Broader events and universe landmarksView the project ↗
No. 143 — Longer term

X of Swords

Jonathan Hickman · Tini Howard

Story era 12 · King in Black and the Krakoan Age

X of Swords establishes Arakko and its history through a contest whose consequences continue into Ewing’s later work.

UnownedReading status not recorded720 pages23 full issues

One-book project: X of Swords

Setup & reading order

Required setup for this book

These earlier stories explain events this book builds on. Reading checkpoints show where to switch books during a crossover.

  1. After X of Swords: Destruction #1

    Return to X-Men by Hickman at #16.

Optional context & path

Path: The Krakoan era. Related projects that read well in this order; the order is a suggestion, not a requirement.

Useful background and earlier stops: X-Men by Jonathan Hickman — Krakoa spine · Hellions by Zeb Wells.

Only required setup and earlier volumes in the same project affect the queue. Everything here is optional.

About these books · 4 sources

Publisher and reference pages describe the editions. Reviews and reader discussions offer different views of the stories.

The books

UnownedX of SwordsJonathan Hickman · Tini Howard720 pp
This book

X of Swords

Oversized hardcover · 720 pages · Unowned

Book 1 of 1 · King in Black and the Krakoan Age

X of Swords follows Hickman’s X-Men #11 and establishes Arakko’s role in Ewing’s later stories.

Required setup

House of X/Powers of XUnowned

X-Men by Jonathan Hickman OmnibusUnowned

See reading checkpoints
Due 2 Feb 2027 · 720 pages · Pepe Larraz cover9781302970888Planned edition
X of Swords: Creation (2020)#1
X-Men (2019)#12–15
Excalibur (2019)#13–15
Marauders (2019)#13–15
X-Force (2019)#13–14
New Mutants (2019)#13
Wolverine (2020)#6–7
Cable (2020)#5–6
Hellions (2020)#5–6
X-Factor (2020)#4
X of Swords: Stasis (2020)#1
X of Swords: Destruction (2020)#1
Earth-616 Primary

Hellions #5–6 repeat from Wells’s Hellions collection. Read those two chapters here when following X of Swords across titles, then skip their repeat when returning to the team’s own book.

Edition sources

Each ISBN identifies a specific printing and cover. “Owned copy” identifies the edition on my shelf; “Planned edition” identifies the edition listed for collecting.

Duplication · X of Swords

These books share full issues or parts of issues with other books in the plan. Open the lists below to see which stories repeat.

2 shared full issues — X of Swords ↔ Hellions by Zeb WellsThese books share full issues; the list identifies the repeated stories.
Show exact issuesHellions (2020) #5Hellions (2020) #6