X Of Swords: Destruction
The battle between Krakoa and Arrako meets its final conclusion in X Of Swords: Destruction, by writers Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard, artist Pepe Larraz, colorist Marte Gracia, and letterer Clayton Cowles. This is the end of the X Of Swords event, and while it has a lot of fun moments, it’s not all a home run.
Instead of fully synopsizing the issue, the plot is basically the final battle between the forces of Krakoa and the forces of Amenth. Hickman and Howard keep raising the stakes throughout the battle for both sides before bringing the whole thing to a rather surprising and kind of satisfying conclusion.
There is a lot to love about this issue. It’s the culmination of everything that X Of Swords has set up in its previous twenty-one parts, for good and for ill. There are a lot of really cool moments as things start to turn, but it all begs the question- was all of this worth it? Has this twenty-two part story made a valid argument for its existence, especially after plugging the events of the conclusion into the equation. The answer is a resounding maybe. This chapter does give readers exactly what they thought they would get at some point- a big battle between the mutants of Krakoa and the hordes of Amenth. However, a lot of the time, the fighting kind of feels impersonal as the scenes emphasize the big action over cool fights between the champions, which would have been nice because we actually very few of those. It gives readers looks great and exciting, but it really hits home that this story isn’t exactly what anyone thought it would be. The subverting of expectation isn’t bad; a lot of really fun stuff has been introduced in this story. However, looking at how it got there kind of makes one question whether the end results will be of any importance.
Sure, the return of the Captain Britain Corps is cool, but how much does it matter? It’s fun that Saturnyne got back what she wanted but didn’t get everything no matter how hard she tried to manipulate events into that outcome but if one doesn’t read Excalibur, are either of those points that necessary? Not particularly. Apocalypse joining his family as part of the peace deal is a nice ending for his arc in this story, but how much does it really matter in the long run? That remains to be seen, and while it could go in many exciting directions, that can’t really be weighed yet. The return of Arrako is the same way; however, both plot points have a lot of potential, and that’s what earns this story its resounding maybe; maybe the things it gives readers will end up good. If they do, then this will have been totally worth it. If not, well, at least half of X Of Swords was pretty cool.
Pepe Larraz is excellent as usual. The battle scenes look amazing, enhanced by Larraz’s long time colorist Marte Gracia, and are worth the price of admission alone. It would have been nice to see him draw more one on one battles but what readers get is still immensely pleasing to the eye. There are a lot of just plain amazing scenes throughout this book, one of the highlights being Apocalypse wrestling with the Gold Crown of Amenth. All in all, the art in this book top-notch.
X Of Swords: Destruction is a good ending to a remarkably uneven event. The creative team pulls out all the stops in this one, presenting an ending that opens up some possibilities that are intriguing. That said, the event’s ultimate place in history depends more on how those events play out than anything else. The ending of X Of Swords saves the story from many of its more unfortunate excesses in the first half. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot of fun.
Grade: B
