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Excalibur #16-17Issue(s): Excalibur #16, Excalibur #17 Review/plot: With these two issues we are back to a more straightforward kind of alternate universe. Like the first world Excalibur encountered on the Cross-Time Caper, this is more of a fantasy (i.e. swords & sorcery, although no actual sorcery) universe. Since she'll appear again (much later), the most important thing to note is that Nightcrawler fights a gang of pirates led by a woman named Kymri. ![]() ![]() The princess that Nightcrawler rescues from Kymri turns out to be the bad guy of the first part of the story, and Kymri turns out to be an ally. The story also has Kitty Pryde showing off her ninja skills... ![]() ![]() ...and a tribe of anthropomorphic Lockheeds. ![]() The first part ends with a giant energy sucking monster. Nightcrawler feeds Rachel to it, banking on the idea that the Phoenix has more energy than it can handle, and he's right. However, the theory is that that creature was what was blocking Excalibur's powers, and their powers don't return after the monster is defeated. And Rachel considers the possibility that that's actually a good thing, since it means she no longer has to bear the burden of the Phoenix Force. ![]() ![]() She's later attacked by creatures that at first glance look like Hounds from her dystopian timeline. ![]() But they're really just the pets of a slaver. ![]() It later turns out that Rachel had been subconsciously supressing her power all along, and she's forced to accept it back at the end when her friends get killed. ![]() The other possible development is Captain Britain renewing his relationship with Meggan. ![]() The entire story is told by Kitty Pryde as a storyteller to some locals in a bar before Excalibur get on with their next dimensional jump. ![]() At the very end, as Excalibur are teleporting away (from a different world; the one where Kitty was telling the story, not the one where the majority of these issues took place).... ![]() ![]() ...they see the Starjammers but can't stop the train in time. ![]() I wasn't sure if they were supposed to be the real Starjammers (in which case, were they also dimension hopping or was Excalibur in the real universe without realizing it?), but the MCP doesn't list them as characters appearing and they don't appear again during the Cross-Time Caper. I've nonetheless included them. I have to say that these two issues were definitely less fun than the previous batch. That may just be due to alternate dimension fatigue on my part, but the plotlines for these two issues seemed especially muddy even besides that. Delivering into some character work for Rachel should have been a good thing but as far as i can see no insights are reached. Quality Rating: C Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A
CommentsTry convincing your non-comics friends this isn't porn. I sort of enjoyed this two-parter but the Logan's run style bondage gear on non-yet-15 Kitty was just too much Posted by: gfsdf gfbd | November 10, 2014 6:01 PM This tale obviously paid homage to John Carter of Barsoom. http://everycomicbooks.blogspot.com/2010/05/cover-swipe- Posted by: PB210 | November 10, 2014 9:26 PM Yeah, Claremont wrote much of Marvel's John Carter series, so he's sort of homaging himself. Issue 16 is reputed to be one of his personal favorites, btw. The fat purple Smurf guy is one of the race that includes Tullamore Voge, a later x-foe. Possibly this slaver is Voge. And there does seem to be a connection between his slave pack and Rachel's Hound experience. Fat Smurf Man is a bit like the Shadow King, too. Where Claremont was going with all these overlaps isn't clear. I think those are the real Starjammers, and the joke is that Excalibur are careless enough to get to the right universe only to let it slip away. Posted by: Walter Lawson | November 10, 2014 9:38 PM I haven't really read that Kitty Pryde and Wolverine series, although I am peripherically aware of it. But it sure sounds like a bad idea from seeing Kitty resume it like that. Posted by: Luis Dantas | November 10, 2014 9:55 PM @gfsdf gfbd- especially since Davis didn't draw Kitty flat chested in these stories. Posted by: Michael | November 10, 2014 10:33 PM If the only reason not to tag the Starjammers is that they don't mention it in a later appearance, then i think i am going to include them. They might just have not noticed who was on the train. The appearance doesn't make much sense if it's not supposed to be the real Starjammers. Posted by: fnord12 | November 11, 2014 7:44 AM If these are the "home" Starjammers, what are they doing on earth? I mean, as far as I recall, Excalibur isn't traveling across the universe, they're traveling between alternate earths. And wherever the team is in the framing sequences, it sure doesn't seem like anyplace on the home earth. Ergo, I'd say that they're on an alternate earth that has spaceports or is a spaceport. That means either (a) these aren't the home Starjammers, or (b) the home Starjammers are also traveling interdimensionally, and just coincidentally, despite being a zillion light-years from earth in the home universe nearly all the time, they wound up visiting an alternate earth, which coincidentally also happened to be the one alternate earth out of virtually infinite possibilities that Excalibur were visiting at just the same time. Call me crazy, but I'm thinking option (a) is a bit more likely. Posted by: Matt | November 12, 2014 12:57 AM Matt, for what it's worth, Kitty Pryde is doing her storytelling from what appears to be a space port in this story. I've added a scan of that (right after "from a different world"). Now maybe it's just an alternate Earth that had developed space travel and is full of alien creatures. But it does seem possible that they wound up off planet at some point. They did have to leave Earth when they were on the Acts of Vengeance world because Galactus was going to eat it, and this John Carter world doesn't seem like the typical alternate earth with analogue Captain Britains and the like. I agree it's unclear, but the scene at the end with the Starjammers just doesn't make any sense if they're just alternate versions; as Walter says the only meaning of that scene seems to show that Excalibur were in their home dimension but didn't realize it (or i guess it could just be a dropped plot). I agree it definitely shouldn't be the case that the Starjammers are traveling interdimensionally; we've never seen evidence of that. I don't really have a strong opinion about it but in lieu of any contradictory evidence i'm going to keep the character tags so people can at least see the possibility. Posted by: fnord12 | November 12, 2014 7:43 AM Alan Davis confirms that it is the home Starjammers. Posted by: ChrisW | June 7, 2015 5:21 AM The idea was supposed to be that they were in their own universe? I did not get that at all. Another example of how bad Claremont's ability to explain things in plain English had gotten in his later years as X-Men writer. Posted by: Michael | June 7, 2015 8:55 AM In this case I think there's something to be said for not hitting you over the head with things. You can go too far in the other direction (see Matt's comment), but subtlety does have its place. Posted by: Morgan Wick | June 7, 2015 3:21 PM To clarify why I was confused- every other time Excalibur was traveling, they landed on alternate EARTHS, not alternate VENUSES or alternate PLUTOS, or whatever. I never considered the possibility that they were in the 616 dimension but on a different planet, so I assumed that either (a)these were alternate Starjammers or (b) the Starjammers were also dimension-travelling. Posted by: Michael | June 7, 2015 3:34 PM I'd always assumed they were alternate Starjammers who just happened to be visiting the Earth-like location Excalibur had arrived in. Kitty was just excited because it was *a* Xavier. This one doesn't seem to be in any particular danger from the Shi'ar or the Skrulls, and it's not too long before Xavier has been taken by them. Posted by: ChrisW | June 8, 2015 11:28 AM Comments are now closed. |
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