Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1991-12-01 00:01:10 |
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Excalibur #45
Issue(s): Excalibur #45
Cover Date: Dec 91
Title: "Nightcrawler's Technet"
Credits:
Alan Davis - Writer
Alan Davis - Penciler
Mark Farmer - Inker
Mark Powers - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor
Review/plot:
Last issue we saw Dai Thomas approach Nightcrawler about dealing with a thief that Scotland Yard was having trouble catching. Excalibur is all split up at the moment, but Thomas suggested using Technet, the weird bounty hunters that have been hanging around Excalibur's lighthouse. And in this issue we see that Nightcrawler has taken that suggestion seriously. But as Phoenix did last issue, they run afoul of Micromax, who is working for a federal agency, FI-6.
Nightcrawler lets Thomas handle the territorial disputes between Scotland Yard and FI-6. He's more focused on addressing the question of his place on the team, worried that others see him more as a mascot than a full member.
This seems to dovetail with debates in the lettercols about whether Nightcrawler or Captain Britain is the leader of the group, and Nightcrawler resolves to show his leadership abilities by training Technet. He even gives them costumes, making them his N-Men. And in their next attempt to stop the mystery thief, they do better.
The mystical energy creature is eventually captured, annoying the wizard that's been controlling it.
That wizard looks very similar to Necrom, a wizard that Kylun encounters.
Meanwhile, in Otherworld, the battle between Captain Britain (with help from Captain UK) and the other members of the Captain Britain Corp continues.
It is stopped by the arrival of Saturnyne, who says that Roma herself has asked for the charges against Captain Britain to be dropped.
Captain Britain then explores Otherworld a bit, and decides to go visit Roma.
Shadowcat doesn't appear in this issue, and Rachel and Meggan are still searching for Meggan's family with no developments (except a reinforcement of some of the character developments from last issue about Rachel's jumbled memories and her decision to shut down her Phoenix powers).
This is another issue without too heavy a plot and a nice balance of character development and humor.
Quality Rating: B
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: Nightcrawler is aware of Rachel's run-in with Miramax from last issue, but says that it's been "more than a week" since he last had a communication from her. As i mentioned in the Considerations for last issue, the Captain Britain plot seems to continue directly between issues, but the "week" line means that time must be passing differently on Earth, so i'm allowing for space in between entries. I'm assuming the same is true for Kylun's world and not worrying about the fact that this issue ends on a cliffhanger for him.
References:
- Nightcrawler is using a plane that belongs to WHO, since they "mislaid" the Blackbird in Uncanny X-Men #278 (actually Professor X took it back, but i guess Excalibur and the X-Men still aren't comparing detailed notes).
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
Re: Kylun's world- it's explicitly stated next issue that time passes differently there than on Earth.
Man, I remember LOVING the panel of the long dead Avengers popping up out of the ground! It left so much up to the imagination. That Earth's Captain Britain, the Black Knight and Thor all make sense as being on a UK-based team, but what's up with Spider-Man? And those claws he has? Also, is it just me or is he kinda....spidery looking?
Alan Davis rocks it in the art department, hands down!
It's also character development for Kurt, who was so long overlooked as the back-up leader for the X-Men, until the day Logan slapped him on the back and said he was the guy, like it or not.
And I completely agree, Alan Davis rocks as an artist. And a writer. Rick Veitch taking over "Swamp Thing" from Alan Moore as writer/artist is really the only place I can think of an artist doing such an awesome job taking over as a writer. [John Byrne and Jack Kirby were in slightly different circumstances, so I don't include them, although I'll be happy to argue if you disagree.]
By all accounts, Alan Davis contributed a huge amount of the plotting for Captain Britain, at least since the Alan Moore days, and many of Moore's artistic collaborators apparently picked up how to write a story themselves. [Dave Gibbons wrote a fantastic "World's Finest" miniseries and other things which matter to DC followers, Rick Veitch totally picked up on "Swamp Thing" when he took over as writer, Steve Bissette and Chuck Beckum have become more known as writers than artists over the last couple decades, Alan Davis here, etc.]
What gets me is the dialogue. It's not really brilliant, but it's also perfectly in line with the characters Claremont created, and pacing and gorgeous art sells it completely. Kitty, Kurt, Rachel, they are all a believable result of what Claremont put them through, even back since the Cockrum/Byrne/Romita Jr. days. Even if you think they're off-track, most likely that's because of your personal affection for whatever-era you fell in love with. But as characters, they work wonderfully, they're in line with whatever came before, and adding Brian and Meggan to the mix just makes this such a wonderful story.
The characters are done "right," with full recognition of their history. I disagree with Kurt having his moment of self-pity, 'Is that why they left me behind?' [No, it was because you were in a coma, dumbass] but it's still Nightcrawler as we've always known him.
Take the page with Saturnyne interrupting the big fight. She is totally not the large-breasted babe that she usually is. Ok, she is the large-breasted babe that she usually is, but she comes off like a minion passing off orders from her superior. You know, just doing her job. The Corps is suddenly distracted from their vengeance, and Hauptmann England is the first to question her in the heat of battle. Close-up on Saturnyne, "Do you dare question your liege?" And suddenly everybody looks a bit iffy. 'Um, no. Never mind.'
Perfect pacing, dialogue totally in line with the characters as we know them. Gorgeous art. My head already hurts to think of the counter-examples when Scott Lobdell takes over the franchise.
