Betsy Braddock scattered across the multiverse. With the war between Krakoa and Arakko quelled, and Apocalypse gone, Excalibur has been left changed. Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega and Ariana Maher shift through the ashes in Excalibur #16.
Charlie Davis: Oh! Dan! You’re here! Man it’s so good to see you. After Nola left to go to space I thought I might have to go at this one alone.
Dan McMahon: It took a lot of magic on my end to get myself here, I moved through the multiverse from Angel Grove to the 616. I am here though to travel with this merry bunch of D&D AU X-Men. I read almost all of this series and X of Swords in one day so I could be here to stand by your side with my sword. This issue was a lot of energy, good and bad… let’s move through the portal to Otherworld, shall we?
Lost Boy Rictor
CD: Man. Lots of stuff happened between X of Swords and now. Including, Rictor dying. Like legit dying. It was one of my favorite scenes from Creation and that opening salvo. I’d wondered if he’d come back changed or if something would be different, but it looks like we’re back to where we were. Kind of where we always seem to be with Ric. He’s just…lost.
With Apocalypse gone he seems desperate to try and reconnect. In fairness, I don’t think Apocalypse had bad intentions with Rictor really, but I do think Ric’s depression makes him dangerously codependent on people that give him the time of day. We are seeing that cycle play out with someone other than ‘Star for a change. You binged the whole series and we’ve had some conversations before about Ric and his depression. What did you make of this?
DM: As someone who has close ties with depression as well, I always find insight into Ric easy to come by truthfully. When the series started, he was laying in what essentially was a coffin because he had lost all connection to the world around him. When we first meet him in Peter David’s X-Factor, Rictor was contemplating suicide because of his loss of connection to the world around him. It’s a recurring theme for him and he seems to struggle with identity a lot. He is looking for something to guide him and give him purpose. For some time, that has been Apocalypse for one reason or another. With him gone, Ric seems to be a bit lost until he is needed. With the help of •┤Ȧ├•’s grimoire, he finds his purpose and ability to help which rejuvenates him. What did you think of that?
CD: I really love that Ric has been given this different path. I think he’s been the one most affected by the idea of mutant magic, that there is something else out there for him to connect to. He’s got something new to pour himself into and has gotten one hell of a power up because of his magical explorations. Still. I can’t help but think of what led Ric to that sad place we saw him in the beginning of the book. I think about his visit to that innocuous Mutant Reddit page and his insistence that he had no one to hold his hand if he wanted to go through a portal or Krakoa. What happened to ‘Star? What happened to their kind of happy ending? I know asking comics to pull from prior continuity is a lot sometimes, but I know Tini pays attention to Ric especially so I’m expecting this to all unravel sooner rather than later.
I also wanted to touch on while we were talking about Ric is ahem WHY THE HECK IS NO ONE FROM X-FACTOR EVEN MENTIONING TO RIC THAT ‘STAR IS TRAPPED ON MOJOWORLD. I’m so sad. He should know. I know he’d drop everything and abandon the plot to go, but I want him to know so badly.
Oh! Before we turn our attention to some potentially evil boyfriends that are brewing, what did you think about the team having downtime in the beginning of this issue? I really liked the check in with everyone, Especially Rogue and Gambit. Since the book isn’t as Apocalypse-heavy now it really feels like the rest of the cast can breathe and get some moments in the sun. It was a nice touch for them to tell Freddy about Betsy being killed, too. [Ed. note: They had a beautiful forbidden relationship in Age Of X-Man: X-Tremists]
DM: Freddy saying he was gonna day drink with them was sad but also really nice. It’s a really nice thing to see them have a moment of downtime. Even if their minds are elsewhere, I do love seeing some downtime on Krakoa.
Swimmin’ Up On A Sea Witch
DM: BUT NOW WE GET TO TALK ABOUT MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS, Jamie Braddock and Mister Sinister. They’re both extremely flamboyant in personality and when they conversate with one another, it’s just wit on parade. Jamie shows up in his normal drapery but this time he had Sinister’s cape that he acquired during XoS. Jamie went to call in his owed debt from Sinister in the form of one body. A new body for his dearest sister, Betsy. What did you like about their conversation(flirting)?
CD: Oh it absolutely seems like flirting. I knew you’d be drawn to Jamie right away and I’m glad I was right. It’s funny because Sinister is usually over here playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers so to speak, but he can’t really do that with Jamie. He’s an Omega level reality warper who has been and could still be a threat to mutants. It’s like two trickster gods having a conversation, but at some point it will morph into them trying to outdo one another. For right now though, they are at the game recognize game portion of this. I would absolutely not trust a clone from Sinister though.
DM: They both think outside the box and ideas of good vs evil but rather think in terms of “What here will benefit me?”. One is a king though while the other is a pasty basement vampire.
CD: There is so much that can come out of a partnership here and honestly the realization that they could probably really just do whatever they want especially if they teamed up is rather frightening. As a fine connoisseur of villains such as the Green Goblin in the Sam Rami Spider-Man, played by Willem Defoe, is there something special that draws you to the chaotic types?
DM: It’s the unpredictability for me. You can never truly be sure where their allegiances are at the end of the day. Like Jamie is a straight up king but he’s been doing his weird shady stuff with Apocalypse down in the dungeon. Oh… what happened to Morgan Le Fay? Whatever. Or Sinister, the whole XoS plot ended with him wiping his team so they wouldn’t know what he did. They have big personalities and keep things spicy. Like me.
CD: You know…I’ve been thinking about the non-consensual vivisection of Morgan Le Fay lately too. Hmm. Much to think about.
DM: I don’t think anyone wants to get vicisected… I’m not a Doctor, but it doesn’t look enjoyable. We should probably check in on Avalon, huh?
The Braddock Bunch
CD: Damn, Jamie has a pretty good thing going in Avalon. Even I’m surprised that he’s able to keep peace with his brother, especially since it seems like Meggan and their daughter have seemingly moved with Brian to Otherworld. Brian has been run through the ringer as of late. He’s no longer Captain Britain, Saturnyne was trying to get in his pants through the entirety of XoS & he’s lost his sister. I’m at least glad that Meggan and Excalibur proper are here to help him out at least a little bit, considering.
I was super excited to see the team actually properly take of the mantle of Excalibur for really the first time. The absence of Apocalypse and the refocusing on the Captain Britain Corps and the Braddocks makes the book really feel like a proper Excalibur. They are all walking into this fun magical adventure. Neither of us are familiar with OG Excalibur, but what kind of vibes are the reassembled team giving you?
DM: I am not a fantasy fan, I don’t care for magic, or fae, or anything like this normally. But I fell in love with this team because it’s characters I know exploring themes I don’t usually vibe with. I love the camaraderie that they have and that they actually care about each other. There is one scene in particular where Gambit puts his arm around Rictor. They feel like they are really in this weird journey together and are totally fine with that. They poke fun at one another but they seem to be the kind that if someone else did that, they’d be done for. I am so excited for what comes next in the series… did you wanna talk about that royal cliffhanger?
CD: Of course! Damn the cliffhanger! This series has been pretty good at giving us weird, but I feel like we’re walking into a brand new realm now that Betsy basically has a whole lot of multiversal counterparts. We haven’t talked about it yet, but To’s art on this issue is great and it really shines near the end of the book where we get the splash of all the Captain Britain’s and then the starlight sword before Betsy wakes up in bed with Angel. I think this is our Betsy? Maybe? Has her consciousness been placed in the body of another? That wouldn’t surprise me. Man I love body swap shenanigans! I’m excited to see where this goes. How familiar are you with Betsy and Warren’s romance?
DM: I knew they were canoodling during that gray X-Force run while he was struggling between vanilla Angel and Archangel (which would be like lavender flavor?) but that’s it so I’m excited to see where we go next! [Ed. note: You are thinking of Uncanny X-Force, but they have a long history of snogging.]
CD: I think it’s gonna be pretty amazing seeing what Betsy remembers or what Betsy this is or exactly what she feels about Warren being a literal prince here and not to MENTION that she’s the Queen of England? Betsy and Warren have had a rocky relationship that spans long swaths of time and it’s been highly dysfunctional. You might never really get over someone trying to turn you into the manifestation of Death so you can rule by their side. It’s hard to say.
I have so, so many questions coming out of this issue and honestly I can’t wait for Betsy to reunite with her team. Everything in this book before XOS seemed really fraught, this issue felt like a new start for the team completely.
X-Traneous Thoughts
- How many times a day do you think Rogue and Gambit…ya know?
- Our collective reaction to the cliffhanger is that Xavier Files contributor Allison Senecal might die and someone should check on her this evening after she gets back from the comic shop.
- Krakoan Reads: THE THIRD
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
