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X-Men: X of Swords #22
X of Swords: Destruction #1
The wheel of fortune turns. The unfortunate fall.
A sword against the darkness.
A sword against the darkness.
43 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2020
7 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Hickman
1,224 books2,048 followersJonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 16, 2025
So the event is finally over. We're given to understand that Saturnyne's whole motivation for participating in this nonsense was her great infatuation with Brian Braddock. Never mind that he was married decades ago. And he and Saturnyne never really dated. And she has access to infinite versions of Brian Braddock, including, presumably, a version of him from a world where it split from 616 when Brian and Meggan didn't get married. But, okay. Sure. She's obsessed with this one particular unobtainable Brian Braddock.
There was no explanation for how Saturnyne came to be this powerful figure. We know from the last issue of Excalibur that she is definitely casting spells. Because she has never had powers before this event, we actually didn't know what was the supposed source of these powers she started flinging around suddenly. But, okay, apparently all the times she is now projecting energy from her hands, or displaying telepathy, or teleporting people around, this is somehow magic. Apparently. I guess.
AND NO ONE HAS FUCKING COMMENTED ON THE FACT SHE SUDDENLY HAS POWERS WHEN SHE NEVER DID BEFORE.
I called it. I have been calling it out in every review of X of Swords I have done. Keeping track of every power Saturnyne inexplicably displays. "Predicting the future with tarot cards? Okay. Freezing time? Also new. Projecting green energy from your hand to un-smoosh a tarot card? That just seems unnecessarily showy, and extra inexplicable given how YOU NEVER FUCKING HAD POWERS BEFORE THIS EVENT."
And what do we have to show for all this? Some very minor status quo changes. I know that's what younger comic book fans are obsessed with. They always want there to be some "point" to a comic book event, some change in the status quo to give a sense of gravity. To reassure ourselves that there were, in fact, stakes.
So here is what we have:
That's it. And in all that time I was correct, that the writers really weren't ever going to address Saturnyne's inexplicable new powerset. Or the implausibility of how a regular woman from Earth-9 now somehow has two groups of mystically empowered "priestesses" modeled after her, as if she were some kind of creature from legend and not an ordinary human.
We're supposed to think that this event was good just because it took place over multiple titles over an extended period of time. That multiple characters made cameos, so we got the sense that a lot of characters were involved. (Note: Unus the Untouchable is also in this issue, just as he was "in" the issues leading up to X of Swords; but he still has not had a line of dialogue in years.)
This was NOT a good event. It was not well written. It had no respect for continuity. Really, only a very small group of characters had any lines of dialogue, let alone any real significance to the plot.
This was just a waste of time.
There was no explanation for how Saturnyne came to be this powerful figure. We know from the last issue of Excalibur that she is definitely casting spells. Because she has never had powers before this event, we actually didn't know what was the supposed source of these powers she started flinging around suddenly. But, okay, apparently all the times she is now projecting energy from her hands, or displaying telepathy, or teleporting people around, this is somehow magic. Apparently. I guess.
AND NO ONE HAS FUCKING COMMENTED ON THE FACT SHE SUDDENLY HAS POWERS WHEN SHE NEVER DID BEFORE.
I called it. I have been calling it out in every review of X of Swords I have done. Keeping track of every power Saturnyne inexplicably displays. "Predicting the future with tarot cards? Okay. Freezing time? Also new. Projecting green energy from your hand to un-smoosh a tarot card? That just seems unnecessarily showy, and extra inexplicable given how YOU NEVER FUCKING HAD POWERS BEFORE THIS EVENT."
And what do we have to show for all this? Some very minor status quo changes. I know that's what younger comic book fans are obsessed with. They always want there to be some "point" to a comic book event, some change in the status quo to give a sense of gravity. To reassure ourselves that there were, in fact, stakes.
So here is what we have:
That's it. And in all that time I was correct, that the writers really weren't ever going to address Saturnyne's inexplicable new powerset. Or the implausibility of how a regular woman from Earth-9 now somehow has two groups of mystically empowered "priestesses" modeled after her, as if she were some kind of creature from legend and not an ordinary human.
We're supposed to think that this event was good just because it took place over multiple titles over an extended period of time. That multiple characters made cameos, so we got the sense that a lot of characters were involved. (Note: Unus the Untouchable is also in this issue, just as he was "in" the issues leading up to X of Swords; but he still has not had a line of dialogue in years.)
This was NOT a good event. It was not well written. It had no respect for continuity. Really, only a very small group of characters had any lines of dialogue, let alone any real significance to the plot.
This was just a waste of time.
November 28, 2020
Finalmente termina questa saga, iniziata con grandi aspettative, proseguita in maniera francamente imbarazzante e conclusasi con un moto di orgoglio.
Dopo il nulla di questa saga e i promettenti ultimi numeri, cosa ci si aspettava da questo gran finale?
Qualche bello scontro, qualche scena epica, l'arrivo della cavalleria Krakoana, un colpo di scena o due, e qualche spiegazione da parte di Opal Luna.
Andiamo per ordine.
Di begli scontri non ne abbiamo. Giusto Apocalisse contro Annihilation (che si, è lo scontro clou e dire "giusto questo" quasi non gli rende onore... ma era stato più sentito lo scontro senza maschera nel penultimo numero. Non c'era grande pathos). Per il resto, vediamo i Krakoani affettare demoni di Amenth, vediamo i Campioni di Arakko parlare tra loro e vediamo Annihilation uccidere gente di cui non ci importa niente. Stop.
Un po' poco, eh.
Scene epiche ce ne sono giusto due o tre, tendenzialmente coincidenti con colpi di scena più o meno grandi e con il punto successivo, l'arrivo del gruppo di Cyke.
Perché l'arrivo dei rinforzi è francamente epico... dopo Excalibur mi ero chiesto chi sarebbe andato con Ciclope e Jean. A quanto pare la risposta è "tutti gli operativi" tranne quelli del Consiglio. Tutti tutti. Wow. Peccato che a parte il loro arrivo non si veda niente del loro reale impatto, però.
Anche l'arrivo di Jubilee e delle sacerdotesse del bosco è una bella scena, o la Decima spada (prevista ampiamente dai tempi della profezia). Ma tendenzialmente abbiamo singole immagini epiche, non scene prolungate nel tempo.
Quanto alle spiegazioni... NON si spiegano i poteri di Saturnyne (per i quali del resto nessuno mostra stupore, quindi sarebbe stato assurdo sperare davvero in una spiegazione), si scopre che come si era intuito la majestrix ha davvero ordito il tutto solo per tentare di riavere per sé Brian.
E, colpo di scena, NON è tornata in vita Betsy. Solo il Captain Britain Corps.
Che però ora, essendo Betsy in possesso della spada ed essendo comparsa lei nel mosaico con l'incantesimo del numero precedente, è declinato sulla sua figura.
Ed ecco, la mancanza di spiegazioni e di reale pathos (tranne magari quando Apocalisse affronta la maschera di Annihilation), unita all'infantilità che sta alla base del tutto, lasciano parecchio delusi.
Un po' come il 90% della saga, in effetti, che mescola nonsense, banalità e ingenuità in modo disarmante.
Fortunatamente ci sono momenti di spessore, e non dimentichiamo le conseguenze a lungo raggio:
il nuovo ruolo di Apocalisse, Bei, Arakko, le prossime resurrezioni di Betsy e Gorgon (oltre allo scoprire come sarà il nuovo Rockslide). Immagino questi "nuovi" e complessati personaggi saranno incontrati rispettivamente su Excalibur e X-Factor (mentre su Hellions avremo il nuovo Wratchild)
Comunque, stante che il Consiglio sta cadendo a pezzi e ora si ritroverà un'isola molto più grande e complicata da gestire, e che pare di sentire il ticchettio dell'orologio col conto alla rovescia per la fine di quest'era... significa forse che in caso di nuovo reset a opera di Moira, ci sarà un altro possibile incontro\scontro con la gente di Arakko, ripartendo daccapo, in futuro?
Dopo il nulla di questa saga e i promettenti ultimi numeri, cosa ci si aspettava da questo gran finale?
Qualche bello scontro, qualche scena epica, l'arrivo della cavalleria Krakoana, un colpo di scena o due, e qualche spiegazione da parte di Opal Luna.
Andiamo per ordine.
Di begli scontri non ne abbiamo. Giusto Apocalisse contro Annihilation (che si, è lo scontro clou e dire "giusto questo" quasi non gli rende onore... ma era stato più sentito lo scontro senza maschera nel penultimo numero. Non c'era grande pathos). Per il resto, vediamo i Krakoani affettare demoni di Amenth, vediamo i Campioni di Arakko parlare tra loro e vediamo Annihilation uccidere gente di cui non ci importa niente. Stop.
Un po' poco, eh.
Scene epiche ce ne sono giusto due o tre, tendenzialmente coincidenti con colpi di scena più o meno grandi e con il punto successivo, l'arrivo del gruppo di Cyke.
Perché l'arrivo dei rinforzi è francamente epico... dopo Excalibur mi ero chiesto chi sarebbe andato con Ciclope e Jean. A quanto pare la risposta è "tutti gli operativi" tranne quelli del Consiglio. Tutti tutti. Wow. Peccato che a parte il loro arrivo non si veda niente del loro reale impatto, però.
Anche l'arrivo di Jubilee e delle sacerdotesse del bosco è una bella scena, o la Decima spada (prevista ampiamente dai tempi della profezia). Ma tendenzialmente abbiamo singole immagini epiche, non scene prolungate nel tempo.
Quanto alle spiegazioni... NON si spiegano i poteri di Saturnyne (per i quali del resto nessuno mostra stupore, quindi sarebbe stato assurdo sperare davvero in una spiegazione), si scopre che come si era intuito la majestrix ha davvero ordito il tutto solo per tentare di riavere per sé Brian.
E, colpo di scena, NON è tornata in vita Betsy. Solo il Captain Britain Corps.
Che però ora, essendo Betsy in possesso della spada ed essendo comparsa lei nel mosaico con l'incantesimo del numero precedente, è declinato sulla sua figura.
Ed ecco, la mancanza di spiegazioni e di reale pathos (tranne magari quando Apocalisse affronta la maschera di Annihilation), unita all'infantilità che sta alla base del tutto, lasciano parecchio delusi.
Un po' come il 90% della saga, in effetti, che mescola nonsense, banalità e ingenuità in modo disarmante.
Fortunatamente ci sono momenti di spessore, e non dimentichiamo le conseguenze a lungo raggio:
il nuovo ruolo di Apocalisse, Bei, Arakko, le prossime resurrezioni di Betsy e Gorgon (oltre allo scoprire come sarà il nuovo Rockslide). Immagino questi "nuovi" e complessati personaggi saranno incontrati rispettivamente su Excalibur e X-Factor (mentre su Hellions avremo il nuovo Wratchild)
Comunque, stante che il Consiglio sta cadendo a pezzi e ora si ritroverà un'isola molto più grande e complicata da gestire, e che pare di sentire il ticchettio dell'orologio col conto alla rovescia per la fine di quest'era... significa forse che in caso di nuovo reset a opera di Moira, ci sarà un altro possibile incontro\scontro con la gente di Arakko, ripartendo daccapo, in futuro?
November 27, 2020
The end is here. Every Mutants must come and fight to protect what is theirs. Will Apocalypse make a huge choice here? What will happen after? Who will die? WHO WILL LIVE? It all stops here. A 4 out of 5.
December 1, 2020
Perfect finale.
November 27, 2020
Great ending! Some aspects were completely unexpected, which is always nice. Saturnyne got the Captain Britain Corps but not the Corps she wanted. 🎉
Weird things are to come in New Mutants and Excalibur. I'm hoping for more interesting stories than the stories right before X of Swords.
Weird things are to come in New Mutants and Excalibur. I'm hoping for more interesting stories than the stories right before X of Swords.
November 25, 2020
Yes. Bravo. Well done. I had worried that maybe Hickman and Howard wouldn't be able to stick the landing, but this was just spot on.
Really, if you'd been paying attention for the previous 21 chapters of X Of Swords none of this should have been surprising. But that's no bad thing, I like a story where everything's been carefully set up, so long as it all pays off in the end. And pay off it does here. I think I saw all of it coming, but what matters is not WHAT happened but HOW it happened, and it all happened wonderfully. Both the writing and art are spectacular throughout. And, holy hell, I never thought anyone would ever make me care about and empathise with Apocalypse. Well done, Hickman and Howard, well done indeed.
This whole event has been a real treat, and I've loved the fact that the story has continued in a mostly linear fashion from chapter to chapter. Too often these events feel disjointed, with tie-in books that are only tangentially related. Not so here, as the final chapter proves, you need to have been reading everything and paying attention. That issue of Cable that everyone thought was a bit irrelevant? Turns out that was crucial to the conclusion. And, yes, I know some people were put off by how silly it got in the second half, but, honestly...I loved that. As a long time Excalibur fan of old, I love a bit of silly in my X-books.
What's more, going forward, this event is going to have significant consequences. There are now a LOT more mutants, Doug Ramsey has a wife (Bei is bae) and there are now several significantly powerful wild cards on the scene. Plus, as I mentioned above,
I loved HOX/POX and I've been thoroughly enjoying Dawn Of X, but X Of Swords has just taken things to the next level, and I can't wait to read what comes next!
Really, if you'd been paying attention for the previous 21 chapters of X Of Swords none of this should have been surprising. But that's no bad thing, I like a story where everything's been carefully set up, so long as it all pays off in the end. And pay off it does here. I think I saw all of it coming, but what matters is not WHAT happened but HOW it happened, and it all happened wonderfully. Both the writing and art are spectacular throughout. And, holy hell, I never thought anyone would ever make me care about and empathise with Apocalypse. Well done, Hickman and Howard, well done indeed.
This whole event has been a real treat, and I've loved the fact that the story has continued in a mostly linear fashion from chapter to chapter. Too often these events feel disjointed, with tie-in books that are only tangentially related. Not so here, as the final chapter proves, you need to have been reading everything and paying attention. That issue of Cable that everyone thought was a bit irrelevant? Turns out that was crucial to the conclusion. And, yes, I know some people were put off by how silly it got in the second half, but, honestly...I loved that. As a long time Excalibur fan of old, I love a bit of silly in my X-books.
What's more, going forward, this event is going to have significant consequences. There are now a LOT more mutants, Doug Ramsey has a wife (Bei is bae) and there are now several significantly powerful wild cards on the scene. Plus, as I mentioned above,
I loved HOX/POX and I've been thoroughly enjoying Dawn Of X, but X Of Swords has just taken things to the next level, and I can't wait to read what comes next!
December 5, 2020
As an individual comic it's a 4/5 with some great set pieces, interesting moments and generally just a good comic.
A a series a 1/2... If you write a series over 22 issues it should make sense and not resort to Deus ex shit to bail itself out of a mess. Saturyne... So basically she can see the future (but she can't, but she can, depending on the panel) and knew the whole thing would happen. So she made up a really stupid fun time festival of fucking pointlessness to basically try and hook a married man into her bed. If this was a comic about a bloke with a creepy obsession about a woman and all he wants is to get in her pants then the comic crowd and SJW's would be in a frenzy. She's a demented pervert using universal powers to get off.... Right.......
So many bits of this series don't make sense and whilst I may be able to prise a little more meaning on a re read I'm really not interested enough to do so because the whole thing is pieced together with nonsensical crap.
Then you hit the ending..... We will get some random big threat which was loosely touched upon but not explored and transport it in... So Deus ex machina it's depressing. It's a bad story trying to be rescued by something inexplicable that the author will never need to bother clarifying. Rubbish.
Then the changes that are long lasting... Betsy is "dead" but we'll see her again soon, Gorgon is dead but, let's be honest, he's a no one and you lose Cyclops off the council (so what?) And Apocalypse. The only shame is Apocalypse as they've made him an actual character with some cool moments, so of course it makes sense to launch him out of rotation. The new island is attached to Krakoa permanently and I guess it could introduce more Mutants but meh.
You hear all the chat about Hickman being a genius and scheming up these great arcs. If that's his genius then the comic industry is in a sorry, sorry state.
Potential positives. No more Excalibur now Betsy and Big A are gone, YAY! Nanny Egg and Stupid Robot are hopefully permanently dead in Hellions, YAY! Apart from that, feels like we sold an amazing event but got load of crap.
A a series a 1/2... If you write a series over 22 issues it should make sense and not resort to Deus ex shit to bail itself out of a mess. Saturyne... So basically she can see the future (but she can't, but she can, depending on the panel) and knew the whole thing would happen. So she made up a really stupid fun time festival of fucking pointlessness to basically try and hook a married man into her bed. If this was a comic about a bloke with a creepy obsession about a woman and all he wants is to get in her pants then the comic crowd and SJW's would be in a frenzy. She's a demented pervert using universal powers to get off.... Right.......
So many bits of this series don't make sense and whilst I may be able to prise a little more meaning on a re read I'm really not interested enough to do so because the whole thing is pieced together with nonsensical crap.
Then you hit the ending..... We will get some random big threat which was loosely touched upon but not explored and transport it in... So Deus ex machina it's depressing. It's a bad story trying to be rescued by something inexplicable that the author will never need to bother clarifying. Rubbish.
Then the changes that are long lasting... Betsy is "dead" but we'll see her again soon, Gorgon is dead but, let's be honest, he's a no one and you lose Cyclops off the council (so what?) And Apocalypse. The only shame is Apocalypse as they've made him an actual character with some cool moments, so of course it makes sense to launch him out of rotation. The new island is attached to Krakoa permanently and I guess it could introduce more Mutants but meh.
You hear all the chat about Hickman being a genius and scheming up these great arcs. If that's his genius then the comic industry is in a sorry, sorry state.
Potential positives. No more Excalibur now Betsy and Big A are gone, YAY! Nanny Egg and Stupid Robot are hopefully permanently dead in Hellions, YAY! Apart from that, feels like we sold an amazing event but got load of crap.
November 27, 2020
The art is amazing, It wraps up X of swords but they pack so much into the last 3 issues its really frustrating because there were so many pointless issues in the 22 part event. I think this event would of been great if it was just written by Hickman and maybe Howard but it was so all over the place in the middle and the tone was goofy I almost lost interest in the whole thing. Luckily this book was great and felt epic it made up for the bad middle issues. Im excited for more X-men going forward but i hope they stay away from cross over events like this in the future.
December 6, 2020
This event was great, and damn this finale was epic. Read my full recap/review and epic at Comic Years!.
June 26, 2025
Hit hard
July 21, 2024
Final de la saga. Que ha servido para traer de vuelta a los Captain Britain Corps y para desmontar un poco el Quiet Council de Krakoa. Ahora a ver cómo evoluciona todo.
Me ha decepcionado un poco a rasgos generales que el torneo no fueran tan solo duelos de espadas y hubiera pruebas invent por parte de Saturnyne. Pero entiendo que esto sea parte de la gracia del todo.
Y que una concatenación de duelos a espada, no quede visiblemente impactante en una viñeta y que al final llegara a aburrir.
El peak de los retos es la boda de Cypher.
Me ha decepcionado un poco a rasgos generales que el torneo no fueran tan solo duelos de espadas y hubiera pruebas invent por parte de Saturnyne. Pero entiendo que esto sea parte de la gracia del todo.
Y que una concatenación de duelos a espada, no quede visiblemente impactante en una viñeta y que al final llegara a aburrir.
El peak de los retos es la boda de Cypher.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2022
🤔 I thought it would be a more lasting consequence. I mean we did get the islands back together, the lost of 2 council members, and revival of the X-men……guess it was a lasting consequence we won’t get to see how much until the stories continue. But you know what looking back this was overall a good event although the pacing could have used work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2020
really really enjoyed this event! can't wait for what's next!
January 31, 2021
Chapter 22- I will carry these burdens if not forever.then until the day I die. Apocalypse
January 22, 2023
Good as an individual issue, but an overall disappointing end to a very lengthy story that had an immense build-up.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews