X of Swords: Stasis #1

History

X of Swords was officially announced at C2E2 on February 28, 2020, and was conceived as the first major crossover event of the Krakoan Age launched by Jonathan Hickman. Stasis #1 was co-written by Hickman alongside Excalibur writer Tini Howard — the same partnership that opened the event in X of Swords: Creation #1 — with interior art split between Pepe Larraz and Mahmud Asrar, both colored by Marte Gracia, and edited by Jordan D. White. Like the broader crossover, the issue was shaped by the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic: Howard has noted that the collaboration was extraordinarily intense partly because the entire creative team was working through lockdown, and that the pandemic directly affected the event's schedule and final form. Stasis arrived on October 28, 2020, as Chapter 11 of 22.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Pogg Ur-Pogg — a giant mercenary creature from Amenth recruited to fight for Arakko, confirmed by Key Collector Comics and the Marvel Database.
• First appearance of Redroot the Forest — Arakko's 'speaker' and reluctant warrior, whose role mirrors Cypher's as the voice of Krakoa; she first appears in full here (Marvel Fandom wiki, House to Astonish annotations).
• First appearance of Bei the Blood Moon — whose mutant power, 'The Doom Note,' is named but left deliberately mysterious; she later marries Cypher during the tournament in subsequent chapters.
• First cover team appearance of the Swordbearers of Arakko as a complete group — all ten champions are depicted together on Pepe Larraz's cover for the first time (Key Collector Comics).
• Chapter 11 of the 22-part X of Swords crossover event, functioning as the structural midpoint and the transition between the sword-gathering first half and the Otherworld tournament second half.
• Written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard; pencilled and inked by Pepe Larraz and Mahmud Asrar; colored by Marte Gracia; lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles; edited by Jordan D. White — a dual-artist split that mirrored the two opposing factions' perspectives.
• The issue's climax reveals that Annihilation — the masked leader of the Swordbearers of Arakko — is Genesis, Apocalypse's wife, now fused with the Helm of Amenth; Apocalypse's tarot card (The Lovers) foreshadows the confrontation.
• Saturnyne delivers personalised tarot cards to each of Krakoa's nine champions in their Starlight Citadel chambers, including the ominous Nine of Swords for Captain Britain and the Death card for Storm — images that function as narrative prophecy for the event's second half.

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