. 

NP: No, I think you had it right the first time; she was surprised. I think the resignation came soon after, but she was definitely extremely disappointed that her attempt to weave a different outcome failed here. I think that it was doomed to despite her hopes, and that’s something the data page immediately following the completed puzzle supports; the final line is “Do not confuse true desperation with the ego of desire.” The Captain Britain Corps was a necessity, but what was not was that it be made up of Brians Braddock. It’s an interesting twist and I’m very excited to see what the Excalibur creative team does with it after the event.

CD: I really love the idea of Betsy simply being the wild card here. The thorn in the side of Saturnyne. It’s a fantastic little piece of character work for someone who’s always taken the hand she was dealt and tried to turn it into something better. Even though you and I predicted this outcome, it was still something that was delightful to see. I imagine someone who saw the corps dissolve and cease to exist might have found the last page even more exciting than I did, but it still felt like a big moment and even more so considering it’s not Brian. Despite it all. 

NP: It’s really great. I especially like the symbolism of a swan draped in her attire taking flight; not only does it invoke the children’s tale of the ugly duckling, but swans have a reputation for being nasty, aggressive, and prone to fighting, which really does encapsulate exactly the side of Betsy that Saturnyne always manages to bring out. It’s something I really, really enjoyed. I also enjoyed the whole spread of different versions; it was great to not just have a new Corps implied but to see it on page, and thankfully this time, not a nazi among them! Of course, that’s not the only arc of import here…Charlie, how are you feeling about Bei, the Blood Moon?

Beiwatch

CD: Can I start ugly crying about her? Because I feel like that’s what I want to do. I love her so much. I love that I knew so little about her and yet I knew when I laid my eyes on her that we connected. She’s so fantastic. After connecting with Doug she’s all in on him. Her vows meant something. She’s bloodthirsty, but LOYAL. I could literally go on for a long time about this, but it’s the exact kind of thing that just GETS me. Doug’s honest conversation with her, the way that we are invested even though this only became a thing not that long ago. Man I feel like I’m gonna melt and I really hope that she sticks around since that was alluded to. 

NP: She was fearless and crazier than him. She was his Queen, and god help anyone who dared disrespect his queen. [Ed. note: Nola, I am so angry that you made me read this with the only set of eyes I’ll ever have]

Ahem. Anyway, I appreciate that she took this bond so seriously. Remember Stasis, just a couple of weeks ago? She was so ready to spill blood, but for all that everyone loves her title, everyone’s forgetting that her introduction there added a word: Seducer. It’s certainly borne out, as Doug went full heart-eyes the second he saw her. I have my reservations about a marriage with so many communication gaps, but hell, I moved in with my spouse on day one of our relationship, and we’re coming up on seventeen years. May Doug and Bei have the same luck.

CD: I got some vibes off of Isca and Bei from this as well. Not sure what’s going on there BUT I was making eye emojis at the both of them. All of them really. I also thought about how Warlock was going to feel about all of this, but I think that’s a question for another time. [Ed. note: Everything is fine. Nothing’s going to change. Mutants get married all the time. They’re going to be best friends forever.] 

Characters like Bei are my specific kryptonite; fiercely angry due to their past circumstances, but filled with so much more than that. I would be happy to see this explored more, but this alone is such a good moment between she and Doug. He calls her his hero. Goodness. We also see a little bit more of Illyana’s friendship with Doug here, that’s also been a nice thing to see through the background of XOS. Everyone around Doug is always must attack, but also protect. 

NP: What’s been fun about this is that their current inability to communicate has been such a specifically Doug focused problem; he can’t figure out her language because it doesn’t function like the languages he’s been able to parse before. The obvious end-around here is her being implanted with knowledge of the Krakoan language once everyone makes it home, and then I can’t wait for the domestic hijinks that’ll ensue. Honestly I wish they had their own book? It’s a more exciting premise to me than the Gambit/Rogue marriage book, by far. It gives me Barda/Scott Free vibes in the best way.

CD: I don’t have any saved up wishes left that don’t result in a monkey’s paw type of situation so I can’t make that book happen, but I will keep it in my thoughts. Power of positivity and all that. Well. A lot of what happened in this issue has been covered, but I think one last time, for old times sake…what do you say we talk about Jubilee and I GUESS Apocalypse. 

Duel Of Fates

NP: I knew you were saving him for last. Jubilee was sort of anti-climactic for me? She came in with the cavalry and that was cool, but we still haven’t seen the actual payoff of her being reunited with her son, and while I’m disappointed with that, the fact that we didn’t tells me it’s probably going to take more time than this issue was prepared to give it, so I’m looking forward to that, let me tell you.

As for ol’ •┤Ȧ├•, well, it’s quite the start to the fight, isn’t it? I knew, conceptually, based on an understanding of story structure, that •┤Ȧ├• had to best Genesis, but it’s really a testament to Tini’s writing ability that even with that knowledge in the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure while in the middle of reading it. I do appreciate the significance of him defeating her in the duel, but not Annihilation, as she’d cast the helm aside. When she takes it back up, it manages to take control briefly, and boy do things get dark.

CD: As the saying goes, predictable doesn’t have to mean bad. So many of my favorite things are predetermined, it’s just all about the journey getting there. And you’re right, I love the duality of being one person with the cursed object and another person without it. We’ve gone on a ride with •┤Ȧ├• and while we now know that his endgame was to find his wife and children again, it doesn’t change the fact that he put people in danger with his lies and made some very bad choices to get here. Even so, I feel like my heart has grown a little since we started this. Or at least softened. •┤Ȧ├• is not the person he used to be and he even says as much. It is refreshing to be a little bit wrong about someone. 

NP: The last few weeks have given me this growing image of •┤Ȧ├• as an increasingly harried middle manager for Earth’s survival; the entire original rationale given for his survival of the fittest mantra was that he wanted to toughen Earth up for a pending Celestial judgment, and now we find out that even if that goes all right, we still had this huge existential crisis coming from Arakko/Amenth! I’m just imagining this very large blue man hunched over a tiny desk with an overflowing inbox of pending planetary destruction forms, Bob Cratchit style. Maybe with some pince-nez glasses? I need someone to draw this for me.

CD: I think someone can make that happen. All in all. I am really happy about how the fallout of XOS will affect Excalibur most of all. It’s most likely going to feel like a different book and that’s maybe the best thing we can hope for coming off of a big event. I am sorry to see you departing the book my friend, but your destiny is in the stars. Let’s have a crossover sometime so we can do this again. 

NP:  I’ll send updates from space!

X Of Swords: Destruction

Chris Eddleman: And lo, on a day unlike any other, a comic came that was simply too powerful for one team to tackle. A sinister name it had—Destruction. And thus, the teams behind the flagships united, to tackle and subdue the beast that was Destruction, and lay it bare for all to enjoy. And so, I am joined by my betters to uhhh talk about this book, I guess. 

Nola Pfau: Self-deprecation doesn’t look good on you Chris, take ownership of your skill and your talent. I really liked the duality inherent in the naming conventions here; at the start, Creation, and we learn the story of Genesis, at the end, Destruction, and we see the lengths •┤Ȧ├• will go to, for his family, his people. It was really just…deeply moving stuff.

Charlie Davis: I GUESS it’s okay to be wrong about the character of SOME people. But honestly it’s nice to see everyone. It kinda seems like we’ve made it through something momentous and with the kind of intro Chris gave us I hope I don’t let him down. I do have one really important thing to say about this issue though. X-MEN RULZ. 

Robert Secundus: We really have been through a lot over the course of the publication of this event, both IRL and within the confines of the story. We progressed like the story of the Tarot Deck; we began the Fool, innocent, ignorant, but ready to take on the adventure, and we emerge now into the World, wise, aware, concluding one story and ready to take on the next (I read a Tarot book for this event and didn’t get to use that much so dang it I’m using it now!)

At The Turn of The Tide

CE: Friends, I think we need to start this off with a simple freakout- AHHHH!!!!! What an incredibly packed and meaty issue. We’ve got an incredible team of creators on this finale, and some incredible ideas and scenes put forth on the page. I found this issue very satisfying from a story perspective, and I’m absolutely thrilled that it closed out the crossover. We get reveal after reveal and hit after hit, and even though it’s 40+ pages, it moves at a thrilling clip. 

RS: Hell, for all 80 some pages of this Final Act, these last three chapters, I was gripping my computer screen, white knuckling it, as I zoomed through. This story was like being in a car on a long, straight, empty highway, and hitting the accelerator just a little, just with enough pressure that you can barely feel that the car is accelerating, and so you forget, you think it’s still at a slow speed, until you turn your head and see something zoom past at such a blur that you realize what an incredible velocity you’ve reached.

NP: God, was it 80 pages? I wasn’t even keeping track, I was just shoveling it all in. Like you know those greasy local eating joints where they just give you a burger and then like an absurd amount of fries or whatever, and sometimes when the mood’s right, you can just polish off the whole plate? That was me with this book. Just a deeply, deeply satisfying meal.

CD: It was a whole lot, but it was more substance than jamming action figures together in a fight scene and for that everyone should receive some adulation. If this was the X-Offices The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition), might I say, with its own Dead Men of Dunharrow moment then it’s that kind of three hour finale that you just walk away feeling great about. It gives you what you need in all the best ways and shows you things maybe you didn’t even remember you wanted. I am increasingly convinced that my favorite thing in media is surprise returns or reveals because of their ability to directly inject serotonin into my brain and Hell Yeah if we didn’t get enough of those to keep my basket full for a bit. Everyone who worked on this should feel very proud. 

NP: The thing that’s wild to me, structurally, is the way the tone shift occurs. We started last week in the middle of full Otherworld whimsy and games, and in the span of six issues over a week, we’re on a battlefield with an easy half dozen different factions all just teleporting in to brawl. I love a crescendo, and that’s what this is; threads from Cable, from early on in the main X-Men book, from Excalibur, all just weaving together perfectly, threatening a conflict that’s really about to spill out of control. I’ve been talking a lot about how complaints of pacing are premature, and I think this really nails down what I was talking about; scenes and issues that felt anti-climactic earlier on in the event were that way for a reason, and it’s because the payoff was here. X of Swords is at heart meant to be read as a single thing, I think, and I’ll agree that parts of it suffered in single issues, due to the unique nature of serialized fiction, but it all gels once you have the complete story. Now, as to the merits of writing for single issues or the trade, that’s a different debate…

CE: I’m pretty excited for the chunky hardcover. This issue hit hard with big thumping bass beats of a story, from the Corps showing up, to the Summoners arrival, the arrival of SWORD and the X-Men, to the Summoners making big monsters, and finally the Vescora coming en masse. It’s this parallel escalation of conflict and I think we need to give a firm kudos to Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia for drawing the ever-living hell out of this packed issue. The amount of detail and rendering for each of the myriad scenes and characters was career best work, and a treat for the eyes with each anthropomorphic super creature and horrifying tentacled beast.  

Apocalypse Kneels

NP: I gotta say, nothing hit harder for me than •┤Ȧ├•’s simple, straight refusal to play by the rules at this point—or indeed to play the game at all. It was a nice echo of the bit with Annihilation at the end of Excalibur; she (it?) stood there and claimed victory with the few mutants left surrounded by hordes, but doing so was a premature act; after all, Genesis did lose the duel with •┤Ȧ├•. I understand the impulse; Annihilation is quite used to declaring victory even when its current bearer is defeated, but that’s the rub; the helm was on the ground when that defeat happened. •┤Ȧ├• hadn’t claimed it, and it hadn’t really been defeated, either. I think that’s why when he finally did claim it in this issue it rang so strongly for me; with everyone else focused on the contest and who would win it, only •┤Ȧ├• stuck to his real focus: the survival of his people. All of them.

CE: It was a very powerful moment and one that harkened back to a mere two issues prior, in which •┤Ȧ├• claimed that he would never surrender to anything. I think it’s a show of growth for a mutant obsessed with being the strongest to show a moment of weakness and achieve victory. He fought not to dominate, not to claim victory, but FOR something instead. It was a very cool character moment. In a lot of ways I feel like he’s the character who has undergone the most growth in Dawn of X and this really cements it. Also for what it’s worth, his momentary Annhilation design was incredibly cool, and the scene where he puts on this mask, with it melding and changing in his hands, is visceral and scary. 

CD: I love a dark presence making people much more evil than they would be normally, that’s the kind of stuff I dig in my fiction. Also, to speak to Nola’s point I really have to congratulate the team here on making every last bit of story count here. I will admit that I was someone who was scratching my head a bit at some of the things happening in the middle issues, but Destruction is a good reminder that serialized storytelling just rewards you for being patient. Every piece that was laid down in the issues previous were woven back in with surgical precision here and it was really a sight to see. •┤Ȧ├• finally coming to terms with things, Scott and Jean deciding what’s important, EVERYTHING PULLED BACK IN FROM CABLE. It should have been obvious from the start, but it just worked so well at the end here. 

RS: I love any climax where victory is found through surrender; strength through weakness; where vulnerability or a desire for peace over conflict is enough to transform loss and defeat into glory (really, anything involving the kind of Strength typically understood to be depicted on that card of the Tarot). And in this case, we really got to have our cake and eat it too– we got our climactic duel, our massive battle, our innovative tactics and cool action moments, and we got to see that sort of triumphant surrender. Everything about this climax for me ruled.

NP: I think it also hearkens back to what Chris was saying about the meaning of “fittest,” in y’all’s X-Men coverage above, too. •┤Ȧ├• still isn’t defining it correctly, necessarily, but taking the step to realize that fighting is not necessarily the way to achieve his goals is a big moment for him, and given that he left when the rest of the family stayed in Arakko the first time around…well, I guess we should discuss the rest of what happened first, yeah?

The Hows And Whyness At The End Of Things

CE: So our wrap-up begins, with enemies (mostly) becoming friends, and Annihilation becoming a little bit less threatening over all. I liked the symbolism of Saturnyne turning the mask, something that obscures and complicates your identity, to a staff- something to be wielded and used as a tool. But then we nearly immediately move into something pretty cool, an exchange that Saturnyne is requiring….for some reason. Who cares, it’s cool? A mutant from the Arakkoan side and a mutant from the Krakoan side must turn Prince and the Pauper, and change sides. What did y’all think of Apocalypse GAMING THE SYSTEM and trading himself for the entire mutant island of Arakko?

CD: I think that it’s something that actually cemented his face turn for me. I have been here this entire time stating how •┤Ȧ├• was gonna stab everyone in the back or even fail Krakoa due to other, older aligences, but that didn’t happen. It didn’t happen at all. I always love someone working around the rules to get what they want or move a step ahead of the system, and that’s just what he’s done here. Now maybe this doesn’t end actually being a good idea considering we maybe don’t know a whole lot about what’s going on, but it leaves such a good space for the books and the entire X-line to change in the wake of XOS which is what a big event should end up doing for the books. Without •┤Ȧ├• at the center of all things, I think all the books can take a big breath and reset. Also that staff still is totally corrupting someone. 

NP: I think the return will be a big endgame thing for the master plan, honestly! That’s kind of what I was getting at in the last section but I wanted to wait until we got to this point to discuss it—the juxtaposition of his family sending him through and staying on Arakko because he wasn’t strong enough, vs. him setting the terms of victory at the end of a battle he won without having to use the strength they so value. I think the point of him returning with them is more than just honoring the terms of Saturnyne’s deal, I think this is a fundamental shift in his philosophy that he then intends on sharing with the rest of his reunited family. I suspect we’re looking at the beginning of a subversion of Amenth here; the helm and its dominating control is broken, and what they have now is a straight-up D&D style sentient weapon. Arrogant and rude but only actually dangerous at the whim of its wielder.

RS: It’s also imagery that’s familiar to X-Men readers– I’m thinking of the original Magik miniseries, and the image of the purifying staff in opposition to the violent sword, and more recently What If? Magik’s return to that image. But as far as master plans and endgames go, there’s one person more to consider: Saturnyne, who does not foresee many details of this ending, but does still get everything she wanted, at least, in some form. X of Swords was many things– a tournament arc, a series of character vignettes, goofy comedy and grotesque tragedy, the culmination of the story of Apocalypse, of the division of Krakoa, and of mutant magic, all of which have been developing for the past year. But it’s also the story of the Captain Britain Corps and Opal Luna Saturnyne, characters and concepts obscure, I think, to most modern readers, but characters and concepts that feature in, again, to my mind, some of the best moments, stories, and series of this franchise.

CE: I loved that we got it pretty plainly laid out how things were going to change a bit. Amenthans and Vescora were now going to be a permanent part of Otherworld, and it definitely seems like this is NOT THE LAST we’re heard from it. We get the very dual setups of Excalibur and X-Men, with of course implications for everything else. I love that while the story ends, the toys are not back in the case, and we still have plenty more to expect as we move into Reign of X. 

NP: I just want to point out that Saturnyne didn’t get everything she wanted.

CE: But she got what…she needed.

RS: What if she got someone that she didn’t know she really wanted yet. For more on my Betsy/Saturnyne ship, please tune in to my A03 Epic “Betsy Braddock Pursues the Powerful Pleasure of the Pussy Opal.”  

CD: Robert. 

RS: But no, I misspoke, and it really is important that she didn’t get everything she wanted, because I think bittersweet ending, as we see Saturnyne reflect on the love she’ll never have, really makes the finale more interesting, especially because I don’t know how to feel about her melancholy; I don’t know how to feel about Saturnyne at all, and I mean that in the best way, not that she’s a muddled character, but that my emotional response to the character is too complex for me to really sort out. 

NP: Big can. Big feelings.

X-Traneous Thoughts

• One thing I (Rob talking) wish is that the “there are no X-Men on Krakoa” data page had been published earlier– at the start of this event, or even further back. Would have made the moment land harder if we’d known this.
• I (Nola) actually disagree, Rob; I think revealing that bit too early would have colored the tone of the prime book of the line. The fact that we have a comic book called X-Men feels more subversive now than it did a year ago, and I think that’s intentional as we move into a new chapter.
• The Captain Britain Corps is really moving into talking animals and I’m pretty into it.
• Gosh, Pepe can really draw some eldritch horrors, huh?
• Fave New Captains Britain: Terrible Goose Captain Britain, Frog Captain Britain
• None-Of-Them-Being-Visible-Nazis Captain Britain
• Krakoan Reads: Reign Of X
• Signifying the ascendancy of Reignfire, obviously.
• I figured this would just be about Matthew McConaughey fighting Shogo?
• Ed. note: I was going to say something sappy about how this is over and how proud I am of everyone but y’all just decided to go off the rails there at the end.