Wednesday, June 8, 2011

EXCALIBUR #123 - August 1998

Lost & Found - The Search Part Two

Credits: Ben Raab (writer), Trevor Scott (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Kevin Tinsley (colors)

Summary: Excalibur fights the erratic Mimic, who fends off the team’s attacks. Following Nightcrawler’s orders, Douglock uses his techno-organic coils to shock Mimic with electricity. Mimic is stunned into submission, and the telekinetic dome surrounding the Zero Tolerance outpost disappears. The Prime Sentinels escape, with at least one Sentinel expressing gratitude to Excalibur. Meanwhile, Meggan prepares for her wedding to Brian Braddock. She asks Moira if she should reveal to Brian the crush she developed on Nightcrawler during his absence.

Continuity Notes: According to Brian, his Captain Britain powers still haven’t returned. His fear that Meggan would reject him without his powers was the main reason he stayed away from the team for so long.

Review: Excalibur is only a few issues away from cancellation, so Raab has begun to set the stage for the finale. Brian and Meggan are now making real plans for their long-delayed wedding, while Shadowcat tries to reassure a dubious Nightcrawler that Excalibur still has a reason to exist. In-between the conversations, the team gets beaten up by Mimic for a few pages. The fight scene is mainly there to fulfill the action quota, although Raab slips in a bit of characterization for one Prime Sentinel. The unnamed cyborg prevents her fellow Prime Sentinels from killing Excalibur while the team is distracted, condemns Bastion for tricking her into becoming a Sentinel, and renounces her own prejudice as she flies off into freedom. I don’t think anything else was done with this character (years later, Chris Claremont will introduce another sympathetic Prime Sentinel), but I appreciate the attempt to humanize at least one O:ZT participant. The rest of the issue is by-the-numbers action/subplot juggling, although Raab’s dialogue isn’t as awkward as the previous issue, so it’s an easier read.

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