Excalibur #43, or: What is the sound of one toilet exploding?

[pallas_athena]

This comic has cheered me up this week, so I thought I'd share.

If you're new to Excalibur, check out this excellent intro post. I think, though, that most of us are familiar with this joyously cracktacular romp across the '80s. This issue is from the period when Alan Davis was both writing and drawing, and it resolves the "Nightcrawler loves Meggan" subplot that had been smouldering since issue 1. But the thing I love most about this comic is that it answers the question: What does an exploding toilet sound like if you're Alan Davis?

Of course it does.

We open with a spot of exercise:








But they get interrupted by a blithely innocent Meggan who swoops in to give Brian a good-morning kiss, and he stomps off downstairs to read his book.

At this point, however, Excalibur are sharing the lighthouse with former foes the Technet, and it's not going well. They crash Kitty's computer, eat her teddy bear, explode the toilet (see above), and helpfully install a "null-gravity elevator" that causes Brian to smash into the ceiling in mid-flight.

When the dust clears, this is the first thing he sees:



After some demurrals on Nightcrawler's part, it is determined that IT IS INDEED ON.



Nightcrawler lands roughly on some rocks, breaking his leg. Meggan intervenes to stop the fight, making the excellent point that "I'm not a thing-- no one can own me."









"... for anything you say may be taken down and used against you!"

And with that, Brian is placed under arrest and whisked off to another dimension to stand trial before the Captains Britain of all the other worlds and... I don't even know. Excalibur! Hurrah!

Comments

[freezer]

*nostalgic sigh*

[turtlefu]

Alan Davis is such an amazing artist. He truly is the a master of his craft.

[pallas_athena]

Ohgodsyes. I mean, just the relationship between the silver bars and the panel shapes on that first page blows my mind, to say nothing of their interlaced shadows on the first panel of the next page.

And he draws the finest goddamn Nightcrawler I ever did see.

[auggie18]

Wow, Nightcrawler reeeeeally wants to make out with a female version of himself.


...narcissistic?

Also, Rachel? Love you, but this is your worst hair ever. Alan Davis actually made the rat-tail work, but nothing could save the fire-mullet.

[lissa_quon]

Enh I read it as less narcissistic and more he wanted to be with someone who was more like him, didn't judge him, and understood him. The side effect of this being, well, female him.

Then again I'm optimistic and love Nightcrawler.

[sindra]

Kurt being the embodiment of WOOBIE doesn't hurt things, either.

[northstarfan]

Motto!

[auggie18]

I'm actually pretty pro-narcissism. Nothing wrong with a little self love. Particularly when the self that you're loving happens to be the one and only Kurt Wagner.


Nah, I get what Davis was going for. Just like reading different implications into things.

[auggie18]

If he and Meggan had hooked up, their babies would have been THE WOOBIEST OF ALL.

[halloweenjack]

Ain't nothin' wrong with a blue furry woman.

[proteus_lives]

Gotta love that Davis art and the storytelling doesn't hurt either.

[aaron_bourque]

Many people find people who look sort of like themselves the height of attraction.

[tacobob]

He's another artist I could never tire of. I've purchased books I would have never normally would have because of his work. SIGH.

[silicondream]

This is the single issue that got me into comics, when I was twelve-ish. And the cover shot of Kitty warning off easily-offended Alpha Centaurians programmed my hormones for the next N years.

And eventually I was lucky enough to marry someone who looked exactly like her. Weird.

Anyways, I love this era's Brian Braddock. The way they treated his anger and alcohol issues as a disease--his friends understood, but they never excused. He seems like the template for what later writers wanted to do with Hank Pym.

Also Alan Davis' Nightcrawler is so David Bowie.

[icon_uk]

Have you MET Kurt's mother?

[pallas_athena]

Business in front...FIRE IN THE BACK!!!

[pallas_athena]

Yeah! I like both the Claremont/Davis and Davis/Davis eras of Excalibur, but I admire how Davis rolls up his sleeves and starts tying up all the stray plot-threads that Claremont had left dangling.

And the art, hell yeah!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Ain't nothin' wrong with a blue furry NON-villainous woman.

[kusonaga]

Awesome stuff. Why can't we have this anymore?

[pallas_athena]

I love the cover too!

Congratulations to you and your Shadowspouse!

[psychopathicus_rex]

Yeah, this is the Captain Britain I like. Sure, he can be impulsive, hotheaded, a bit of a jerk when his dander is up, but he's a genuine hero for all of that, a nice guy when he's in a good mood, and his own worst critic when he realizes he's in error. Dude's got issues, but not crippling ones. A staunch pal when the chips are down, but if you tick him off, he will KICK YOUR ASS FOR ENGLAND. Personally, I find this version of him a lot more interesting than the virtuous paragon he was portrayed as in the 'MI:13' series - although I've only read the first volume of that, so I may be misrepresenting it.

[psychopathicus_rex]

#42 is pretty cool, too. It has Hard-Boiled Henry. FLEE IN TERROR BEFORE HARD-BOILED HENRY!

[pallas_athena]

Very well said.

I did enjoy the subsequent volumes of MI:13; but I agree with you that a character without so many problems to overcome is less interesting.

I liked Cornell's very British twist that Cap's powers are based on self-confidence, though.

[pallas_athena]

Because it's fun! Comics mustn't be fun. They are a Serious Art Form now-- you can tell by all the angst, disembowellings, angsty disembowellings, etc.

(Roll on Vol. 3 of Davis's run!)

[pallas_athena]

*flees*