Excalibur #118 - "New Year's Evil"

Writer: Ben Raab    Pencils: Mel Rubi    Inks: Scot Koblish

  First of all, let me state that Excalibur is my favorite book, with my favorite characters and the most potential of any of the X-Books. The rumors of its cancellation have now proven themselves to be true, and for that I am deeply saddened. Now with that said, after reading issue 118, I've decided it's the intention of the minds behind this book to make it so bad and run it into the ground so far, that any character that escapes unscathed will be welcomed into another book.

  First of all the book was almost an entire month late, making me think that something extra special was coming out. Boy was I wrong. ONE WORD: BAMFS? Ok....OK....I know I said last review that they should get over the save a team member from kidnapping plot lines, but anything is better than this. I mean sickeningly cute fuzzy nightcrawler dolls chasing kitty's pet dragon down and attempting to slay him, because they think kitty loves him more than them????? Who comes up with this stuff?

  I can't honestly say that I've read the origin of the Bamfs. It occurred in something called "Kitty's Fairytale" in what I assume to be the Uncanny X-Men. I can honestly say, however, that seeing the team which has fought universal baddies like Necrom and Galactus wrestling around muppets, is truly sad. I love Jim Henson as much as the next guy, but GEESH, you gotta be kidding me.

  Beyond that, the terribly clichˇ'd soap opera break up scenes between Wisdom and Kitty and Collossus and Meggan were sickening. I mean really, Meggan is supposed to be like an empath of great power and she's just now figuring out Piotr has the hots for her...GET A CLUE WOMAN. And then Kitty suddenly discovering she doesn't like Wisdom because she's attracted to some S.H.I.E.L.D. agent is ridiculous. That's like someone asking for a divorce because they are attracted to Allysa Milano on Melrose Place. I realize its stage setting to get Meggan and Cpt. Britain back together so they can marry and be on their way, as well as to send Wisdom away from the team (and he was actually a decent new character), but surely it could have been handled better than this. The only thing that brought this issue back to a semblance of normality was is the hint that Rahne came into contact with the Legacy Virus while preventing an accidental spill. Other than that this was pure filler.......fluffy cute filler at that...and that's the worst kind. The only redeeming part of this issue was the appearance of Nightmare on the last page. Why couldn't he have been the villain for this entire issue? In conclusion I have one thing to say.

  Gott in Hiemel. Vas is das.....because it sure ain't Excalibur.

GOOD POINTS:

  Ummmmmmm, let's see, ummmmmm.....well there's gotta be something.....Ok, here's one...and it's a stretch. Meggan's line on page 30 could be considered clever. And I quote "AGAIN? First it's Black Air...Then it's the Sidri hunters...and now plush toys....Staying Alive has become so tedious lately?

  Well Meggan, so has reading Excalibur.

BAD POINTS:

  Ummmm really too many to mention. Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad story. When I asked for character development, I didn't mean of Lockheed and stuffed supporting characters. Only decent art. Douglock still looks freaky with the dreadlocks and monocle, and Kitty's hair seems to have grown back pretty fast. (She must use Storm's conditioner)

OVERALL RATING: Sad to say I'll have to give it a 4 out of 10....argggh

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