Showing posts with label excalibur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label excalibur. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Excalibur #44 (1991)

 

Excalibur #44 (Late November, 1991)
"Witless for the Prosecution"
Writer/Pencils - Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Letters - Michael Heisler
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Edits - Terry Kavanagh
Chief - Tom DeFalco
Cover Price: $1.75

Your humble host is still down in the dumps... usually by now I'm able to fake my way out of it -- at least I think that's the case. For all I know, I might always come across as a pretty miserable fellow. You be the judge, dear reader -- and, when you figure it out, please do me a solid and, ya know, not tell me?

Onward to... Otherworld!

--



We open up in Otherworld, which is where Captain Britain was whisked off to at the end of the previous issue.  He's here to be put on trial for his many... many infractions, not the least of which was his recent unprovoked attack on his teammate, Nightcrawler.  The entire joint is crammed full of Captain Britains of the Multiverse... and they're here to decide Brian's fate.  He is being represented by Captain U.K. of Earth-839... and we learn here that if Brian is found guilty... she will share in his punishment, by virtue of defending him.  The other Caps are almost giddy at the prospect of declaring our Brian Braddock guilty.



Back on our Earth... er, well Earth-616, Phoenix has caught up with Meggan, and they are sharing a moment.  Meg is dealing with some of the (literally) fuzzy memories of her youth.  She's searching for her parents, and doesn't know where to start looking.  Rachel attempts to perform a psychic probe, in hopes that she might be of some assistance.



What she learns, however, is that Meggan's memories are not so unlike her own, at least in their fragmentation.  While Rachel has plenty of excuse to have a jumbled mind, what with the time-travel and hound-stuff... Meggan's weird brain clutter strikes her as rather odd.  She suggests they look deeper into it sometime later.



Rachel mentions that during the Psi-Link, she found a memory of some old friends... which triggers Meggan to remember the Scott family in London!  She immediately flies in that direction, Rachel follows right behind.



We shift scenes to Alistaire Stuart of the W.H.O. (that's the Weird Happenings Organization, dontchaknow) arriving at the new-look Excalibur Lighthouse.  He laughs at the fact that it now looks sorta like a mushroom.  Well, there are a few things it "sorta looks like", but this is a family-friendly site.



He enters, and immediately finds himself in the midst of a TechNet battle royale!  He tumbles into the zero-grav elevator chute, and before he knows it, he's at the top of the world chatting up Kitty and Kurt!  He tells the Exies that he's there to see if Rachel wanted to check out some sort of dig in Ireland.  Kitty informs him that Rachel's out, but she'd love to go in her stead.  Al seems kind of uncomfortable with this... which, considering Kitty's probably all of 16 years old here, I don't much blame him.



When he inquires about the TechNetters, Nightcrawler fills him in on their hanging around while they repair the lighthouse.  When Al asks why they're fighting, Kurt shrugs it off and says it's their lunch break.  This book is so much more fun than I remember it being!  Anyhoo, Kitty returns after packing for the trip, and yanks Alistaire through the wall of the lighthouse on their way toward Ireland.



We hop over to E'erath, which we find out is Earth-148, where Kylun and Sa'tneen are still fighting the good fight, rebelling against Necrom... whoever that is.



Back in London, Rachel and Meggan have arrived at the Scotts' house.  Rachel chats up the oldies, while Meggan reconnects with the younger Josie Scott.  After awhile, Josie informs the gals about a psychic named Madam Zelda, who might just be able to give Meggan some insight as to the location of her folks.



At the lighthouse, Commander Thomas arrives along with a clairvoyant named Emelia Witherspoon... who is just dying to give Nightcrawler's fur a rub.  They're here because they need Excalibur's help... which, we'll explore deeper next issue.



Back in London, Meggan, Rachel, and Josie arrive at Madam Zelda's "office".  Only one is allowed to enter, and so Meggan heads up the flight of stairs.  Upon arrival, she gives her hand over to the Fortune Teller... who, kinda freaks out for a moment.



Outside, Rachel and Josie do some late-night window shopping.  Inside the interestingly-named "Arfur's Antiques", Rachel spies a knife being lifted by an invisible person!  She Phoenix's up, and heads inside.



She is then tackled by... Micromax!  He assumes she is the thief, and declares that she is under arrest.



Rachel rightfully protests this... and soon, Max is joined by some nebbish fella in glasses who informs him that, yes... there was an "invisible man" in the shop before Phoenix entered the scene.  Micromax begrudgingly lets Rachel off the hook... while, poor normal Josie isn't quite sure what to make of what she'd just seen.



Meggan returns, and shares her psychic reading.  She tells the gals that, initially Madam Zelda was telling her exactly what she wanted to hear... however, when asked for specifics, the poor ol' fortune teller revealed that her entire act was a sham!



Back in Otherworld, Captain Britain's many... many... many crimes against the Corps are shared via giant vid screens.  It's really very cool, they're calling back to several stories from the volume... and we also get to meet this old hippie Cap... Brother Brit-Man, from Earth-65!



Ultimately, Brian is found... duh, guilty.  His punishment... death.  When... right friggin' now!



--

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Monday, May 16, 2022

Excalibur #43 (1991)

 


Excalibur #43 (November, 1991)
"Home Comforts (or Who Exploded the Toilet?)"
Writer/Pencils - Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Letters - Michael Heisler
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Edits - Terry Kavanagh
Chief - Tom DeFalco
Cover Price: $1.75

So, stop me if you've already heard this one... say, yesterday, or thereabouts.

Your humble host just ain't feelin' it right now. Got a lot of stuff I'm dealing with in the real life... and, lord knows I never wanted to be a content-creator who would fall back on the tired old, "life got in the way" excuse... welp, here I am. I'm finding that the grieving process washes over you less as a dribble and more of... like, when in a 90s sitcom, a family decides they're going to attend to their own plumbing problems. Ya know what I mean? It's a full-on blast... with nearly as much "facial wetness" resulting. I'm hoping this will pass... hell, I've been hoping it'd pass since mid-January.

Maybe actually talking about it would help? Maybe not? I haven't the foggiest. You'd never guess that I've got a dozen years of schooling and a couple'a degrees in psychology, eh?

*And, it's at this point, your idiot narrator realized nobody actually read this piece before... and, how he probably could've gotten away with playing it off as brand-new. Welp, I'm nothing if not transparent...

--



We open with Nightcrawler and Meggan seemingly doing a synchronized gymnastics bit throughout a giant jungle gym.  Upon landing, their eyes lock... and Meggan appears to take on a more Nightcrawlery appearance.  They embrace... and kiss.  Ya see, this is all a dream, and unfortunately for Kurt... he talks in his sleep.



He is startled awake by... well, Captain Britain's mitt being wrapped around his throat!  He accuses Nightcrawler of having "lust in his heart" for his woman... but, Kurt BAMFs out of his grip before he can do all that much damage.  Ya see, ol' Brian's rather frazzled.  Not only was the Lighthouse destroyed... not only did the team decide to take in the TechNet... but now, he's gotta worry about a Fuzzy Elf stealing his woman!  Poor dude just wants some peace and quiet so he can read his terribly pretentious book!



Just then, Meggan and Thug of TechNet pop in through a hole in the ceiling.  Meggan, who is blissfully ignorant of most things, innocently gives Brian a peck on the lips, before continuing down to the lower levels.  This sort of extinguishes the situation... for now.



Further down, Thug is using his Adamantine drill-bit to try and build a "null-grav elevator" for the team.  Meggan excitedly attempts to show Brian... but as mentioned, poor dude just wants to read in peace.  Worth noting, that creepy JoyBoy is looking on... and, Scatterbrain is really getting up in Cap's business.  She appears to have clung onto him... and is following him everywhere he goes.



Further down... Brian (and Scatterbrain) happen upon Kitty Pryde and Ferro... who are working on diagnosing whatever it was that Bert did to Widget last issue.  Ferro... is an idiot... and so, blows up the entire operation, setting Kitty back a ways in her research.  Brian smirks and gives her an "I toldja so", but she ain't hearin' it.  And so, Cap continues down the never-ending spiral staircase.



Further down (again), and Brian (and Scatterbrain) sees Bodybag sneaking into the temporary women's dorm.  Upon hearing a rather loud "chomp" and fearing the worst, he dives in to check out what's going on.  Turns out B.B. took a big ol' bite out of Kitty Pryde's teddy bear!  Brian has dropped his book... and we can finally see just how pretentious he is.  It's Philosophic Foundation of Quantum Mechanics... which is actually a real book written in 1944 by Hans Reichenbach... that I'd never want to read!



Kitty certainly isn't pleased to see her teddy devoured... as it was a gift from Alistaire (Stewart of the W.H.O.) who Ms. Pryde had quite the crush on.  Ferro pops over and learns that the teddy was made of nylon... and, uh-oh, Bodybag ain't gonna be able to properly digest that!  Think we might be about to find out "who exploded the toilet"?



Yes.  That's exactly what we're to find out.  We also learn that, while B.B. was blowin' it up... two entities materialized, and flew out the window.  Gross.  Kitty finally comes around to Brian's side, and says they never should have taken the TechNet in!



Further down, Brian goes... no longer is Scatterbrain attached to him, by the by.  He's in the basement area, and it's cluttered with rubbish.  He goes to enter a side room... only to discover Numbers making time with Lockheed the Dragon?!  Well, it's the Lockheed of Earth-597 anyway.  Numbers needed some sexual healing... or something, and so, Captain Britain sheepishly exits the room.



Then... Scatterbrain's back!  Brian completely loses it here, and tries to get her to back off.  It's here we learn, via China Doll that Scatterbrain feeds off of anger... and right now, Brian's one ripe apple.



Brian tosses his book, and gives up.  He decides he might as well get away from it all, and just head back to his London home.  He goes to fly up the to the top of the lighthouse... however, forgot about TechNet's "gift" of the anti-grav elevator, and so he's hurled all the way through the top of the recently-repaired lighthouse!



When he comes to, he sees Kurt attending to Meggan... and totally misreads the situation.  Unfortunately for Nightcrawler, in this case perception is reality.  There's about to be a fight!



And fight they do!  For the next four pages, Brian and Kurt knock the hell out of one another.  Kurt isn't sure exactly why they're fighting, and is only really trying to defend himself from Brian's blows.  Finally, Cap manages to land one... fracturing Kurt's femur!



Meggan calls for the fellas to cool it... and isn't quite sure why they're fighting over her.  With tears in her eyes she assures Brian that she gave him her heart... and loves her teammates like family.  She flies off to be alone.  Phoenix follows her to make sure she's okay.



The crowd disperses, and all we have left are Brian and Kurt... who apologize to one another, and drop some heavy truths.  Brian admits to feeling insecure since dropping the "solo-hero" act and assembling Excalibur.  The fact that the team sometimes defers to Kurt for leadership has really done a number on his self-esteem.



Kurt admits that he has dreamed of Meggan... but claims that he's not in love with her.  He dreams of her transforming into an "embodiment of all he desires".  Brian thinks to himself that he's acted like a fool in this situation.



He doesn't get all that long to reflect on it, however... as the Captain Britain Corps arrive to sweep him away to... somewhere else.



Speaking of "somewhere else", we have another epilogue on Ee'rath, where Kylun and Company have rescued Princess Sat'neen from a cloaked figure.  We wrap up with him preparing to take on the evil Necrom... whoever that might be.



--

Letters Page:



Saturday, June 12, 2021

The Collected X-Lapsed, Episode 06 - Dawn of X, Volume 5 (2020)

The Collected X-Lapsed, Episode Six

Dawn of X, Volume 5 (2020)
(00:00:00) Marauders #5: "A Time to Sow"
(00:28:18) Excalibur (vol.4) #5: "Verse V: Panic on the Streets of London"
(00:55:41) New Mutants (vol.4) #5: "Endangered Birds"
(01:35:21) X-Force (vol.6) #5: "Necessary Force"
(02:12:58) Fallen Angels (vol.2) #5: "Sensei"
(02:38:30) X-Men (vol.5) #5: "Into the Vault"
Writers - Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard, Jonathan Hickman, Benjamin Percy, & Bryan Hill 
Art - Matteo Lolli, Lucas Werneck, Marcus To, Rod Reis, Joshua Cassara, Syzmon Kudranski, & R.B. Silva 
Colors - Federico Blee, Erick Arciniega, Dean White, Rachelle Rosenberg, Frank D'Armata, & Marte Gracia
Letters - VC's Cory Petit, Travis Lanham, Joe Caramagna, Joe Sabino, & Clayton Cowles
Design - Tom Muller
Edits - Robinson, Bissa, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $17.99
On-Sale: April 21, 2020

We're at our traditional "penultimate chapter" issues of each of our Dawn of X launch titles... however, only one of the six seems to be playing along!

Fallen Angels gets ready to wrap up by finally putting together their team (who we'll never see work together again after this series) - X-Men decides to ignore Fallen Angels completely by having X-23 fall back into her pre-FA character and costume... before the other series even ends -  Forge acts a chucklehead in X-Force - we resume our New Mutants space story (never thought I'd be so happy to see Deathbird!), your humble host becomes more accustomed to the new take on Bobby Drake, and Excalibur begins it's "Have I missed an issue?" meme!

All that, plus the always X-Cellent Mailbags!  If you are only now discovering X-Lapsed through these Collected Editions - please, reach out and let me know your thoughts!

--

The ALL-NEW ALL-DIFFERENT X-Lapsed Voicemail!

623-396-5375 (or, 623-396-JERK)... as in "Professor Xavier is a..." and not anything off-color!  Shame on you for thinking it was!

--

Twitter: @acecomics / Instagram: @90sxmen

weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

Saturday, May 15, 2021

The Collected X-Lapsed, Episode 02 - Dawn of X, Volume 1 (2020)

The Collected X-Lapsed, Episode Two

Dawn of X, Volume 1 (2019-2020)
(00:00:00) X-Men (v.5) #1: "Pax Krakoa"
(00:51:02) Marauders #1: "I'm on a Boat"
(01:40:35) Excalibur (v.4) #1: "Verse I: The Accolade of Betsy Braddock"
(02:10:19) New Mutants (v.4) #1: "The Sextant"
(02:51:47) X-Force (v.6) #1: "Hunting Ground"
(03:42:10) Fallen Angels (v.2) #1: "Bushido"
Writers - Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan, Tini Howard, Ed Brisson, Benjamin Percy, & Bryan Hill
Art - Leinil Francis Yu, Matteo Lolli, Marcus To, Rod Reis, Joshua Cassara, & Szymon Kudranski
Inks - Gerry Alanguilan
Colors - Sunny Gho, Federico Blee, Erick Arciniega, Dean White, & Frank D'Armata
Letters - VC's Clayton Cowles, Cory Petit, Travis Lanham, Joe Caramagna, & Joe Sabino
Design - Tom Muller
Edits - Amaro, Bissa, Robinson, Shan, White, Cebulski
Cover Price: $24.95
On-Sale: February 25, 2020

Wassup, Trade-Waiters!  The Collected X-Lapsed continues its journey through the post-HoX/PoX era with a look at the first volume of the Dawn of X Anthology Collections.  These anthologies are a fantastic way to keep up-to-date on all things (current year) X, and are something your humble host gives Marvel two thumbs up for coming up with (keep in mind, my thumbs up and a dollar might buy you a cuppa coffee at McDonalds).

Today we're diving deep on all of the Dawn of X, Wave One, Number Ones... I hope we survive the x-perience!

If you're new to X-Lapsed, and are using these collected editions to dip your toe in - please reach out, I'd love to hear from you!

--

Twitter: @acecomics / Instagram: @90sxmen

weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

xlapsed.chrisisoninfiniteearths.com/

facebook.com/groups/90sxmen

Saturday, April 3, 2021

From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 2e - Excalibur #43-44 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast
Episode 2E

Excalibur #43-44 (November, 1991)
"Home Comforts"
"Witness for the Prosecution"
By Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Letters - Michael Heisler
Edits - Terry Kavanaugh
Cover Price: $1.75 per

In this segment for Episode Two, Jesse (@stiznarkey) and I have got TWO issues of Excalibur to cover!  For everyone who's tired of talking about Otherworld in our mainline X-Lapsed program (okay, maybe I'm the only one tired of that) - here's some more!

On the plus side, this is Alan Davis Otherworld... which is far more whimsical and less up its own butt than anything we see nowadays.

Also: Jesse's in the hot-seat for the dreaded Pod-File!  Who would play him in a movie about his life?  Hit play and find out today!

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Saturday, January 30, 2021

From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 1e - Excalibur #42 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast
Episode 1E

Excalibur #42 (October, 1991)
"A Hatch is Plotted"
By Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Letters - Michael Heisler
Edits - Terry Kavanagh
Chief - DeFalco
Cover Price: $1.75

And now for something completely different...

While the rest of the X-Family of books was undergoing a somewhat x-treme and hyper-posed makeover - across the pond, Excalibur was just plain weird.  With a rogues gallery that included the crazy Technet (including show-favorite Joyboy) and a bird-bomb Henery Hawk knockoff - and mysteries surrounding the interdimensional garbage can that is Widget's dome - this title can't help but to stand out as something special.

For this segment, I am joined by my friend Jesse (@stiznarkey), and we have a really good time x-ploring the other side of the X-Books!  Jesse also shares his life and times as an X-Fan!  It's a great chat, we hope you'll give us a shot!

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Saturday, December 19, 2020

From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 3e - Excalibur #45 & Air Apparent

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast
Episode 3E

Excalibur #45 (December, 1991)
"Nightcrawler's TechNet"
Writer/Pencils - Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Letters - Michael Heisler
Edits - Terry Kavanagh
Cover Price: $1.75

Excalibur: Air Apparent
"Air Apparent"
Writer - Scott Lobdell
Pencils - Ron Lim, Brian Stelfreeze, Dwayne Turner, Jackson Guice, Rick Leonardi, Erik Larsen, James Fry
Inks - Al Gordon, Karl Story, Klaus Janson, Tom Palmer, Josef Rubenstein, Erik Larsen, Don Hudson
Colors - Glynis Oliver, Dana Moreshead, Ariane Lenshoek
Letters - Michael Heisler, Steve Dutro
Edits - Terry Kavanagh, Mark Powers
Cover Price: $4.95


Episode 3 of From Claremont to Claremont rolls on!  Today, I'm joined by my pal Jesse Starcher (@stiznarkey & @sourcematcast) to discuss a pair of weird offerings from the Excalibur corner of our little X-Universe - Excalibur #45 continues from our Nightcrawler subplot, and the prestige-format Excalibur: Air Apparent is... well, your guess is as good as ours!  It's weird, and it's fun to talk about - that much is for sure!

Once that's all out of the way, Jesse will share with us the "Soundtrack of His Life", and it's a wonderful conversation - that we hope you all enjoy!  Please send us YOUR picks for your own "Soundtrack of Your Life", we'd love to hear them!

Also, let us know if you're enjoying these FCTC Episodes in "Segment Form" rather than in the 12-14 hour compiled form - and also, if you'd like to see the first two episodes broken up the same way for potentially "easier consumption"!  Thank you!

Saturday, July 11, 2020

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast, Episode 2 - November, 1991


One week ago today, I was supposed to deliver the third episode of From Claremont to Claremont... though, in a far superior timeline, I'd have been putting out the fourth.  That didn't happen... and, I probably should apologize to the folks who were both looking forward to listening, and those looking forward to participating.

It's been a pretty conflicting time for me of late, and I suppose over this past month, I suffered a bit of an "emotional relapse" of sorts.  I will be making an official "statement" (if you want to call it that) regarding all of my projects in the next couple of days.  I have received a handful of questions regarding the future, which I very much appreciate... and I apologize for dragging my feet on answering.

Monday, July 6, 2020

Excalibur #42 (1991)


Excalibur #42 (October, 1991)
"a Hatch is Plotted"
Writer/Pencils - Alan Davis
Inks - Mark Farmer
Letters - Michael Heisler
Colors - Glynis Oliver
Editor - Terry Kavanagh
Chief - Tom DeFalco
Cover Price: $1.75

Welp, the grand Blogger experiment continues to underwhelm and annoy.  I had, what I felt to be, a very interesting piece in mind for today... but, still can't seem to batch-upload photos.  When I usually insert images, it's a process that takes about 1-2 minutes depending on how many images I'm inserting (usually between 20-30 per article).

With Nu-Blogger and broken-ass Old-Blogger, that process now takes over 10 minutes!  Which may not sound like all that much time, but... if you take into account that it takes me at least an hour and a half just to write each article here... those minutes really start to add up.

The Blogger Help forums are just as unhelpful as usual.  Folks with this same problem are being drowned out by user-blaming Google-homers looking to have their loyal heads patted by "Top Commenters" with little gold stars next to their names.  I wonder if Tom King is a "Top Commenter"...

Anyhoo... I will continue to work at this, but as not to leave us in the lurch today, we'll be looking at an issue of Excalibur we covered on From Claremont to Claremont.

--



We open at the headquarters of TechNet, where Gatecrasher is giddily announcing that something is alive.  The rest of the team isn't quite sure what she's going on about... and are pretty sure she's just lost her mind.  She assures them that's not the case, and produces the answer to all of their Excalibur-related problems (Phoenix in particular)... an egg?



Speaking of Excalibur, we shift scenes over to the lighthouse, where breakfast is underway.  The radio is on, and from it we can hear a news reporter discussing Excalibur's latest adventure.  He suggests that the team ought to be honored by the Queen... which Nightcrawler ain't really feelin'.  He thinks the media, and one reporter in specific, is just leeching off of their heroic feats.




As Meggan gets ready to prepare an egg for Kurt (perhaps just to give him something to occupy his mouth), one flies out of the carton... and ping-pongs all over the kitchen, before settling on the table... and cracking!



What emerges from the egg is... the terrifying, horrifying, genociding: Hawd-Boiled Henwy!  He threatens the team that they're about to meet their doom!  Gotta assume this li'l fella was inspired, at least a little bit, by the Looney Tunes pain-in-the-ass, Henery Hawk.  Considewing da speech impediment, he's puhhaps an amowgamation of Henery and Tweety Bird.



As Henwy continues with the threatening remarks... a clock begins to tick on his bulbous yellow noggin.  This ain't no ordinary bird...



... it's a bomb!  With a THOOM, the roof of the Lighthouse is blown to smithereens.  Across the sea, TechNet celebrates finally having bested the Exy's!



The baddies teleport inside what remains of the Lighthouse, and collects the bodies of the (still alive) good guys.



Well, here's the thing... before the bomb went boom, Rachel was able to deflect the blast!  And so, Excalibur and TechNet spend the better part of the next three pages punching and kicking one another.  That is, until the Techies fall into a weird stasis... as though they were frozen in time.  Suddenly, a portal opens... and two figures step out.



This is Horatio Cringebottom and Bert.  They work for Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne... by decree of the Omniversal Guardian, Roma.  This is some very Excalibur-y stuff right here.



Horatio informs the team that they're here for Widget... the little robot-head looking thing, whose origins we'll learn more about later on down the line.  Kitty and Rachel try to reason with the fellas... but, they ain't hearing it.  They've got their orders, and they will do what they're told.



Bert gets to "operating" on the li'l metal head... taking it apart piece by piece!  The Exy's are not pleased... but Bert assures them there's nothing to worry about.  Inside of Widget, underneath a bunch of gunk, trash, and a rubber spider... they find: a life-force?



Until they can better understand the inner-workings of Widget, Bert decides it best to implant a G/9543/CV#7 (which apparently inhibits the ability to access Crosstime?) into the shell, and reassemble the thing... so they might examine it later on.  Widget returns to normal... well, as normal as a metal robot head might be.



Before finally leaving, Horatio warns the team that TechNet's stasis will only remain another five-minutes.  He also hands Captain Britain a gemstone that he needs to give to Gatecrasher at that time.



Excalibur spends the next five minutes moving the frozen Techies into position, so that when they finally "wake up", they'll wind up beating the hell out of each other.  Kind of a dick move, but whattayagonnado?



After the baddies come out of stasis, and punch each other a bit, Captain Britain informs Gatecrasher that he has a gift for her.  He hands her that gemstone, and from it appears a holographic message from... Saturnyne!  She informs the TechNet that their "contract" on Phoenix is hereby rescinded.  Also, their "exile" on Earth-616 is now indefinite.



Nightcrawler begins to feel some of that old Catholic guilt... and suggests to Brian that they really ought to take care of the stranded-TechNet.  At first, the Cap ain't havin' it... but, he eventually gives in.



We wrap up with an epilogue... on Ee'rath.  Here we meet... one of the more lackluster character finds of 1991!  Kylun.  He promises that Excalibur will pay for what they've done to this land.



--

Growing up, Excalibur wasn't really on my radar.  Even as a rabid X-Fan, I kind of dissociated this title from the rest of the pack.  Probably had something/a lot to do with the fact that it was 50-cents more expensive than the rest of the "core" X-Men line.  Excalibur, Wolverine, and (tangentially) Alpha Flight were those books I sort of had an eye on... but, just couldn't commit to the "inflated" $1.75 cover price.

When I finally did get around to snapping up every Excalibur I could find in the quarter-bins, I was pleasantly surprised by just how fun the book was.  It almost made me mad how fun it was, because it meant I missed out on something really special during my younger days in comics.  Why wouldn't Wizard Magazine tout this book as being this damn fun?  You'd figure this would be promoted as the "X-Book for people who don't like the X-Books" or something, but... notsomuch.

So, whatta we got here?  Well, a really fun (and funny!) book.  Even picking this issue up again after like 20 years, I was taken aback by just how much fun I had with it!  It's silly without veering too far into ridiculous (which is really saying something for a story featuring a cartoon baby chick blowing itself up), and it manages to set up the next story arc(s) while building some interesting subplots.  Really well done.

Alan Davis' art is something I sort of run hot and cold with.  Sometimes I feel like there are few better... other times, I'm really not feelin' it.  This issue, I'm happy to report, is the former.  Really top notch stuff here.

If you'd like to hear myself and Jesse Starcher spend nearly an hour discussing this very issue, you can check out the first episode of From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast, and shuffle up to timestamp 5 Hours - 0 Minutes - 1 Second (05:00:01).

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Letters Page:



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