X-Lapsed, Episode 125 – Excalibur #14 (2021)
X-Lapsed, Episode One Hundred Twenty-Five
Excalibur (vol.4) #14 (January, 2021)
“X of Swords, Chapter 15”
Writer – Tini Howard
Art – Phil Noto
Letters – VC’s Ariana Maher
Design – Tom Muller
Head of X – Hickman
Edits – Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $3.99
On-Sale: November 11, 2020
Do you take this Douglas to be your Ramsey?
Friends, it’s time to X our Swords… as, after fourteen chapters of preamble, the rubber finally meets the road. Today’s episode features the first two “bouts” of our #EcksofTens Contest of Champions:
Betsy Britain vs. Isca the Unbeaten
Cypher vs. Bei the Blood Moon
Who you got your money on?
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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com
I remember when this issue of Excalibur was first released I saw a lot of people upset that the first half of the storyline became pointless. If they're not going to have sword fights why did we have so many stories about swords? Ultimately I was of the opinion that the best issues of the crossover had not been about swords, they were about characters. In fact the only time the story was genuinely about swords was when I nearly gave it up during the Wolverine two parter.
I was delighted to see whimsical competitive events that are not necessarily sword fights. The wedding between Doug and Bei appeared to come out of nowhere but on the reread of New Mutants we saw it trailed. Doug says, "Seriously, stop hitting me in the face. This is my moneymaker." And Illyana responds "I'd be more worried about your face if I was preparing you for a wedding and not a funeral." I can't believe Ed Brisson slipped that in so delicately. It makes me wonder if Saturnyne was listening in and chose that event for Doug after hearing that.
There is no doubt that we have to continually consider Saturnyne's motivations in the tournament. She wants to consolidate her power and wants Betsy's Beautiful Blond Brother to be Captain Britain. It is clearly no coincidence that she pits Betsy against Isca the Unbeaten. She resents Betsy and doesn't want her to be Captain Britain. Well she's got her wish. There is nothing to stop Brian taking the role of Captain Britain now as it would no longer be an attack on his sister.
You seemed surprised that the Krakoans weren't more upset about Betsy's death. I suspect the intention was that they didn't see any bloodshed so they don't believe she's really dead. A broken mirror can be mended. Of course a line of dialogue would have helped to clarify. Talking of dialogue I have to agree that Wolverine is slightly wrong throughout this issue. He's slightly too much a caricature of toxic masculinity where he should be a little more sardonic and self-deprecating in his humour. He could've made the same kind of joke about marriage but followed it with "Did I ever tell you about when I married Viper?" and it would've been less jarring.
The best part of this issue was definitely the art. I've been loving Marcus To on Excalibur but Phil Noto was phenomenal. He is able to do everything he is asked to do and makes it look so good. He really is the MVP of this issue.
Anyway until Jim Jaspers loses a bet, Make Mine X-Lapsed!