Issue(s): Excalibur: The Possession
Cover Date: 1991
Title: "The changeling"
Credits:
Michael Higgins - Writer
Tom Morgan - Penciler
Tom Morgan - Inker
Kelly Corvese - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
Yay! It's Michael Higgins with another sub-standared Excalibur story. I guess we're in between Grateful Dead tours.

This one has Meggan getting possessed (again?)...

...so they take her to a guy who is supposed to be an expert in such things, and whose name is Myrd and who lives in a big old castle and has amnesia and doesn't look at all like Merlin.

Myrd has Excalibur go to the Braddock Manor, and i'll note that housekeeper Emma Collins is still alive and kicking after her resurrection by Jamie Braddock in Excalibur #27.

They go down to the super-computer in the basement.

And then Myrd leads them in a seance where we meet a few dead characters. There is Micky, the kid that was killed during the fight where Captain Britain first met Meggan, and there is Jackdaw.

And Doug Ramsey.

The actual possessor at first seems to be Professor X...

...but it quickly turns out to really be the Changeling. Or at least the psychic remnants that are left of him.

"But wait!", you say. "The whole point of the Changeling story was that he had reformed, and was dying, and wanted to do something good with the final days of his life!" Yeah, Changeling calls backsies on that.

Ok, but why attack Excalibur? Just a coincidence, you guys.

So the heroes stop Changeling and Myrd does turn out to be Merlin and everyone goes home.

Alan Davis will like this story so much that he'll retcon it all away with a few lines in Excalibur #50, saying that the whole thing was a fantasy played out in Alistaire Stuart's subconscious mind as a training exercise for Excalibur.

The one thing this story is good for is showcasing Tom Morgan's art. I'm not normally a huge fan of Morgan, but this book uses somewhat higher quality coloring, and Paul Mounts is credited as "color artist" which i suspect means something more akin to painting that the usual comics coloring process, and the result is pretty nice, at least when you aren't squinting at the black outlines of the ghosts during the seance.

That doesn't make up for the arbitrary pointlessness of the story, though.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Meggan makes reference to Nightcrawler's teleportation powers having returned, placing this after Excalibur #37-39. I'm not counting the spirits that appear during the seance as actual Characters Appearing even though Phoenix says that she senses "that what is happening is genuine". Excalibur #50 will have Merlin reveal that everything in this issue is a ruse, so even the Changeling isn't really here.

References:

• Nightcrawler's full teleportation abilities were restored in Excalibur #37.
  
• There are a few references to Captain Britain's early history (the Braddock manor itself, the death of Micky), with a footnote to "the Captain Britain trade paperback", which isn't all that specific but it works for me since that's how i have the issues.
  
• Jackdaw died in Marvel Super Heroes #387.
  
• Doug Ramsey died in New Mutants #60.
  
• Changeling died in Uncanny X-Men #42.
  
• Merlin says that Changeling was able to come back during a magical blip that occurred when the Darkhold was "recreated" (?) in Doctor Strange #18.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Reading this in real time, I had no idea why the story existed. Alan Davis was fairly quick to basically erase the story (and point out the various flaws in it that also bugged me).

Between the aimless issues in the main title (cross time snoozefest, Lobdell's drek) the stupid Looney Tunes story with the team in MCP and multiple pointless specials, Marvel was hellbent on getting everyone to perceive if this team as a waste of space.

Even Davis' return couldnt undo the damage and regain momentum for the group.

Pity, as it was loaded with fun characters.

And poor Meggan always gets abused by the writers.

I had to double-check the credits to make sure this wasn't made in the 2000s. The coloring makes it look so modern.

Fnord, why are Changeling and Emma Collins listed as characters appearing if they're just illusions created by Merlin?

Ah, thanks Michael. I tagged them thinking i would go flip through Excalibur #50 to see exactly how the retcon happened, but by the time i did that i forgot that i had tagged them. Actually i'm still not 100% about Emma, but i guess if it was all in Stuart's head...

The retconning of the story (as a dream) actually happened in Excalibur #47, not Excalibur #50. It was in Excalibur #47 that Brian has a lengthy conversation with an elderly member of the Captain Britain Corps (really Merlin in disguise) about Alistaire's dream and makes explicit callbacks to the special with regards to Brian pointing out the plot holes and continuity errors