Born in whimsy though it was, the British mutant team had its share of dark days - never moreso than under the horrific hands of Warren Ellis Excalibur enters the Genoshan war zone with Peter Wisdom, smoking sardonic spy extraordinaire, as their guide Plus: Nightcrawler's magic girlfriend Daytripper joins the cast when a sorcerous struggle centers on Shadowcat's Soulsword Mutant terrorism, extraterrestrial espionage, and more Guest-starring Wolverine
Romance is in the air for Englands's Premier super-team! Captain Britain loves Meggan, Pete Wisdom has moved in with Kitty Pryde, Nightcrawler and Day Tripper are back together, and Wolfsbane and Douglock are best friends! But things don't stay rosy long as the team faces threats from a group of Brood in the future, an all-powerful X-Man and...Colossus!? Plus: The Starjammers save the Shi'ar Empire!
I read these two together, so rather than splitting them into the two books that they came as I'll just review them as one.
I was initially drawn to these for two reasons, a fondness for Warren Ellis, and a particular love of Excalibur (or eXcalibur, as it's often titled), the English X-Men. Marvel have had a long history of creating excellent UK titles, most recently in Cornell's Captain Britain books, although the Marvel UK brand is relaunching imminently.
A further draw was that the second book features the appearance of Colossus, although as it turned out that was less positive than I had hoped, as my favourite character basically turns up to be jobbed as a villain.
There's certainly a lot to love, especially in the first volume, but compared to the Claremontian run (which I'll review some of soon, as I've also been reading that) it's not half as fun. It's certainly better, but it's not as enjoyable, especially once we get into the second volume which just gets duller and duller without an overarching plot.
I would reccomend the first volume certainly, it brings a nice Sci-Fi and Spy vibe to English heroics, which is entirely fitting and nicely distinguishes it from the much more clearly super-heroic American set. The second, not so much though, as it all topples over into turbulent boredom.
Also Try:
Warren Ellis, Planetary
Chris Claremont, eXcalibur
Paul Cornell, Knight and Squire
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