Review: Excalibur #121 - "With Friends Like These"

Writer: Ben Raab    Pencils: Trevor Scott    Inks: Andrew Pepoy

Review by Gomurr, Headmaster of the Black Upstart Academy

  OK...WHY OH WHY TEASE ME WITH GOOD ISSUES THEN CANCEL THIS GREAT BOOK!!!!!!! Wonderful...Marvelous... Great... Excalibur is back. The clones that took over for awhile must have decided to vacate the premises....AND SABRA....She is Wunderbar, as Nightcrawler would say. The only inconsistency characterwise in this book is Moira being like... well... I just decided to move out of the quarrantine... mean what was stopping her from simply re-establishing it.

  The story involved Legion's personalities that somehow gained sentience and went on a rampage in their astral form. Why they waited this long, I don't know, but the representation of them was great. Legion was a great character, sometimes handled badly...and Excalibur can certainly relate to that. Sabra's interaction with the team is awesome. If they would ditch boring Collossus and keep ahold of Sabra as their STRONG PERSON, this book might just make it.

  On the plus side, we get to see a hint of where Xavier has been in this issue. Sabra gives them a disk concerning his where-abouts. I think this will lead up to the cliffhanger, that brings the main three Ex-X-Men back to the fold. Although I'm not in favor of this since it's too crowded in the states already, it will be good to see Charles again, and to see what he's been up to...... MAYBE EVEN LITTLE NINA THE MANITE FROM THE ONSLAUGHT EPILOGUE. Well, here's hoping

  The only real complaint that I have is Shadowcat's new costume. It looks like a dominatrix outfit. Formfitting black body suit..hmmm... how creative...NOT, and the stupid little mask is just plain idiotic looking. All she needs is a whip and a leash and you could take her to an S&M party. My advice is THINK CLOAK, like Sabra's. It's very mysterious, and fits well into the Shadowcat persona, and it would hide that body suit. It's just too plain. The Star of David was a nice touch, but still, she needs a little more. Otherwise, Nightcrawler, Collossus and Douglock will be calling her Mistress Katya.

GOOD POINTS:

  Trevor Scott's art is awesome and well suited for the book. His representation of Moira was great. It's about time someone drew her as attractive and not some frumpy freak. The best part of this issue can be summed up in three words though...SABRA SABRA SABRA. What a great character, she is definitely underused and should find a home among the X-books. Once again, I'm so depressed that I've only got four more issues left to enjoy.

BAD POINTS:

  Moira was a bit off character with her "I think today I'll just take a break", after all that talk of dedication and curing the legacy virus if it killed her. Rahne was also a little over the top, with slamming the door in Douglock's face and stuff. I mean Moira is glad to be out, why can't Rahne be...... BUT THE WORST ATROCITY IS KITTY'S NEW UNIFORM... ugggh... It's really bad. I read somewhere that Raab was wanting to get her into a black uniform, but this is just a little too black. I mean that's all it is. Plain Black with a few accessories. She's not Bat girl after all. Although with the silly mask, you might make that mistake... and what was up with that kiss on Collossus. Run Kitty, he's a loser, and worse than that... HE'S BOOOORING.

OVERALL RATING:

  I'd have to give issue 121 an 8 out of 10. Other than a fashionably challenged Kitty, and Rahne and Moira being out of character a bit, it was great. Bring on Xavier.

                   Gomurr, Headmaster of the Black Upstart Academy

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page