{"id":5621,"date":"2020-09-18T21:57:02","date_gmt":"2020-09-18T20:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5621"},"modified":"2020-09-18T21:57:02","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T20:57:02","slug":"excalibur-12-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5621","title":{"rendered":"Excalibur #12 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

EXCALIBUR vol 4 #12<\/strong>
“Verse XII: The Beginning”<\/strong>
by Tini Howard, Marcus To & Erick Arciniega<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> Saturnyne plays chess with Excalibur as the pieces (a common motif with Otherworld rulers); she doesn’t realise she’s a piece in Apocalypse’s game in her turn. If you really <\/em>want to nitpick, the chess board ought to have a white square in the bottom right corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 2-3.<\/strong> Recap and credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 4-6.<\/strong> Apocalypse addresses the High Lords.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Eternal Caldera, Krakoa.” <\/strong>A caldera is a cauldron-like cavity on an extinct volcano. The location, then, is presumably the extinct volcano on the Arak Coral from X-Men<\/em> #2, which contained a closed portal to Krakoa’s sister island of Arakko. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

So let’s spell out the plot. As explained in more detail in X-Men<\/em> #12, Apocalypse is trying to create a portal to Otherworld so that he can use it as a route back to Arakko – X-Men<\/em> #2 mentioned that Arakko and Otherworld have a border. In Excalibur<\/em> #5 we established that opening a Krakoan portal to Otherworld (at least the way Apocalypse is doing it) involves stones which contain the energies of ancient mutants. So Apocalypse has hauled in this bunch of venerable-yet-expendable Z-listers to turn them into the required stones. It doesn’t quite work because he tries it with Candra, and Candra’s energies are locked in the Heart of Candra jewel which Gambit found at the end of the last issue. So to get it over the line, he needs that jewel too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Once upon a time, there was a mutant who was a hero to his people…” <\/strong>Apocalypse seems to be talking about his heroic role in the early days of Arakko, described at more length in this week’s X-Men<\/em> #12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Lords<\/strong> are (left to right in the first panel) Absolom, Gideon, Saul, Crule, Apocalypse, Selene, Candra <\/strong>and Nicodemus<\/strong>. Candra is drawn as a teenager to reflect her status quo following a botched resurrection, as shown in Mr & Mrs X <\/em>#11-12 – it’s going to be academic very soon, so the issue understandably doesn’t waste time explaining it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apocalypse is claiming that on Krkaoa, all mutants now effectively have the powers of the High Lords. This is obviously sort of true in relation to eternal life (though individual mutants are still dependent on others to get the job done). The previous issue introduced the idea that the High Lord can also force a meeting whenever they wish to commune (it’s not entirely clear what happens if one of them says no), and Apocalypse makes a rather more strained argument that the Krakoan teleportation gates are a bit like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apocalypse’s description of the group as “the first mutant coven” – which is also how he described them last issue – is clearly news to the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apocalypse also gives us a speech about the overwhelming importance of mutant community and how humans went wrong with their focus on mechanisation and individualism. Of course, the main threat set up in Powers of X <\/em>was that humans with mechanisation always overtake mutation and render it redundant in the end. Krakoa’s rejection of mainstream technology has been a theme throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong> Data page on the High Lords \/ Externals, pretty much repeating what we’ve already been told. The idea of the group as a kind of Illuminati dates from early X-Force<\/em> but was never really developed in the stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some reason, this page re-uses the small print “Act-HRH” from issue #4, where it was used on the royal proclamation giving Excalibur some sort of official status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 8-14.<\/strong> Rictor is brought to the Cauldron and helps turn three of the High Lords into power stones.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selene and Gideon both side with Apocalypse against the other Externals. This isn’t particularly surprising with Selene, who’s already established as a part of Krakoan society. It’s not so obvious why Gideon sides with Apocalypse, but frankly he’s the only other External who really qualifies as a developed character, having been a prominent villain in the early days of X-Force<\/em>. He’s at least something of a pragmatist, and never especially loyal to the rest of the group. Absalom also survives, if only because Apocalypse needs him for the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Krakoa belongs to all mutants.”<\/strong> This is a routine proclamation on Krakoa, usually indicating that the supervillains are welcome. Rictor seems on the surface to be invoking it here in answer to Saul’s claim that the Externals are special and could rule Krakoa from the shadows – he repeats Apocalypse’s claim that on Krakoa, everyone is basically an External. But at the same time, let’s not forget that Saul is only fighting because Apocalypse is trying to kill him and steal his life force for the supposed greater good. In that light, Rictor is making a claim that the greater good of mutants as a whole (as assessed by Apocalypse, presumably) prevails even over Saul’s right to life. Apocalypse is quite explicit about that, calling the defeated Externals “the weak who would not die for the greater good”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 15.<\/strong> Data page – an extract from Apocalypse’s grimoire, broadly explaining the plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 16.<\/strong> Apocalypse realises that Candra’s energies are in her gem.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 17-19.<\/strong> Candra’s spirit haunts Gambit.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her body destroyed, Candra’s spirit shows up at the Heart of Candra gem and tries to enlist Gambit’s help. She suggests she anticipated Apocalypse’s plan and deliberately hid the Heart of Candra here – though how she got it there is unclear, unless she has some easier method for getting to Otherworld. Gambit suggests that he recognised the jewel and took it for safekeeping. The last meeting that Gambit mentions was in Mr & Mrs X <\/em>#11-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candra says she’s the “goddess of thieves”; this is a bit of an overstatement, but refers to a number of 90s stories where she was presented as the historical benefactor of the Thieves Guild (of which Gambit is part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 20-21.<\/strong> Saturnyne and Captain Britain talk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturnyne clarifies here that her Priests were formed as a replacement after the fall of the Captain Britain Corps (though they seem very well developed for something so recent). She also shows Betsy the deviant Excalibur-Captain Britains that Jamie had created in his pocket realities in issue #10. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturnyne’s simple point seems to be that the role of Captain Britain can’t be validly taken by somebody who doesn’t enjoy British public support. The mere willingness of somebody like Gambit or Jubilee to pick up the medallion and wear the flag doesn’t make them into a viable Captain Britain because they’re so obviously not British. Saturnyne seems to be suggesting that Betsy is also not a viable Captain Britain because she’s a mutant. That claim is less obviously true because there’s no inherent reason to think of those identities as incompatible, but Saturnyne’s point seems to be more about the likelihood of public acceptance (particularly in a world where mutants are overwhelmingly claiming a loyalty to Krakoa). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basically, Saturnyne objects to Betsy as Captain Britain because she believes she can’t command public acceptance, without which she cannot perform all the functions of the role – presumably because she won’t properly function as a (magical) symbol of nationhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 22-25.<\/strong> Gambit and Rogue nearly get caught, and Gambit throws the Heart of Candra through the gate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candra tells Gambit directly that he has a choice between helping her (by hiding the jewel) or helping Apocalypse (by handing it over). He hands it over, but more because he sees this as an immediate chance to get rid of Candra, and believes he can sort out Apocalypse later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 26-27.<\/strong> Trailers. As always this month, the Krakoan reads NEXT: X OF SWORDS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. EXCALIBUR vol 4 #12“Verse XII: The Beginning”by Tini Howard, Marcus To & Erick Arciniega COVER \/ PAGE 1. Saturnyne plays chess with Excalibur as the pieces (a common motif with Otherworld rulers); she doesn’t realise she’s a piece in Apocalypse’s game […]<\/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,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621","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=5621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5623,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5621\/revisions\/5623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}