POWERS OF X #6 variant cover Ink Prelim (Huddleston art) Zorn and Xorn

Brother Order, Xorn and Brother Chaos, Zorn

A 1:10 variant cover and last issue for a really outstanding truly uncanny series called POWERS OF X (the X standing for the number 10 more than the letter). Hickman’s storyline for both the HOX and POX were game changers for the current X-Men series that seemed to be losing its edge and kept restarting.

In early 2020, Huddleston (who was personally selected via Hickman for cover art), put up his covers for auction to benefit the HEROES INITIATIVE charity. If I had known earlier I would have chased all 12. But so fortunate to have been able to get a few of them. This one being the second one that I’m posting (the first is my Apocalypse cover, for POWERS OF X #5).

Xorn has always been a mysterious character, a guy who has always been chained up and hidden behind his helmet, since part of his mutant power is to harness the power of the sun at the center of his brain. He has had a weird history, twisted with Magneto’s own history, during the New X-Men era even swapping places with him. Wolverine kills “Magneto” in New X-Men #150, but later is revealed to be Xorn being the one that was killed (you can also see that page in this collection).

Zorn is even more mysterious and very little is known about him, other than he harnesses the power of a black hole in the center of his brain. In an alternate X-Men reality (seen in New Avengers #24, vol 3) both he and Xorn are killed by Terrax (holding both of their powered skulls over a pile of dead X-bodies.

When I first saw this cover, I wasn’t too sure as for which two characters Huddleston was displaying. He had done both heroes and villains and the POX series was telling a futuristic tale. In the comic shops and online there were rumors that the two characters were futuristic versions of Wolverine in the back (maybe due to his collar looking like it’s part of his iconic cowl/mask), and Jean Grey represented with fire in the front. Finding out later it was the mysterious brothers Zorn (in the back with dark energy) and Xorn (in the front with fire energy). Either way the cover enthralled me and I had to have it.