By Isaac Kelley — X of Swords is over, and we’re about to begin what the marketing is calling the Reign of X! It’s unclear what that means exactly as of yet, but I look forward to finding out. Anyway, we’re not here to talk about the future but rather the past, specifically the best new X-Men first issue of late — S.W.O.R.D. #1. We’re here to talk about the elephant in Krakoa, or rather, the elephant in geostationary orbit above Karkoa.

Why S.W.O.R.D. #1 was so good

Were y’all getting complacent while reading arguably the best multi-series superhero epic since Jack Kirby’s The Fourth World? Al Ewing, Valerio Schiti and Marte Mutha fuckin’ Gracia are here to kick your teeth in and throw new ideas into the mix, slashing through expectations with S.W.O.R.D. #1.

S.W.O.R.D. is not an entirely new concept. No, but it is repurposed here. The old premise of S.W.O.R.D. as an organization was basically Space S.H.I.E.L.D. That’s a fine premise to hang some stories on, but we’re moving beyond that now. In this new book, S.W.O.R.D. is now the Mutant Space Program. That is to say, it is both a space program being run by the mutants, as well as a mutated form of the idea of a space program.

Most of this first issue is largely expository. Magneto is taking a tour of the newly operational S.W.O.R.D.. It is standard first issue stuff, setting the scene with fun characterization that keeps it from being too dry. Magneto doesn’t remember Fabian Cortez’s name, which is hilarious if you’ve read any other comic book featuring Fabian Cortez.

In the midst of this setup, the book abruptly hits the readers with the first big idea: “Mutant Technology.” The study and practical application of the combination of mutant powers to create effects larger than those capable by the individual mutant. Two text pages lay out the principles involved in the creation of a “Uni/Multiversal Far-Retrieval Circuit.” The circuit involves 11 mutants and two phases, and the description is sufficiently technical and redacted, to the point it isn’t entirely clear what is being described, but it feels tantalizingly big and comic-booky.

Then on the page turn, the circuit is activated. Six mutants have been thrust outside of the universe as it has been known, ending up someplace wild and alien and primal. The art evolves into a series of three two-page spreads to set the scene, with close-ups overlain on top of them to move forward the action. And there is narration! Bold narration unlike anything we’ve seen in the Krakoan books to date, somewhat reminiscent of both Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, evoking the story of Prometheus. In this awe-inducing void, they pluck a black pyramid, about the size of a baseball, and they return, thereby impressing even prickly Magneto.

“This is what comes next,” Abigail Brand, commander of S.W.O.R.D., declares at the end of this first issue, and I am so excited to see what that means.

And the thing is, I feel like I really shouldn’t be. Marvel stories have featured cosmic journeys going all the way back to first principles, with Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four. This issue can be summarized as “Magneto goes on a tour and then some mutants grab a cosmic macguffin from someplace cosmic.” Essentially, when I read the word “cosmic” in a comic book, for me it usually translates right to “boring.” Not so with S.W.O.R.D. #1.

S.W.O.R.D. #1
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: Valerio Schiti
Colorist: Marte Gracia
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Publisher: Marvel Comics
ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MUTANTKIND!
The Mutant nation of Krakoa has quickly become a major force on the world stage... but why stop there? Krakoa has relaunched the Sentient World Observation & Response Directorate - a fully independent organization dealing with all things extra-terrestrial on behalf of all of Earth. Al Ewing and Valerio Schitti, the team behind EMPYRE, bring us the tale of Mutantkind looking to do for the galaxy what Krakoa did for the planet.
Read It Digitally: S.W.O.R.D. #1

Meanwhile, in Krakoa…

New Mutants #14 is a soft relaunch. Artist Rod Reis is still on the title, but writer Vita Ayala has now come aboard. Ayala spends the issue refocusing a book that previously lacked focus. The core New Mutants, having been around since the 80s, are no longer accurately described as new. In a nice evolution, they have now taken on the task of training younger, newer mutants.
After a year and change without a proper X-Men team, in X-Men #16 Scott and Jean have decided to resurrect the brand, newly making it an elected office. It would have been nice to make a clean break from the gendered name, but I suppose that was never in the cards.
Guys, X-Factor is so fucking good. Those pages where we see what everybody is doing in the boneyard would easily be the best bit of comics I read this month, were it not for the aforementioned debut of S.W.O.R.D.
Cable #7 was supposed to be out December 23, 2020, according to the reading order list in the back of every issue. It was not. According to solicits, it will actually come out on January 20, 2021. This is maybe not all that notable, but I would like to note that I will now quite possibly end up filing it in the wrong spot in my comic collection. Send good vibes.

Read previous installments of Pax Krakoa here!

Isaac Kelley should really be working on his novel, but he can't stop thinking about the X-Men so he wrote this instead.