New Excalibur: Battle for Eternity, Chris Claremont

"Chris Claremont makes his triumphant return to New Excalibur! The fight has begun. The battle that's been building since the very beginning of the series is finally coming to a head. Captain Britain must take on his opposite for a battle that will be waged upon many worlds. Plus: One of the team members suddenly succumbs to an all too real tragedy. The team must pull together and care for their fallen friend while their own lives fall to pieces. Collects New Excalibur #16-24."












If the Excalibur (or eXcalibur) of Warren Ellis was all grim and gritty spy fare with a dash of sci-fi thrown in, this is pure, unadulterated Claremontian superheroics.

Or at least it is AFTER the first few issues, which instead choose to focus on ... Nocturne suffering a stroke. If you can imagine the mood whiplash of that being the lead in to an alternate version 'evil' Captain Britain showing up to invade London with an alternate version 'evil' X-Men, whilst a diverse eXcalibur team battled against overwhelming odds to defeat them and save the Queen from execution. Well, actually, it's rather impossible to imagine that kind of mood change.

So if you do read this book after reading this, just skip those first few issues. It's not worth it. Much like the powerloss chapter about the depowered mutant who almost inadvertently dies because he can't fly anymore, it's a taste of the real world that certainly has a place in comics, but rarely works alongside the convention of capes and baddy punching.

Is it good? Rarely. Is it enjoyable? Assuredly so. Will you miss anything by not reading it. Not at all.

There's a lot of Claremont comics to get out there, this isn't even top 30.

Also Try:
Chris Claremont; X-Men
Mark Millar, Ultimate X-Men
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men
Christos Gage, World War Hulk: X-Men