What’s Covered?
New Excalibur V1 # 1 - 3
Roster Watch
Synopsis
New Excalibur V1 # 1
Writer - Chris Claremont
Pencils - Michael Ryan
Unlike Claremont's last (failed) attempt at trying to re-boot Excalibur (read more about Excalibur Volume 2 in 238: Excalibur Vol 3, X-Men: The End, District X), New Excalibur actually resembles the original comic. Well, at least they are in Europe and are led by Captain Britain.
To kick things off, we check in with Dazzler who is singing in a crummy British joint. Shortly after delivering his closing number, she gets in a fight with an evil version of the original X-Men (which is lame, how many times have we seen this.) At this point, it appears that an evil Jean Grey might have killed her.
Later we see a mini Excalibur reunion. While Nightcrawler (Kurt), Shadowcat (Kitty), and Phoenix (Rachel) are in town, they won't be Excalibur roster members. Regardless, it's heartwarming to see this group together again. The in-story excuse for this little reunion is that Scott sent them to check on Captain Britain (Brian) after M Day. I don't believe that he's an actual mutant, so he's safe.
Psylocke (Betsy), Brian's sister, is around for the reunion as well, however she was not part of the original Excalibur, nor will she stick around for the New Excalibur line up. Norturne (Talia, Nightcrawler's daughter from another dimension, which I scantily covered her first Exiles appearance in 216: UXM 416 - 420 : Dominant Species) is on hand and WILL join this new roster. Finally, Juggernaut is around for the fun as well, and like Noturne, he will stick around for the new roster. Fitting that Juggs & Nocturne are still together as they came back into our dimension together in Uncanny X-Men 461 (referenced in 245: UXM 460 - 461, XMV2 171 - 176 (Wild Kingdom).
Pete Wisdom shows up and will remain on the roster. Throughout this issue Pete Wisdom is hitting on Kitty and telling her he made a mistake. She’s having none of it. Go Kitty!
The team finds Dazzler and brings her back to life with mutant CPR.
Awwww, Juggernaut wants to stand guard over Dazzler. This is a great callback to UXM # 217 - 218 when Juggs & Dazzler got in a fight and we learn that he was actually one of her biggest fans (originally covered in depth in 46: UXM 215 - 219 (Longshot, Havok, Dazzler.)
The team goes to see Courtney Ross, and soon afterward Brian accuses her of being an imposter (Sat-Yr-9) who killed the real Courtney Ross (This happened all the way back in Excalibur # 5, covered in 53: Excalibur #1-5.
Evil Xavier attacks Talia!
New Excalibur V1 # 2
Writer - Chris Claremont
Pencils - Michael Ryan
We learn that the evil X-Men are from another dimension (oooooh, so original!) The team comes back for Dazzler and get in a fight with the evil X-Men. Xavier decides that Talia is the true target and they take her.
Xavier fights Rachel and Kitty on the astral plane.
Pete Wisdom gives Juggs a hard time for not killing evil Jean and Juggs says that he doesn’t kill anymore.
Sage shows up and offers help. Of course, Claremont loves Sage.
New Excalibur V1 # 3
Writer - Chris Claremont
Pencils - Michael Ryan
Kitty and Rachel still stuck in Nocturne's psyche with evil Xavier, but they eventually find a way to escape. Courtney Ross is helping the team and seducing Brian (of course, this is what she does).
Sage dictates what to do so Xavier can’t read anyone else’s mind and they are seemingly defeated.
My Connections and Creators
Claremont, was that so hard?! This is a real Excalibur re-boot, unlike Excalibur V2 which had nothing to do with Excalbur and was truly an Xavier/Magneto love story with some random new mutants thrown in.
This isn't too bad, to tell the truth. It still has some of Claremont's second career weak spots, such as villain choices. The evil X-Men plot is sooooo lame and has been done so many times. The only credit I'll give to this plot is that at least it stays true with the Excalibur theme of constantly dealing with alternate realities.
I am pretty impressed with the character line up. While I wasn't a fan of Captain Britain during the original run, having him in this comic is the best way to signal that this is the real Excalibur team. Plus, he's not terrible so far. The rest is a collection of Claremont's pet characters. He throws in Sage, of course, because he clearly loves her. But she's a great character so I'm ok with this. We know he loves Dazzler. Pete Wisdom is actually a Warren Ellis invention, but with Claremont being British, it doesn't surprise me that he would like him. It doesn't surprise me that Claremont would be intrigued by a reformed Juggernaut and want to play around. He also didn't invent Nocturne, but I'm not surprised one bit that he would be giddy to use her. I'm happy to see it as well. I don't know why we couldn't invent a reason to bring Meggan back, but I won't complain. Maybe it will happen later.
Characters
Cap Britain
As mentioned earlier, Cap is probably the ideal poster boy for Excalibur and so far, he hasn't been too terrible. It's fun to see him once again being seduced by Courtney Ross (Sat-Yr-9.) I found that he was best used during the original Excalibur run when he stopped being team leader and they leaned more into his intellect. I'll be putting him as leader in this graphic, but I would like to see someone else like Nocturne or Sage take over as team leader. Let's keep our eye on this!
Dazzler
Dazzler is always fun. Not my favorite character, but not one I despise either. As an older, white, straight man, I'm probably not the top demographic for Dazzler fans.
Juggs
Thrilled to have Juggs here! I absolutely loved the arc that Chuck Austen put him through as a reformed villain and Iove that Claremont is picking it right back up by having him refuse to kill. That was a nice touch. I also love that he still has admiration for Dazzler. Let's go!
Pete Wisdom
He's ok in general. He's ok here. I loved seeing him get rejected by Kitty though.
Sage
She's cool. Didn't she just become a villain though in Claremont's other line as she re-joined the Hellfire Club? Interested to see if that will be explored or ignored.
Nocturne
Definitely a character worth investing time with. I didn't read Exiles past the first arc so I'm pumped to get to know her. (Exiles is on a list that I will circle back and read once I get caught up to present day. It's taken me 4 years to get to 2006 so I need to keep plugging along).
Courtney Ross
I love when semi evil characters flirt it up and get in our heroes heads. Curious to see what happens here. Also, are we finally going to get an on-screen admission that she's Sat-Yr-9!? I mean, she definitely is, but I would love to pull on that thread a bit more.
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