{"id":4932,"date":"2019-12-19T22:44:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T22:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=4932"},"modified":"2019-12-19T22:44:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T22:44:47","slug":"excalibur-4-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=4932","title":{"rendered":"Excalibur #4 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Um… Captain Britain fights a dragon with flowers on it. It’s presumably meant to be one of the monsters that invades right at the end of the issue, but this doesn’t actually happen in the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 2-3.<\/strong> Gambit checks in on Rogue, then goes to London to catch with Betsy, who is meeting the Queen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All self explanatory. As Morgan Le Fey suggested last issue, the public is apparently not happy about the new Captain Britain being a mutant, so there are people protesting about it outside Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 4-5.<\/strong> Recap and credits. This is “Verse IV: Fall Back and Think of England!” by Tini Howard and Marcus To.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 6-8.<\/strong> Gambit gets into a fight with the protestors, and Captain Britain shows up to announce that they’re the new Excalibur.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

British national identity.<\/strong> Rictor and Jubilee attempt to understand the difference between England and Britain. It’s, um, pitched at an introductory level. The analysis of the situation in Northern Ireland ends with the words “Northern Irish people are British”. And the Scottish independence movement doesn’t get mentioned. For whatever reason, this story treats Captain Britain as specifically representing the United Kingdom (the political entity) rather than the British Isles (the geographical feature), which rather begs the question of what would happen if the UK broke up. Bluntly, it’s difficult to avoid the feeling that this is a story about (in part) British national identity written by somebody with no real understanding of the topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rictor.<\/strong> He’s feeling much better and back in control of his powers, which he cheerfully credits to Apocalypse. He’s also willing to use Apocalypse’s unusual new name. Jubilee is understandably suspicious; Rictor insists that Apocalypse didn’t do anything other than give him some insights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen.<\/strong> In this charmingly American story, the Queen seems to be personally running something or other, and dealing with Captain Britain in person. And… um, what? Has that ever been a thing for Captain Britain, or indeed for the Queen? The story doesn’t seem to be suggesting that the Queen has some sort of particular significance in dealing with Otherworld (on some views of magic, you could make a case for her having magical significance as a literal living symbol). It just seems to have some really weird ideas about how constitutional monarchy works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 9.<\/strong> Data page. A copy of some sort of “Act” to the general effect that the UK recognises Otherworld as an “extraplanar” realm that exists alongside it, with Captain Britain as the UK’s representative to Otherworld. (I guess.) Why the UK’s representative to Otherworld would be an Otherworld resident is unclear, but at any rate the suggestion is that the holder of the office must have divided loyalties between the earthly and mystical planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A handwritten note from Pete Wisdom says that this “hasn’t been updated in a while”, so presumably it was written for Brian Braddock. It really doesn’t make sense for this to be an Act of Parliament; ironically, if it’s meant to be recognising a foreign state, it probably should<\/em> be an Order made by the Queen on the advice of her Ministers… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 10.<\/strong> Apocalypse announces that he needs some macguffins in order to wake Rogue, and he wants Gambit and Rogue to get them for him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-explanatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 11-12.<\/strong> On Krakoa, Jubilee and Meggan have an argument with Jamie Braddock.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jubilee is bringing Shogo to safety; Meggan is taking refuge from protestors with infant daughter Maggie. She’s understandably surprised to learn that Jamie is back (if only because Betsy didn’t mention it – it might have at least crossed her mind that the resurrection programme would get to him in the end).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I thought the new Krakoa was into that sort of thing.”<\/strong> Jamie’s rather crude pass at Meggan is obviously way over the line, but he’s not the first character to point about that people are acting very differently on Krakoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 13.<\/strong> Data page on the Braddock family tree. Mostly this is self-explanatory. The Krakoan under Betsy’s name reads CAPTAIN BRITAIN; under Jamie’s name, it reads MONARCH. That name was used for him in House of X <\/em>as well, but it’s yet to turn up in an actual scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Braddock Sr & Elizabeth Braddock. <\/strong>Betsy’s parents both appeared briefly in the 1970s Captain Britain<\/em> series, mainly to get swiftly killed off. James has a back story as a Captain Britain Corps member from Otherworld who was sent to Earth; Elizabeth is basically a blank slate. The maiden name given here is new, and our attention is directed to the fact that her ancestry is unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Braddock. <\/strong>John Braddock, who established Braddock Manor, is a one-shot character from X-Men: Hellfire Club<\/em> #4 (2000). He hasn’t previously been confirmed specifically as Brian’s grandfather, but it seems to fit with his timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Not by Sword Alone”.<\/strong> The legend at the top of the page generally refers to the role of “soft power” alongside might. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 14-20.<\/strong> Rictor and Gambit try to steal crystals from druids.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crystals.<\/strong> Apocalypse has told Rictor the stones are made from the bones of long-dead mutants and contain their magical energy. That’s basically what he seemed to be discussing last issue, so this seems like it was a sincere explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The druids. <\/strong>The crystals turn out to belong to the druid tribe we saw in previous issues. Being one-with-nature types, the druids aren’t particularly impressed about the idea of drawing power from the stones; but they see Rictor as being innately in tune with the earth, and therefore one of them. This leads them to start anointing Rictor and offering him the crystals – and then chucking Gambit into a pit. Naturally, Rictor’s powers choose this point to go wrong again (just as Apocalypse, who sorted out said powers, has exhausted his use for Rictor…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Talam\u016b”.<\/strong> This is a reconstructed proto-Celtic<\/a> word for “earth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 21-24.<\/strong> Captain Britain and Pete Wisdom have an awkward meeting with Coven Akkaba.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coven Akkaba<\/strong> is, apparently, a more or less open organisation, which claims to be a legitimate mystical fraternity. They insist that the “Akkaba” refers to the pre-Apocalypse human dwelling. But this contradicts earlier issues which told us that they actually split from Apocalypse in the past, and pre-Apocalypse Akkaba was nothing very notable, so it’s likely that they’re lying. They are, however, seemingly being honest about their belief that humility is a virtue, which can be furthered by service to the mystical powers; that’s consistent with earlier issues. (There’s a parallel here with the druid tribe’s notion of living with the land instead of trying to control it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Betsy’s name.<\/strong> She takes offence at Pete calling her “Bets”, probably because Coven Akkaba are openly disputing her right to be Captain Britain, and she wants Pete to shore her up by addressing her accordingly. Of course, the importance of names (as part of the wider importance of symbols) is a long standing magical trope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You did not make the choice.”<\/strong> The Akkabans have a point. The established history of Captain Britain origin stories involves the prospective captain being offered a magically-significant choice between the amulet and the sword. Betsy never made that choice; she was simply given the amulet, and on top of that, in battle she’s using her powers to create a psychic sword and shield. On the basis that ritual is important in magic, this Captain Britain has not performed the ritual properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In times of crisis in the Otherworld, she trusts my judgment over her own.”<\/strong> The Queen is apparently very trusting, given that she’s met Betsy once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Akkabans also suggest that any confidence might be misplaced, as Betsy has already damaged the fabric of Otherworld by charging around it with a dragon last issue. It’s unclear here whether this is actually a genuine blunder on Betsy’s part or a scheme by the Coven which they plan to blame on Betsy (or a bit of both).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 25.<\/strong> Apocalypse and Rogue watch the invasion.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rogue is apparently awake and – in some sense – has been working with Apocalypse already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 26-27.<\/strong> Reading order and trailers. The Krakoan reads NEXT: AWAKEN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. COVER \/ PAGE 1. Um… Captain Britain fights a dragon with flowers on it. It’s presumably meant to be one of the monsters that invades right at the end of the issue, but this doesn’t actually happen in the issue. PAGES […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4932"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4935,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4932\/revisions\/4935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}