Excalibur #26: The Fantasy Is Over

[superboyprime]

"Regrettaby, Excalibur leaves me with the distinct impression that Tini Howard has no real understanding of British identity, and no real interest in the topic either. Since her core theme seems to be some sort of battle against reactionaries, I suspect the idea that Britain is withdrawing from dealing with mutants and so forth is meant to be some sort of Brexit allegory, but what it amounts to in practice is the baffling idea that – without any explanation – meaningful political influence attaches to a weirdo who is openly a member of a mystical coven. Which… again, what? What does any of this have to do with the iconography of the British right? The iconography of the British anything? If Reuben Brousseau is meant to represent Boris Johnson or Nigel Farage or Jacob Rees-Mogg… I mean, that’s like claiming that Dr Druid symbolises Donald Trump. You can say it, but it’s bollocks. And if Reuben’s not meant to represent that then… why does he matter?" - Paul O'Brien

Comments

[alliterator]

I really don't understand the complaints that the quoter is saying. Yes, Reuben Brousseau is supposed to represent the right-wing reactionaries of Britian, the pro-Brexit, pro-authoritarian contingent that is currently the majority of Parliament over there. They don't have to represent an actual person, though. That's silly.

And so what about the fact that he's a member of a coven? That's part of the mystical element of Excalibur, the sword-and-sorcery element that Otherworld represents.

Tini Howard's Excalibur has been good to great for the pretty much its entire run and I highly look forward to Knights of X, especially since Bob Quinn will be joining her and his artwork is pretty damn amazing.

[deh_tommy]

Brexit was a load of nationalistic nonsense with easily dismissible propaganda. What we’ve seen with our own eyes (or however you read comics) accidentally proves Mr. Mystic Tory almost totally right. Why the fudge is Betsy okay with calling her team Excalibur and using the title and powers created by Merlyn if she hates Arthur so much?

Even putting my feelings regarding our heroes’ morality and actions aside, I can’t agree that this is a good book because too much important stuff happens offscreen or between issues that we’re just supposed to accept or immediately understand and no one apart from the Braddocks are ever really allowed any kind of significance to the story beyond their utility for fight scenes. I liked the first arc at least, and that one with Malice’s backstory was pretty neat.

[alliterator]

"Brexit was a load of nationalistic nonsense with easily dismissible propaganda."

And yet it caused people to vote for Brexit, even against their own self interest.

"What we’ve seen with our own eyes (or however you read comics) accidentally proves Mr. Mystic Tory almost totally right."

How so? Mr Mystic Tory felt that ALL mutants were bad for Britain and had his coven sacrifice Pete Wisdom (without knowing he would come back) in order to bring back Morgan le Fey. Pete Wisdom who, by the by, has always shown loyalty to England over mutants until, you know, they killed him.

"Why the fudge is Betsy okay with calling her team Excalibur and using the title and powers created by Merlyn if she hates Arthur so much?"

Because Arthur doesn't wield Excalibur and hasn't for the longest time? I don't understand this question. She was okay with calling the team Excalibur because the previous teams with Captain Britain were all called Excalibur. That's it.

Now that Merlyn and Arthur have taken over Otherworld, however, she isn't calling it Excalibur anymore -- hence the changeover to "Knights of X."

[tinygaylaura]

I don't agree with the quote here either

I don't agree that Reuben Brousseau doesn't have anything in common with real world right wing fascists either.

He's an old rich white man obsessed with tradition and fixated on the past and some "Golden age" that never existed. That sounds like every right wing douchebag in real life to me

[redmagpie]

On one hand I've really enjoyed Tini Howard's Excalibur, but I'd agree that it's not as pointed or insightful as it could be when it comes to its depiction of Britain. Like it was clearly written by someone who is not British.

But also like

That is VERY OFTEN the case with comics and depictions of anywhere non western. Just because British writers have more presence on the scene doesn't mean Britain gets to be the exception.

She's still been telling a story I've enjoyed and while the choice to make Excalibur involve ongoing British politics exposes the flaws of an outsider writing a country, I don't think that makes it bad and I don't think that it means people should always write what they know. Nuance etc.

[deh_tommy]

If you’re going to write a book about or involving a certain element, maybe you should take the effort to actually get it right.

Does she have ANY idea how messy real British politics are? The real Brexit was put to a public referendum and won by barely a hair’s inch through misinformation and lies, and even then that took four years and three Prime Ministers to get the bloody thing done. This thing was executed immediately and happened over genuine concerns of a hostile foreign nation appropriating British iconography, turning a sovereign state into a puppet state and claiming a chunk of unmoored rock as part of their own nation (even though it’s STILL IN BRITISH WATERS), and the Captain Britain meant to represent her namesake proudly displays her loyalties lie elsewhere (but she’s not going to give up the title because how dare you, YASS QUEEN SLAY). And then our heroes are so spoilt that they all act like just because they can’t instantly teleport there means they’re banned from the country period for some reason.

What that data page doesn’t show you is that the transcript there was probably an inaudible mess of other people yelling and pointing fingers at each other and barely paying attention to what he was saying.

[arilou_skiff]

I do think its been... Especially bad in the Krakoan era, both the russian stuff and the british/excalibur stuff has felt really, really clumsy and in some ways arguably offensive.

[lilacsigil]

And if nothing else "is openly a member of a mystical coven" is a vastly *milder* version of the "pig's head"/"window smashing"/"burning money in front of homeless people" reality of the Bullingdon Club, provider of Tory leaders and members for a long time.

[lordultimus]

Once again, I can't help but notice that the nanosecond Hickman leaves, we have another "the hated and feared mutants are being hunted to extinction", just in another dimension.

[deh_tommy]

That’s especially bad because they had to specifically engineer this scenario for why people give a toss if you’re a witchbreed or not in Otherworld.

[shadowseeking]

Like I've said before, without Hickman around to protect the cult its only a matter of time before Editorial's next 'golden boy' comes around and wipes it out.

[deh_tommy]

Imperialist colonisers, their actions have finally come home to roost and now everyone, innocent or otherwise, is made to suffer.

[lordultimus]

It's pretty hysterical that Howard has run out of ways to not make Krakoa look imperialist so the best she can do is separate them entirely and make it a plucky rebel storyline instead.

[alliterator]

Morgan le Fey: [finds a weed in her scrying pool, decides because of this to get her followers on Earth to attack mutants]

Morgan le Fey: [summons Brian Braddock and when he and Betsy arrives, she forcibly brainwashes him into becoming her Knight, traumatizing him to the point where later on he chooses the Sword of Might over the Amulet of Right]

Morgan le Fey: [tells her followers that they can't have any access to her magic until all the mutants are dead]

Yes, sure, deposing Morgan le Fey and replacing her with a mutant ruler was totally an imperialism. I'm sure the mutants deserved everything they got.

[numeronone]

I remember when Cornell introduced Faiza Hussein in "Captain Britain and the MI:13" and got very justifiably angry when someone on the Newsarama forums insisted she wasn't 'legitimate' representation unless she had an evil brother or cousin who wanted to be a terrorist, to balance it out.

It's messy. Our politics are messy. We've never really stopped being racist.

[akodo_rokku]

To be fair, no one has.

[deh_tommy]

Speaking of Faiza Hussein, what’s her take on all this? She’s the one with the sword after all, Arthur would probably listen to her.

[onsokumaru]

Jubilee is still running around with that poor toddler?
I know heroes being irresponsible parents and endangering their kids is a trope, but usually, they at least wait until they are teens to bring them in missions.

[deh_tommy]

It’s okay, all the literal tears in the fabric of reality he causes with his breath get patched right up again by Jamie Braddock so they can keep using him as a weapon against their enemies! And don’t worry about Jubilee, solicits and covers imply she’s not going to be around for the next volume, just Shogo.

[alliterator]

If your baby could turn into a dragon, you'd bring him on missions, too.

[scorntx]

Not being familiar with Roma beyond an old New Excalibur / Exiles crossover, but, uh... don't recall being Meryln's puppet as part of her characterisation in any prior discussion of her.

[tinygaylaura]

No Merlin being a manipulative asshole has been canon as far back as the original Excalibur run

[silverhammerman]

Dropping a link to the full Paul O'Brien review that quote is from, in case anyone is interested. I think O'Brien is on the money, pointing out some of the same sticky issues that Alexandra Iciek did back in March of last year.

I don't think any of that means Excalibur is a bad book, but Howard isn't writing with a particularly deft hand and it gets back to my big problem with this era as a whole: exceptions vs execution. So much was made of Krakoa as a big, bold experiment, mutants by way of political hard sci-fi, and then the actual books are just sort of standard, largely uncritical superhero fare and it's difficult not to feel as though readers have been sold a bill of goods.

[numeronone]

Exactly. It's no different from the 'Utopia' era, just a new setting and a couple of new coats of paint.

"Nothing will EVER be the same*!!!"

* Your definition of 'same' may wildly vary from that of the Disney corporation, its subsidiaries and employees.

[tinygaylaura]

I love all the subtext between Betsy and Rachel in this book.

I'm absolutely shipping the two of them now and if they become canon in Knights of X I will be very happy

But then I'm always happy to see a hot woman hooking up with an even hotter redhead in skintight red latex

I approve of Gambit's priorities. First and most important thing: Check that the cats are safe

The kitty putting their paw on Betsy's sword is cute. This cat is now true king of britain

Very excited for Knights of X. I can't wait to see Betsy and her team kick Merlin's ancient fascist ass all the way back to that garbage fire he calls a "kingdom" and taking down that pompous blowhard Arthur.