X-Lapsed, Episode 132 – X of Swords: Destruction #1 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Thirty-Two
X of Swords: Destruction #1 (January, 2021)
“X of Swords, Chapter 22”
Writers – Jonathan Hickman & Tini Howard
Art – Pepe Larraz
Colors – Marte Gracia
Letters – VC’s Clayton Cowles
Design – Tom Muller
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: November 25, 2020
Friends, we have finally arrived – the twenty-second and FINAL chapter of #EcksofTens.
Wanna see how our favorite mutants get out of this one? Well, I hope you’re ready to be… whelmed!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
Unlike you I am a little sad to be coming to the end of X of Tens again. It really did make me excited to read the X-books again.
Much of this issue is simply a great big fight scene. Larraz and Gracia shone throughout making it look epic but it did mean that a lot of characterisation got pushed to one side. It was really only Apocalypse and Saturnyne who got any character development.
I find myself mainly focused on the epilogue and what it suggests for the Reign of X. I am sure that we are meant to take that as Reign of 10. Losing two members of the Quiet Council really tips the balance towards the bad guys when it comes to votes.
Of course we also have the return of the X-Men independently of the Quiet Council. This gives us so many opportunities for future stories. Hopefully this will refocus the X-Men book and give us some great stories.
It also sounds like Storm is going to leave Krakoa. I just hope it's for a solo book and not to rejoin the Black Panther cast.
I hope that the launch of SWORD as a new book will put all the space stuff into one place and make the other X-books more focused on Earth. Of course Hickman isn't writing SWORD and I suspect he can't resist sci-fi.
And apparently we have millions of mutants added to the cast from Arakko. Hopefully we're going to see lots more of Isca the Unbeaten since she is the head of the Arakosynian version of the Quiet Council. I just hope we don't have every story turn into the X-Men versus hundreds of faceless Arakkoids.
Overall I would have to say that I enjoyed X of Tens. It was the first time since HOXPOX that I needed to read the X-books on release day. It got me excited about the X-Men again. As a story it was a little disjointed and was oddly paced. On reflection it reminds me of the Cross-Time Caper from the original Excalibur run. The Cross-Time Caper was also a bit of a mishmash but it contains some real gems. And this really was an Excalibur story.
Of course since X of Tens ended I have dropped most of the X-books again but I am buying more than I was before which is probably exactly what Marvel would want from me. I am now getting Hellions and X-Factor as well as Marauders so I've actually tripled my X-books. So I'm sure it's been a success from their point of view.
Anyway until Doug beats Isca in an arm wrestling match, Make Mine X-Lapsed!