Dawn Of X has been a big success for Marvel, reinvigorating the X-Men franchise and putting it back into the forefront of the Marvel Universe. Recently, the line's first big crossover, X Of Swords, ended. This twenty-two part story saw the mutants of Krakoa face off against the mutants of Arrako and the forces of the dark dimension of Amenth, using powerful swords and their own mutant abilities in a battle to the death.
While not every chosen champion of Krakoa was a great swordsman, the contests proved to be much more diverse than advertised and gave the story a more interesting feel than it seemed like it would have had. X Of Swords was a long story, with many plotlines intertwining throughout, some that were more effective than others.
10 We Loved: The Diversity Of The Contests
The X-Men are no strangers to fierce battles and X Of Swords looked to be one of their biggest challenges in ages. Faced with a powerful invading army led by heretofore unknown mutants, Earth's mightiest mutants were in for a doozy of a fight, especially once it was revealed their resurrection system would not work. At first, it seemed like every fight would be a battle to the death, but the story subverted that expectation wonderfully.
The contests proved to be more than just run of the mill battles between the Krakoans and their opponents, with some truly inventive contests being used to decide things. This made the latter half of the story much more interesting than it otherwise would have been if everything was just a deathmatch.
9 Didn't Like: The Dearth Of One On One Contests
One of the things fans love about the X-Men is the battles with their diverse array of villains and learning more about them. X Of Swords introduced a whole new slate of villains and promised some epic battles between them and the mutants. While the way contests shook out made the story more than advertised, the dearth of one on one contests was disappointing.
The Arrako champions were presented as skilled and powerful foes, yet the number of times that the X-Men engaged them in combat could be counted on one hand. Instead of showing how powerful they were, fans were mostly told how that they were formidable and this was a misstep.
8 We Loved: Doug's Bei
When it was revealed that Doug Ramsey was going to be one of the champions of Krakoa, fans and the team were suitably worried. His powers make him useful for a background role but aren't the best for combat and with Krakoan resurrection being all wonky, there was a good chance Doug wasn't making it out alive. However, the writers of the story again subverted expectations.
Instead of a fight to the death, Doug was challenged to marry Bei the Blood Moon, the only being he ever met that his powers to translate language wouldn't work on. What followed was a rather touching burgeoning relationship between the two, who took their marriage quite seriously. It was a great little plotline that was made more so by just how unexpected it was.
7 Didn't Like: Storm's Wakandan Adventure
Storm and Black Panther were married for a time and proved to be a great couple. Things came between them and they broke up, but they still cared about each other deeply. Storm's sword was revealed to be a Wakandan royal heirloom, Skybreaker. To get it, Storm had to lie to Shuri, her ex-sister-in-law, and engaged in the battle against her.
While it wasn't a bad idea to have Storm go back to Wakanda, having her face Shuri instead of Black Panther seems like a mistake. Sure, she and Shuri have a relationship but it would have been more affecting to see Storm and T'Challa face off. Instead, T'Challa shows up, breaks up the fight, and just gives Storm the sword. It was a strange choice.
6 We Loved: The Story Had Stakes
Dawn Of X has done a lot for the X-Men, although some mutants aren't as well served as others, but one of the biggest things it introduced was a surefire resurrection method. While resurrection has always been a big part of the X-Men, and just comics in general, the reliability of the Krakoan method sort of robs stories of their stakes, as every mutant can easily be brought back to life.
X Of Swords threw a wrench into the works, revealing that any mutant killed in Otherworld would come back very different than they were before and maybe not at all. This gave the story stakes that previous stories didn't have as the X-Men were finally in mortal danger again.
5 Didn't Like: The Apocalypse Retcon
Apocalypse was always one of the central villains of the X-Men mythos, with his murderous creed making him one of the team's most dangerous foes. However, he completely embraced the nation of Krakoa, seeing it as the culmination of his survival of the fittest doctrine. This made sense, but then X Of Swords revealed the reason behind his doctrine and it isn't great.
It was revealed that his whole purpose was not to make sure the strongest survived but to build an army of strong mutants to fight off the armies of Amenth when they inevitably got to Earth. This takes some of the character's more terrible actions and paints them in an even worse light because he literally didn't have to slaughter all the people he did- he could have merely revealed his actual purposes and worked with the X-Men.
4 We Loved: Everything Else About Apocalypse In The Story
Apocalypse has always been a fan favorite but he's also been kind of one note for most of his existence. Fans never really got a look into what made him tick beyond his genocidal ambitions but X Of Swords changed all that. It revealed a mutant who could do something fans never thought he could- love.
Apocalypse truly loved his wife Genesis, who had gone with their four children to stop the Amenthi horde millennia ago. He was still completely devoted to her and the mission she gave him, no matter what the cost, and every interaction between the two had this wonderful bittersweet quality that made Apocalypse into a better character than he was before.
3 Didn't Like: The First Half Of The Story
To say that X Of Swords had some pacing problems is kind of an understatement but nowhere is this more evident than in the first half of the story. This part of the story was very, very slow, highlighting the Krakoans finding their swords and while not every chapter was slow, it just ground the whole thing to a halt.
It sort of felt like the story was trying to hit a certain number of issues instead of telling the story in an efficient manner and this hurt the opening chapters of the story immeasurably.
2 We Loved: The Ending
X Of Swords: Destruction was an amazing finale to the whole thing. The book just kept ratcheting up the stakes for both sides, as each side would gain something that would trump the other... only for the other side to get their upgrade. This raising of the stakes made the whole thing extremely exciting, keeping readers on the edge of their seats.
Pepe Larraz's art was also amazing throughout, perfectly capturing the escalation of things and the power of the events in the book. X Of Swords could be wildly uneven in places, but the ending delivered.
1 Didn't Like: The Length
The biggest problem with X Of Swords was the length. While big events often have a lot of crossovers, X Of Swords had no main miniseries, with tie-in books that were optional. Instead, the story ran through every X book and three one-shots, with each part playing off the other.
The only book that wasn't important to the plot was Hellions but asking readers to buy every book, even ones that they might not have been reading, to get the full story was a little much and a bad look.