{"id":5780,"date":"2020-10-21T22:16:27","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T21:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5780"},"modified":"2020-10-21T22:16:27","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T21:16:27","slug":"excalibur-13-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=5780","title":{"rendered":"Excalibur #13 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 #13<\/strong>
“X of Swords, Chapter 9”<\/strong>
by Tini Howard, R B Silva & Nolan Woodard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.<\/strong> The two Captain Britains fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

PAGES 4-6.<\/strong> The Braddock siblings arrive at the Starlight Citadel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A mutant who became a hero to a people who were not her own.”<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

“She had hardly settled into her own skin…”<\/strong> Referring to Betsy getting her original body back in Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brian Braddock<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sword of Might and the Amulet of Right.<\/strong> 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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Sword of Might was named in the prophecy, Betsy. As were we.”<\/strong> In X-Factor<\/em> #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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Call me when you need a mutant to walk you through the gate.”<\/strong> House of X<\/em> #1 established that non-mutants can<\/em> use the gates with a mutant to vouch for them, but it’s come up so rarely since then that you might have forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As if this whole Captain Britain thing was simply a favour to you.” “It was.”<\/strong> 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<\/em> that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And when I was too angry and hurt to take the amulet in my hand again, you were there for me.”<\/strong> Referring to a scene in issue #6 which is recapped in the following data page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturnyne<\/strong> 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<\/em> run, before getting killed and replaced by yet another<\/em> counterpart).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 7.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Presumed to be from Galador.”<\/strong> Eh? Galador is the home planet of Rom and the Spaceknights, and the origin of the sword that Cable<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The late Dr James Braddock”.<\/strong> The father of Brian, Betsy and James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Forged in the fires of creation” and “tempered by the power of the universe”.<\/strong> These are direct quotes from Excalibur<\/em> vol 2 #3, where they were delivered by Mastermind (James’s sentient computer), impersonating Roma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey Leigh<\/strong> was introduced in Avengers<\/em> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albion<\/strong> 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<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Brian Braddock was approached in a dream by Merlyn and Roma.”<\/strong> 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 <\/em>going on in that scene…?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 8-12.<\/strong> Saturnyne takes the Braddocks to the Captain Britain Corps memorial garden.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“…whom we lost when a great incursion destroyed many of our Multiverses.”<\/strong> In New Avengers<\/em> vol 3 #30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have<\/em> a Captain Britain Corps.”<\/strong> 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The offer is made – by Merlyn, or Roma, once… but no longer.”<\/strong> Subplot klaxon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“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.”<\/strong> If that’s the only possible outcome, why bother holding them at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There’s a whole Starlight Sword we haven’t even begun to acquire<\/strong>…“<\/strong> Also on the prophecy list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Did you not see what happened when I drew it before?”<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 13.<\/strong> The heretic Captain Britain Corp attack Jamie in his bedroom.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 14.<\/strong> Data page on the Captain Britain Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sir James Braddock, great ally of the Otherworld.”<\/strong> Hmm. Established continuity has it that James Braddock was from<\/em><\/span> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trials.<\/strong> We have indeed seen the Captain Britain Corps holding trials from time to time, including in their first appearance..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ivory Kings<\/strong> is another term for the Beyonders, who destroyed the previous Corps in New Avengers<\/em> vol 3 #30. The bit about Brian being cast out to save him also comes from thaat issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain UK.<\/strong> A supporting character in 1980s Captain Britain stories. She was the Captain of a world which had been taken over by Jim Jaspers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hauptmann Englande.<\/strong> The Nazi Captain Britain from Excalibur<\/em> vol 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Captain Albion.<\/strong> Not to be confused with the “Albion” mentioned earlier, Captain Albion appears in the Captain Britain stories in Daredevils<\/em> #6-7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 15-18.<\/strong> Jamie is saved, and Brian becomes Captain Avalon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 20-22.<\/strong> Jamie rescues Betsy, and Saturnyne creates the Starlight Sword.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 23.<\/strong> Data page on the Starlight Sword, which is self-explanatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGES 24-26.<\/strong> Brian distracts Saturnyne while Betsy steals the Starlight Sword.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGE 27. <\/strong>Trailer page. The Krakoan says NEXT: HISTORY.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/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":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780","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=5780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5784,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5780\/revisions\/5784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}