The ten kingdoms of Otherworld must decide: Are Excalibur heroes of the realm, or witchbreed to be put to the stake? The peace brought to Otherworld by their X of Swords victory comes to an end in Excalibur #24, written by Tini Howard, drawn by Marcus To, colored by Erick Arciniega and lettered by Ariana Maher.
Dan Grote: And so once again have I answered the call to cover Excalibur, only to find my beloved son, Peter Winston Wisdom, is playing the role of Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Comic. But all is not lost, dear readers, for I am joined by a powerful ally. Normally she works behind the scenes, sweeping up errant commas and forging blades of SEO steel, but this week Andrea Ayres is here to guide me through Otherworld and keep me on task.
Andrea Ayres: I mean, letâs be honest, I am trying desperately to live up to the editorial standards you have set. Itâs great to be writing with you, Dan. I hope to fill some of that Pete Wisdom-sized hole in your chest as we embark on our Excalibur #24 adventure. Let us proceed.
Show Mordred, Donât Tell Mordred

Dan: This issue pushes Otherworld further to the brink of its second war in as many years. But instead of fighting invaders from the hell dimension of Amenth, this appears to be an internal skirmish over the presence of mutants in Otherworld, with Captain Britain defending Saturnyne and the Starlight Citadel against the armies of Merlyn and King Arthur.
At the center of this war is Mordred, the son of Arthur, who is destined to betray his father and whom we are now told is a mutant, which the bad guys believe is the motivation for his betrayal.
But hereâs the problem: We donât see Mordred. Heâs nowhere to be found, people are fighting over things he is destined to do, they claim to know what heâs thinking and who his friends are, but the dude ainât here, man. Not being an Arthurian scholar, am I gonna care when Mordred finally shows up?
Andrea: I am no Cat Purcell (my Arthurian legend guide and mentor), but itâs hard to imagine caring about Mordred at all. I am trying. As you have suggested, Dan, Mordred doesnât appear, which feels strange because the tension of the issue hinges on what Modred might do.
Excalibur #24 opens with Betsy and the Countexes of Sevalith doing that thing soap operas do after a weekend where they bring the audience up to speed by going over essential plotlines from the weeks prior. Itâs not that I donât expect comics to do this. Here, however, it slows down an issue meant to be ratcheting up the stakes.
The reader is meant to feel the threat of the impending trial, Merlynâs meddling and Mordredâs reveal as a mutant, but it doesnât come across. This pains me to say as someone who is a fan of Betsyâs corseted boob window evening gown. Still, even that canât distract me from a kind of ho-hum beginning.
Dan: Youâre right. It calls back to a small moment in the prior issue more than it moves the larger story forward.
Which is interesting, because thereâs an attempt here to make the stakes seem bigger than X of Swords, with Merlyn dismissing that event as Saturnyneâs âmutant card game,â but Iâm not buying it. Otherworld is a big, sweeping realm with lots of nooks and crannies that worked as a story engine for a bit, but now that Infernoâs here, it feels somehow smaller, more trivial in the face of whatâs being explored of Hickmanâs original ideas. Who cares about the Fair and Foul Courts when DESTINYâS BACK, Andrea?
Andrea: You have nailed it, Dan. Compared to the other X-books, this one just canât hold a candle. The joy of Otherworld is the nooks and crannies and exploring them, and I donât believe we need to pretend or create tension for the sake of it by trying to be what Excalibur decidedly is not. At least not by my readings. I love a palace intrigue deep dive, I donât love faux-tension. Excalibur can be one or the other, but when it tries to be both, it fails for me because it isnât laying claim to what made it great in the first place.
Itâs the End of the Otherworld as We Know It, and I Feel Fine

Dan: This is where Iâm gonna be completely honest: I think I probably get more out of this book than others, but I find it hard to follow sometimes. Especially when it comes to the Otherworld stuff. And sometimes the shifting nature of Otherworld â the way kingdoms rise and fall, often off panel â feels like a cover for that fact.
A perfect example of that is the trial of the âersatzâ Captains Britain. Created out of splinter realities by Jamie Braddock in a fit of dicking around, they first appear in issue #10, in what may be my least favorite issue and the greatest example of this bookâs occasional opaqueness. Theyâve since flitted in and out as the creators have remembered them, and now theyâre back to, I guess, resolve a dangling plot thread in the mad rush to wrap up every book before January.
I donât even remember when the Jubilee Captain Britain got âexploded by Monarch,â as she puts it â a great reminder of the value of â*It happened in issue #??â boxes â but thatâs a nitpick compared to the larger question I want to ask.
Andrea, can we give Otherworld a rest for a while? Or does Excalibur keep too many âcoreâ mutants in play for it to simply go away?
Andrea: It isnât just you. Itâs hard to keep up with all these dang-nab-it narrative threads. The characters consistently have to remind one another of what has happened before or say things like âWeâll fill you in,â as they do on Page 12. It takes us out of the moment and releases the buildup of tension.
We have to reorient ourselves to recall specific plot threads, which is why this book feels tired. So I wish we could give these characters and this series a bit of a rest for a minute. Even the sweet moments or funny moments ring hollow and forced.
Take, for instance, Mad Jim putting Gambit in a maid uniform. I know I am supposed to laugh, but the moment doesnât hold any humor. Ha-ha, male appearing in traditionally feminine attire, isnât that funny? The joke feels outdated, so much so that I was surprised to find it here. Maybe Iâve lost my funny bone. Either way, It doesnât stop me from thinking the issue could have started on Page 15.
Dan: I see your point there. Lotta throat clearing in those early pages.
And I was genuinely curious what your take was on Gambit in the maid costume, so Iâm glad you brought it up. That panel felt like a callback to Claremont-era Excalibur and its explorations of gender and identity bending, something more ably discussed by CXF staffer Dr. Anna Peppard and her colleagues on the Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Podcast.
But, again, thatâs a callback to a dated (though thoroughly enjoyable) comic with dated ideas of gender.
Andrea: I totally agree. That discussion feels ideally situated for Dr. Annaâs podcast. Does gender-bending lose its shine at some point? I have a lot of thoughts about all of this, but thatâs another article.
A Shogo No-Go

Dan: Otherworld rantings aside, I do appreciate that this issue allows enough time to check in with some of the non-Betsy characters. We get some good character moments with Gambit in the Crooked Market and Rictor, Shatterstar and Bei the Blood Moon blasting across the alkali flats of Dryador.
But letâs talk about that Jubilee scene.
This one made me nervous. The clothing-allergic Roma has presented Jubilee with an offer to raise her son, Shogo, in her fae kingdom, where he appears happiest in his dragon form.
Wanna de-fang Jubilee? Great. Give her her powers back via some Phoenix nonsense? Letâs effing go. But this? This is not a status quo reset Iâm cool with. Iâm willing to give Tini Howard and co. the benefit of the doubt, but Iâve seen too many superheroes de-childrened over the years not to be skeptical. Shogo gives Jubilee dimension and something to fight for in an era where she could easily be set adrift. To quote Bobby Evans: The kid stays in the picture.
Andrea: Listen, Gambit handing out a Pop-Tart was some primo comics fodder for me. Like the older woman in the panel, I am mystified by its frosted deliciousness. I feel you deeply, however, on the Jubilee business. This is NOT the reset I want for Jubilee, but maybe it will turn out fine? I donât know.
When we (finally) get to the trial, did you well ⊠did you feel any particular kinda way about it? Let down is perhaps the best way I have to describe my sentiments. The only nice thing I have to say about the trial is Saturnyneâs trial outfit. I never knew a jabot and bench wig could be sexy, but here we are, Dan. Here we are.
Still, how much hoopla was there about the trial and then itâs like two pages before Merlyn storms his ass in to be like, âI have things to say!â
Donât get me wrong, I very much enjoy Arthur showing up and what this portends, but overall, I feel somewhat meh. Howard doesnât have an easy task here; however, itâs a book attempting to tie together disparate bits as the focus shifts to Mordred.
Because it seems like thatâs the area where Excalibur #24 wants to focus on anyway, the pacing feels much smoother after Page 18. The clunkiness dissipates and we finally prepare for the âWitchbreed War,â as Merlyn so lovingly puts it. Howâd you feel about the later part of the issue?
Dan: First of all, thank you, THANK YOU. I was honestly dying to hear your thoughts on Opal Lunaâs judge attire, and you did not disappoint.
As for the trial (Man, mutants be judiciating lately), I felt no way about it, because Iâve never been given a reason to care about the Captain Britain-Excalibur mash-up characters. Now, if you put that Captain Britain swan on trial or her raptor buddy? Iâll be the first one to burst through the doors yelling, âThis whole court is out of order!â
Itâs funny, though, how we keep moving the goalposts through this issue of exactly when the good stuff starts. First it was Page 15, now Page 18. I think we just want this arc to be over. Might as well lean into the fact that the X-traneous Thoughts header is directly below this paragraph.
X-traneous Thoughts
- Not to harp on this, but we really have lost sight of the Pete Wisdom-resurrected STRIKE-Coven Akkaba subplot.
- Shatterstar refers to Brian as ânew friend,â but theyâve met. If youâll refer to Exhibit A directly below this bullet point, in X-Factor #106, part of âThe Phalanx Covenant,â here they are standing RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

- Krakoan reads âThe one true king returns.â