EXCALIBUR #125 - October 1998

Tying the Knot

Credits: Ben Raab (writer), Dale Eaglesham (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Douglock, who's awakened with amnesia, is teleported to the Otherworld by Widget to attend the wedding of Brian Braddock and Meggan. Following Brian’s revelation that he knows Colossus was lying to cover for Meggan, and that he understands why she developed feelings for him, the wedding goes off smoothly. After the ceremony, Moira takes Douglock back to Earth for treatment. Meanwhile, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Colossus reveal that they’re going “home” to rejoin the X-Men. Roma asks her father Merlyn, who attended in disguise, why he’s arranged for Excalibur to disband. He responds that he didn’t, therefore the team must be exercising their freewill.

Continuity Notes: Virtually every character ever to appear in this series has a cameo. This includes Kylun, who reveals that his missing parents were merely on vacation, which means his glorious quest is over. Micromax says that he’s been laid off from the Brand Corporation and is unemployed. Peter Wisdom doesn’t attend; a brief scene shows him drinking alone and staring at the invitation. Widget's cameo is hard to reconcile with the ending of Alan Davis' run, which established that Widget was an older incarnation of Shadowcat from the future.

I Love the '90s: The date of the wedding is given as August 19, 1998. Later, Shadowcat promises to teach everyone how to “raise the roof” on the dance floor.

Review: So, Excalibur is sent off with a wedding, which I guess is preferable to a horrific bloodbath or forced “dramatic” break-up. It’s hard to complain about this issue, since it’s clearly intended as a tribute to the series and the dedicated fans who managed to make it all the way through to the end. Some obscure characters return, a few loose ends are resolved, and the team peaceably disbands. If you’re not familiar with the past of the book, much of this will go over your head, and the appearance of the Nazi Excalibur team from “The Cross-Time Caper” will just leave you wondering why exactly Brian and Meggan invited Nazis to their wedding. Even if you are familiar with the continuity, it’s hard to believe these characters are in the audience. (Maybe Brian and Meggan had no say over which members of the Captain Britain Corps would be invited.)

I am left wondering why exactly Raab has introduced a new Douglock subplot in the final issue, unless he has an X-Men Unlimited issue in the works that’s going to resolve this. I’m also confused by Peter Wisdom’s cameo, specifically his lack of an eyepatch. I’ve heard people ridiculing Raab for years for giving Wisdom an eyepatch, yet it’s never appeared in Excalibur. When did this come about? At any rate, this is an acceptable, low-key send-off for the book. I don’t think it redeems Raab’s largely mediocre run, but it’s a sweet ending with no shortage of fan-service.

EXCALIBUR #124 - September 1998

Someone

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

Summary: Brian Braddock and Meggan hold their bachelor/bachelorette parties, with Mimic and Captain UK as invited guests. Both Meggan and Colossus ponder how to tell Brian about Meggan’s crush on Colossus. Eventually, Colossus decides to lie and tell Brian that he was the one with feelings for Meggan. Meanwhile, a new Executioner leads the Crazy Gang to attack Excalibur. During the fight, Executioner is unveiled as Feron, who attacked the team in order to seek their attention. After Excalibur affirms their friendship with Feron, he joins the party.

Continuity Notes: Feron explains his departure from the team, revealing that following Captain Britain’s disappearance in Excalibur #67, he was overwhelmed with Meggan’s empathetic grief. This lead to him losing his corporeal form and getting washed away in the tide. Eventually, he came across the Crazy Gang, and enacted his plan to punish Excalibur for forgetting him.

“Huh?” Moment: Douglock, the alien cybernetic being, is somehow able to get drunk on vodka.

I Love the '90s: Captain UK offers to show Mimic her copy of The Full Monty.

Review: Excalibur is coming to an end, so apparently it’s time to drag out the Alan Davis material that Marvel casually dumped when giving the book its X-makeover. Over fifty issues too late, we’re given an explanation for Feron’s disappearance, along with the return of Marvel UK villains, the Crazy Gang. Ben Raab could’ve revealed that Feron simply quit the team in-between issues, but instead he’s gone with a more elaborate “missing in action” resolution. Revealing that Feron mysteriously disappeared in-between issues makes the team look bad for never looking for him, but then again, since his disappearance was off-panel, you could just imagine that Excalibur’s search for their teammate also occurred in-between issues. Any anguished monologues about how badly they missed the little brat were also conveniently off-panel, of course. Really, the story’s not meant to be taken too seriously. It’s an excuse to bring back a forgotten former member and some old villains, wrapped around some standard bachelor party humor. It’s more amusing than most of Raab’s run so far, and Dale Eaglesham’s art is thankfully less “x-treme” than the previous issues.

EXCALIBUR #122 - July 1998

The Search - Part One

Credits: Ben Raab (writer), Dale Eaglesham (penciler), Scott Koblish (inker), Kevin Tinsley (colors), Comicraft (letters)

Summary: Following the leads provided by Sabra, Excalibur travels to a Zero Tolerance outpost in Peru. Inside, the team is attacked by Prime Sentinels who have taken the form of the original X-Men. Eventually, the team realizes that the Sentinels want their help. A Prime Sentinel explains that this base escaped the UN’s notice and has continued to operate after Bastion’s arrest. They adopted the guise of the original X-Men in an effort to calm an unruly mutant prisoner. Excalibur opens his cell, expecting to find Professor Xavier, only to discover a restrained Mimic. Meanwhile, Meggan welcomes Brian Braddock back to Muir Island.

Continuity Note: The Prime Sentinels refer to Mimic as a mutant, which is incorrect. Mimic has imprinted all of the original X-Men’s powers, but he’s not a mutant himself.

Review: Going back to Uncanny X-Men #100, it’s a tradition to pit X-teams against the original X-Men. Why exactly I’m not sure, I don’t think the Avengers or Justice League recycle this idea so often, but Raab does have history on his side. Unfortunately, this turns out to be one of his weakest issues in a while. The dialogue mostly consists of stiff recaps of previous storylines, and the deep internal conflict Nightcrawler is supposed to be going through doesn’t quite work. It’s one thing for a determined Nightcrawler to pursue Xavier’s freedom, while also proving his worth as a leader, but it’s another to have him personally blame himself for Xavier’s imprisonment. Nightcrawler had nothing to do with that storyline! Along with this questionable bit of plotting, there’s Douglock’s sudden adoption of human emotions (he abruptly becomes the team’s whiny brat this issue), a scene that has Shadowcat using her powers to phase the team through Mimic’s telekinetic shield (can she do that?), and some dull recaps of the Muir Island subplots. Moira’s made her peace with dying, again, and Meggan is still in love with Brian. And while I am glad Brian’s back, I assume he’s returning just to be there for the upcoming series finale. Finally, there’s Dale Eaglesham’s fill-in art. This is probably the weakest work I’ve seen from Eaglesham. There’s a generic ‘90s look to it, and for some reason he’s given Douglock dreadlocks. I don’t care if they both end in “lock,” that’s inexcusable.