New Marvel SWORD Ongoing teams up Magneto, Cable and more

Spinning out of the pages of Empyre's finale and the beginning of 'X of Swords,' Abigail Brand and S.W.O.R.D. are returning in a big way with a new ongoing series to launch this December - seemingly retroactively added to Marvel Comics' December 2020 solicitations.

Empyre co-writer Al Ewing and that event's artist Valerio Schiti will, according to the Marvel press release, "do for the galaxy what Krakoa did for the planet."

"In the startling aftermath of X of Swords, mutantkind will take the bold next step in claiming their destiny by relaunching the Sentient World Observation & Response Directorate to deal with all things extra-terrestrial on behalf of Earth," reads Marvel's synopsis of the new S.W.O.R.D. series. "The events of S.W.O.R.D. will have a tremendous impact not only on the X-Men's world, but the Marvel Universe as a whole, as the mutants of S.W.O.R.D. warp the cosmic landscape forever."

The line-up of S.W.O.R.D. will be Abigail Brand, Magneto, Cable, Frenzy, Wiz Kid, Fabian Cortez, Manifold, and "many other fan-favorite mutants who will be stepping into the spotlight in a major way."

Ewing will be writing S.W.O.R.D. in addition to his similarly-cosmic Guardians of the Galaxy title, and the sometimes-cosmic Immortal Hulk.

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"It's an absolute blast to be working with the X-team, and to bring Marvel's merry mutants into the new Age of Space - and introduce space to the new age of Krakoa!” Ewing said in the announcement. “And it's not just X-readers and space explorers who get what they want—fans of my more cosmic Marvel work will have plenty to digest as well, as mutantkind thinks even bigger and takes it even further, into realms I'm almost surprised they let me get away with. After conquering death, what's next - and will we survive the experience?"

S.W.O.R.D. #1 goes on sale in December 2020.

As we wait for the debut of a brand-new X-Men team, check out our countdown of the best X-Men teams of all time.

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)