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In the grand Excalibur tradition, we now turn our attention to another band of intrepid heroes as Tini Howard, Marcus To, and Erick Arciniega raise the stakes in Excalibur #10
Charlie Davis: Well…I think if maybe I switch the lights on here…and dust this off… cough cough. Nola can you hear me? Are you here? I know it’s been a long time, but I figured if I booted up the old Excalibuddies article that maybe we could come back together to talk?
Nola Pfau: Charlie? Is that you? It’s so hard to remember where I am anymore. I’ve been on the longest journey. Into the telework mines, out to the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone…the things I’ve seen, Charlie.
CD: Nola! I am so glad you’re here! Things have been rough and it sounds like maybe you’ve got some great stories to tell. —don’t mind all the dust, but if you’ve got some time I was thinking maybe we could crack open the old article. For old times sake?
NP: Well, what’s a couple more realities to hop through? Let’s do it.
Cracks In Reality
NP: Y’know my first impression of this issue was the way that it’s perfectly structured for a return from a long absence. I know that it was prepared well before that, so it’s really interesting to me that it just sort of happened to fall that way. It’s got a confusing start, and that’s heightened if you either haven’t read the prior issue or just haven’t read it for a while, but that works in its favor given the nature of the plot, which actively wants you to be off-balance for the first half of the story.
CD: I absolutely agree with that. I was kind of taken back by how timely everything felt about the opening to this issue and how we just sink further into the nightmare as we go. On a first read, I felt so purposely off balance that I had to take a second to check in and make sure that I wasn’t forgetting the things that happened in the last issue. For the record, I think that’s very much on purpose considering the information we get about what’s happened later in the issue. Everything is literally and I suppose metaphorically on file as we and Betsy enter the fray here. War has been declared on Krakoa by the UK and it seems as if we’ve all missed something.
NP: The issue isn’t shy about letting us know, either, with that propaganda poster immediately after the title page! I thought that was a really fun thing to add; we’ve seen a lot of range in the data pages for DoX so far, and especially here, where we’ve gotten grimoire pages and the like, but this one just hit differently for me. It has that proper feel, the font usage and text blocking reminds me of those classic WWII posters that the UK is famous for. I could see this thing plastered to a wall.
CD: Exactly and as things slowly start to seep into focus for us, things start to feel very much like Tini is explicitly weaving in the DNA of original Excalibur as well. It sort of feels like we’ve entered a bit of a different realm and it’s that ability to seamlessly transition from genre to genre that I really admire here. I said when we started the book it very much felt grand and epic, not unlike Lord of the Rings in some ways. Pure fantasy. Now we’ve flipped it a little, but it doesn’t feel disjointed. It feels like we’re finally examining or uncovering some of the things that make Excalibur, Excalibur. I will admit my knowledge of these things isn’t as spot on as yours, but I get the impression I’m on the right track.
NP: Absolutely! The story here is really playing with those expectations. Given the setup prior with Saturnyne, Otherworld, and the sheer wild card in mutant form that is Jamie Braddock, it’s all the kind of detail that, once you hit the point in this issue where you realize he’s involved, everything just lines right up. Multiple realities, a Captain Britain Corps, all of it. It’s handled so neatly, too—when Kate showed up with a flying ghost ship, I started questioning whether I was missing something! It was really Rachel that tipped me off.
CD: As a connoisseur of fan fic, I know an alternate reality when I see it. Kitty’s new look and the ghost ship are what tipped me off as well. Then I questioned whether the team was displaced for a moment before I realized that Ric is having power troubles in our reality, and in no way can usually talk to the earth as clearly as he’s able to here. The whole crew are alternate versions! It’s almost in that exact moment when things started to RAPIDLY go down hill for everyone. It was perfectly set up. Now I know you want to talk about Betsy, Rachel and Kitty so I will cead the floor to you.
NP: Okay, first thing’s first: those boy shorts on Kate’s uniform? Such a small change from the standard, even if it’s reverting back to the classic, and it works so well. It suits her here, even if I wish that Marvel in general would stop putting her in the trainee suit. Second! THEY. ARE. DATING. Kate and Rachel are dating and flying around in a ghost pirate ship and Rachel calls Kate her girl and I am going to die. I loved seeing Rachel in her classic look, wreathed in flames; is it Phoenix fire? Did she retain the Phoenix in this reality? I have no idea, and it doesn’t matter. The important thing here is that the subtext between Kate and Rachel was so strong back then that even Jamie Braddock saw it, and he thought the whole world was fake at the time.
CD: If Jamie sees it then I feel like everyone should be able to see it. The flirtation was strong here and like everything, set up expertly by design. Speaking of design, I need to take a second to commend Marcus To who once again has absolutely killed it with this issue. I love seeing his art and I think it fits rather perfectly with all aspects of the story. Whether we are in Otherworld with our real team or in a dystopic London that is on fire. The attention to detail is astonishing. Now I suppose that since you’ve brought it up. We should really talk about Jamie and what’s REALLY going on here.
The King’s Gambit
NP: I hate this man, Charlie. I hate the sheer glee he takes in torturing his siblings. It’s not enough to pursue his own twisted vision of things, he has to be just $!@#@ mean on top of it. His design so far seems to be doing the work of creating new alternate realities by which he can then create a new Captain Britain Corps, but I’m not entirely certain what the reasoning for this is. I guess it’s possible that in these splinter realities of his design, the concept of Merlyn, the amulet and the sword might all be in service to him? Imperfect duplicates as it were. The whole deal behind the original Corps was that they were ruled by people with omniversal presence; that is, they were outside the specific chain of universes, and could access any of them from Otherworld and the Citadel. Because these new realities are springing from Jamie directly, it stands to reason that these new copies of the Sword and Amulet are not bound to Merlyn’s magic, which would explain why Saturnyne is just so mad about it.
CD: I have a bad, bad feeling that these new Captain Britain’s, every member of our mirror team save for Betsy who I will talk about in a moment, may just be bound to Jamie. Who’s idea was it to resurrect him again anyway? Because I think they really need to be held accountable. [Ed. note: for the record, it was •┤Ȧ├•]
Despite gleefully wielding his power to create very real alternate realities and the non-consensual vivisection of Morgan Le Fay continuing I am very fascinated by the fact that Jamie also functions in a meta way here as well. He makes a direct reference to the story back in Otherworld with our original team going too slowly for him. That swords and dragons are fun, but he wanted something different. I love the subtle shade thrown at the audience and I love that Jamie has so many functions here which also speaks to just how powerful of a character he is.
NP: Honestly. Jamie gets to come back but not Destiny? This seems like a wildly irresponsible decision. His meta-awareness has been baked in from the start, too; even back in the original book he was always convinced that reality was a dream, his subconscious speaking to him. He wasn’t cruel then just for the sake of it, but because he didn’t believe any of it was real, or that it mattered. That is, of course, not the excuse he thinks it is, because to decide that “nothing matters” is a justification for cruelty instead of kindness is a pretty telling thing about a person’s character. If you have the power to help or harm and the choice between them, the world is watching when you choose harm.
*long, unblinking stare at police organizations*
Shattering
NP: The other thing that strikes me, one that’s slipped by the wayside, is that Jamie is only in this position because of •┤Ȧ├•. He holds this position because •┤Ȧ├• wants him to, which means there is a design at work here beyond the whims of a mad king. We already know •┤Ȧ├• is interested in expansion, given the initial incursion into Otherworld, and now the king he installed is amassing an omniversal mystical army. This seems…extremely significant, both in the context of Krakoa politically and in the context of a certain upcoming event.
CD: If you need another reason to examine •┤Ȧ├• ‘s actions, AND YOU SHOULDN’T BECAUSE HE’S DONE PLENTY OF SKULKING AROUND AND MANIPULATING ALREADY, there it is. He’s using everyone as a means to an end. Perhaps he does respect the powerful mutant’s around him, but his face turn is solely predicated on the fact that by playing ball the way everyone wants him to, he can finally get what he wants and in plain sight as well. He’s not even a wolf in sheep’s clothing here, he’s a wolf in wolf’s clothing. It’s been plain to see since they start and at the risk of sounding like a •┤Ȧ├• truther, I certainly hope that someone on the team starts to see the forest through the trees. I’m looking at you Rictor. We are certainly on the build to X of Swords and I am excited for •┤Ȧ├• to start to show his hand so everyone can tell me I was right.
NP: Does it even count as a face turn if you’re just…doing the same stuff you always do? •┤Ȧ├•’s whole deal was trying to prep the planet for Celestials but like…I’d say the handful of reality warpers Krakoa has is probably enough to deal with that. So what’s the game here?
Another thing that’s occurring to me as I realize that we are deep in discussion is how incidental to the story the actual team feels this issue. Everything happening around them is so big, it’s beyond them, despite some very cool moments. Heck, it’s not even the real team! The ACTUAL Excalibur, our Excalibur doesn’t even appear in this issue; just their duplicates. Tini and To have managed to put out a whole-ass issue of a book without including a single one of their actual main ensemble cast. Wild.
CD: It is wild. And it really speaks to the longer arc at hand. I don’t doubt that we are going to get some wild duplicate on duplicate action (not that kind) next issue or shortly in the future. I for one, hope that one of the Ric’s knocks some sense into the other one. At this point I don’t care which one it is.
X-Traneous Points
- Gambit: Lemme steal a boat tho. Betsy: No, Gambit. Boat: BWAAAAAAAAAAA
- I just really look forward to the meeting of multiversal counterparts. I really hope we get to see them yell at each other.
- “My girl.” FERAL SCREAMING
- I’m still on Shatterstar watch. Don’t you worry.
- Speaking of shattering, those last few pages had a very End-of-Legion-Quest vibe.
- We didn’t even talk about the fact that Gambit POPPED A MISSILE.
- Poor Pete Wisdom. Tini has made me feel bad for him.
- Not me. I saw that and I was like GOOD. Sorry, Liz. [Ed. note: Contributor Liz Large once had a crush on Peter Winston Wisdom and deserves to be dragged for her bad tastes.]
- Loving how Jamie’s Incursions are the exact opposite of what Hickman’s Incursions were in New Avengers
- Krakoan reads: Opening Gates
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
Nola Pfau is Editor-in-Chief of WWAC and generally a bad influence.
