May 1997
In a Nutshell
Spiral brings Excalibur into the fight against the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn
Writer: Ben Raab
Penciller: Salvador Larroca
Inker: Scott Koblish
Letterer: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Colorist: Kevin Tinsley
Separations: GCW
Editor: Matt Idelson
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
Plot
Nightcrawler is working on getting Excalibur's own Cerebro up and running while checking in with Moira's research into the Legacy Virus. Meanwhile, Colossus, Kitty and Wolfsbane discuss Amanda's sudden departure. Suddenly, they hear an explosion. Kitty phases up to the next floor to discover Nightcrawler and Wisdom battling Spiral, who has arrived with an unconscious Meggan. As the fight with Spiral continues, Meggan wakes up and rushes to help Spiral just as Nightcrawler seemingly traps her. Meggan explains that Captain Britain is in trouble and they need Spiral's help, but the rest are reluctant, given Spiral's villainous history. Spiral explains how she was pressed into service by the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn, who are holding Captain Britain. The team reluctantly agrees to leave with her, and the group teleports away. Meanwhile, Captain Britain is being tortured by the Dragons, who tell him he will be the catalyst which will unleash the Crimson Dawn upon the world. Captain Britain vows to himself to hold on until he can learn what happened to Meggan, despite the pain.
Firsts and Other Notables
Meggan once again sees a ghostly phantom person watching, as she did briefly last issue; next issue reveals this is Xiandu, a former Dragon of the Crimson Dawn.
A Work in Progress
Pages 16 and 17 of this issue are out of order due to a printing error.
Nightcrawler's past as the X-Men's sort of "assistant" mechanic/tech guy is referenced.
Spiral explains that she was pressed into service of the Dragons, which is how she got the Crimson Dawn eye tattoo. Nightcrawler is also very vitriolic in his refusal to help her, citing their encounter in X-Men Annual #10. Certainly, Spiral has traditionally been a villain and in that capacity (particularly her early adventures with Freedom Force) Nightcrawler, Kitty and Colossus would have fought her, but the beef is presented her as being much more personal (as opposed to professional) than it really is for this set of former X-Men.
The whole "Captain Britain gets weaker the further away from the British Isles he is" is brought up.
The Reference Section
Nightcrawler does a Hamlet, subbing in Cerebro for Yorick.
Austin's Analysis
Either because I just reviewed or, more likely, both are written by Ben Raab, Excalibur #109 reads a lot like the Domino miniseries. In that, it's almost impressively workmanlike in its construction, checking all the boxes of competent storytelling, while also feeling somewhat soulless. Raab makes sure to introduce each character and give them a moment to spotlight their power for any first timers. He recaps the events of the previous issue for anyone who missed (or forgot) that chapter. He references past stories to acknowledge the narrative history of the characters. And then he concludes it all by sending everyone off for the climax of the story.
Yet for all that, there's really not much there there in the issue. It's basically an issue-long misunderstanding fight with a villain whose specific history with these particular characters Raab is more or less inflating (Rachel is the one member of Excalibur with a more than cursory history with Spiral, and she's long gone). If the end of Excalibur #108 setup the idea of Spiral going off to get Excalibur, well, that's exactly what happens in Excalibur #109, with no twists, turns, unexpected beats, etc. Which is fine. Again, it gets the job done. It's just hard to get excited about, either.
Next Issue
Deadpool goes to the doctor in Deadpool #5!
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"Spiral has traditionally been a villain and in that capacity (particularly her early adventures with Freedom Force) Nightcrawler, Kitty and Colossus would have fought her"
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, out of the 3 of them, Nightcrawler interacted with her the least.
In that annual, none of them really interacted with her one-on-one. The next time they meet, it was during Uncanny #199, and none of them directly interact with her there. Then in #206, Nightcrawler is absent from that fight with FF, and we see Spiral defeating both Shadowcat and Colossus. Finally, the last she meets any of them in during Fall of the Mutants, where she has a scene with Colossus. So really, she doesn't really have any huge beef with those 3 former X-men, and the one she did interact with the most was Colossus.
Also, a bit interesting that annual # only happened a few months ago...
"The whole "Captain Britain gets weaker the further away from the British Isles he is" is brought up."
I remember Alan Davis addressed this during his second run on the title, where Roma gave him a new costume that could store energy so that if he was away from the UK, he'd still have superpowers (at least, he wouldn't be drained as fast as he would without it). I guess Raab either forgot and/or in story, Brian lost that costume once he went into the future and became Britanic and never addressed it once he returned.
ReplyDeleteThe “Yorick” shot of Nightcrawler reminds me of Carlos Pacheco, not that Salvador Larroca’s style doesn’t resemble his at times anyway.
Another similarity between this issue and Domino is, to me at least, Spiral and Deathstrike having broadly similar looks and body-mod backstories.
I always thought the whole “dipped in magic, clothed in science” thing of Captain Britain’s was a neat spin and, of course, a great phrase.