X-Lapsed, Episode 139 – S.W.O.R.D. #1 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Thirty-Nine
S.W.O.R.D. (vol.2) #1 (February, 2021)
“Mysterium”
Writer – Al Ewing
Art – Valerio Schiti
Colors – Marte Gracia
Letters – VC’s Ariana Maher
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $4.99
On-Sale: December 9, 2020
Today we kick off our first Reign of X, Wave One, Number One… with a trip into (believe it or not) outer space! Whodathunkit, a current-year X book taking place in space!
What we have here is a wonderfully weird assortment of characters… and, if you ask your humble host, a kind of “eh” mission statement.
Let’s give it a goo!
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
This issue felt like it was regurgitating Jonathan Hickman's pitch for the series. All the memos and diagrams feel like they came directly from the Head of X.
I am not a sci-fi fan so I find a lot of this nonsense distances me from the book. Of course, as you said, there was some great character work to pull me in to the story so I'm both attracted and repelled. I suppose that's an appropriate response to a Magneto story.
I do enjoy seeing some of the lesser lights of the X-Universe given a spotlight. It's great to see the Magneto expressing a similar response to me. Excited to see Peepers and Frenzy but disdainful of Fabian Cortez. I am a little confused about Taki. He appears to be a full grown adult. Does this mean that Inferno was 10-15 years ago in the sliding timescale? Artie and Leech don't appear to be any older than they were back then. Maybe we're just meant to ignore it.
Anyway until Jonathan Hickman is revealed to be the Head of Ten, Make Mine X-Lapsed!