This Comic Was Surprisingly Good - New Excalibur #1

Yeah, I admit, that is a bit snarky of a title. It is not like Chris Claremont has not written some pretty good stories as of late, heck, I think I would go as far as to recommend a few of his Uncanny X-Men issues (he did a recent one with the X-Babies that I thought, in particular, was good). That being said, I no longer open up a book with "Claremont" on the cover expecting all that much from the comic. That is why it was very a pleasant surprise to see New Exaclibur #1, which was actually a good comic book.

My belief was helped when I saw an X-Editor call the script for New Excalibur #1 the best he has seen from Claremont in years, so that made me feel better, as it was not just me who felt that this was uncommonly good.

The key to the comic being good fell to two points:

1. A really good opening with Dazzler

and

2. Smooth exposition

As to the first, Claremont writes a very touching Dazzler. Someone who is forced to play dives in Britain, where even she admits that most people are showing up to see her as a novelty. She does her best to wow them, but most don't see past her costume. Very sad, but very rich characterization. After leaving the gig, Dazzler comes across a group of analogues of the original X-Men, who are in the midst of trying to kill some guy. Dazzler jumps in, and Claremont gives her some very good action scenes.

And then she is killed (by the way, the absolute WORST part of this issue was the absurd Buffy reference that happened as the Jean Grey analogue kills Dazzler. It was AWFUL. I mean, it is this big moment, and Claremont decides to homage the Dark Willow episode? So lame. In fact, it also seemed awfully close to crossing the line from "homaging" to just flat out stealing the line, although it is pretty clearly the former...ooooh, did it annoy me).

The rest of the issue shows Captain Britain and the rest of New Excalibur form. Captain Britain, Juggernaut, Nocturne and Pete Wisdom will make up the rest of the team, and I think they are all introduced with just enough exposition. I particularly liked Captain Britain's introduction. In under 50 words, Claremont is able to completely sum up for the reader who Captain Britain is and what his current situation is. I really liked that.

The cameo from the original Excalibur members who are now X-Men was a nice touch, handled well. I believe these scenes are explained further in House of M: The Day After, as well as the identity of the guy that the bad X-Men were trying to kill.

Nocturne is still too confusing of a character, and Juggernaut is too one-note, but they did not get in the way of the story, which was fun and straightforward.

Michael Ryan does a decent job on the art. I did not like how he drew Psylocke to not appear Asian, but he got everyone else down basically right. I noticed he made Pete Wisdom look a bit younger, presumably on Claremont's say-so (I HOPE it was on Claremont's say so). It was too bad, though, that Aaron Lopresti could not make the move to New Excalibur with Claremont. Lopresti was really coming into his own on that title. I hope he gets a good gig somewhere else at Marvel (Lopresti IS Marvel exclusive, right?).

Oh, and yes, Dazzler did not actually die. They revive her via some well-used mutant powers.

And at the very end, we have a cool cliffhanger, as Nocturne is attacked by....evil Professor X!!!

So yeah, a fun issue that was straightforward, and not bogged down with words. That is good enough for me. As for the series as a WHOLE, all five of the characters are interesting on their OWN, so I would imagine the chances are pretty decent that the combined product will be interesting enough.

Read More