Excalibur Epic Collection, Vol. 8: The Battle for Britain

Excalibur Epic Collection

by Benjamin Raab, Salvador Larroca (Artist), Bryan Hitch (Artist)

Captain Britain no more? When the mystical Dragons of the Crimson Dawn target Brian Braddock, a sacrifice must be made to save the world! Even with Spiral as their unlikely ally, can Excalibur stop the Dragons’ interdimensional scheme in time? Plus, as Kitty Pryde comes to terms with Douglock, the Phalanx in the shape of her dead best friend, S.H.I.E.L.D. comes calling! But what do they want with her — and how does it involve the vengeful spirit of Ogun? Meanwhile, Colossus and Meggan share high-stakes adventure in Wundagore and Murderworld! Wolfsbane and Douglock attend a New Mutants reunion with a time-tripping twist! Pete Wisdom’s past comes back to haunt him! And flash back to Nightcrawler’s circus days!

COLLECTING: Excalibur (1988) 104-115, -1; Colossus (1997) 1; Kitty Pryde: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1997) 1-3; New Mutants: Truth or Death (1997) 1-3

Genres: Comics, X Men, Marvel, Superheroes

504 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 2022

About the author

Benjamin Raab (New York City, New York) is an American comic book writer and editor and tv writer and producer. He has written stories for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, WildStorm, Moonstone Books, Malibu Comics, Harris Publications and Ludovico Technique LLC.

Reviews

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh.

I was thrilled to at last have a collection of this long-lost Excalibur arc following Warren Ellis' great run ... and it's mediocre or worse.

The big problem is that it's turned into "The European X-Men". No, seriously, they use that subtitle across a few issues. And, that's really what it is, but not just "The European X-Men", but the "The European '90s X-Men".

So we get stupid plots like the return of the Crimson Dawn. And we get Captain Britain shuffled off screen. And we get lots and lots of Legacy Virus. Attacks by Black Air are about the only memory of Excaliburs past, but there's nothing interesting about them. (And if you remembered the humor from even older days of Excalibur, that's definitely gone too.)

Six mini-series issues and a one-off are also crammed into this year of Excalibur. There's an equally mediocre Colossus issue that's pretty much just a continuation of the main Excalibur run. There's a very bad Kitty Pryde mini-series where she fights the computer ghost of Ogun on the SHIELD helicarrier (no, seriously).

And then there's a New Mutants miniseries, which is the best thing in this volume. Yeah, it's a kind of odd inclusion, but it's by the same author as much of this junk, and it continues two characters (Wolfsbane and Douglocke). The whole plot of past-Illyana finding out that she's going to die and the past and present New Mutants fighting over what to do about it is totally in line with Magik's powers (but gets old after an issue of fighting). Still, pretty enjoyable.

The rest of the volume: not so much.

[Rob Marney · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book isn't bad, per se, it's just kind of there. Excalibur is reinvented as another X-Men book. All the Alan Davis British magic stuff is gone, all the Warren Ellis gritty spy stuff is gone, and instead there's some soap opera drama between the characters, laid on entirely too thick by Ben Raab and Salvador Larocca. There are lots of references to X-Men continuity, the team stays together mostly out of habit, and I don't even remember most of the villains.

[Jase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big slab of Excalibur issues was a pretty decent run. Very little story arcs but a continuous series run. Kitty n Wisdom dating while Colossus is hanging around Meggan due to Brian leaving; his journey recoursed after that Crimson crew bombarded the team. Nice flashback issue with Amanda Sefton.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is acceptable, but hardly representative of Excalibur at its height.