Issue(s): Excalibur #28
Cover Date: Sep 90
Title: "The night they tore down the Gilded Lady"
Credits:
Terry Austin - Writer
Colleen Doran - Penciler
Bret Blevins - Inker
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
I said about Terry Austin's Cloak & Dagger run that his zany writing style might better fit a different series. Excalibur seems like a good candidate. But this is still just a fill-in, or whatever we want to call what's happening in this book while both Chris Claremont and Alan Davis are not here. So it's probably not a good example of what he might have been able to do. This is just some bad filler.

Captain Britain and Meggan got to a pub that is closing. It's a pub where Brian used to hang out where he was younger, and he has good memories of the place. He's a bit hurt when the owner doesn't recognize him (and thinks of him as a fancy-pantsed, upper-class ponce). Brian, now off alcohol, also becomes the target of insults by the locals when he orders a lemonade.

Meggan to the rescue.

The pub owner is selling the place to an American, who arrives to conclude the transaction. And then the zany starts when these two show up.

The woman has the power to amplify people's greed, making them believe that (in this case) worthless rocks are gold nuggets.

And her cousin has the power to punch anyone that her powers don't work on.

The greed powers don't work on anyone who is too honest or lacking in imagination. The powers don't work on either Brian or Meggan. It's said that Meggan is honest, but that's not the case with Brian.

The cousin is strong enough to trade blows with Captain Britain.

And Meggan may not be directly vulnerable to the greed powers, but she is easily influenced into changing her shape, and plus she's been drinking for the first time.

And later the powers do seem to work directly on Meggan, causing her to see the two men that she has romantic feelings for.

In the end, the pub is totaled. The lady is stopped, but she suggests that she can't be prosecuted for what she's done.

She then turns the rubble of the pub into fool's gold, and escapes when everyone makes a dive for it.

I don't think much of this story.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The example cited to demonstrate that Brian is lacking in imagination is when he once went insane when confronted with the reality of the occult. Is that a reference to Excalibur #6-7 or something i'm not remembering from his solo stories?

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I assume it is a reference to his amnesia after the Necromon attack in Incredible Hulk Weekly.

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/incredible_hulk_weekly_13-5557.shtml

Still, it is an odd judgement to make of Brian no matter what. He is, after all, a character with more familiarity with magic than most, and for the most part handled it well. At this late point it makes little sense to say such a thing of him.

I interpreted it as "Brian lacks the imagination that would make him believe blatant lies coated in illusions" which sounds like a twisted way of saying "he knows magic is real and handles it pretty well but he still remains a realistic dude".

He just can't be bothered to think of every outlandish use of it, meaning he wouldn't immediately believe someone who shows him "gold" despite knowing magic could make it possible. Also, familiarity with magic makes it easier to spot blatant lies.

Still a very strange and far-fetched judgement. It would have been easier to just say "he's smarter than your illusions, Cooter".