Excalibur, Tome 2: La fin d'un rêve

Excalibur (2019) #3-4

by Tini Howard (Contributor), Marcus To (Drawings)

Au lendemain des évènements d'X of Swords, Excalibur tente de comprendre ce qui est arrivé à Betsy Braddock. Malicia, Gambit, Jubilé et les autres sauront-ils percer ce mystère ? Et qui est... la Reine Elizabeth III ? Alors que le Gala des Damnés approche, Excalibur doit assurer la sécurité de Krakoa en démasquant une menace invisible qui pèse sur les habitants de l'île. Et ce n'est que le début ! Nous poursuivons la réédition des meilleures séries mutantes post-House of X, avec un deuxième tome consacré à la plus britannique des équipes de Krakoa ! Action et intrigues diplomatiques se mêlent dans un album ponctué par le très mouvementé Gala des Damnés. Les rebondissements sont nombreux pour cette équipe !

Genres: Comics, Marvel, X Men, Graphic Novels

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 2022

Reviews

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

We begin with the fallout from Betsy's "death" in X of Swords (What exactly happened there? We never really find out, and maybe that's OK) and go through Merlyn's assault on Otherworld. It's a pretty strong throughline that continues to focus on the fantasy Otherworld.

What's perhaps most impressive about the volume is Howard's strong attention to continuity. Captain Britain, Excalibur, New Avengers, Secret Wars, Krakoa? It's all here! A great puzzle piece in the continuity that is Marvel.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in singles. I love what Tini Howard and crew have done with Betsy Braddock, probably my favorite X-Man of all time. This just keeps getting better & better.

[Rob Marney · Rating 4 out of 5]

The increasingly inaccurately named Excalibur cleans up after X of Swords in a long, windy final battle. But really it's a Betsy Braddock solo series with some occasional glimpses of the rest of the cast. The art is fun and colorful, which suits a pulpy tale of superhero fisticuffs and spell slinging like this one. The large scale story pitches are great - letting Betsy and Kwannon come to terms in the awkward, aggressive way they always would is a wonderful idea. The deep cuts like Malice and Strike are also great callbacks to Betsy's early days, keeping the themes of integration and self definition and appropriating random powers. And every time Brian and Meggan are on screen they steal the show. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the setup from the first arc and major crossover is all but abandoned. There's so many people in this story who can alter reality at their whim that Howard keeps having to invent excuses and plot contrivances, and poor To can't really draw "a hole in reality itself" in the background of a dialogue panel. This is a larger problem with both Krakoa and the 2020s X-Men obsession with "feats", but it really doesn't help a book where Gambit and Rictor and Jubilee are supposed to have something to do. (They don't.) The attempts to make this a "mend relationships" book fall flat - I have no reason to care about Shatterstar, Rachel air drops in out of nowhere and out of character, and Gambit has never been so unconvincing. I do appreciate the effort, though.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was much better than the previous two volumes and if not for the slog of Otherworld in the ending chapters, would have been rated even higher. The main problem with this book is that its not Excalibur. Its Betsy and some random X-Men. The book focuses almost solely on Betsy, which is fine at times (the first half of this book) but then become increasingly repetitive. Tini Howard seems to have a great feel for Betsy and her role as Captain Britain and I enjoyed it. I much less enjoyed the second half of the book which was rehashing the same plot over and over again. Also, this version of Rictor is unlikable. Marcos To did a great job on the art chores. Overall, a good read that got weighed down towards the end.

[Sean McGinity · Rating 5 out of 5]

Somehow Tini is able to raise Betsy up in stature, making her regal, while also paying homage to the history. Lovingly crafted and incredibly empowering .

[Nicolas Loze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ça a mis longtemps mais Tini Howard à réussi à rendre intéressante une intrigue dans l'Outremonde, c'était pas gagné, et ça reste un peu ennuyeux...

3/5 pour le run entier