Excalibur Omnibus, Vol. 3

Excalibur Omnibus

by Scott Lobdell, Anthony Winn (Cover Art), Marvel Various (Writer)

A dark new era dawns for Excalibur! Meggan and Nightcrawler face despair as Captain Britain and Cerise are ripped from the team. Phoenix holds the key to Brian's return, but is the cost too high to bear? And what has Brian become? As Excalibur relocates to Muir Island, Nightcrawler learns a startling secret - and a Phalanx invasion introduces a strange new, or old, ally. Who or what is Douglock?! Wolfsbane, Colossus and the sardonic Pete Wisdom join the team as Excalibur faces a struggle for the Soulsword, a battle against the alien Uncreated and the threat of X-Man - but as Kitty finds romance in the most unlikely place, will Brian join the London Hellfire Club? Collecting EXCALIBUR (1988) #68-103 and ANNUAL #1-2, X-MEN UNLIMITED (1993) #4, X-FACTOR (1986) #106, X-FORCE (1991) #38, X-MAN #12, PRYDE AND WISDOM #1-3, and material from MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS (1988) #174 and MARVEL HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1996.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men

1320 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

Scott Lobdell (born 1960) is an American comic book writer.

He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X. Generation X focused on a number of young mutant students who attempted to become superheroes in their own right at a separate school with the guidance of veteran X-related characters Banshee and Emma Frost. He also had writing stints on Marvel's Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, and The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix mini-series with artist Gene Ha. He wrote the script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr. He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee's WildStorm) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men.

Reviews

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.75/5
I wasn't going to buy this book. I really wasn't. After Claremont (and more importantly) Alan Davis left the book, there was no chance it could ever live up to the writing of both, and Davis' amazing art. But I saw it for cheap enough, and I gave it a shot. And for a while there, I was well and truly eating humble pie. Sure, in all honesty, it wasn't as good as what came before, but it bloody well surprised me just how close it got nonetheless.
Even more so, considering the ever revolving list of writers and artists who appeared, did their thing for an all too brief time, and then disappeared again, only for other (amazingly), potentially even better writer and artists to take their place. I had never seen such a constantly changing list of names deliver something so consistently good over and over again. Sure, I would have wanted the musical chairs to stop and the same team get a chance to shine across a longer run, but you can't argue with results. And all of this, despite my two favourite characters leaving the team. I couldn't believe I was still singing it's praises, yet singing I was.
Sadly, given the score above, it obviously didn't last, and about two thirds of the way through, it all, rather sadly, went to shite. Right around the time Warren Ellis came on board. Yeah, I'm as shocked and saddened by that fact as you are, but it's true. The writing and art dropped off so rapidly, you would think the Marianas Trench was involved. I could sit here and lament over all the ways it began to disappoint and depress me, but I'd rather not relive it, frankly.
The opening half was better than it had any right to be. The latter half was worse than I could have imagined. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether that justifies the price of admission. 2.75/5


OmniBen.

[Christopher E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excalibur is guilty of having multiple creative stretches with a complete lack of vision, and the first half of this wrist-breaking hardcover was the longest to date. Actually, I will backtrack on that a bit: There is a period of time where Scott Lobdell envisions Excalibur as 'Just Another X-Book', flying in the face of the original intentions of Claremont and Davis. That era still has its moments, as Lobdell hits his typical 'Taking a break issue" highs. But the character arcs for Phoenix, Captain Britain and Meggan are awful. The latter two are dragged in such poor directions that Warren Ellis tosses it all into the bin. Ellis' first few issues are very good, with the soul sword arc exposing the lifelessness of what preceded it. But after new members Colossus and Wolfsbane deal with serious personal problems, character development grinds to a halt. Positive words for an underrated star of this omnibus: Ken Lashley. He took on the difficult task of following Alan Davis on art and stayed true to that style while pushing away the worst of 90s norms.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing and art on this book are wildly inconsistent. Across 40issues, artists change every 1-3 issues except one run of 4 from Casey Jones. The second half is generally better than the first but this book encapsulates the excess and rushed sloppiness of the Nineties. I had some nostalgia for the era and the series but it was a rough reread

[Christian Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a period of wildly varied tones, the team and title at the start and end of this omnibus are WILDLY different
As much as I hated Pete Wisdom at the time, my god he was the shot in the arm the book needed after 18 months of meandering