EXCALIBUR #8 REVIEW

[Adam Chapman]

Reviewer: Adam Chapman adam.chapman@sympatico.ca
Quick Rating: Slightly Above Average
Title: Saturday Night Fever Part 1

Xavier and his crew finally begin rebuilding Genosha, and Magneto brings home a new addition.

<a href=http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/media/582/excalibur8.jpg"" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixtreme.com/gallery/data/thumbnails/582/excalibur8.jpg" align="left" border="0"> </a>Writer: Chris Claremont
Pencils: Aaron Lopresti
Inks: Greg Adams & Sean Parsons
Letters: Tom Orzechowski
Colours: Transparency Digital
Editor: Stephanie Moore
Supervising Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Review: The premise of this series has been Xavier and his crew rebuilding the nation of Genosha, but this issue is the real start of making good on that premise, as everything up till now has delayed Xavier's crew from starting anything at all.

There's actually a lot going on in this issue, as Claremont is cultivating numerous plot points, from illustrating Shola and Freakshow's combined efforts to create arable land out of the ruined structures of Genosha, to Xavier and Magneto's ongoing attempts to rescue survivors of the Sentinel attack and enlist them in the effort to rebuild Genosha, to Xavier and Karima enlisting the assistance of their temporary prisonners, to help rebuild Genosha as well.

However, the most important event in this issue takes place at the end, as the Excalibur crew (or at least Magneto, Shola, and new characters Broadband and Book) finally get tied into current continuity, Avengers Disassembled in particular, and introduces a new member into Excalibur. In an issue where for the most part it was an enjoyable read, hamfistedly adding in a segue to Avengers Disassembled is cumbersome and bothersome, and the manner in which it is carried out is ridiculous. The last few pages of this book have no consistency, whether it be in Magneto's power levels (which have been fluctuating throughout this series), or even his costume. It's an important moment, which makes it all the more unfortunate that it was carried out so lazily.

The art in this issue by Lopresti is some of his better work on this series so far, solid work, which carries the issue well, except for his work on Magneto (and specifically, Magneto's costume) in the final few pages of the book. And his two-page spread at the beginning of the book is a nice piece of work, probably one of the artistic highlights of the issue.

Overall, this is a fairly okay issue by Claremont and company, which would have merited a good rating had it not been for the inconsistency both in art and story in injecting plot points and continuity integration from Avengers Disassembled.

Ratings:

Story: http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg

Art: http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg

Overall: http://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/full.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpghttp://www.comixtreme.com/reviews/none.jpg

Buy Excalibur online now from X-World and Save! (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1246&cat=EXCALIBUR)

[Attok12]

Not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but it is better to be safe.



If you are talking about the fact that Magneto's costume changed from his new one to the Planet X one without explanation...well, his costume change was the result of Wanda's power, which was responsible for several Avengers appearing in alternate/old costumes throughout Disassembled (as confirmed by Tom Breevort on other message boards). Everything, including this entire situation with Magneto, will be addressed in House of M, according to Bendis himself.

The only real screw up that I see is that Claremont forgot to check Magneto's dialogue in Avengers#503. The "Xavier was right."...and "It was you." comments now don't make sense.

[Adam Chapman]

Hmmm... so that's why he was wearing THREE different costumes, all told, and two different helmets? And with the whole wormhole business, why didn't he just leave via a wormhole right from the Avengers fight- why'd he waste the time flying upwards and out of sight, and THEN taking the wormhole home? Oi :p :sigh:

[Ammar Al Subahi]

Originally posted by Adam Chapman
Hmmm... so that's why he was wearing THREE different costumes, all told, and two different helmets? And with the whole wormhole business, why didn't he just leave via a wormhole right from the Avengers fight- why'd he waste the time flying upwards and out of sight, and THEN taking the wormhole home? Oi :p :sigh:

Why? That would be like feeding zoo pets, dangerous because then they expect more!

I can understand that Magneto doesn't want to get used....

"oh c'mon Erik! You can create friggin wormholes! Why won't you make one now to the mall? C'mon, you know I hate to walk!"

[Andrea Speed]

To be a complete and total geek here (shock, I know), wormholes aren't only a warping of space, but the fabric of time itself (to get you from distant point A to point B in almost no time flat). So, if he can warp time now, why isn't he doing it to save Genosha and his daughter?

Just asking ... :D

[mike trobaugh]

wanda could have opened the worm hole because she wanted her father there to rescue her.

and as far as the "Xavier was right" and "it was you" comments, who knows what they have talked about in the past, or what they have talked about recently off-panel.