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Collects Captain Britain #1-2; Excalibur #1-11, Special Edition, Mojo Mayhem and material from Mighty World of Marvel #7, 14-15; Marvel Comics Presents #31-38.
Written by Chris Claremont and Michael Higgins with Alan Moore, Steve Craddock and Alan Davis. Pencilled by Alan Davis, Ron Lim, Marshall Rogers, Arthur Adams and Erik Larsen with Herbe Trimpe.
The collection begins with Excalibur Special Edition by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. It begins with Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) having a nightmare about her former teammate Rachel Summers (Phoenix) being attacked by Mojo's Warwolves. Upon waking she sees the sunrise make the shape of a phoenix. Meanwhile, Meggan sees the unusual sunrise and heads home to see Brian Braddock (Captain Britain) drowning his sorrows after seeing a news story about his sister Betsy (Psylocke) and her fellow X-Men dying in Dallas. Kitty meets up with Nightcrawler and realises that they both had the same dream and maybe Rachel was trying to give them a psychic warning. Rachel is on the run from the Warwolves as well as alien mercenaries the Technet and the heroes must join together to save her.
After reading through some really crappy Deadpool collections it really feels good to read something that is actually good. Okay, I already own most of the issues gathered together in this Epic Collection (apart from the material from Mighty World of Marvel and Marvel Comics Presents), but it's not like I needed an excuse to read them again. One of the things I liked about the early issues of Excalibur was how much more fun they were compared to what was going on with the X-Men at the time. Round about that time, the X-Men comics were always full of so much angst, but Excalibur was actually fun. They had wacky adventures with aliens and humanoid dinosaurs. There were more serious problems (Brian's struggle with drink, the Inferno tie-ins), but it wasn't constantly grim and depressing. Nightcrawler is one of my favouirte X-Men, so it was nice to actually see him happy for once as well.
Issues 1 and 2 of the Excalibur on-going series feature the return of the Warwolves. They escaped at the end of the battle between Excalibur and the Technet and return to menace our heroes. In the end, the Warwolves end up on display in London Zoo. I think this would be their last appearance until New Excalibur #4 in 2006. I always thought that the Warwolves had a neat gimmick. They eat people and use their skins as disguises. It looks like Chris Claremont was the only person who even remembers them seeing that he wrote Excalibur as well as New Excalibur.
In issue 3 a British crime lord Vixen breaks into Crossmoor prison and stages a prison break, freeing the Juggernaut. Captain Britain tries to stop Juggernaut, but that goes about as well as you expect. It comes down to Meggan and Phoenix to take down Juggernaut while Shadowcat and Nightcrawler try to stop the rest of the prisoners from escaping. I loved the story arcs in Amazing Spider-Man and Thor where the respective heroes tried so desperately to stop the Juggernaut. Nothing the heroes did seemed to stop him, not even Thor smiting him with the full might of Mjolnir. The fight with Juggernaut here is more played for laughs, especially when he bats Captain Britain away like he is nothing. It's a pity that Shadowcat phased Meggan out of the way before she could lay into Juggernaut. I suppose it would have gone the same was as the one-sided fight with Captain Britain. Juggernaut didn't have his physic-proof helmet handy, so Rachel was able to take him out with one psychic blast.
In issues 4 and 5, Arcade kidnaps Brian Braddock's ex-girlfriend Courtney Ross. She is to be the bait to lure Captain Britain into a trap. Captain Britain and the X-Men are supposedly the only ones to have beaten Arcade, so he wants revenge. Everybody thought the X-Men were dead at this time, so Arcade had to make do with just Captain Britain. Wacky hi-jinks also ensue when Excalibur gets their minds switched with those of Arcade's Crazy Gang. One moment that I thought was especially amusing was Lockheed the dragon giving Arcade's assistants a load of trouble, but as soon as Miss Locke decides to use her feminine wiles, it all goes a bit wrong for him. It looks like the dragon is a sucker for the ladies.
Issues 6 and 7 are tie-ins to the Inferno event going on in the main X-books. Rachel has a nightmare where her baby brother Nathan is in danger. Rachel flies off to New York to try and save him. The rest of the team follow Rachel and find out that New York has been overrun by demons. Meggan is transformed into the Goblin Princess and bends Captain Britain to her evil will. It's up to Shadowcat to try and snap them out of it. Meanwhile, it comes down to Nightcrawler to find the missing Phoenix.
Issue 8 has guest pencils by Ron Lim. Still in New York after Inferno, the team get up to their own separate adventures. With the X-Men seemingly dead, Nightcrawler decides to make use of the Blackbird jet presently sitting unused. Shadowcat returns to the X-Mansion to pick up some personal effects and finds the New Mutants trying to rebuild the ruined mansion. Phoenix decides to pay her baby brother a visit. Meggan heads off to have some time alone, upset after her actions when she was the Goblin Princess. Captain Britain heads off after her.
Alan Davis returns on pencils in issue 9, where Excalibur is called back home to England to deal with evil doppelgangers from a reality where the Nazis won World War II. This storyline continues into issues 10 and 11, but Marshall Rogers on pencils. At least Davis would return for most of the Cross-Time Caper storyline that starts in issue 12. I'll get around to reviewing that storyline as soon as I get that particular Epic Collection.
Next is the Mojo Mayhem one-shot. Ricochet Rita and the X-Babies flee from Mojo's Trademark Police and end up in another dimension, Earth-616. Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde has gone to Edinburgh to see her favourite band perform and it travelling home to join the rest of Excalibur in guarding a royal wedding when Ricochet Rita and the X-Babies drop in. It is up to Kitty to help the inter-dimensional refugees escape from Mojo's latest bounty hunter, the Agent. This was a fun little one-shot written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Arthur Adams. I love Arthur Adams's artwork. His artwork on The New Mutants Special Edition is the reason why I first fell in love with Rahne Sinclair. It's only natural that I ended up liking this one-shot.
Next is the Excalibur serial from the anthology Marvel Comics Presents #31-38 by Michael Higgins and Erik Larsen. A normal weekend at home is interrupted when Kitty's computer starts going haywire. Several strange creatures calling themselves the Loonies emerge from the computer and whisk the heroes away. I really liked Erik Larsen's artwork on Amazing Spider-Man, but his style just seems out of place here. Larsen does a beautiful Mary Jane, but it just looks weird when he draws Kitty Pryde in the same way. Everybody seemed to be having wacky hi-jinks with Looney Tunes knock-offs or characters from old TV shows, but I was amused most by Lockheed and Widget as Holmes and Watson. Lockheed looked ever so cute in his deerstalker hat.
Next are Captain Britain #1 and 2 by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe. Captain Britain is doing battle with a villain calling himself Reaver and thinks back about how he originally gained his powers. Brian Braddock is working as an assistant at Darkmoor Research Centre when the reaver attacks, wanting the centre's secrets for himself. Brian flees, looking to alter the authorities, but the Reaver's men corner him, causing to plunge off a cliff seemingly to his death. However, Merlyn and his daughter Roma come to Brian as he lays dying. They offer Brian another chance at life, all he has to do is choose the amulet or the sword, the power over life or death. Brian chooses the amulet and is granted great powers. Brian uses his newfound powers to fight back against the Reaver and his men.
In The Mighty World of Marvel #7 we get Meggan's first appearance. Reality-warping nutcase mad Jim Jaspers has taken over Britain and has had all mutants locked up in concentration camps. Meggan and her friends are hiding out and telling a story about seeing Captain Britain beating up Jaspers's men. Captain Britain and Meggan meet for the first time in #14. Jaspers has been defeated and everything has returned to normal. Captain Britain stops a feral Meggan from attacking a homeless man. The full moon is making Meggan go mad and during her fight with Captain Britain one of her friends is killed by falling scaffolding. In #15 Captain Britain pays his repescts to the dead boy's famiy and apologises for causing the boy's death. Meggan also shows up to pay her respects. Meggan also reveals that she was separated from her family during the time Mad Jim Jaspers took over the country, so she agrees to Captain Britain's help in finding them.
Chris Claremont's writing is pretty cheesy, but that's all part of the charm. I do love the art from Alan Davis though. He is definitely one of my favourite comic book artists. I really enjoyed his stint as writer as well. It tied up a lot of loose ends from the early issues, like the fate of that little boy who disappeared in issue 2 or what happened to that dinosaur family from issue 10.
These early issues of Excalibur aren't the only ones I have to read, I also have some of the issues that Warren Ellis did. I am particularly interested in talking about one of my favourite comic books moments, but that's another review for another time.
My rating: 4 stars
Written by Chris Claremont and Michael Higgins with Alan Moore, Steve Craddock and Alan Davis. Pencilled by Alan Davis, Ron Lim, Marshall Rogers, Arthur Adams and Erik Larsen with Herbe Trimpe.
The collection begins with Excalibur Special Edition by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. It begins with Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) having a nightmare about her former teammate Rachel Summers (Phoenix) being attacked by Mojo's Warwolves. Upon waking she sees the sunrise make the shape of a phoenix. Meanwhile, Meggan sees the unusual sunrise and heads home to see Brian Braddock (Captain Britain) drowning his sorrows after seeing a news story about his sister Betsy (Psylocke) and her fellow X-Men dying in Dallas. Kitty meets up with Nightcrawler and realises that they both had the same dream and maybe Rachel was trying to give them a psychic warning. Rachel is on the run from the Warwolves as well as alien mercenaries the Technet and the heroes must join together to save her.
After reading through some really crappy Deadpool collections it really feels good to read something that is actually good. Okay, I already own most of the issues gathered together in this Epic Collection (apart from the material from Mighty World of Marvel and Marvel Comics Presents), but it's not like I needed an excuse to read them again. One of the things I liked about the early issues of Excalibur was how much more fun they were compared to what was going on with the X-Men at the time. Round about that time, the X-Men comics were always full of so much angst, but Excalibur was actually fun. They had wacky adventures with aliens and humanoid dinosaurs. There were more serious problems (Brian's struggle with drink, the Inferno tie-ins), but it wasn't constantly grim and depressing. Nightcrawler is one of my favouirte X-Men, so it was nice to actually see him happy for once as well.
Issues 1 and 2 of the Excalibur on-going series feature the return of the Warwolves. They escaped at the end of the battle between Excalibur and the Technet and return to menace our heroes. In the end, the Warwolves end up on display in London Zoo. I think this would be their last appearance until New Excalibur #4 in 2006. I always thought that the Warwolves had a neat gimmick. They eat people and use their skins as disguises. It looks like Chris Claremont was the only person who even remembers them seeing that he wrote Excalibur as well as New Excalibur.
In issue 3 a British crime lord Vixen breaks into Crossmoor prison and stages a prison break, freeing the Juggernaut. Captain Britain tries to stop Juggernaut, but that goes about as well as you expect. It comes down to Meggan and Phoenix to take down Juggernaut while Shadowcat and Nightcrawler try to stop the rest of the prisoners from escaping. I loved the story arcs in Amazing Spider-Man and Thor where the respective heroes tried so desperately to stop the Juggernaut. Nothing the heroes did seemed to stop him, not even Thor smiting him with the full might of Mjolnir. The fight with Juggernaut here is more played for laughs, especially when he bats Captain Britain away like he is nothing. It's a pity that Shadowcat phased Meggan out of the way before she could lay into Juggernaut. I suppose it would have gone the same was as the one-sided fight with Captain Britain. Juggernaut didn't have his physic-proof helmet handy, so Rachel was able to take him out with one psychic blast.
In issues 4 and 5, Arcade kidnaps Brian Braddock's ex-girlfriend Courtney Ross. She is to be the bait to lure Captain Britain into a trap. Captain Britain and the X-Men are supposedly the only ones to have beaten Arcade, so he wants revenge. Everybody thought the X-Men were dead at this time, so Arcade had to make do with just Captain Britain. Wacky hi-jinks also ensue when Excalibur gets their minds switched with those of Arcade's Crazy Gang. One moment that I thought was especially amusing was Lockheed the dragon giving Arcade's assistants a load of trouble, but as soon as Miss Locke decides to use her feminine wiles, it all goes a bit wrong for him. It looks like the dragon is a sucker for the ladies.
Issues 6 and 7 are tie-ins to the Inferno event going on in the main X-books. Rachel has a nightmare where her baby brother Nathan is in danger. Rachel flies off to New York to try and save him. The rest of the team follow Rachel and find out that New York has been overrun by demons. Meggan is transformed into the Goblin Princess and bends Captain Britain to her evil will. It's up to Shadowcat to try and snap them out of it. Meanwhile, it comes down to Nightcrawler to find the missing Phoenix.
Issue 8 has guest pencils by Ron Lim. Still in New York after Inferno, the team get up to their own separate adventures. With the X-Men seemingly dead, Nightcrawler decides to make use of the Blackbird jet presently sitting unused. Shadowcat returns to the X-Mansion to pick up some personal effects and finds the New Mutants trying to rebuild the ruined mansion. Phoenix decides to pay her baby brother a visit. Meggan heads off to have some time alone, upset after her actions when she was the Goblin Princess. Captain Britain heads off after her.
Alan Davis returns on pencils in issue 9, where Excalibur is called back home to England to deal with evil doppelgangers from a reality where the Nazis won World War II. This storyline continues into issues 10 and 11, but Marshall Rogers on pencils. At least Davis would return for most of the Cross-Time Caper storyline that starts in issue 12. I'll get around to reviewing that storyline as soon as I get that particular Epic Collection.
Next is the Mojo Mayhem one-shot. Ricochet Rita and the X-Babies flee from Mojo's Trademark Police and end up in another dimension, Earth-616. Meanwhile, Kitty Pryde has gone to Edinburgh to see her favourite band perform and it travelling home to join the rest of Excalibur in guarding a royal wedding when Ricochet Rita and the X-Babies drop in. It is up to Kitty to help the inter-dimensional refugees escape from Mojo's latest bounty hunter, the Agent. This was a fun little one-shot written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Arthur Adams. I love Arthur Adams's artwork. His artwork on The New Mutants Special Edition is the reason why I first fell in love with Rahne Sinclair. It's only natural that I ended up liking this one-shot.
Next is the Excalibur serial from the anthology Marvel Comics Presents #31-38 by Michael Higgins and Erik Larsen. A normal weekend at home is interrupted when Kitty's computer starts going haywire. Several strange creatures calling themselves the Loonies emerge from the computer and whisk the heroes away. I really liked Erik Larsen's artwork on Amazing Spider-Man, but his style just seems out of place here. Larsen does a beautiful Mary Jane, but it just looks weird when he draws Kitty Pryde in the same way. Everybody seemed to be having wacky hi-jinks with Looney Tunes knock-offs or characters from old TV shows, but I was amused most by Lockheed and Widget as Holmes and Watson. Lockheed looked ever so cute in his deerstalker hat.
Next are Captain Britain #1 and 2 by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe. Captain Britain is doing battle with a villain calling himself Reaver and thinks back about how he originally gained his powers. Brian Braddock is working as an assistant at Darkmoor Research Centre when the reaver attacks, wanting the centre's secrets for himself. Brian flees, looking to alter the authorities, but the Reaver's men corner him, causing to plunge off a cliff seemingly to his death. However, Merlyn and his daughter Roma come to Brian as he lays dying. They offer Brian another chance at life, all he has to do is choose the amulet or the sword, the power over life or death. Brian chooses the amulet and is granted great powers. Brian uses his newfound powers to fight back against the Reaver and his men.
In The Mighty World of Marvel #7 we get Meggan's first appearance. Reality-warping nutcase mad Jim Jaspers has taken over Britain and has had all mutants locked up in concentration camps. Meggan and her friends are hiding out and telling a story about seeing Captain Britain beating up Jaspers's men. Captain Britain and Meggan meet for the first time in #14. Jaspers has been defeated and everything has returned to normal. Captain Britain stops a feral Meggan from attacking a homeless man. The full moon is making Meggan go mad and during her fight with Captain Britain one of her friends is killed by falling scaffolding. In #15 Captain Britain pays his repescts to the dead boy's famiy and apologises for causing the boy's death. Meggan also shows up to pay her respects. Meggan also reveals that she was separated from her family during the time Mad Jim Jaspers took over the country, so she agrees to Captain Britain's help in finding them.
Chris Claremont's writing is pretty cheesy, but that's all part of the charm. I do love the art from Alan Davis though. He is definitely one of my favourite comic book artists. I really enjoyed his stint as writer as well. It tied up a lot of loose ends from the early issues, like the fate of that little boy who disappeared in issue 2 or what happened to that dinosaur family from issue 10.
These early issues of Excalibur aren't the only ones I have to read, I also have some of the issues that Warren Ellis did. I am particularly interested in talking about one of my favourite comic books moments, but that's another review for another time.
My rating: 4 stars
Category Story / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 80 x 120px
File Size 9.9 kB
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