X-Men: X of Swords Reading Order Checklist (2024)

Jonathan Hickman rocked the status quo of the X-Men, introducing dozens of brand new concepts. We are now one year into this exciting new era and we are now seeing it’s first comic book event – X of Swords (pronounced Ten of Swords).

Marvel is keep keeping details about this Hickman and Tini Howard headed epic close to their chest. Although, what we do know is that it will heavily involve Apocalypse and a whole lot of swords!

In true X-Men fashion, X of Swords will touch all of X-titles to tell a 22-part epic. A story of that scale can be intimidating. Luckily, this handy reading order checklist has everything you need to make it easy to read. This includes the official reading order, background reading, release dates, and heaps more.

Background Reading

Thanks to all the graphs, charts, and data pages that Hickman enjoys to use, you can probably go into X of Swords without knowing much about it. Although, if you are the kind of person who loves to do background reading before diving in then here are a few suggestions.

House of X/Powers of X
Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Pepe Larraz and R.B Silva.

If you haven’t read any of this new era of X-Men comics then you might feel a little confused with the new status quo. A lot has changed recently so it’s a good idea to read the story which instigated and introduced that change.

Check out this reading order to find out more about these interlocking miniseries.

For fans who have read it already then you might want to pay some close attention to Powers of X #4. It has hints to X of Swords, mentioning Arakko and Apocalypse’s involvement.

Dawn of X Series

After House of X/Powers of X concluded, the X-Men line exploded out into a bunch of different comic book series to explore all the new story possibilities. This was branded as Dawn of X.

X of Swords will be made up of issues from these series with the story flowing through them. If you have the time, you could catch up on all of these series. But that’s A LOT of reading and who has the time for all that?

The two comics that will have the most importance leading up to this event are X-Men (specifically issues #2 and #11) and Excalibur. Both are written by the architects of X of Swords and have had elements that are leading up to this massive story.

Find out what the deal is with each of these X-Men series in the Dawn of X Guide.

X of Swords Handbook

Not actually a comic, but Marvel has put together a handbook which has character profiles and other information that will be handy to get readers up to speed for X of Swords.

X of Swords Handbook was delayed because of COVID-19 but will be available from September 30th.

Captain Britain: Marvel Tales
Written by Chris Claremont. Art by Herb Trimpe, John Byrne, and Alan Davis.

Marvel Tales are one-off reprint collections, which collect ~85 pages of classic material based on a character. To get readers up to speed with Captain Britain in X of Swords, Marvel have collated some stories from the 70s and 80s that explain his origins and connection to the X-Men.

This collects material from Captain Britain (1976 series) #1-2, Marvel Team-Up #65-66, ad Excalibur (1988 series) #1.

Path to X of Swords

These following comics, labelled “Path to X of Swords” lead their respective series into X of Swords.

Marauders #11
Written by Gerry Duggan. Art by Stefano Caselli.
Available August 12th

Excalibur #11
Written by Tini Howard. Art by Marcus To.
Available August 19th.

Cable #3
Written by Gerry Duggan. Art by Phil Noto.
Available August 19th.

X-Men #11
Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Leinil Francis Yu.
Available August 26th.

Cable #4
Written by Gerry Duggan. Art by Phil Noto.
Available September 2nd.

X-Force #12
Written by Benjamin Percy. Art by Bazaluda.
Available September 9th.

Marauders #12
Written by Gerry Duggan. Art by Matteo Lolli.
Available September 9th.

After X of Swords

Some of the comics will pick-up where they left off from X of Swords in December, but they will also address the aftermath from certain character’s perspectives.

X-Men #16
Written by Jonathan Hickman. Art by Phil Noto.

Cable #7
Written by Gerry Duggan. Art by Phil Noto.

Hellions #7
Written by Zeb Wells. Art by Stephen Segovia.

X-Factor #5
Written by Leah Williams. Art by David Baldeon.

Excalibur #16
Written by Tini Howard. Art by Marcus To.

Wolverine #8 aka Wolverine #350 is the start of a new story-arc. The solicitation doesn’t mention anything about fallout from X of Swords. Although, it looks to be a good jumping-on point. The same can be said about New Mutants #14.

There will also be a new S.W.O.R.D. series debuting in December, spinning out of X of Swords: Creation and the conclusion of Empyre.

All of these comics will put under the banner of Reign of X, which kicks off new stories and explores what happens after X of Swords.

Collected Editions

X of Swords will collected in one big 648 page hardcover collection and will be on sale from January 20th.

X of Swords
Collects: X of Swords: Creation, X of Swords: Stasis, Xof Swords: Destruction, X-Men #12-15, Excalibur #13-15, Marauders #13-15, X-Force #13-14, New Mutants #13, Wolverine #6-7, Cable #-6, Hellions #5-6, and X-Factor #4.

Have Your Say!

Which X-Men character has the coolest sword? Did you find this reading order helpful? Sound off in the comments below or via Facebook or Twitter.