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Excalibur (2019)
Excalibur, Vol. 1
A NEW DAWN IS FORGED! The Otherworld is rocked by war! It is a new era for mutantkind as a new Captain Britain holds the amulet, fighting for her Kingdom of Avalon with her Excalibur at her side--Rogue, Gambit, Rictor, Jubilee...and Apocalypse.
COLLECTING: EXCALIBUR (2019) 1-6
COLLECTING: EXCALIBUR (2019) 1-6
176 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2020
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314 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
September 3, 2020
3.5 stars
To me, this seems like the magical version of the X-Force.
Not quite as good as X-Force, but that may be because I have very little knowledge of the original Excalibur team, or how this whole Captain Britain thing works. Also, I tend to associate Morgan Le Fay with DC's mystic teams. Which is silly, but there you go.
And I'm not really sure why Jubilee is on the team. Is she magical? No idea. She has sparkle fingers, so maybe that counts? Whatever. I am super curious to find out the deal with her baby. Is that her baby? <--No, don't spoil it! Just point me in the right direction...
The main thing in this one is that Betsy becomes the new Captain Britain, Apocalypse is up to something, and Rogue can evidently touch Gamibit now without sucking the life out of him.
When/how did that? <--again, please point me toward the comics I need, fellow geeks.
Overall, even though I'm completely lost (my fault!), this one is fine and I'll definitely continue with it.
To me, this seems like the magical version of the X-Force.
Not quite as good as X-Force, but that may be because I have very little knowledge of the original Excalibur team, or how this whole Captain Britain thing works. Also, I tend to associate Morgan Le Fay with DC's mystic teams. Which is silly, but there you go.
And I'm not really sure why Jubilee is on the team. Is she magical? No idea. She has sparkle fingers, so maybe that counts? Whatever. I am super curious to find out the deal with her baby. Is that her baby? <--No, don't spoil it! Just point me in the right direction...
The main thing in this one is that Betsy becomes the new Captain Britain, Apocalypse is up to something, and Rogue can evidently touch Gamibit now without sucking the life out of him.
When/how did that? <--again, please point me toward the comics I need, fellow geeks.
Overall, even though I'm completely lost (my fault!), this one is fine and I'll definitely continue with it.
May 9, 2020
This was a real dud. It doesn't have much to do with the other Dawn of X books, mostly taking place in Great Britain and Otherworld. The writing is really choppy. A lot occurs between issues of the book and we're just given a text page to explain it. The jump between issues 5 and 6 was particularly bad. We went from no war at all to the end of the war between the new Captain Britain and Morgan Le Fay. Basically I don't care about Otherworld, I don't care about how the characters in the book are all portrayed because they are all wrapped up in themselves. There's no cohesion at all. Marcus To's art is really solid though.
October 6, 2020
La historia empieza con la vuelta de Betsy Braddock (todavía se me hace un nudo en la cabeza su relación con Psylocke) quien es requerida para ver qué está pasando en el Otromundo donde fuerzas oscuras a cargo de Morgana Le Fay están causando problemas. Cuando va con el Captain Britania, su hermano, éste es poseído por la mala hechicera y luego Betsy recibe la posta de ser al nueva Captain Britania. Formará el grupo de Excalibur para poder tratar de combatir a Morgana y rescatar a su hermano.
Como muchos personajes no conozco tanto no me he compenetrado con la historia, pero ésta igual resulta un poco aburrida. Alguna emoción pero nada más. Y Apocalipsis siempre me ha parecido bastante odioso.
Como muchos personajes no conozco tanto no me he compenetrado con la historia, pero ésta igual resulta un poco aburrida. Alguna emoción pero nada más. Y Apocalipsis siempre me ha parecido bastante odioso.
December 24, 2020
It's Jonathan Hickman's Dawn of X Vol. 1 mutant revolution of a world, and Excalibur has Gambit & Rogue, Jubilee and baby Shogo, Rictor, Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock Apocalypse(!), surely a winner? Not at all, so very far from it. The stellar cast seems to have led to minuscule plot and character development for the team here supposedly to oversee mutantkind's mastery over magic. And... I ask and pray, why is the European based-team full of Americans, in a world of 1,000s of mutants! 2 out of 12, and that's me being generous!
August 2, 2020
This is definitely my favourite of the new re-launched X-books. I’m a huge Captain Britain/Psylocke/Excalibur fan, though, so I may be a little biased.
I loved all the Captain Britain/Otherworld stuff (although somebody should tell Tini Howard it’s not ‘The Otherworld’, it’s just ‘Otherworld’), it was great to see Rictor again, and if the book hadn’t been bogged down with all the Hickman-reboot claptrap, this would have probably been a 5 star book for me.
Actually, the plot got a little messy in places, so 4.5 would’ve probably been closer to the mark. As it is, with all the Hickman-esque nonsense, I’m actually giving it 3.5 stars, rounded up because I gave the other Hickman X-books 3 stars and this was definitely better than the rest of them.
I loved all the Captain Britain/Otherworld stuff (although somebody should tell Tini Howard it’s not ‘The Otherworld’, it’s just ‘Otherworld’), it was great to see Rictor again, and if the book hadn’t been bogged down with all the Hickman-reboot claptrap, this would have probably been a 5 star book for me.
Actually, the plot got a little messy in places, so 4.5 would’ve probably been closer to the mark. As it is, with all the Hickman-esque nonsense, I’m actually giving it 3.5 stars, rounded up because I gave the other Hickman X-books 3 stars and this was definitely better than the rest of them.
September 23, 2020
Main storyline is a chaotic fantasy mess with a team rooster far from being an interesting one for me besides Betsy, but I just loved her interactions here with the other two Braddock brothers and she really deserved to take up again the mantle of Captain Britain after her first try ended so badly with Slaymaster gouging her eyes in epic Captain Britain (vol 2) #13 from classic Alan Davis run.
Probably I had to read lots of stories about Betsy having back her old body, Rogue touching people without danger and Jubilee apparently being not a vampire anymore to fully appreciate it and
'Nuff said.
January 28, 2020
The two weakest titles from issue 1's I read for the new dawn title were Excalibur and Fallen Angels. Now that they are fully done with arc 1, what did I think? Well...
Excalibur tells a story of Captain Britain as she is at war. But the thing is goes from more fantasy setting to everyday setting with a cast of characters ranging from Rogue, Jubilee, Gambit, and more. It's a jumpy story and I feel if you are fans of Captain Britain or most of these characters you might get more out of the fantasy element.
However, I didn't care about Captain Britain or her war. In fact, that was what dragged the title down for me. Anything to do with that part of it was kind of boring. Saying that, I did enjoy the art, and I loved some of the character interactions. Especially Jubilee and her baby and anything with Apocalypse was pretty great. Also nice to see Rictor useful again.
Overall though, this is one of my least interesting stories from the new lineup. I like Tini Howard and her very much underrated Strike Force is a must read. This one is decent but not amazing. A 2.5 but I'll round it to a 3.
Excalibur tells a story of Captain Britain as she is at war. But the thing is goes from more fantasy setting to everyday setting with a cast of characters ranging from Rogue, Jubilee, Gambit, and more. It's a jumpy story and I feel if you are fans of Captain Britain or most of these characters you might get more out of the fantasy element.
However, I didn't care about Captain Britain or her war. In fact, that was what dragged the title down for me. Anything to do with that part of it was kind of boring. Saying that, I did enjoy the art, and I loved some of the character interactions. Especially Jubilee and her baby and anything with Apocalypse was pretty great. Also nice to see Rictor useful again.
Overall though, this is one of my least interesting stories from the new lineup. I like Tini Howard and her very much underrated Strike Force is a must read. This one is decent but not amazing. A 2.5 but I'll round it to a 3.
April 26, 2020
Probably my second favourite non-X-Men Dawn Of X book. That's an ungainly sentence. But you know what I mean. Excalibur does well in establishing itself as a very separate book to the rest of the line with its focus on Otherworld and the magical side of the X-Men, which isn't something that's often acknowledged when there are fewer X-Books floating around. The character dynamic takes a little getting used to, especially since everyone seems to shout at Apocalypse and then do what he wants them to do anyway, and I'm not quite sure why Rogue needed to be in the book if she was just going to nap for most of it, but the eclectic group really do gel by the end of the story, and Tini Howard's innovative use for Jubilee's baby Shogo is very, very funny.
Marcus To on art is a gem. I've wanted him on a regular book for a long time, and now here we are, and it's very pretty. It's not reinventing the artistic wheel, but it's always reliable and well formed, and his new designs for certain characters really shine - his new Rictor outfit is one I especially like.
Excalibur, mumble grumble, some kind of Sword in the Stone joke, mumble grumble, Merlin, something. Magic + X-Men = Win, is what I'm trying to say.
Marcus To on art is a gem. I've wanted him on a regular book for a long time, and now here we are, and it's very pretty. It's not reinventing the artistic wheel, but it's always reliable and well formed, and his new designs for certain characters really shine - his new Rictor outfit is one I especially like.
Excalibur, mumble grumble, some kind of Sword in the Stone joke, mumble grumble, Merlin, something. Magic + X-Men = Win, is what I'm trying to say.
August 12, 2020
I am not impressed if anything a bit disappointed. I got this as it had two of my favourite X-Men/People in it, Gambit and Psylocke. Gambit did not really get a chance to do much in this book, and Psylocke is actually Betsy Braddock half since the split. At first I was quite annoyed by Betsy lack of fighting skills but that actually make perfect sense, since her assassin's half is not here. Though book and action was so confusing I would not have noticed this unless I was looking for it. Yes I was.
The book takes place between London (does not look much like where I live), Krakoa (mutant/hippy paradise), and Otherworld (Camelot). I do find it interesting that Krakoa is bringing back mutants depending on the power level not their allegiance. I an see a civil war coming.
I can see this series feeding into the main X-MEN storylines but even having my favourite characters in it I am not inclined to pick up the next volume. The art work is ok a but too cartoonish for me. The story was overly complicated for what it was. Also things seemed to happen for no reason at all. There is cover gallery at end with full page spreads and 1/4 thumbnails of the super rare varient covers.
The book takes place between London (does not look much like where I live), Krakoa (mutant/hippy paradise), and Otherworld (Camelot). I do find it interesting that Krakoa is bringing back mutants depending on the power level not their allegiance. I an see a civil war coming.
I can see this series feeding into the main X-MEN storylines but even having my favourite characters in it I am not inclined to pick up the next volume. The art work is ok a but too cartoonish for me. The story was overly complicated for what it was. Also things seemed to happen for no reason at all. There is cover gallery at end with full page spreads and 1/4 thumbnails of the super rare varient covers.
November 10, 2020
This is possibly the weakest book since Dawn of X came out, not counting the obvious dumpster fire that was Fallen Angels.
Tini Howard has a huge problem with pacing. The story lurches forward between issues, glossing over major events, while other times the story spends too much time focusing on pedantic details. We have to deal with alternate realities that are not clearly spelled out for the reader, or that take away screen time from the actual events and characters we are supposed to care about.
I have been an avid comic book fan since the 90s, so I can handle convoluted storytelling. I could easily spend an hour explaining the Summers family tree, and how it is that Stryfe is the clone of the son of a clone, raised in the future and returned to the present, where he has an alternate reality sister born from the woman his mother was the clone of, but from a different reality than either of his parents.
That being said, I cannot explain these moon priestess gals Tini Howard created. They work for Saturnyne and they have a crescent on their heads. They appear to be all female. ... I got nothing. Are they supposed to replace the Captain Britain Corps? Why? What is their purpose?
And now that the cast of Excalibur is featured a little more heavily in the current X of Swords event, it is becoming abundantly clear that Tini Howard truly does not care about what characters' powers were supposed to be.
In the pages of Excalibur, she has changed Rictor's powers so that he is all about dirt. This is very clearly wrong, as previously Rictor's powers were vibratory in nature. When Peter David tried to change Rictor's powers into about "feeling the earth," early on in the 2000's version of X-Factor, he went back to saying that Rictor's powers were vibratory in nature by the end of his run on the book. Tini Howard apparently liked the "feeling the earth" thing better, and now she's going all in on characterizing Rictor as some type of druid. This is wrong, but she does not care.
Other characters referred to Jubilee's powers as "light." This is also wrong. Jubilee releases explosive "plasmoids" of energy, they just happen to look like fireworks. I'll give Tini Howard a C-grade here, because for all that other characters referred to Jubilee's powers as light, it is possible that those characters simply didn't know what they were talking about. And Jubilee is demonstrated using her powers for maximum explosive effect at least once under Tini Howard's watch.
The bigger powers problem isn't actually in this volume of Excalibur, but later, in X of Swords. Saturnyne, shown here as Omniversal Majestrix, as a callback to earlier Captain Britain stories, now inexplicably has powers. She never used to. An alternate reality version of Saturnyne had pheromone powers, another version was a sorceress. But this Saturnyne? The one who works at the citadel with Merlin and Roma? The one who interacts the most with iterations of the Excalibur team? No. No powers. When she fought the Fury, she had to use a massive 90s gun.
But does Tini Howard care? No. So now she is just randomly giving Saturnyne powers that she thinks an Omniversal Majestrix *ought* to have. Telepathy, freezing time, maybe some teleportation or spellcasting, God knows.
This Tini Howard person probably did not live as a comic book fan throughout the 90s, and now she's just doing whatever the Hell she wants with preexisting characters.
Tini Howard has a huge problem with pacing. The story lurches forward between issues, glossing over major events, while other times the story spends too much time focusing on pedantic details. We have to deal with alternate realities that are not clearly spelled out for the reader, or that take away screen time from the actual events and characters we are supposed to care about.
I have been an avid comic book fan since the 90s, so I can handle convoluted storytelling. I could easily spend an hour explaining the Summers family tree, and how it is that Stryfe is the clone of the son of a clone, raised in the future and returned to the present, where he has an alternate reality sister born from the woman his mother was the clone of, but from a different reality than either of his parents.
That being said, I cannot explain these moon priestess gals Tini Howard created. They work for Saturnyne and they have a crescent on their heads. They appear to be all female. ... I got nothing. Are they supposed to replace the Captain Britain Corps? Why? What is their purpose?
And now that the cast of Excalibur is featured a little more heavily in the current X of Swords event, it is becoming abundantly clear that Tini Howard truly does not care about what characters' powers were supposed to be.
In the pages of Excalibur, she has changed Rictor's powers so that he is all about dirt. This is very clearly wrong, as previously Rictor's powers were vibratory in nature. When Peter David tried to change Rictor's powers into about "feeling the earth," early on in the 2000's version of X-Factor, he went back to saying that Rictor's powers were vibratory in nature by the end of his run on the book. Tini Howard apparently liked the "feeling the earth" thing better, and now she's going all in on characterizing Rictor as some type of druid. This is wrong, but she does not care.
Other characters referred to Jubilee's powers as "light." This is also wrong. Jubilee releases explosive "plasmoids" of energy, they just happen to look like fireworks. I'll give Tini Howard a C-grade here, because for all that other characters referred to Jubilee's powers as light, it is possible that those characters simply didn't know what they were talking about. And Jubilee is demonstrated using her powers for maximum explosive effect at least once under Tini Howard's watch.
The bigger powers problem isn't actually in this volume of Excalibur, but later, in X of Swords. Saturnyne, shown here as Omniversal Majestrix, as a callback to earlier Captain Britain stories, now inexplicably has powers. She never used to. An alternate reality version of Saturnyne had pheromone powers, another version was a sorceress. But this Saturnyne? The one who works at the citadel with Merlin and Roma? The one who interacts the most with iterations of the Excalibur team? No. No powers. When she fought the Fury, she had to use a massive 90s gun.
But does Tini Howard care? No. So now she is just randomly giving Saturnyne powers that she thinks an Omniversal Majestrix *ought* to have. Telepathy, freezing time, maybe some teleportation or spellcasting, God knows.
This Tini Howard person probably did not live as a comic book fan throughout the 90s, and now she's just doing whatever the Hell she wants with preexisting characters.
February 9, 2020
Of all the Dawn of X relaunch titles, this was the one I found least interesting from the start. I've never read the classic Exacalibur series (outside of a few event crossover issues), but this iteration of the team has some of my favorite X-Men characters, and I was very curious about how Apocalypse was going to fit into this team, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I don't regret doing so, but my favorite X-Man character Rogue spent at least 75% of this story in a coma, Gambit is entirely focused on getting her out (which makes sense, but it gets tiresome after the 17th time he interrupts other characters to say "Who cares at your problems, what about my WIFE?"), so the biggest draw for me reading this series didn't have much of a payoff for me. Jubilee is also so singularly focused on the wellfare of her infant son Shogo (as she should be) that her contributions to the story aren't particularly interesting to me.
Morgan Le Fay is offended by all of the Krakoan flowers that are encroaching their way into her realm of Avalon and tries to eradicate them. This causes problems with the portals and the membrane between the realms, and a group of X-Men goes to investigate. Brian Braddock (the former Captain Britain) ends up possessed by Morgan Le Fay so Betsy Braddock (the original Psylocke, who recently gifted her former nom de guerre to Kwannon, the woman whose body she unintentionally inhabited for decades) ends up taking on the mantle of Captain Britain. I don't know how long that title is likely to last, but she does look pretty badass in that armor.
I don't know how much the Avalon stuff typically factors into Excalibur stories (my expectation is quite a lot, given the title of the comic), but those were the aspects of this story that I found the least engaging. The character interactions were enjoyable for the most part, the addition of Rictor to the team was quite welcome, and I do like having Apocalypse around as a presence that the others don't entirely trust yet (and why should they?). The story makes it clear that he's definitely up to something, but it's unclear yet whether his own machinations towards mutant supremacy will be at odds with Xavier's. Rogue has an enjoyable comeback when she wakes up from her coma at the end of the arc, so that was nice.
I'm still curious enough to see how the whole Apocalypse thing plays out and what kind of new identity Betsy shapes for herself (at whatever point she gives up the Captain Britain mantle). And now that Rogue is back, I'm more excited about the next story arc. But of all the Dawn of X titles, this and Fallen Angels are the ones I feel I could most readily drop from my monthly pull list if I decided to budget my money elsewhere.
I don't regret doing so, but my favorite X-Man character Rogue spent at least 75% of this story in a coma, Gambit is entirely focused on getting her out (which makes sense, but it gets tiresome after the 17th time he interrupts other characters to say "Who cares at your problems, what about my WIFE?"), so the biggest draw for me reading this series didn't have much of a payoff for me. Jubilee is also so singularly focused on the wellfare of her infant son Shogo (as she should be) that her contributions to the story aren't particularly interesting to me.
Morgan Le Fay is offended by all of the Krakoan flowers that are encroaching their way into her realm of Avalon and tries to eradicate them. This causes problems with the portals and the membrane between the realms, and a group of X-Men goes to investigate. Brian Braddock (the former Captain Britain) ends up possessed by Morgan Le Fay so Betsy Braddock (the original Psylocke, who recently gifted her former nom de guerre to Kwannon, the woman whose body she unintentionally inhabited for decades) ends up taking on the mantle of Captain Britain. I don't know how long that title is likely to last, but she does look pretty badass in that armor.
I don't know how much the Avalon stuff typically factors into Excalibur stories (my expectation is quite a lot, given the title of the comic), but those were the aspects of this story that I found the least engaging. The character interactions were enjoyable for the most part, the addition of Rictor to the team was quite welcome, and I do like having Apocalypse around as a presence that the others don't entirely trust yet (and why should they?). The story makes it clear that he's definitely up to something, but it's unclear yet whether his own machinations towards mutant supremacy will be at odds with Xavier's. Rogue has an enjoyable comeback when she wakes up from her coma at the end of the arc, so that was nice.
I'm still curious enough to see how the whole Apocalypse thing plays out and what kind of new identity Betsy shapes for herself (at whatever point she gives up the Captain Britain mantle). And now that Rogue is back, I'm more excited about the next story arc. But of all the Dawn of X titles, this and Fallen Angels are the ones I feel I could most readily drop from my monthly pull list if I decided to budget my money elsewhere.
September 10, 2020
Spinning out of the recent House of X/Powers of X, this series explores the dilemmas of the Otherworld as Captain Britain becomes the center of attention. While Rogue, Gambit, Rictor, and Jubilee work together, whether they want to or not, to stop the incoming threat from the Otherworld, Apocalypse (and his fascination for his new and unreadable name) enters the scene with a mysterious plan amidst the rise of the mutants' new home: Krakoa.
There's something original and interesting to this series, especially with the characterization of these heroes that are done quite well, but the story remains relatively mundane and a bit too stretched out. With great artwork making it a dynamic and vibrant experience, it shows great promise for things to come.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
There's something original and interesting to this series, especially with the characterization of these heroes that are done quite well, but the story remains relatively mundane and a bit too stretched out. With great artwork making it a dynamic and vibrant experience, it shows great promise for things to come.
Yours truly,
Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/
April 22, 2020
Originally conceived by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis in 1987 as a usually-UK-based offshoot of the X-Men, Excalibur deals with the intersection of magic and science in the new mutant world order of Krakoa. As the Otherworld is rocked by war while Morgan le Fay is determined to terminate the mutants to rule Camelot, Apocalypse (now a member of the X-Men nation) and the new Captain Britain (a mantle now carried by Betsy Braddock, formerly Psylocke) lead a team against le Fey’s army of witches.
Please click here for my full review.
Please click here for my full review.
September 7, 2021
Well done but I've just never been much of a fan of Excalibur.
January 17, 2022
Yet another X-dud.
Very remotely connected to the X-World (Excalibur->Otherworld), with a cast of misfits without any real connection between them, let alone Otherworld (Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor, Apocalypse... looks like they were randomly pick from a list). There’s no team spirit to speak of and no real character development (with the exception of Rogue, a bit). The plot is not exceedingly coherent and at the very least poorly told with huge holes between issues and so muddy stakes and unclear motivations I never understood why I should ever be interested in it.
If Howard failed to convince me big time, Marcus To was more of a good surprise. Nice and solid but a bit too neat maybe; lacking of a distinctive je-ne-sais-quoi that would made him stand out more from the lot of good but nondescript pencilers. Saved the book from a lone * tho.
Very remotely connected to the X-World (Excalibur->Otherworld), with a cast of misfits without any real connection between them, let alone Otherworld (Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Rictor, Apocalypse... looks like they were randomly pick from a list). There’s no team spirit to speak of and no real character development (with the exception of Rogue, a bit). The plot is not exceedingly coherent and at the very least poorly told with huge holes between issues and so muddy stakes and unclear motivations I never understood why I should ever be interested in it.
If Howard failed to convince me big time, Marcus To was more of a good surprise. Nice and solid but a bit too neat maybe; lacking of a distinctive je-ne-sais-quoi that would made him stand out more from the lot of good but nondescript pencilers. Saved the book from a lone * tho.
December 10, 2022
When I originally read this volume, I did not like it in the least. Much of the problem was the (apparent) disconnect with the rest of the X-Men mythos. Oh, there were plot threads that built on the old Captain Britain and Excalibur comics, but they seemed minor.
Now, rereading the comic I can see how it was gathering those plot threads together to create the excellent X of Swords crossover, which *did* have a much larger impact on the X-Krakoa universe.
So, I've enjoyed this much more the second time through, in part because I was also prepared for the slow pacing. But it's got an interesting story of Otherworld being subverted by mutantkind, great characterization for the Braddocks, interesting development for Rogue and Gambit, coming out of Mr. and Mrs. X. It's overall an excellent X-title, albeit a highly quirky one.
Now, rereading the comic I can see how it was gathering those plot threads together to create the excellent X of Swords crossover, which *did* have a much larger impact on the X-Krakoa universe.
So, I've enjoyed this much more the second time through, in part because I was also prepared for the slow pacing. But it's got an interesting story of Otherworld being subverted by mutantkind, great characterization for the Braddocks, interesting development for Rogue and Gambit, coming out of Mr. and Mrs. X. It's overall an excellent X-title, albeit a highly quirky one.
June 25, 2023
DNF, even after two tries. Dunno if it’s intentional garbling or if Howard’s just not good at dialogue, but I seriously struggle to follow who or what the characters are talking about, and the plot just doesn’t grab me (maybe as a result of the weird/bad writing).
Hope there’s nothing important going on in this book cause I just won’t bother. Plenty of other fun books to follow along.
Hope there’s nothing important going on in this book cause I just won’t bother. Plenty of other fun books to follow along.
January 23, 2020
What a mess.
January 19, 2021
I've never read a Marvel comic featuring Captain Britain or the "Otherworld," so I was a bit baffled by Excalibur at the outset. It certainly drops you into the deep end, barely introducing the Braddock family and showing us an Otherworld at war with Morgan Le Fay at the helm. At least I'd read House of X/Powers of X, so the Krakoan portals and Apocalypse drama were familiar.
After a few issues, events and characters started to click into place. Excalibur is relatively self-contained, with Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke?) becoming the new Captain Britain, experiencing growing pains, and trying to use Krakoan portals to restore order in the Otherworld and save her brother. She forms a team of random X-heroes, all of whom have their own things going on. Character-wise, Excalibur is solid. Art-wise too.
But the story is all over the place. Even if it's self-contained, it seems needlessly convoluted. Covens, the UK government, druids, underground kingdoms...I could go on, there's just so much packed into Excalibur. I'm interested in a second volume at a slower pace. And maybe with fewer of the Jonathan Hickman-style encyclopedia entries, which felt deeply out of place and unpolished in Excalibur.
After a few issues, events and characters started to click into place. Excalibur is relatively self-contained, with Betsy Braddock (formerly Psylocke?) becoming the new Captain Britain, experiencing growing pains, and trying to use Krakoan portals to restore order in the Otherworld and save her brother. She forms a team of random X-heroes, all of whom have their own things going on. Character-wise, Excalibur is solid. Art-wise too.
But the story is all over the place. Even if it's self-contained, it seems needlessly convoluted. Covens, the UK government, druids, underground kingdoms...I could go on, there's just so much packed into Excalibur. I'm interested in a second volume at a slower pace. And maybe with fewer of the Jonathan Hickman-style encyclopedia entries, which felt deeply out of place and unpolished in Excalibur.
January 7, 2024
The words disjointed, clunky, and weak come to mind. The scene transitions in particular are VERY clunky, and the character development happens in a highly unsatisfying way. So far the weakest of the Dawn of X books for me. 1.5 stars.
Edit: I want to add that there’s just a ton of assumed knowledge here, also. Not just HoXPoX, which is assumed knowledge for all X-books post-2019, but who all the major characters are and a bit about their backstory. I mean, I’m a Marvel reader and have read a good amount of X-books but didn’t recall Jubilee having a baby, or Betsy Braddock no longer being Psylocke, or that Betsy has a second brother who is a D-bag, and more. The end feeling, combined with all the clunky transitions, is a feeling of bafflement and general confusion. The plot elements are simple, but somehow this book becomes complex beyond the telling of it.
Edit: I want to add that there’s just a ton of assumed knowledge here, also. Not just HoXPoX, which is assumed knowledge for all X-books post-2019, but who all the major characters are and a bit about their backstory. I mean, I’m a Marvel reader and have read a good amount of X-books but didn’t recall Jubilee having a baby, or Betsy Braddock no longer being Psylocke, or that Betsy has a second brother who is a D-bag, and more. The end feeling, combined with all the clunky transitions, is a feeling of bafflement and general confusion. The plot elements are simple, but somehow this book becomes complex beyond the telling of it.
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April 2, 2021i'm not gonna pretend to understand anything about captain britain or the otherworld but, hey, rictor was there and rogue and gambit were being married cat parents.
April 9, 2021
tbh i'm just here for rogue and gambit. also i'm so mad because they missed a perfect opportunity to name this x-calibur like cmon
February 21, 2023
This one was solid. It was good, but not great. This was my least favorite of the Krakoan era series I’ve read so far, but I didn’t hate it, so I’ll keep reading. To be fair, I’m not huge on renaissance times or magic, so this one was kind of destined to be a bit of a flop for me.
December 20, 2020
3.5🌟
The 'otherworld' lore, and some of Psyloche as I've always known her AKA Betsy Brock and family are unfamiliar to me. Rather having fun learning their story I was fairly bored. There are some decent character interactions and the overall plot of the volume came full circle. I will likely pick up volume 2 and hope Excalibur can grow on me a little.
The 'otherworld' lore, and some of Psyloche as I've always known her AKA Betsy Brock and family are unfamiliar to me. Rather having fun learning their story I was fairly bored. There are some decent character interactions and the overall plot of the volume came full circle. I will likely pick up volume 2 and hope Excalibur can grow on me a little.
December 16, 2020
Wasn't interesting in reading it, but since I got everything HoX/PoX related, and since I have a reading order checklist, I had to try this one too, and it was good!
Great story, great artwork!
Surprisingly good story, because I never cared much about Excalibur, the team or Cap Britain. But fan to read and can't put down once it starts!
Great story, great artwork!
Surprisingly good story, because I never cared much about Excalibur, the team or Cap Britain. But fan to read and can't put down once it starts!
May 24, 2022
Excalibur Vol 1
By Tini Howard (Writer) and Marcus To (Artist)
Published by Marvel, 2020
Synopsis:
Otherworld is at war and Apocalypse has set his sight to connect Krakoa to it. Will the new Captain Britain rise up to fight the forces of Morgan le Fay.
Review:
Overstuffed. That is what this book truly suffers from. There are glimpses of a good story here but it gets lost in the sauce. The cast seems to be a grab bag of mutants that don't really connect with each other. There are some emotional beats in this story but it falls flat being mixed in with lackluster action and pace breaking info pages. I do wanna give a shout for the good usage of the Braddocks and the UK Mutants, their interactions are very good. Apocalypse doesn't feel kind of wasted in this book but you keep wanting to see more of him and his scheming.
To's art is distinctive in this era of Krakoa as i touched on this a bit in my review of Marauders. The art is good for this book but needs more time to put an adequate shine on it.
Star Rating = 3 stars out of 5
I think you should at least give it a shot, there are aspects for a promising book here. I do hope with the next volume that those aspects get realized or i will have to drop the book.
By Tini Howard (Writer) and Marcus To (Artist)
Published by Marvel, 2020
Synopsis:
Otherworld is at war and Apocalypse has set his sight to connect Krakoa to it. Will the new Captain Britain rise up to fight the forces of Morgan le Fay.
Review:
Overstuffed. That is what this book truly suffers from. There are glimpses of a good story here but it gets lost in the sauce. The cast seems to be a grab bag of mutants that don't really connect with each other. There are some emotional beats in this story but it falls flat being mixed in with lackluster action and pace breaking info pages. I do wanna give a shout for the good usage of the Braddocks and the UK Mutants, their interactions are very good. Apocalypse doesn't feel kind of wasted in this book but you keep wanting to see more of him and his scheming.
To's art is distinctive in this era of Krakoa as i touched on this a bit in my review of Marauders. The art is good for this book but needs more time to put an adequate shine on it.
Star Rating = 3 stars out of 5
I think you should at least give it a shot, there are aspects for a promising book here. I do hope with the next volume that those aspects get realized or i will have to drop the book.
March 10, 2021
3.5 stars! I was more intrigued by the end of this collection than I was at the beginning. I’m a sucker for Apocalypse stories, but it’s the fantasy angle that’s the big seller for me. Gearing up for X of Swords!
July 30, 2020
Yikes, that was bad. Worse even than the main X-reboot-Book.
It was like the author was given a list of "popular" mutants to use as a team and did not like any of the chosen characters. Bah.
It was like the author was given a list of "popular" mutants to use as a team and did not like any of the chosen characters. Bah.
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November 3, 2020Dawn Of X's British book, and also its magical book, perhaps by default – one sometimes wonders how Marvel's American writers picture the place, and it definitely doesn't have that sense of depth and texture which you'd get in something similar written by a Brit, for instance Paul Cornell's peerless Captain Britain run. Whereas here...to be fair, a lot of the components are bits of the X-Men mythos with which I'm not terribly familiar, so I don't know how much Howard is to blame and how much she's working with established in-world stuff. But either way, it's full of niggling annoyances, from druids and selkies who look and behave more like escapees from some generic fantasy slog, to a map of Otherworld that places Camelot right towards the end of Cornwall (it's west, yes, but that far west makes no sense for a capital, even before you consider Cornwall still having its own king in most versions of the Matter of Britain. A term which itself keeps getting used in slightly jarring contexts here – can one be "committed in service" to a particular corpus of stories? Though I suppose people do that with the Bible, and this would only be slightly more of a category error, and maybe even a less destructive one, though of course not in this account or we'd be out some antagonists).
It's frustrating, because there is genuinely interesting stuff here too. The core cast are mostly placed well out of their comfort zones, to see what becomes of them when their most obvious attributes are absent – so as well as the ongoing plot where long-standing teen tearaway Jubilee is now a mother, we also have Gambit as concerned husband rather than wisecracking scoundrel; Betsy Braddock back in her own body and unexpectedly taking her brother's mantle as Captain Britain; and Apocalypse* being a good guy. Well, sort of; maybe more a John Constantine, Seventh Doctor sort of manipulative antihero. Again, not a character I know all that well, so I don't know if he's always been a sorcerer, but given he's been around for millennia, it does make sense. The Dawn Of X books all have their informative text pages, and here they're largely his magical musings, which contain all sorts of intriguing hints, like a greater significance to that ubiquitous X itself, or the suggestion that maybe their powers are the least interesting thing about the mutants, a mere phenotypical expression rather than their core gift. It's the sort of thing that can easily subside into fanwank, but for me this worked. Much more so than the ostensible main plot, in which Morgan le Fay is pissed off that there's Krakoan plants growing in her magic well and so withholds magic from humans until they deal with the mutants and then there's some stuff with the boundary between worlds breaking down because of dragonfire and...no, sorry. It's confusing, and not in the way the core book is, with Hickman deliberately teasing stuff he may or may not resolve down the line – just in the way that it feels bits of the story aren't fitting together as clearly as the creators maybe think they are. Still, with the exception of an oddly flat Pete Wisdom, there's some fun character stuff along the way, a few cool scenes, and a very good dog. My least favourite of the three Dawn Of X books I've read so far, but still safely above the threshold where I'll willingly read more. Fingers crossed that from here on in it has a clearer plot, and a little more sense of the Britain that isn't on postcards.
*He now prefers to go by a weird glyph; there's a brief joke about how to pronounce it, but definitely no way I can reproduce it here.
It's frustrating, because there is genuinely interesting stuff here too. The core cast are mostly placed well out of their comfort zones, to see what becomes of them when their most obvious attributes are absent – so as well as the ongoing plot where long-standing teen tearaway Jubilee is now a mother, we also have Gambit as concerned husband rather than wisecracking scoundrel; Betsy Braddock back in her own body and unexpectedly taking her brother's mantle as Captain Britain; and Apocalypse* being a good guy. Well, sort of; maybe more a John Constantine, Seventh Doctor sort of manipulative antihero. Again, not a character I know all that well, so I don't know if he's always been a sorcerer, but given he's been around for millennia, it does make sense. The Dawn Of X books all have their informative text pages, and here they're largely his magical musings, which contain all sorts of intriguing hints, like a greater significance to that ubiquitous X itself, or the suggestion that maybe their powers are the least interesting thing about the mutants, a mere phenotypical expression rather than their core gift. It's the sort of thing that can easily subside into fanwank, but for me this worked. Much more so than the ostensible main plot, in which Morgan le Fay is pissed off that there's Krakoan plants growing in her magic well and so withholds magic from humans until they deal with the mutants and then there's some stuff with the boundary between worlds breaking down because of dragonfire and...no, sorry. It's confusing, and not in the way the core book is, with Hickman deliberately teasing stuff he may or may not resolve down the line – just in the way that it feels bits of the story aren't fitting together as clearly as the creators maybe think they are. Still, with the exception of an oddly flat Pete Wisdom, there's some fun character stuff along the way, a few cool scenes, and a very good dog. My least favourite of the three Dawn Of X books I've read so far, but still safely above the threshold where I'll willingly read more. Fingers crossed that from here on in it has a clearer plot, and a little more sense of the Britain that isn't on postcards.
*He now prefers to go by a weird glyph; there's a brief joke about how to pronounce it, but definitely no way I can reproduce it here.
March 27, 2021
These issues were definitely a mixed bag for me. Initially I thought my rating was going to be higher i.e. 3 stars, but as the book wore on, the elements I enjoyed got less page time and the elements that bored or annoyed me filled the vacuum.
My biggest issue with this book was Apocalypse - I find him really boring and unlikeable. Yes he's a villain (pardoned & "reformed" as per Krakoan amnesty), but as far as interesting, complex villains go, I don't count him as one. He's arrogant, & so full of himself & his mutants are superior ideology that I stopped reading the first issue when he showed up because I was just so bored by him. Yes he's a schemer & he didn't tell the others the extent of his plan, which should in theory be interesting, but I just found anytime he opened his mouth and spouted his self-righteous bullcrap so dull.
I continued reading by pushing through his scenes in case they were plot relevant & so I could get back to Betsy & the others, whose interactions I really enjoyed. Unfortunately the more I read the more obvious it became that Apocalypse was intrinsic & important to the plot, and wasn't going anywhere any time soon. There was a direct correlation between Apocalypse's increasing page time and my decreasing enjoyment of the book, and he's the main reason my rating went from 3 stars to 2 stars.
I really enjoyed when the story focused on Betsy, Gambit, Rogue & Jubilee. I also enjoyed Rictor's inclusion, as I've never read a story with him in before & he seemed like a pretty interesting character; unfortunately Apocalypse was in a lot of his scenes, so that dampened my enthusiasm a bit. Basically I enjoyed almost any scene Apocalypse wasn't in. I really disliked him that much.
I really enjoyed Gambit & Rogue's discussion about having/not having kids in #6, & around the expectation that couples to have kids/adopt kids once they're married.
The scenes with Jubilee & Shogo were really cute, although I feel like Jubilee said the words "my son" about once every 3 sentences, which was a bit annoying just in terms of her not really having a character ark. But we are only 6 issues in, so hopefully she gets more page time in future.
My biggest issue with this book was Apocalypse - I find him really boring and unlikeable. Yes he's a villain (pardoned & "reformed" as per Krakoan amnesty), but as far as interesting, complex villains go, I don't count him as one. He's arrogant, & so full of himself & his mutants are superior ideology that I stopped reading the first issue when he showed up because I was just so bored by him. Yes he's a schemer & he didn't tell the others the extent of his plan, which should in theory be interesting, but I just found anytime he opened his mouth and spouted his self-righteous bullcrap so dull.
I continued reading by pushing through his scenes in case they were plot relevant & so I could get back to Betsy & the others, whose interactions I really enjoyed. Unfortunately the more I read the more obvious it became that Apocalypse was intrinsic & important to the plot, and wasn't going anywhere any time soon. There was a direct correlation between Apocalypse's increasing page time and my decreasing enjoyment of the book, and he's the main reason my rating went from 3 stars to 2 stars.
I really enjoyed when the story focused on Betsy, Gambit, Rogue & Jubilee. I also enjoyed Rictor's inclusion, as I've never read a story with him in before & he seemed like a pretty interesting character; unfortunately Apocalypse was in a lot of his scenes, so that dampened my enthusiasm a bit. Basically I enjoyed almost any scene Apocalypse wasn't in. I really disliked him that much.
I really enjoyed Gambit & Rogue's discussion about having/not having kids in #6, & around the expectation that couples to have kids/adopt kids once they're married.
The scenes with Jubilee & Shogo were really cute, although I feel like Jubilee said the words "my son" about once every 3 sentences, which was a bit annoying just in terms of her not really having a character ark. But we are only 6 issues in, so hopefully she gets more page time in future.
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