S.W.O.R.D. #7

Jul 2021

Al Ewing, Stefano Caselli

Story Name:

Full spectrum diplomacy

Synopsis

S.W.O.R.D. #7 synopsis by Rob Johnson

Rating:

This issue continues from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #16.

In GOTG#15 Dormammu, Lord Of The Dark Dimension, entered the Earth's universe by taking over the 'body' of Ego The Living Planet. So he's now manifesting in this realm as a planet-sized fiery head. In GOTG#16 he kicked off the Last Annihilation event by sending his Mindless Ones, and new versions dubbed Mindless Guns, to attack various significant planets (Earth not included).

On the Kree Throneworld II, being built from the ruins of Hala, the Kree/Skrull Alliance Emperor Hulkling and the Kree forces have beaten the 1st wave of attackers. Now he's sent for the Kree traitor Captain Glory (he sided with ex-Empress R'Kll in the Empyre event) to be released from the Dreadrock Penal Colony and he arrives via a translocator. He reminds his Emperor that he told him he'd need him 1 day (in Empyre: Aftermath Avengers), but he didn't expect it to be so soon. Hulkling brings him up to speed with him what's going on, and that the Prince Consort Wiccan is defending Skrullos, the GOTG are fighting Dormammu directly, and he's sent a message to Alpha Flight on Earth but he's had no reply yet. Then more Mindless Ones appear through magic portals, along with some giant flying versions (new to us readers but apparently not to Teddy Kaplan-Altman). Glory flies up to fight 1 of those.

Meanwhile in the Solar System the Hellfire Gala is winding down. During that event the Mutant Nation Krakoa unveiled a new metal Mysterium which they offered to the cash-strapped Galaxy as a new currency, which got the Solar System made a member of the Galactic Council. They also revealed that they were terraforming Mars and renaming it Arakko. Storm was made Regent Of Arakko and would represent the Solar System on the Council. Now she's invited Dr Doom to dinner on Arakko. They verbally fence during the meal. But then Victor Von Doom comes to the point - the truth about Mysterium.

On Hala the battle is joined once more. Hulkling gets word that Wiccan and the Knights Of The Infinite are doing well on Skrullos. But Lauri-Ell The Accuser reports that things aren't so good on Hala's southern front. Captain Glory is caught between 2 Macro-Mindless as he calls them. They simultaneously fire at him, ignoring the fact that they will hit each other as well. The 2 Mindless fall out of the sky but so does the Captain plunging to his (apparent) death. Another wave of Mindless Ones destroy the translocator, cutting off the Kree forces' escape route. And their magic blasts break Hulkling's magic sword.

Back on Arakko Doom reveals that he knows that Mysterium has magic properties. He also knows that the mutants have created it from primal kirbons, cosmic particles from the White Hot Room which is simultaneously outside the cosmos and at the heart of it. He warns Storm that by stealing fire from heaven and turning it into base matter they have altered the balance of things. And something evil will seize this opportunity, if it hasn't already.

And then Storm gets a mental message message from Abigail Brand via Mentallo on the SWORD satellite to inform her about the attacks on Hala and Skrullos, and also on Spartax and in the Shi'ar empire. She's taking a team to Hala to find out what's happening. Doom guesses that his prediction is coming true and offers to 'help' the mutants which will put them in his debt. But Storm stops playing games and refuses him outright - the mutants don't need his help.

On Hala we see the real-time version of the flashforward at the end of Empyre: Aftermath Avengers. Hulkling severely injured with his star-sword broken thinking that he's been abandoned by the Avengers and Alpha Flight. And Abigail Brand standing over him with Manifold and 3 other indistinct figures saying that she warned him that Alpha Flight was ineffective, which was why she quit to build something better. At the time it seemed like Brand had *caused* his downfall, but now we see that she's here to rescue him. And the extra chars are Frenzy and Khora of her SWORD team plus Paibok the ambassador from the Kree/Skrull Alliance.

Manifold wants to teleport Hulkling to SWORD's med-bay but the Emperor doesn't want to desert his people. Brand says they can heal him instantly at the Peak and then he can come back with a SWORD team as backup. She offers this to heal a rift between Krakoa and the Alliance which apparently began when the mutants started calling Wanda Maximoff the pretender. Billy Kaplan-Altman hates that because she's his 'mother', so Teddy hates it too. He mentions that they've tried contacting her but Dormammu must be blocking them, and Abigail vaguely agrees. Teddy is still wondering why Alpha Flight didn't pass their request for help to the Avengers, and Manifold suggests that Henry Gyrich who's in charge of AF these days probably decided not to. Then some Mindless Ones drop in so Eden Fesi sends Teddy to SWORD's Peak HQ.

But then we see in Brand's personal log what really happened. *She* intercepted the message and blocked it so her team could ride to the rescue and put Emperor Hulkling in her debt. Then when it eventually comes out that Scarlet Witch is dead she may have already cemented a Krakoa/Alliance alliance to go with their links with the Shi'ar and Zn'rx. (Her eventual goal is redacted because the Krakoan Quiet Council wouldn't condone it if they knew about it.)

To be continued in GOTG#17.

Review / Commentaries

S.W.O.R.D. #7 Review by Rob Johnson (July 30, 2021)

This issue is part of the Last Annihilation event.

The cosmic kirbon particles are obviously named after Jack Kirby.

Abigail Brand began her Marvel existence as head of SWORD, SHIELD's subdivision dedicated to extraterrestrial threats, in the 2004 Astonishing X-Men series. In the post-Secret War universe she worked for Captain Marvel in SWORD's replacement Alpha Flight. After Empyre she quit and formed the new Krakoan mutant SWORD organisation in this series.

Mutants have remained suspicious of Scarlet Witch since she decimated them at the end of House Of M. It was in X-Men (2019) #7 that we saw that the mutant nation on Krakoa all called her the/a pretender because her latest origin (Uncanny Avengers (2015) #4) revealed that she wasn't actually a mutant. Wanda Maximoff acknowledged the title when she met with her 'father' Magneto last issue. That was the last time she was seen alive and her corpse was found there in X-Factor #10 - Magneto is the prime suspect.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Al Ewing

Stefano Caselli

Fer Sifuentes-Sujo

Valerio Schiti (Cover Penciler)
Valerio Schiti (Cover Inker)
Marte Gracia (Cover Colorist)

Additional Credits

Letterer: Ariana Maher.
Editor: Jordan D. White. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Abigail Brand

Doctor Doom
(Victor Von Doom)

Hulkling
(Theodore Altman)

Storm
(Ororo Munroe)

Plus: Captain Glory, Frenzy, Khora, Lauri-Ell, Manifold (Eden Fesi), Mentallo (Marvin Flumm), Mindless Ones, Paibok, S.W.O.R.D..

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