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

[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.

[dan_ingram]

I dunno, corpses don't say racist stuff.

[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.

[jgraygaming]

This is a very, very good point. Excalibur (the sword) SHOULD be coming into play here.

[beyondthefringe]

And yet Tini Howard surprisingly didn't latch on to an actual British superhero wielding the actual Excalibur, when she's been banging on about British topics and bringing in Arthur and Merlin. Hell, retconning Faiza into being a mutant would be par on course for the franchise. (Getting powers from a Skrull blaster, riiiight)

I wonder if Spurrier went "mine not yours" since he had plans for her in the Death of Doctor Strange--Black Knight special, and maybe even beyond.

[numeronone]

As is the flavour of current X-Books, I'm assuming "Not a Mutant so she doesn't get a vote. Now get the hell out of our faces and seized sovereign territory, you goddamned monster normie oppressor".

[alliterator]

She showed up in Death of Doctor Strange: X-Men/Black Knight and helped out Jacks, the current Black Knight and Dane's daughter.

As for what she thinks of Otherworld: probably nothing? I mean, she was never really involved with Otherworld. She spent her time in MI-13 being a doctor -- which is really her passion, actually -- and using Excalibur as the "sword that heals." Although she has killed some vampires during the Vampire State thing, that was awesome.

Other than Cornell's MI-13 book and Ewing's Captain Britain and the Might Defenders (where an AU-version of her from Age of Ultron was Captain Britain), she hasn't really been used that often.

[tinygaylaura]

I am very certain that she'd be on Excalibur's side. She may not be a mutant but she's still been dealing with hatemongering racist trash like Reuben and Merlin all her life and I'm sure she hates them every bit as much as Excalibur does