The Dawn of X panel at C2E2 just concluded, and there were some great announcements—but one announcement is sure to please X-Men fans. This July, the various X-Men creative teams are joining forces for the crossover X of Swords. X as in the number, 10. We don’t know much about X of Swords yet, but there are some clues to what the event might be.
Excalibur Writer Tini Howard and “Head of X” Jonathan Hickman are the X of Swords Masters
(Image: Marvel Comics)
The first part of the X-Men Crossover X of Swords was the writers at the helm, Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard. Obviously, since the entire Dawn of X era is his baby, Jonathan Hickman is writing a big chunk of it. Tini Howard’s involvement, however, might tell us a bit about the event. Howard currently writes Excalibur, the magical corner of the X-Men world. She also came up with the name X of Swords, which happens to be a tarot card. Tarot, magic, Excalibur—which is a mythical sword—it certainly looks like the event will revolve around magic.
X of Swords Is a Classic X-Men Crossover—Massive and Interlocking.
(Image: Marvel Comics)
While Howard and Hickman are writing the major beats of the crossover, X of Swords will involve multiple books, for a grand total of 15 issues from various X-Men titles. That’s a big event, but for X-Men fans, this is a callback to events like X-Cutioner’s Song, or X-tinction Agenda. After 2000, we didn’t see big crossovers in the X-Men world as often. Messiah CompleX, at 13 issues, came in 2007, and Second Coming, at 14 issues, released in 2010. There were other attempts at big X-Men stories, such as Battle of the Atom, and, for some reason, two events crossing over with Guardians of the Galaxy.
But there hasn’t been a really exciting event in this style since Second Coming. July will mark one year since House of X and Powers of X debuted. X of Swords is a great way to drive the momentum into the second year of Dawn of X.
Thanks to Newsarama for some great coverage!
(Featured Image: Marvel Comics)