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]

That’s part of my point! That’s how these hateful ideologists work, they mix the truth with lies and their own agendas to provide a simple, convenient target and make said agendas seem the right way to go about things. But the book doesn’t seem interested in this, they dismiss everything he says as lies even though we’ve seen otherwise ourselves. That’s especially bad since Jamie and Å were knowingly keeping Morgan le Fay hostage in conscious stasis and friggin’ vivisecting her for a mix of cruel experiments and general entertainment, and at least one of our heroes knew.

You do know Scotland’s part of the U.K., right? I’m a relative newcomer to the Captain Britain mythos as you know, but during his Excalibur days we got to see his team adjusting to life there, fighting off different villains and hopping along and helping out wherever. The only help this Excalibur has done has usually been entirely out of Krakoa’s or Å’s nationalist interests.

[alliterator]

"But the book doesn’t seem interested in this, they dismiss everything he says as lies even though we’ve seen otherwise ourselves."

Because everything he says IS lies. I don't know how you can misunderstand this.

"That’s especially bad since Jamie and Å were knowingly keeping Morgan le Fay hostage in conscious stasis and friggin’ vivisecting her for a mix of cruel experiments and general entertainment, and at least one of our heroes knew."

Jamie and A are bad guys. That's just who they are. That doesn't mean removing Morgan le Fey from power was the wrong thing, it was just Evil vs Evil. Jamie and A, however, have shown that their evil is in service of a better ideal -- making sure mutants are safe -- while Morgan le Fey's evil is, you know, just generically evil.

"You do know Scotland’s part of the U.K., right?"

That would make sense if his name was Captain UK, but it's not. That's a completely different character.

"The only help this Excalibur has done has usually been entirely out of Krakoa’s or Å’s nationalist interests."

That's also completely untrue. They have helped plenty of people in both Krakoa and in Otherworld without those ulterior motives.

But apparently it only counts if they help British people. Which is just silly.