Tini Howard, Marcus To, and Erik Arciniega complete the ritual in Excalibur #5. Rogue reveals the secrets behind the invasion into Otherworld as the rest of the team battles for their lives.
Charlie Davis: Ya know…every time I open one of these bad boys up, I think, I’m not sure how I could love Excalibur more, but I love to be proven wrong. Maybe it’s because I keep my expectations at tepid and lukewarm at best. Or maybe it’s because TINI HOWARD AND MARCUS TO ROCK. I’m going with that one, because it’s true. It’s damn true.
Nola Pfau: It definitely remains, panel for panel, the best book of the DoX lineup, in my opinion, and that’s wild to me, because I was so skeptical coming in. There’s just so much to get right for an Excalibur book, so many disparate, precise elements that it seemed like there was no way anyone was going to pull that feat off again. Of course, what does Tini do with it? She casts a spell.
CD: It’s only fitting for someone with such delightfully witchy energy to truly have combined everything to make this feel one, like a worthy successor to the original book and two, something that feels new in all the ways that a book in this DoX lineup should. My biggest gripe about some of the other books is that even with a whole new world to play in, they seem to want to rehash old concepts and push back into familiar patterns. The canvas is blank now. You should want to create something brand new using your best supplies. It feels like Tini is writing a new mythology and is frankly uninterested in keeping these characters in the same stagnant place they have been for so long.
The Belle Tolls For Thee
NP: Speaking of stagnation, why don’t we start with the character who’s been stuck in one spot since the first issue? Issue five gives us what we’re waiting for: That Rogue-heavy content. It starts right away, with the cover, which is a sort of pinup-like image of her in repose, surrounded by Krakoan roots and blooms. •┤Ȧ├• is standing over her, his hands open, as though he’s about to grab her head. [Ed. note: While his name is not for our filthy human mouths, we will be referring to Apocalypse by his mutant name in this column as that is how he is referred to in this book.] It’s a fantastic bit of scenery, because it manages to look mystical and menacing all at once, while also hearkening back to all the times we’ve seen Xavier bent over someone laid out on a table, trying to cure whatever mental affliction they might possess.
CD: It reminded me of some sort of renaissance painting and it manages to hit all those things you mentioned while still keeping an air of mystery about what’s been happening. I have to give Tini so much credit for what she does with Rogue in this issue and while we’re on the subject, I think this might be the most visually stunning issue To has done to date. While Rogue remains comatose for much of the issue, we are treated to the surreal inside of her mind where that same fiery wolf that accompanied Betsy on her mental journey issues earlier now comes to Anna Marie to guide her. Stone statues of •┤Ȧ├• slowly creep into this mindscape and we are shown by art alone that •┤Ȧ├• has been meddling even further than we had assumed. OF COURSE HE’S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS. GAMBITS INSTINCTS DON’T LIE. Anyway, I loved the reveals in this portion, especially the identity of said fiery wolf.
NP: You know, I called •┤Ȧ├•’s war of expansion from the first issue, but it still felt so, so satisfying here to see the reveal. It was the kind of thing that was less of a sudden surprise and more of a perfectly paced crescendo; we know it’s coming, but the thrill of each piece falling into place left me giddy. Speaking of teases, there’s more to see here–those aren’t statues of •┤Ȧ├•, they’re statues of Sentinels, with •┤Ȧ├• being the final one to appear. We haven’t really seen or heard sentinels in action since House of X and Powers of X, where a strike team took out the Mother Mold. Why here, why now? It’s significant to me too that they’re all arranged around a classic, circular X-logo; surrounding it. It’s an implicit, impending threat, and I’m curious to see what comes of it.
The fire wolf reveal was also great! In comparing this issue to Excalibur #2, where the same wolf appeared to Captain Britain, I note that in both instances she leads them to the same statue of •┤Ȧ├•. The symbolism of his open maw drawing power from her aside, I see the deft hand of dualism on display here, as instead of plates with food, the statue holds a sword, which Rogue takes within herself, like the Soulsword. This explicit choice alongside Betsy having the amulet…whew. Something big is coming.
CD: And haven’t we been waiting for these themes we saw in HOXPOX to start coming around again? Finally the worlds in these individual books seem connected. We lacked a unifying story in the X-Universe for so long that it gives me the warm and fuzzies to see this chapter of the story executed with such precision. I would say that I’m jealous of our co-workers who get to dissect problems and explain to people where the other books might come up short but…I’m not. I love being able to revel in our ability to gush. Rogue doesn’t just take it upon herself to get out of the situation she’s in, she actively knows something is up with Remy which pushes her to break out of her floral prison. Rogue and Gambit have really had a Renaissance over the last few years and dammit I’m being taken along for the ride. Speaking of gushing…and not to steal the spotlight from Rogue who comes back to us in spectacular fashion at the end of the issue, but…Rictor. Nola I REALLY gotta talk about Ric so just give me the go ahead. I’ll be right here.
NP: I can sense the…tremors of your excitement from here, so please, go ahead.
Good Vibrations
CD: One day the vibration puns will cease, but today is not that day apparently. We find Ric where we left him, desperate to help Gambit who he accidentally let fall into a chasm due to the instability of his powers. In his panic he cracks jokes, needles Remy and ultimately saves him by basically willing one of those crystals they were on the hunt for to activate. Something in the sequence just made Ric click in a way for me that he hadn’t in the last issue. He seems more like himself here and Tini gets his voice just right. Like the perfect cup of tea. He also gives us some very relatable insight as I too would like to be worshiped by a bearded man. One bearded man…excuse me. ANYWAY. Tini also lets us know that Ric likes the Smiths which isn’t surprising if you know the interesting piece of information that the people of Mexico LOVE Morrisey. It’s a fun little thing that I’m glad was snuck in here.
I am really finding myself drawn to Rictor and Gambit’s relationship as Tini writes it. They are two characters that haven’t spent much time together on page, but I really dig their dynamic. They both know how to snark, which creates a fun back and forth, but Gambit’s slightly reckless behavior in the face of his grief about the state of Rogue pushes Ric to be a bit more heroic than maybe he would be otherwise. I’m also fascinated by what exactly happened to the crystal and if they are in fact filled with mutant ghosts.
NP: I don’t think it’s actually mutant ghosts, so much as it’s residual mutant power. [Ed. note: it bones] My read of the situation was that Ric used the crystal he had to amplify his power in order to save Gambit, and in doing so drained it, which made •┤Ȧ├• a bit tetchy. Granted, he was already being egged on by Gambit, so it probably wasn’t all that hard. I don’t have the background you do with Ric, so I can’t really speak to how faithfully he’s written here…but I like him! He’s a little bit dirtbag, a little bit heart of gold, and I appreciate that duality. You’re right about the way he plays off of the slightly pricklier nature of Gambit; it makes for a fun mix. At any rate, Rogue wakes up, and…well, I don’t want to spoil it. It’s a hell of a last page stinger. Shall we talk about those data pages?
Warning: Live Conduit
CD: Hell yeah! These continue to be a little nebulous for me, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying them. The data pages in Excalibur seem to be obtuse in a way that’s purely intentional so I’m not worried about not really being able to figure them out. I’ve likened them to pages of a spell book or maybe even the pieces to a ritual. They are all pointing somewhere and now that we know that •┤Ȧ├• has been plotting all along, they might even factor into what he’s been trying to put together. What did you make of the almanac?
NP: Well, you’re dead on calling them pages out of a spellbook. The Almanac page, with the drawing? That’s the spell he’s casting–flipping back and forth between that and the following page, where he’s written some about humanity’s history with magic and the potential of mutants clued me in. We know he wants a stable means of entry into Otherworld for a war of conquest, and this is how he’s going about getting it. The steps below the diagram explain–first, the sun and moon simultaneously present, in opposition. In other words, they both have to be in the sky, and on opposite sides. Next, the conduit arrival twins them; the diagram isn’t super clear about this, it could be a specific distortion of the conduit causing the sun and moon to have…illusory duplicates?
I think what’s more likely though, is that Otherworld’s sun and moon are also in diametric opposition to one another, and the conduit (the portal between Earth and Otherworld) links them to Earth’s sun and moon. The four celestial bodies as a whole can be taken to comprise the corners of a square, with the conduit in the center of that square–as the page says, the quincunx. This by the way is also the name of the center dot on the five-face of a standard die, or the arrangement of suit symbols on the number five playing card. So, with the four bodies in place and the portal in the center, what •┤Ȧ├• has is a proper casting circle. For the spell though, he needs an immense amount of power, which is why he sent Ric to get the crystals. Now, obviously, that plan went awry, so it’ll be real interesting to see what happens next issue.
CD: We passed it up the moment •┤Ȧ├• called both Ric and Gambit his coven which I think plays into this bit as well. It’s very clever to have these data pages all leading up to something that is finally being revealed five issues in. •┤Ȧ├• clearly cleverly assembled all the pieces and it seems Gambit was the only one who, through just intense hatred anyway, sniffed this all out. I’m very proud of him, but also very concerned. I don’t want to end this article without talking about Betsy and Pete Wisdom’s delightful interactions or the war we see at the end of the issue so shall we?
NP: Well, before we get to that, I had a couple of other thoughts occur to me. First: A quincunx is an arrangement of five points, four on the outside one in the center, right? That this is all coming together in issue five is significant to me, it feels intentional, given everything TIni has been doing up to this point. It’s another bit of formalism, linking the fictional world of this comic to our very own.
Second, this is going to start to sound a little Pepe Silvia, but: Remember when I brought up how Morgan Le Fay entrapped Brian with his own oaths in issue one? She was using formalist, ritualistic language in a place where that really meant something. This is just a theory, but it’s possible that, in calling Ric and Gambit his coven, especially during this time when the veils of reality are melting and everything’s unstable, •┤Ȧ├• might have invoked the same kind of language and accidentally empowered Gambit in a mystical sense, thus sowing the seeds of the confrontation at the end of this issue. I base this on nothing but the emphasis of “coven” in his dialogue, and the fact that the quincunx is also found in every deck of playing cards–Gambit’s signature totem. REALLY MAKES YOU THINK, RIGHT?!
But yes! Betsy and Pete! It’s a delightful, weird bit of flirting while fighting. Pete Wisdom is a TERRIBLE choice for Betsy, which practically assures he’s a choice she’ll make, unless she’s done a lot of off-panel growing.
CD: I want it stated for the record that I DON’T think that Betsy will make that choice, but it’s fun to speculate! Despite the foul things that •┤Ȧ├• may or may not have been planning with the breakdown between worlds, I thought that Pete Wisdom was delightful here and I fully expect that he may have gained some new fans during this issue. I like his inclusion here and the book doesn’t seem overstuffed with too many characters which is a FEAT. The action is also seamless here, To weaves it into the rest of the story perfectly and it doesn’t seem squeezed in or something that makes that happens at the very end any lesser. I am giving a round of applause, but you can’t hear me.
NP: I still don’t super enjoy him, but that’s fine! Not every character has to work for me, and I suspect he’s just one of the ones that doesn’t. You’re right about the cast though—it’s large, like X-Men heyday large, and it doesn’t feel overburdened in the slightest. There’s some really incredible work being put into balancing each character’s unique arc, and presenting each in a way that feels true and authentic to their histories.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- Rogue’s new outfit is amazing!
- Five points to make a quincunx, five issues to make it happen, five pages in this doc for us to get our thoughts out. WE’RE MAGIC.
- I’m glad that •┤Ȧ├• is finally showing his hand. Maybe Ric will start thinking with some clarity
- I’m really excited to see how the politics of this situation play out, now that •┤Ȧ├• has confirmed his war of expansion.
- I wonder when we’re gonna see Brian again? Or if he might factor in somewhere else down the line?
- Prestige is a good girl, yes she is, yes she is
- Krakoan teaser reads: REVELATION [Ed. note: You know what the Greek word for Revelation is? Apocalypse!]
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Young Ones.
Nola Pfau is Editor-in-Chief of WWAC and generally a bad influence.
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
Nola Pfau is Editor-in-Chief of WWAC and generally a bad influence.
