I tend to write my posts here assuming some pre-existing comic book knowledge on the part of the reader, but at the same time I don't want to confuse anybody. So, as I did last week with TRANSFORMERS, I'll be tossing out little nuggets like this one before starting a new review series (or in this case continuing one that has moved into the pages of a new title). If you're already an Excalibur Expert, please feel free to skip the below, though I would advise reading at least the final paragraph.
Art by Alan Davis and Paul Neary |
In 1986, Marvel published the very first X-franchise crossover, "Mutant Massacre". The story shook up the X-Men's status quo considerably. One major change to come out of the event was the crippling of two X-mainstays, Kitty Pryde (a.k.a. Shadowcat) and Nightcrawler. Both characters were sidelined for the better part of a year, until the debut of a new team, Excalibur, in their own 1987 special, which saw the pair team up with Captain Britain, Meggan, and another former X-Man, Rachel Summers -- known at the time as Phoenix.
The EXCALIBUR special led to an ongoing series by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis, which ran for several years. Claremont and/or Davis, sometimes together and sometimes solo, combined to guide the series for roughly half its run.
NEW MUTANTS ANNUAL #2, 1986 |
Following the NEW MUTANTS annual, Betsy remained at Xavier's school to get a better handle on her psychic powers and, in an issue of UNCANNY X-MEN guest-penciled by Davis, she officially joined the X-Men under the code name Psylocke. Betsy has been intertwined so closely with the X-Men ever since, that her relationship to Captain Britain has become a minor footnote in her character's history.
A year after his appearance in NEW MUTANTS, Captain Britain again dropped in on Xavier's school, this time with Meggan, to visit Betsy in 1987's UNCANNY X-MEN annual. In this largely forgettable story, again by Claremont and Davis, Cap plays a laughably minor role alongside the X-Men to battle a demon named Horde. Cap's appearance in this tale is so superfluous that one wonders if he was only included because Davis was drawing it.
Betsy as Psylocke |
I should note than I will break down my EXCALIBUR reviews by trade paperback volume, meaning there will be a total of eight: EXCALIBUR CLASSIC volumes 1 through 5, and EXCALIBUR VISIONARIES: ALAN DAVIS 1 through 3. Additionally, I will cover only issues by Claremont and/or Davis. There were several fill-ins in EXCALIBUR during its early years, and I did not read them for my recent marathon. Lastly, as this is a Captain Britain retrospective, I will cover mainly the story aspects relating to Cap in particular, while painting the rest of the action with very broad strokes.
Now, on with the series!
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