Excalibur [02]: A Tower of Flowers SPOILERS

[AppleJ]

So first the positives. Loving the art. Loved Shogo. He stole the show with eating Betsy's hair and turning into a dragon. I loved the dreamscape moments and the adorable fire wolf good girl. Apocalypse has the most going on plot wise. He's clearly using them all towards his own ends. I'm still intrigued to see where this goes.

Now the bad. The dialogue was rough - generic, stilted, and it didn't help push the story forward much.

I was thinking today ... why is Jubilee even here? Like, why is she even on the boat and leaving Shogo in the first place? I have no idea what her character motivation is. Same with Remy ... why is he dragging Rogue to the Lighthouse? Did they consult any of the medics, Krakoan experts, or resident telepaths about her condition first? A couple lines of dialogue would have answered this.

Is there something obvious about the Lighthouse from Excalibur history that I'm missing that can help them? If Betsy could ALWAYS teleport to Otherworld, why is she going to the Lighthouse first?! The express idea is to create a Krakoan portal to the Lighthouse because ... ummm, to get to Brian? Legitimately, what am I missing here?

I was having some X-Men Gold flashbacks while Betsy takes all the actions, makes all the decisions, and gives orders as Gambit and Jubilee worry, mope, argue, and wait for her direction.

The characters I'm most here for are either comatose or not contributing much. And I'm fine that Gambit and Jubilee are worried for their loved ones. That makes perfect sense to me and I'm glad to see it ... to a point. But it's basically their only contribution and main character trait besides blasting the cannon fodder.

Still sticking with it though. Honestly I should be loving this book. I want to love it! Let me love it already!

[pkingdom]

While I'm not really a fan of any of DoX, I will defend Gambit a bit in this issue. When his wife is being turned into a glorified lighthouse lightbulb, you have every reason to be worried. Everyone else being so chill and jokey about it was bizarre.

[AppleJ]

While I'm not really a fan of any of DoX, I will defend Gambit a bit in this issue. When his wife is being turned into a glorified lighthouse lightbulb, you have every reason to be worried. Everyone else being so chill and jokey about it was bizarre.

Yeah, I don't really have a problem with his tone at all. He knows personally the damage Apocalypse can do and Rogue is his wife. The others being so cavalier seems strange to me too, though to be fair Rogue has overcome worse. But I think Remy would be trying to contribute to solving the problem in some way rather than just moping around and letting Betsy call all the shots. It's not made entirely clear how this trip is supposed to be helping Rogue. But I have to assume that's the point of them being here, otherwise why drag her along across the sea, especially when they could have just waited for the gate? And this is where the problem is - you need to use the dialogue to lead your reader a little bit, to explain how we got here and where we're going and why. Each character should have their own clear motivation for being in the story and the reader shouldn't be guessing what it is.

[remydat]

While I'm not really a fan of any of DoX, I will defend Gambit a bit in this issue. When his wife is being turned into a glorified lighthouse lightbulb, you have every reason to be worried. Everyone else being so chill and jokey about it was bizarre.

Yes he has every reason to be worried. He also has years of experience of the X-men anf Rogue facing greating threats.

Lest we forgot Rogue was in a coma before when he had 8 billion souls stuck in her head. Gambit wasn't even with her at the time and last anyone saw of him he was Death.

Yet despite all of that he overcame death and did whatever he had to do to save her. Not mope around feeling sad for Rogue. That is what is annoying her. These sense that he seems completely unaccustomed and ill equped to cope with this despite his doing so before quite frankly under worse conditions. He has got his and Rogue's friends backing him instead of having to rely on Sinister and the Marauders.

[Desmark]

I see rogue has become a contender for the title of fainting/sleeping princess like Storm.

[JKtheMac]

does anyone else find this series very dull? if not for Apocalypse, there would be almost nothing interesting about it

So far I have found it quite entertaining but the narrative is a little unclear. We have at least four more issues yet, so it will probably be clearer once we see where it is going. At least now we have a quest developing. It felt like this issue was about contriving specific people being in the right place. Some of that, like Jubilee’s dream felt suspiciously like [A] interfering to ensure Shogo goes too.

[Londo Bellian]

Like I said, [A] Yagami is milking the "Keikaku doori" for all it's worth in two issues alone.

[JKtheMac]

Is there something obvious about the Lighthouse from Excalibur history that I'm missing that can help them? If Betsy could ALWAYS teleport to Otherworld, why is she going to the Lighthouse first?! The express idea is to create a Krakoan portal to the Lighthouse because ... ummm, to get to Brian? Legitimately, what am I missing here?

Three reasons.
It isn’t just a lighthouse it’s a home. (See Gold Annual and Jubilee’s reference to ‘last time’).
It is the nexus of reality and Captain Britain’s powerbase. It’s not just about getting to Otherworld, it’s about being in a place of power.
By taking a plant there they are tying the lighthouse to Krakoa. It is no longer a distant place but a short walk away.

What is perhaps illogical is the fact they transported Rogue there instead of establishing the base and then walking her through the portal. But there is a possibility that she couldn’t be walked through the portal because she herself is somehow a portal.

In other words there is more going on than meets the eye. For starters [A] is trying to become the new Merlyn with a new paradigm of magic.

[AppleJ]

Three reasons.
It isn’t just a lighthouse it’s a home. (See Gold Annual and Jubilee’s reference to ‘last time’).
It is the nexus of reality and Captain Britain’s powerbase. It’s not just about getting to Otherworld, it’s about being in a place of power.
By taking a plant there they are tying the lighthouse to Krakoa. It is no longer a distant place but a short walk away.

What is perhaps illogical is the fact they transported Rogue there instead of establishing the base and then walking her through the portal. But there is a possibility that she couldn’t be walked through the portal because she herself is somehow a portal.

In other words there is more going on than meets the eye. For starters [A] is trying to become the new Merlyn with a new paradigm of magic.

Ok, but what specifically does taking Rogue here hope to accomplish? They don't even seem to know what she absorbed or what's happening with her. I can only assume it's just a last ditch effort to use magic to fix a magical problem? And why was that their first strategy? Or was it?

I guess my point is that the narrator needs to give the reader a little more information here. And I read that Gold Annual, so I'm familiar with what the Lighthouse is in general. I thought I was missing something specific from old Excalibur maybe?

[Fokken]

Forgive me if this was already addressed (lots of pages to sift through) but did everyone notice the changes in their outfits (and perhaps even Jube's powers?) upon entering Otherworld?

[Triniking1234]

does anyone else find this series very dull? if not for Apocalypse, there would be almost nothing interesting about it

I mean DC is already doing this with Justice League Odyssey except in cosmic lore. The editors just need to help Tini Howard out with the direction.

[Fokken]

I was thinking today ... why is Jubilee even here? Like, why is she even on the boat and leaving Shogo in the first place? I have no idea what her character motivation is. Same with Remy ... why is he dragging Rogue to the Lighthouse? Did they consult any of the medics, Krakoan experts, or resident telepaths about her condition first? A couple lines of dialogue would have answered this.

!

Yes.
The make up of the cast is perplexing.
X-Force = Security assignments
New Mutants = Mission to find a friend
Marauders = Business / Necessity
Excalibur = Otherworld shenanigans for Betsy and....people...who....are bored and/or gardenized?

[AppleJ]

Yes.
The make up of the cast is perplexing.
X-Force = Security assignments
New Mutants = Mission to find a friend
Marauders = Business / Necessity
Excalibur = Otherworld shenanigans for Betsy and....people...who....are bored and/or gardenized?

I THINK it's supposed to be a "thrown together" type story. Like the characters are being randomly swept up into one story by circumstances outside their control. But that even more demands they each have a more clear and logical individual plot and motivation since they don't have a common goal at the start. We should see their individual stories intersect. We sort of got that in issue #1, but Jubilee being pulled in was a kind of weak plot thread.

I can assume Jubilee is sticking around now to be nice and help a friend because she witnessed the events unfurl, but she's not close enough to any of these characters for that to seem like an obvious choice over staying with Shogo, especially if she's this worried about him and there's an island full of other mutants to take her place. I understand why Remy is there if he thinks magic is the answer to cure Rogue. Why do they need Jubilee? Extra security?

It would be even better if we saw Apocalypse manipulating and orchestrating them into assembling because he has specific plans for each of them. And I do see some elements of that hinted at here, but Jubilee remains the most uncertain inclusion other than as a means to get Shogo.

Hopefully this becomes more clear as the issues go.

Actually Pyro being accidentally included with the team in Marauders was a genius way to accomplish this "swept together" type plot. His motivation is he happened to be there and got stuck with them and really had nothing better to do. It's logical for that character.

[Fokken]

Yeah, Tini's "thrown together motley crew" deal works a lot stronger over in Strikeforce.

[The Quiet Councilor]

Yeah, Tini's "thrown together motley crew" deal works a lot stronger over in Strikeforce.

Well, she’s built it into the premise as a necessity over there. Here it’s like she expects us to forgive it because 90’s X-Men synergy! Disappointing for sure but hopefully she works it out.