Excalibur #119 - "Deathdreams"

Writer: Ben Raab    Pencils: Jim Calafiore    Inks: Rob Hunter

  Better... that's the first set of words to come to mind. Last month's tale was so miserable, that this month had to be better. The tale in itself was fair. It had good characterization, but once again no real direction was taken with the story. This issue involved the team being captured by the nefarious Nightmare and being forced to live out their worst fears. It's always good getting a peek into the minds and innermost thoughts of my fave characters and this issue was no exception, but the ending was a bit too cheesy. I mean the fight over the "dream remote control" between Wisdom and Nightmare was a bit lame. The ending with Kitty "needing to talk" to Pete was also so predictable. By this time we all know that the three ex-x-men will be returning to the X-men, so it's necessary for them to break ties, but I, for one, believe that this relationship kinda worked. Kitty's optimism and hope was the perfect match for Wisdom's cynicism and biting sarcasm. That's my opinion folks. I know a lot of people really want Kitty and Piotr to get back together, but Collossus is such a yawn, I can't really blame her for going elsewhere. I'm still hoping for at least a triumphant ending to this series, but the whole thing seems to be rushing towards nowhere. I mean there are six issues left, and they seem to be just rushing everything to a good stopping point, and it's frankly not working well.

GOOD POINTS:

The look into each character's worst fears really filled them out as human beings and not just mutant super-heroes (yes I know it's fiction). The look into Douglock's thoughts was especially interesting. The art was actually pretty decent, although I'd still like a return to the AOA art team. The story was better....and that is definitely a good thing, but ummmmm...as the lyric's to one of Madonna's new song say..."DON'T I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE....WHY DO YOU LEAVE ME WANTING MORE?" The name of the song is "Skin" by the way...and the entire cd is awesome, but those particular lyrics fit this title perfectly. I vaguely recognize the great book of Excalibur from the old days; I JUST WANT MORE from these characters I love so much.

BAD POINTS:

Again, no scenes with Rahne. I really miss that spunky little redhead. Again, no real direction with the story line............and again the clichˇ'd soap opera break ups are really tiring.

IN THE CATEGORY OF WHAT THE &*%#?

On the title in the corner box, it shows headshots of Kitty, Wisdom, Douglock, Meggan, Collossus and Nightcrawler, but who is that other really cool demon looking dude. Is that supposed to be Nightmare? If it is, he looks much cooler in that box than in the story.

OVERALL RATING: I'll give this honest attempt a solid 6 out of 10

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