X OF SWORDS – STASIS #1 serves as the calm before the storm, as Krakoa’s champions make their way to the Starlight Citadel, and readers find out who the champions of Arakko are. We are also served another helping of tarot readings about the fates of the sword-wielders from Krakoa and discover that the person leading the forces of Arakko behind the Helm of Ameth is none other than Apocalypse’s long lost love Genesis (which if you read her dialogue up until that point, you can sort of figure it out before her face appears).
But despite all of those revelations, this piece really isn’t about those, but rather an obscure but important part of Hickman’s run that receives explanation here.
Fans may forget that Arakko was first mentioned all the way back in Powers of X #4 (so for better or worse, THIS is the story Hickman and company wanted to tell). Arakko first appears in the present day, however, in X-Men #2. If you’re like me, you might’ve found this story, taking place in Hickman’s second issue, to be a bit random. In fact, I was a bit put off by it and wondered why such an obtuse story was taking place so early in this new run, but I forgot that Hickman plays a very long game when he plans a run. In hindsight, when read as a whole, this series will probably hang together very well.
In X-Men #2, Cyclops and his children discovered another island heading toward Krakoa, which merged with it. They found Summoner on this island, revealed to be a piece of Arakko.
In Stasis, readers learn that Summoner had requested that Arakko give up a part of itself to fulfill his ruse, with the promise that it would ultimately lead to Arakko’s reunification with Krakoa.
Whatever game Saturnyne may be playing, and whatever the intentions of Arakko’s inhabitants to kill Krakoa’s inhabitants or those inhabitants’ intentions to defend themselves, Arakko and Krakoa are playing their own game, one which will most likely end with them being rejoined and the status quo of Krakoa altered in Hickman and company’s next phase of storytelling.
X of Swords – Stasis #1 is available now!
