1. Desert Sword arrives in the middle of a disaster

1. Desert Sword arrives in the middle of a disaster Desert Sword has now come up in my read-through, so this is the point where they belong in these team posts. I'm keeping this one to The Killing Stroke, the three-part backup story in the 1991 annuals. No jumping ahead to what happens to these people years later. The lineup is Sirocco, Aminedi, Veil, Arabian Knight and Black Raazer. They are operating on behalf of Iraq during the occupation of Kuwait, and they run into Freedom Force over a scientist named Reinhold Kurtzmann. Freedom Force has been sent to retrieve him. Desert Sword is already in position when the Americans arrive at the supposed safe house. The mission falls apart almost immediately. That setup makes a difference. These aren't five new opponents walking onto a practice field so everyone can demonstrate a power. There is a military objective, an ambush and very little room for anybody to recover from a mistake. The people in costumes are fighting inside a war, and the story follows through on what that means. It also gives Desert Sword an unusually harsh introduction. There isn't much time to get comfortable with their names before the damage starts. Their effectiveness comes through in the condition they leave the other team in. The reading order here is New Mutants Annual #7, Uncanny X-Men Annual #15 and X-Factor Annual #6. These are the backup chapters, separate from the Kings of Pain story running through the front of the same books. https://t.co/2ZhIq1IDHW