Excalibur #13 annotations
As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.
EXCALIBUR vol 4 #13
“X of Swords, Chapter 9”
by Tini Howard, R B Silva & Nolan Woodard
COVER / PAGE 1. The two Captain Britains fight.
PAGES 2-3. Recap and credits
PAGES 4-6. The Braddock siblings arrive at the Starlight Citadel.
“A mutant who became a hero to a people who were not her own.” Betsy as Captain Britain, of course, although the claim that she’s a hero to the people of Britain has been more often asserted in this series than actually backed up. Many of the claims in this narration would carry a bit more weight if we ever actually saw Betsy doing anything in a national-hero vein. But broadly, it’s making claims about the weight of playing the role of a national symbol, and the downplaying of personal views which is necessary if you’re going to be all things to all people – to the extent that you can.
“She had hardly settled into her own skin…” Referring to Betsy getting her original body back in Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor, as part of the general deck-clearing that happened in the run-up to the Krakoan launch. Betsy had been in Kwannon’s body for several decades, in publication terms.
Brian Braddock is behaving quite oddly in this scene in a couple of respects. He’s seemingly cheerful and upbeat about carrying the Sword of Might, which was buried beneath the Excalibur Lighthouse at his request in issue #7, precisely because he thought it was a curse. (It’s never spelled out how he found it, but presumably either he’s magically drawn to it, or Jamie retrieved it with his reality-warping powers.) Brian is also unusually relaxed about the company of his wildly erratic, massively powerful brother Jamie. The likely explanation is that Brian is keeping up an act, for the benefit of Saturnyne (for reasons that become apparent later), or Betsy (because he hopes to palm off the sword on her), or a bit of both.
The Sword of Might and the Amulet of Right. We’ve covered this before, and it’s recapped in a data page. Basically, in the original Captain Britain origin story, he was given a choice between the Amulet of Right and the Sword of Might. In the way of such stories, the right choice is the Amulet, which proves you worthy. This was later extended to be the common origin story of the entire Captain Britain Corps, across multiple Earths. But it was later established that anyone who chooses the Sword still becomes a hero, but of a tragic, cursed type. This is broadly why neither Betsy nor Brian wants to get saddled with the Sword of Might
“The Sword of Might was named in the prophecy, Betsy. As were we.” In X-Factor #4. The prophecy identifies (very cryptically) the ten champions who are supposed to represent Krakoa in their upcoming battle against Arakko, and the swords which they’re supposed to use to do it. As Brian rightly points out, the Sword of Might was on the list. And it does seem odd if he was meant to be wielding it, considering that he’s not a Krakoan and not even a mutant – his powers are magical.
“Call me when you need a mutant to walk you through the gate.” House of X #1 established that non-mutants can use the gates with a mutant to vouch for them, but it’s come up so rarely since then that you might have forgotten.
“As if this whole Captain Britain thing was simply a favour to you.” “It was.” In issue #1, Brian was being controlled by Morgan Le Fey, and did indeed ask Betsy to take the amulet, presumably to reduce the power available to Morgan. So he’s kind of right that it was a favour to him, though clearly Betsy thinks it wasn’t just that.
“And when I was too angry and hurt to take the amulet in my hand again, you were there for me.” Referring to a scene in issue #6 which is recapped in the following data page.
Saturnyne is a counterpart from another world of Courtney Ross, who was Brian Braddock’s girlfriend in his early stories (and showed up briefly in the first Excalibur run, before getting killed and replaced by yet another counterpart).
PAGE 7. Data page on the Sword of Might. This is one of a series of data pages profiling the swords to be used in the contest.
“Presumed to be from Galador.” Eh? Galador is the home planet of Rom and the Spaceknights, and the origin of the sword that Cable is carrying around over in his own book. If this isn’t an outright error (and it’s so random that it might be) then it’s a strange connection.
“The late Dr James Braddock”. The father of Brian, Betsy and James.
“Forged in the fires of creation” and “tempered by the power of the universe”. These are direct quotes from Excalibur vol 2 #3, where they were delivered by Mastermind (James’s sentient computer), impersonating Roma.
Kelsey Leigh was introduced in Avengers vol 3 #77; she chose the sword, and became Captain Britain, but with the curse of not being allowed to see her children again. She later went by Lionheart.
Albion is a divergent Captain Britain from a world where World War I continued interminably; he was the first recorded example of a Brian Braddock (or rather, a Bran Bardic) who chose the sword. He was a recurring villain in New Excalibur.
“Brian Braddock was approached in a dream by Merlyn and Roma.” He was indeed, in issue #6. But, as Saturnyne points out in the next scene, Merlyn and Roma are no longer responsible for offering that choice. And they’re supposedly not even on good terms any more (running rival realms). So what was going on in that scene…?
PAGES 8-12. Saturnyne takes the Braddocks to the Captain Britain Corps memorial garden.
“…whom we lost when a great incursion destroyed many of our Multiverses.” In New Avengers vol 3 #30.
“We have a Captain Britain Corps.” In issue #9, we saw Jamie engineer a number of alternate timelines, in each of which a single member of Excalibur survived, claimed Betsy’s amulet, and became the “new” Captain Britain. Saturnyne claims that these Captains as heretical because, although they chose to pick up the amulet, they never chose between the amulet and the sword. Note that at least two of the Captain Britain statues in this memorial garden are carrying swords. It doesn’t seem to matter which choice they make – merely that they make the choice. On traditional magical reasoning, the point may be that the choice is what gives their stories heroic (or tragic) weight. But note later that Saturnyne seems not to care about the choice anyway.
Saturnyne doesn’t mention the more obvious point that no matter what costume they’re wearing, characters like Gambit, Rogue and Jubilee are not credible as national heroes of Britain. But part of the point seems to be that for all her protests, Betsy really can’t point to anything that makes her any more legitimate than them.
“The offer is made – by Merlyn, or Roma, once… but no longer.” Subplot klaxon.
“Any captain who hasn’t made the choice … must be declared rogue … at which point they are held until I determine them ready to be destroyed.” If that’s the only possible outcome, why bother holding them at all?
“There’s a whole Starlight Sword we haven’t even begun to acquire…“ Also on the prophecy list.
“Did you not see what happened when I drew it before?” Brian turned into a Captain Britain-style hero, somewhat resembling his original 1970s costume. He talks here as if it’s a Dial H for Hero style of transformation, altering his personality as well, but that’s never really been a feature of Captain Britain-ness before.
PAGE 13. The heretic Captain Britain Corp attack Jamie in his bedroom.
If they really want to kill him, why on earth are they waking him up? He’s insanely powerful. It’s never really clear why these guys are wandering around unsupervised and why they want to kill Jamie. Is it part of a wider scheme or just rather random plotting?
PAGE 14. Data page on the Captain Britain Corps.
“Sir James Braddock, great ally of the Otherworld.” Hmm. Established continuity has it that James Braddock was from Otherworld, and was sent to Earth to father Brian so that he would become Captain Britain. I suspect somebody has twigged to the tension between that back story and the fact that there’s a Brian Braddock on almost every world, which surely implies that his father ought to exist on almost every world too.
Trials. We have indeed seen the Captain Britain Corps holding trials from time to time, including in their first appearance..
The Ivory Kings is another term for the Beyonders, who destroyed the previous Corps in New Avengers vol 3 #30. The bit about Brian being cast out to save him also comes from thaat issue.
Captain UK. A supporting character in 1980s Captain Britain stories. She was the Captain of a world which had been taken over by Jim Jaspers.
Hauptmann Englande. The Nazi Captain Britain from Excalibur vol 1.
Captain Albion. Not to be confused with the “Albion” mentioned earlier, Captain Albion appears in the Captain Britain stories in Daredevils #6-7.
PAGES 15-18. Jamie is saved, and Brian becomes Captain Avalon.
When the scabbard is burned away, Brian is left holding the Sword of Might involuntarily, but it doesn’t turn him into the same costume he had in issue #6. This time he takes the name Captain Avalon, the suggestion being that he’s going to represent Avalon while Betsy represents Britain.
PAGES 20-22. Jamie rescues Betsy, and Saturnyne creates the Starlight Sword.
Saturnyne seems to suggest here that the amulet and sword were needed when Merlyn and Roma were around, but aren’t needed any more. (“I don’t need a choice. So we don’t need that amulet.”) She seems to be trying to create a single artefact to serve the role of both, and there’s some suggestion that the amulet/sword thing was about choosing between Merlyn and Roma.
Again, on the surface, this doesn’t fit with Saturnyne’s insistence earlier in the story that a Captain Britain must make a choice. This seems to be intentional, given the vague hints that there’s some reason for Merlyn and Roma’s demotion that we haven’t heard about yet.
PAGE 23. Data page on the Starlight Sword, which is self-explanatory.
PAGES 24-26. Brian distracts Saturnyne while Betsy steals the Starlight Sword.
Note that after strenuously trying to avoid the Sword of Might earlier in the issue, Brian doesn’t seem at all bothered now that he has it. He appears completely normal, but you have to wonder.
PAGE 27. Trailer page. The Krakoan says NEXT: HISTORY.
Tini Howard is a baffling writer. Since when does Betsy act like a 14 year old throwing a tantrum?
At least this issue has the built-in possible explanation that 99% of what transpires is Brian and Betsy faking to dupe Saturnyne. Maybe.
Ye gods, the last thing Captain Britain needed was even more confusing baggage tacked on to a perfectly good concept. Trying to explain that Brian Braddock is the bestest choice except when they have to accept alternates and substitutes? The whole Sword vs Amulet thing? Even destroying the Corps and trying to replace it with half-baked mutants via Jamie’s dodgy-wodgy reality powers…
It’s all so -weird- when you consider that when 616-Brian first took on the mantle, there was already a huge corps of established Captains in place and he was basically a noob. But ever since he was assimilated into the mainstream Marvel U, newer writers have thrown all sorts of crap against the wall. Now he’s the King of Otherworld, all Captains are alternate Brians, he’s the last one, and so on.
They really need someone good like Al Ewing to do some repairs to the whole mythos.
> Tini Howard is a baffling writer. Since when > does Betsy act like a 14 year old throwing a
> tantrum?
She’s acting. As is her brother. I imagine they’re exaggerating for effect.
But that said, family members are known to regress into childhood dynamics when arguing.
I thought this was convoluted and hard to follow, so I went back and reread it, keeping the scam trick in mind.
Nope, it’s still hard to follow. How did the Captain Britain Copies get loose? Why are they suddenly pro-murder? Why does Saturnyne want the Amulet destroyed when Captain Britains can already be made without offering the choice? What the heck is going on?
I concur that it was hard to follow – and unfortunately, I’ve found that to be the case with a lot of Howard’s work.
I recently read the director’s cut (or whatever it was called) of Strikeforce #1, and some of the descriptions to the artist were impossible to draw, which I think is a huge factor in how difficult her plots can be to follow.
I always feel like I have missed an issue when I read this title. It feels like I am being told that being Cap Britain is this huge deal for Betsy but I don’t feel like I have been shown why I should be believe it.
I can totally understand Betsy emotionally grabbing this fresh start / clean slate after murdering so many people in Kwannon’s body, but I have to surmise it based on my knowledge of her history. It’s not being told to me here. My biggest issue is her refusing to give Brian back the title after the way he was hurt when he gave it up. I just don’t buy that she wouldn’t give it to him specifically if he felt well enough to resume it
It seemed to me that the whole quarrel between the siblings was cooked up in advance of the issue, “off-camera,” as it were, since they all presumably knew that Saturnyne is a tricky creep who hates Betsy and is probably plotting against everybody besides Brian.
In Paul’s writeup:
“As Brian rightly points out, the Sword of Might was on the list. And it does seem odd if he was meant to be wielding it, considering that he’s not a Krakoan and not even a mutant – his powers are magical.”
A persistent point in the series so far is that Betsy, as a citizen of Krakoa, is not an appropriate representative of Britain. If Brian is going to fight as a human representing Krakoa, he provides a nice mirror image reflecting back the problem that Betsy faces. I’ve come around to thinking that this is a decent central problem for Betsy at this point, figuring out how to be a captain “of” and “for” Britain when she is so distanced from it and her loyalty is so much on the side of Krakoa.
This is actually proving to be my consistent favorite of the books in this re-launch. Coming back to the books after the months off, I find I’m less frustrated by the general thrust of the books and the status quo of the X-men. I can see ways it could prove interesting, and it generally does work better for me when stronger writers than Hickman step in to handle things. So I’ve been liking Zeb Wells’ Hellions a lot––and I enjoy Marauders as well. Since more of these writers seem to be present, the books seem a little better to me––though I thought the X of Swords: Creation was almost as dismal as anything Hickman has ever written––I did not see much of Howard present there, except maybe in the Saturnyne dialogue and the tarot card scene––and the premise of this event seems clangingly dull and miserably trite. Honestly, it’s Hickman’s handling of the writing of individual issues I hate so much. When other, more skillful writers of issues handle individual storylines Hickman has put in place, I think things are generally more moving, more lively, and more interesting. Unlike some readers and I think many fans on this board, I prefer plot logic sloppiness with some energetic storytelling to those times the writing makes perfect sense and connects everything together continuity-wise, but the whole story ends up sterile. I don’t appreciate Hickman’s attempt to tie up all of X-men lore into a tight package (the next adjectiveless X-men issue sorts Apocalypse’s origins and purpose out in a way I never needed him to have done), and I hate his tabletop–gaming approach to writing stories; but I don’t mind his overarching plots entirely. So when I read this issue of Excalibur, I find a lot to be thrilled at: the Braddocks outwitting Saturnyne, Betsy’s exhilarating scene claiming the Starlight Sword, reaffirming her aim to be Captain Britain, and the messing around with the Captain Britain lore seems so complicated I think it’s funny to imagine Howard is going out of her way to mix it up even more than prior writers did. I liked that even though the team doesn’t show up in this issue, they are present in the ghostly forms of the alternative Captain Britains. I thought that the idea of worthiness to be Captain Britain gets thoroughly queried throughout the issue, and the presence of the heretical Captains helps mightily to explicate it all. Mostly the comic is just lively and fun, and the heroism on display is really that of just outwitting a treacherous villain, like in Jack and the Beanstalk, or very much like the early issues of Volume I of Excalibur (which I’m re-reading right now), in which the heroes are inspired to form a team after they fight off the Warwolves and Technet, both of whom were only after Rachel Summers. In that initial story, they team up to defend Britain not because Britain was actually threatened, but because a fellow hero was individually threatened (and would have been so, no matter where she was). I dunno, but both stories work for me as heroic, even if the characters are merely looking after their own.
But what I appreciate most about the stories Howard tells are that a) they move really fast, so I generally feel like I’m getting my money’s worth out of these comics (often not the case in the other titles, or modern comics in general, and even issues of the better X-books right now don’t always feel worth the price––Marauders is sometimes in this boat for me), and b) they include all the things the Hickman comics are missing––the varied, fluctuating tone and pace of a real, vibrant story (Hickman often prefers a rigid structure to anything with the energy provided by variance of structure), the sense of events unfolding organically (Hickman always makes you aware of the writer’s presence shaping events, and cares little for how a reader processes the structures he deploys), and the added valence of character work (Hickman doesn’t seem to know about character development, or if he does, he clearly doesn’t think it would help his stories). The character work doesn’t have to be enormous and conclusive, after all, but providing it within the book creates a texture to the stories that is more dynamic, with increased verisimilitude. So that stuff’s all here, and in Hellions, and for the most part in Marauders, so I find I’m appreciating those books more. As for Hickman’s big central story, I just don’t believe it’s going to pay off in the end. I’ve never believed in it, and this X of Swords event does nothing to bolster my faith that things will develop into a coherent story. But I think if more of the books have the elements I see in Excalibur, then at least some good character work will be a beneficial result of the years of frustration at what Hickman is doing with the X-men. Maybe some of these teams will be put into more intrinsically entertaining stories down the line. But for now, I think Howard’s writing is better than most, in all the ways that matter to me most.
Should it be Captain Britains or Captains Britain?
Did every alternate Earth with a Captain Britain get destroyed in the incursions? For that matter, where do all the alternate Earths fit into the ten-realm map of Otherworld? Do they all connect via Avalon like 616 and if so, why aren’t they a presence there? (Problem with drawing maps is, it invites questions)
Based on Secret Wars, every Earth in the multiverse except Earth-616 and the Ultimate Universe’s were destroyed.
Then, obviously, Ultimate Earth was eliminated too.
At the end of Secret Wars, the multiverse began to be recreated though.
Well yeah, I guess the better question is did all those worlds get recreated, and if so why would the Captain Britain Corps have been left dead? Which is just one of many questions never really answered about what happened after Secret Wars, so I’m not holding my breath, but if anyone should be responsible for clearing it up, it’s Hickman.
The Captain Britain Corps were killed in an attack on Otherworld, not by eradicating their home realities. Why Saturnyne (or Roma or Merlyn) don’t just go and create some new Captain Britains is as yet unclear, though it might well be a plot point.
“And it does seem odd if he was meant to be wielding it, considering that he’s not a Krakoan and not even a mutant”
Something I hadn’t really thought about ’til I read someone else commenting on it, is that in Part 1, Saturnyne says she’s picking (or they’re pre-ordained) the champions of OTHERWORLD, not Krakoa. Which doesn’t seem to make any sense, as the Arrako side hasn’t expressed (at least not in the 4 parts I’ve read properly) a desire to get anything more than Krakoa. More generally, I can’t tell what outcome Saturnyne wants in this story.
This just seems clunky and poorly written, I don’t regret dropping it.
As the all the questions about destroyed Earth’s and incursions from Hickman’s Avengers stuff= who fucking knows?
Did the Incursions even happen? What do people remember? Are the Avengers still murderers? Why did Universes that destroyed their Earth still get erased? What exactly was the point of any of it?
That’s why I have so little faith his X-Men stuff is going to go anywhere or matter in the grand scheme of things.
I remain stunned that Brian declares that he will now be the defender of his brother, and take the mantle of Captain Avalon, all of two pages after Jamie blew up CB-Jubilee’s head in front of him, in a fit of pique. Two! Pages! You can argue that first declaration was part of the ruse, but he’s clearly sincere the second time, all of eight pages later. What is it with this series and supposedly heroic characters signing on to serve mass murdering psychopaths?
Speaking of mantles, Jamie is wearing Mr Sinister’s cape, which he got in Hellions, a nice detail.
“Presumed to be from Galador.”
It looks like they were copying and pasting and forgot to remove a line from the data page on of the Sword of Galador from Cable #5.
Mikey said
“Tini Howard is a baffling writer.”
Gary said
“I always feel like I have missed an issue when I read this title.”
Scott said
“I concur that it was hard to follow – and unfortunately, I’ve found that to be the case with a lot of Howard’s work.”
This book is a total misfire. If it wasn’t for Paul I would no be able to follow, as much as it is possible to do so.
I often find myself reading it jut for the sake of completion.
The sword of might is not from galador, I’d assume they just copy pasted the whole thing over from the last chapter of XoS which was in cables book