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

[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.

[redmagpie]

dude I'm literally Scottish. I know how messy and ridiculous Brexit is. I'm just saying that like. Non western countries and cultures are always being miswritten by American and British writers and being so precious about it when it happens to us is kind of hypocritical.

[deh_tommy]

I’m asking rhetorically does Tini Howard know, not you. And I tend to get precious about it when it happens to anyone.

That’s not a problem exclusive to this book, certainly (hello, Russia in literally every other X-book), that’s just… ugh, I’m so sick of things that aim to be progressive accidentally screwing it up by introducing a whole litany of other problematic issues.

[numeronone]

"I’m so sick of things that aim to be progressive accidentally screwing it up by introducing a whole litany of other problematic issues."

When it comes to the post-Hickman era I'm not so sure there was any 'aim to be progressive' so much as 'part the progressively-minded readers from their money while promoting modern-day colonial/fascist cult tactics under a 'Progressive' banner'.

The problematic issues are a feature, not a bug.

[jlbarnett]

didn't a lot of it have to do with people putting in protests votes and not realizing others were too? Like I thought interviews and polling had a fair amount of "I only voted for it cause I thought it couldn't win"