Reign of X, Vol. 5

X-Men: Krakoan Era (Anthology Trades)

by Tini Howard, Al Ewing (Writer), Gerry Duggan (Writer)

The King in Black casts his shadow over the Reign of X! As the Council makes moves to protect the mutants in Otherworld, Excalibur must determine the true fate of Betsy Braddock! The S.W.O.R.D. station is thrown into the deep end of a planetary crisis as Krakoa battles the forces of symbiote god Knull! While a cross-division S.W.O.R.D. team take on dragons from outer space, Abigail Brand prepares a deniable operation all her own. What is Protocol V — and can the Earth survive it? Plus, Manifold journeys across the universe…and comes face to face with S.W.O.R.D.’s deadliest enemy! Meanwhile, Captain Kate Pryde and her crew of Marauders set sail to fight for the needy amid the global disaster that Knull’s invasion has caused!

COLLECTING: Excalibur (2019) 18-19, S.W.O.R.D. (2020) 2-3, King in Black: Marauders (2021) 1

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fantasy

152 pages, Paperback

First published November 9, 2021

Reviews

[Myles Likes Tacos and Rice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well curated, the simple order made these mediocre stories quite enjoyable vs reading as singles. The art as with all X titles is excellent. However highlight of this collection and why it should be on your shelf are the extras. Tons of sketches and it has the Dauterman Rogue variant!!!

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked: S.W.O.R.D and King in Black: Marauders. Fun tie-ins for the King in Black event. I loved seeing that event (which rules) impact some mutants. Knull was definitely a formidable foe for the Krakoans and it was exciting to see them deal with something so far out of left field.

Disliked: Marauders. Jesus. Why is this title so lackluster? It feels more confusing than it is because it’s so hard to actually care what’s happening. I look forward to being done with it.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm starting to grow really unimpressed with the X-Men line. Lots of wheels spinning and not a lot of movement in the stories in this collection. Excalibur was alright, but the rest of it didn't do anything for me and I'm getting really sick of Marvel's cross-over events impacting the flow of stories that are already in progress. I'll stick around for a little while longer because I'm a glutton, but it's getting really iffy that I'll keep reading these books in the new year if things haven't drastically improved by then.

[Bertazzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate when those big events mess with my mutants. Nobody cares about your symbionts.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Everything with Betsy / Captain Britain is a bore. They've written themselves into a corner and don't seem to know how to get out... It's kinda sad when a new series, like SWORD, has to deal with a crossover so early when it should really be setting up it's own series... But King In Black was so much fun it's interesting to see it touch the Universe some... Badass Kitty Pryde also bored me. It's just not her character to me.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I’ve been reading the whole series starting with house of x power of x. And the only time they’ve ever had this storyline was in X-men blue. And they didn’t even say how they took over earth. Unless I missed that book.

[Martijn Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excalibur #18 3☆
Excalibur #19 2☆
S.W.O.R.D. #2 1☆
S.W.O.R.D. #3 2☆
King in Black: Marauders #1 3☆
The whole king in black stuff ruins this for me. To out of knowhere to soon after X of Swords.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses first on Excalibur, which is not my favorite portion of the X-verse, and then on the King in Black event, which I haven't read yet. I was pretty sure this wasn't going to be an enjoyable read, but I am happy to be wrong.

While I'm still not invested in Otherworld, alternate dimension Captain Britains, or general Excaliburishness (which are all very true to both the Claremont and Davis runs, so I'm not digging on Tini Howard, if you enjoyed the general silliness of the 80s and early 90s Excalibur, I imagine you'd love Howard's full run), the focus on Psylocke and Kwannon in the last few issues have been a blast. I really enjoy how Howard handles quiet moments and silly drama, and I'm really impressed at how quickly she's made me forget how much I hated X-Men: X of Swords. 4/5* for both issues

It's been so long since the first issue of S.W.O.R.D. that I forgot it was part of the Reign Of X titles. The issues here focus on X-universe characters dealing with the fallout of King In Black. The first issue is all-encompassing with moments for Abigail Brand, Mentallo, Sunfire, and Fabian Cortez (soooooo '90s). It's a fun side quest to the big event but the reveal at the end didn't really hit me as I'd never seen that character before. The next issue focused on Manifold, and I just didn't care about it. I don't know the characters around him, I don't know his story, and this issue didn't intrigue me enough that I wanted to learn more. Then, at the end, more King In Black stuff. S.W.O.R.D. #2: 3/5*, S.W.O.R.D. #3: 2/5*

The Marauders King In Black tie-in stayed true to a Marauders story while shunting the KIB stuff in the background, and it did so to great effect. I forgot Bishop was a part of this team now, and I enjoyed how he slots in with Pryde, Iceman, Pyro, Emma Frost, Magneto, and Beast. The human trafficking element was a little over-the-top superheroey, but in the best of ways. This continues to be one of my favorite titles in the post-House of X/Powers of X era of the X-books. 4/5*

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spring 2020 (April);

Dawn of X (Vol. 11-16)
X of Swords (full)
Reign of X (Vol. 1-7)

** As a spoiler warning, do not read this review unless you've read all of the above issues, not just the volume where you've found this review. **

I did a massive multi-volume, multi-arc blitz recently and so I'm going to just drop a lot of what's hot here & going to be copying it down across a million books. My favorite thing literally is now and forever the Polycule going on in Summer House. I love his universe and am certainly very curious about the things still hiding in the shadows.

I'm glad Kitty found her way through that thing. I'm glad we didn't lose Betsy while we were in the other universe where death *sort of* sticks. Excalibur remains the most arrestingly gorgeous art. I'm still not interested in the one and only story comics know how to tell with Beast. I love the whole council and can't stop cooing over Erik as the Left Hand/Charles as the right (and even more so the bits where/how Jean & Scott are off to reform the X-Men #goodboy).

Jeanne & The Twins, in general, are back and I'm super duper in love with that. I really madly adore that there isn't any vast soap opera drama with any relationships or old bad blood that can't be given a new chance in Krakoa. There's such a breath of fresh air reading a lot of the choices Hickman and his writers have made. Illyana remains a badass demon-sorceress at all times, and Ororo remains a goddess. I loved all the Giant-Size art across Emma, Jean, Ororo.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainly marking this as read for accounting purposes, having already read these issues separately.

Two parts for Excalibur, dealing with the ramifications of their previous battle. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I had been paying attention up to now. For some reason anything to do with Otherworld makes my eyes glaze over (even way back in the original title.). Still love the art though.

Two issues of S.W.O.R.D. You get a look at just who Abigail Brand is and how she thinks. She's really just replacing the original Nick Fury, always planning ahead, using subterfuge, etc. More time is also spent getting to know Manifold, who I really do like. The second issue mostly sets up a couple future threats.

King in Black: Marauders - A tie in to the crossover event, which actually has some meat to it as the Marauders mete out some justice which requires some modifications to the rules of Krakoa.

[Charles Korb]

Excalibur: Maybe it's reading these in collections rather than reading all the Excalibur issues straight through but it's difficult to track what's going on with Betsy but I guess her body was possessed by a monster and none of the spells mattered other than what the Captain Britain corps did

Sword: I have to laugh to at how this event was integrated with the mainline comics: not at all. Just all of a sudden the world is covered in venom symbiote? Ok I guess!

Marauders: I assume the Maurauders show up to save the day in the event series but this is just a little vignette about how our protagonists don't like human trafficking.

[Terrance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really not a fan of King in Black, and most of these collected issues have some tangential relation to that storyline (boy, I hate that Marvel still does this), but somehow they managed to distance themselves enough from the events and still have a story related only to the X-characters and their development. Still appreciative that I can collect all the X-titles in this fashion, but I wonder how long it can last.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of these collections. The Excalibur story is fine, but I'm still not terribly in love with that book. SWORD is vaguely related to King in Black, which is bit of a minus for me. At least the second SWORD issue is quite good, focusing on Eden. Sure, it's involved in the event, but it's really mostly a character focus on him, and I enjoyed it. The Marauders issue was collected in one of the King in Black collections, so I've already read it.

[Carl Printer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excalibur continuing to prove itself probably the best of the X-books in this era. Wasn’t ready for the King in Black event, but it’s a fun and unexpected romp that’s serving a wonderful metaphor for the darkness brewing under the soil.

[Afreen Aftab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excalibur (2019) 18-19 - 3.5/5
S.W.O.R.D. (2020) 2-3 - 4/5 (interesting story only there are a lot of lesser-known characters. Also, the art is just amazing!)
King in Black: Marauders (2021) 1 - 3/5 (nice little story. Mediocre artwork)

[Bekka · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Betsy stuff was a bit confusing, but otherwise a fun bind up - though this does tie into the King In Black run which I haven't read yet.
TW for violence, near-death experiences, possession, murder, skeletons, human trafficking, near-drowning.

[Sara I · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been thoroughly enjoying catching up on the X-men's storylines through these collected volumes of multiple series. This one felt particularly large-scale because of the involvement of Knull and I enjoyed the issues from S.W.O.R.D. and found it very interesting and memorable, overall.

[Zachary Waxman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again no centralized plot to the whole collection. Concludes the Excalibur plot of bring braddock back and then goes into S.W.O.R.D., lots missing because it's in the middle of another crossover, this time with Knull, Venom, Symbiotes. It's a hot mess

[Sohrab Rezvan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like leaving negative reviews, but the Excalibur storyline is so convoluted and the King in Black crossover is not interesting at all. If you're reading through the trade paperbacks, just skip this volume.

[Nick Callebaut · Rating 3 out of 5]

This iteration of Excalibur still can't seem to peak my interest, but the S.W.O.R.D. issues were fun. Especially issue three finally focuses on a character, being Manifold.

I liked the Marauders bit too. Even started reading the series after this.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75.

Very Excalibur focused with some King in Black…along with a quick reminder of a storyline from a long long time ago.

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knull tie in stuff. I never really liked Knull and tie in issues are rarely good outside of their event collections that tie their stories together.

[Malcolm Fraser · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Excalibur is still crap. The rest I enjoyed. SWORD has good imagination, and I enjoyed the Manifold bits. Marauders is as fun as usual.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of feel like I'm missing out on a lot cause I guess this all ties into the whole Knull crossover event, which just never interested me that much.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

i had to stop reading this to go and read like 6 volumes of venom to know what was going on and i am giving it five stars because that venom comic was so good (and this is pretty neat too ig)

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finding a home for Captain Britain. Legends written. Space gods and sea slavers.

[A Broken Zebra · Rating 4 out of 5]

→ EXCALIBUR #18-19 ... ☑
→ S.W.O.R.D. #2-3 ... ☒ - not going to follow this one, too many to keep up with as it is
→ KIB: MARAUDERS #1 ... ☑

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume covers a lot of the crossover stuff involving the King in Black event, and I rather liked how these titles handled it. Sure, they're still side adventures that don't super affect the main event, but it kept the stories very focused on the Krakoan perspective, which is really what everyone loves about this whole direction for the X-titles.

SWORD was front and center for the King in Black event and I love how they expanded on Manifold's power set (and didn't forget all that happened in Black Panther) and presented how Knull could corrupt even Krakoa with his influence. Plus Brand continues to be Brand and she is thriving in her role as mutant ambassador to the greater universe.

Marauders also had an interesting crossover with the King in Black event, although I think I also read this in another King in Black-focused compilation title.

Excalibur wasn't connected to the King in Black but the ongoing drama with Betsy/Captain Britain has finally come to a head and I think I'm starting to enjoy this title a lot more. They're a lot freer to be themselves without the weight of the mutant-formerly-known-as-Apocalyse along with efforts to tie more of the magical stuff into things.

[Derrick O'Rourke]

Solid addition

Another solid addition to this run without being spectacular. The tie ins to king in black don't feel forced and help to continue the storylines.

[Jennifer Sigman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really dislike getting dropped cold into the middle of huge crossovers like this. If you're going to collect the issues, you can add a page with a recap.