Hello fellow nerds! It’s another week which means another round of X of Swords chapters! Lucky for us we have three installments this time around; Wolverine #6, X-Force #13, and Marauders #13.

As predicted, it seems like the first half of chapters (1-11) will focus on laying the groundwork for this ‘mutant mortal kombat;’ The ten champions of Krakoa need to go out and find their swords and return to the enchanted circle made from Rockslide’s remains.

Our story continued this week with a focus on two MVP X-Men- Wolverine and Storm.

1: Solem- Wolverine got himself a two-parter! Starting in his solo title we see him begin his aggressive hunt for the unhinged Muramasa and his soul infused katana blades.

The hunt takes our hero to, you guessed it, the infernal pits of hell! Seeing the demonic action, the Hand, and all the supernatural elements didn’t really catch my interest. Again, I love magic within fiction but it’s not my main pull when it comes to the X-Men.

However, the two-part chapters did provide some great introductory work and background on a champion of Arakko- Solem.

The banter between himself and War was alluring. I love how he has literally been voluntarily staying prisoner for over 100 years; for what reason? Boredom? Wanting to troll War who has been desperate to see his slow demise? Both?

This guy is so nonchalant in his conduct that he became an immediate attention grabber. Clearly we’re going to learn more about this Apocalpse family tree as Solem killed War’s husband-therefore also killing Summoner’s father (insert soap opera music).

The real cliffhanger is towards the end of chapter 4 when we learn Wolverine has no choice but to make a trade for the second Muramasa blade. What did he give up? It isn’t looking good!

2:Storm and Skybreaker– I was hoping for a little more of this issue! It achieved its principal job which was to introduce us to the blade Storm would be wielding in the tournament. I’m looking forward to seeing the other swords highlighted but, so far, this one has to be my favorite.

It’s a unique and beautiful piece and also has a power that compliments Storm so well; it’s a conduit that amplifies energy… Storm can naturally summon the power of lightning… This royal Wakandan vibranium weapon turns her into a literal weapon of mass destruction. Good luck, Arakko.

Actual Opponents: In my summary I took a stab at trying to guess the pairings for the tournament based off of the cover art done by Pepe Larraz; F***, was I wrong.

This week provided strong suggestions and subtle clues to what we can expect.

On one hand we are 99.9% sure that Wolverine’s opponent will be the arrogant and jovial Solem. His skin is made of adamantium where Wolverines skeleton is enlaced with it; supposedly an indistructible substance but both warriors are now wielding weapons that can cut through the powerful metal. Yeah- this is the match.

Storm’s opponent is still a little vague but based on skybreaker’s info page I have a strong guess that she will be facing off against, War.

There’s something about the power of the blade and how it was described that made me think this might be her match; time will tell.

How We Doing?: It’s only five chapters into the twenty-two chapter saga and I’m still invested! I’m not at that HoX/PoX level but its still proving to be a good time.

The biggest takeaway from this chunk of content actually came at the very beginning of chapter 3 (Wolverine #6). Wolverine talks straight to Krakoa and calls him out; he wanted the gate open meaning he wanted war. Mutants made that deal with Krakoa so they could have a safe place to live their lives away from the cruelty of humanity and here is their host selling them down the river.

That wasn’t the deal.

It becomes clear to Wolverine that they can have a Quiet Council, laws, peace amongst each other, but at the end of the day Krakoa is ultimately the dictator; his vote vetoes the vote of anyone else and that’s a risky game to play.