X-Men #13 (2020) - "X of Swords, Chapter 10"

[laughing_tree]

There was certainly an underlying sense of urgency baked into this whole thing that now seems a little absurd as I type this out. There was a point, after everything started shutting down, and the Diamond news had hit, and the title count had been reduced significantly, where the X-line of books were going to represent a much bigger percentage of the line than they even do now. Knowing that, we actually tore up most of what we had come up with at our X-Retreat in Chicago and reworked everything. Now that it’s about to come out, we all feel pretty good about it–it’s a lot of fun–but it also feels like it was created in a completely different time period. It’s Marvel’s first-ever (please god also be the last) Post-shutdown, but Pre-new normal, X-over. -- Jonathan Hickman

Comments

[shakalooloo]

That's not the Serpent Crown, is it?

And the term Annihilation is such a loaded phrase in Marvel. Coincidence here?

[silverhammerman]

There seems to me a touch of similarity between Genesis and Apocalypse/Moira X and Xavier, both no nonsense women revealed to be more devoted to their cause than the more prominent male characters who are revealed to be weak/naive. Even the nature of the retcons/reveals is similar in reshaping how we see Apocalypse/Xavier. It leaves me hoping for some sort of meeting between Moira and Genesis (doubtful, given the incredibly slowness with which her plot thread has been playing out) and curious if we'll see more variations on this dynamic as the series goes on.

[scorntx]

So Apocalypse's motivation is not because of his youth, the way he was raised, the culture he lived in, or some nebulous assignment from the Celestials but just because actually, all along, he's a big-hearted cinnamon bun who misses his wife and kids.
... alright, then.
(Wonder if Alternate Timeline En ever mentioned that to Moira when they got married.)

And doesn't it sort of devalue the whole notion of Apocalypse (or Selene) being the first Mutant ever if there was enough of them to found an entire freaking nation in ancient Egyptian times?
Never mind the notion they're all super-powerful, but with Hickman that's the sort of thing you just have to expect.

[gnarll]

En Sabah Nur is 5 thousand years old. Selene is from the Hyperborean age, seventeen thousand years old. When he was born, she was more than twice as old as he is today.

[arilou_skiff]

I find it interesting how much I dislike Hickman and his writing. Especially since he often does stuff that I usually like (funky cosmic shenanigans, etc.) its just that he does it... Wrong, somehow, and it makes me... angry? And all the moreso for being close to what I like.

[obsidianwolf]

Personally I agree and I think it's cause the disconnect between his ideas that are interesting and the out comes he wants (which tend to be really kind of weak and predictable) and how he'll twist everything to fit instead of letting his ideas adapt to established character and history or even logical directions and solutions to the problem.

For example the whole thing with the Phalanx. The idea of the Phalanx as some eventual uber threat is a good one. The problem is instead of going with the direction that the spoiled food would someday over throw their creators. It's surprise they were the secret masters all along and folks like The Technarc Magus who can tear holes in dimension walls is just one of their pawns

So instead of the bad future comes from them growing into this threat and will the x-men prevent it. It becomes they are already this awesome super special threat and we'll see futures were their victory is inevitable only to have an ass pull ending that saves everyone at the end.