X-Men: Krakoa Clashes With New Enemies in Epic X of Swords Teaser Art

Marvel Comics has revealed Pepe Larraz's key art for X-Men: X of Swords, the first major X-Men [...]

By Jamie Lovett

Marvel Comics has revealed Pepe Larraz's key art for X-Men: X of Swords, the first major X-Men crossover of the Dawn of X era. According to a press release from Marvel, "The dark history of Arakko will soon be revealed, and when it is, the very future of mutantkind will be at stake. Now, witness the cataclysmic showdown between the sword bearers of Arakko and the ten mutants who will stand up to defend the new mutant nation of Krakoa in Pepe Larraz's breathtaking key art for X of Swords. This fateful clash and many others are what await readers in this crossover epic written by Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, and all the current writers of your favorite X-Men titles.

"The next chapter in Hickman's bold reshaping of the X-Men that began in House of X, this story will stand alongside influential X-Men crossovers like The Mutant Massacre and Messiah CompleX. The victories will be legendary, the losses will be heartbreaking, and the revelations will send shockwaves throughout the Marvel Universe. This sprawling saga will have a lasting impact on the future of the X-Men, forever changing the fate of the franchise's most prominent characters."

X of Swords is a 22-part event. The story begins in X of Swords: Creation #1.

X-Men X of Swords
(Photo: Marvel Comics, Pepe Larraz)

"We're in a really interesting time in that the books have launched and they're all healthy, and the reception of the line across the board has been fairly positive, I would say," Jonathan Hickman, Marvel's Head of X, told ComicBook.com in February. "And we know the things that we're doing down the road. And so what we're doing now — and X of Swords is a perfect example of this — is that we're just trying sh-t out. We haven't done a real crossover across a bunch of books, that was a real, true crossover, in a really long time. And so we got together as the X group, and we were like, 'We want to do a crossover.' And the question is, 'Okay, so were we just screwing around? Or do we actually have a story?' And thank goodness, we have a story. But it's really a group experiment across the line. And we're doing that again in December, and we got some stuff we're doing next year that works the same way.

"This is going to be a big crossover, and Tini Howard and I are writing the big chunks of it together, and then all the other X-Men books are going to filter in and out of it. The tarot stuff came from Tini. There's a scene in [the] Free Comic Book Day [special], and it's in the first issue as well, that ties into all that and pulls it all together. That's where it comes from."

X of Swords: Creation #1, on sale September 23rd.

X of Swords: Creation #1
JUL200583
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A/CA) Pepe Larraz

X OF SWORDS - CHAPTER 1

A tower. A mission. A gathering of armies.

Rated T+
In Shops: Sep 23, 2020
SRP: $6.99

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