Excalibur #23 - Review with Spoilers

[Weather]

Just a few points to open the discussion:

- Dr. Doom wishes to visit Otherworld and go through the portal on Braddock Island. He takes a mutant baby as his passport. Excalibur picks up the baby and only allows Doom to visit Otherworld escorted by the team. He grudgingly accepts.

-Doom reveals that he wants to find Morgana's castle and take something inside it. The group is attacked by Sevalith's assassins, but no one is hurt. Doom discovers that Morgana's castle is gone. Meggan, Jubilee and Rictor use their “magical” abilities to search for him. The fairies Jubilee summons say he must be in the Crooked Market.

- At Crooked Market, Betsy accompanies Doom to the stronghold of land leader James Jaspers. Jaspers makes a bargain with Doom to hand him a box of Morgana's mysterious belongings.

-Meanwhile, the group of four, Gambit, Rictor, Meggan and Jubilee will play card games with the Market population. Gambit steals in the game and when the situation gets tough, there's an explosion.

- Betsy and Doom are attacked by Furies. We found that the four mutants were also being attacked by them. The two groups reunite and the Furies attack them calling them "Friends of Mordred". Betsy argues that they should stop attacking as she represents the Citadel and they must obey the laws. They accept, for the time being, and leave.

- Doom leaves with Morgana's box and finds that inside it is Morgana's castle, diminished. Doom shows interest in the "Otherworld waters" that are in the castle. Meggan tells Betsy that "Friends of Mordred" could mean that Mordred, Arthur's son, was a mutant and that the Furies were attacking them for being equals.

[Weather]

Amazing cover!

I loved this issue. This arc is exploring different lands of Otherworld which makes the book a lot more interesting, as these concepts presented in XoS were amazing.

Betsy has been more determined since she got back, even earning Doom's respect. She did not accept the nonsense he imposed on her. I liked to see that although Betsy was still the protagonist of the book, the other characters had some space.

Gambit has never been so charming in Excalibur. He had fun and showed that he didn't care about his game opponents. Jubilee proved useful to the group with the fairies and got involved in the action scenes. Meggan is a great addition to the team, with her knowledge of Otherworld and magic.

Marcus To's art remains excellent and gives a vibrant interpretation of these magical worlds. Looking forward to the next issues, I was sad that last month the book was not released.

[Psycwave]

The Mordred twist really gagged me. Wasn't expecting anything like that at all and wondering how that will play into whatever decision Captain Britain has to make in the November issue.

I liked this issue but there's still some pacing issues here and there. Whenever it feels like the issue is ramping up we're at the end.

[jwatson]

Best issue of the series so far by far. As i said in the Doom thread it was like X-men meets final fantasy meets black clover. Doom was missing some of his subtly and felt like a doombot turned on high but it still worked. I have to say this was like reading the rpg i never know i needed. Very very fun issue. Gambit was very entertaining as well and the art was on point given once again how many locations were shown. Very very fun read. And apparently Rictor can speak to grass now.

[JB]

The Mordred twist really gagged me. Wasn't expecting anything like that at all and wondering how that will play into whatever decision Captain Britain has to make in the November issue.

Same, I did not see the Mordred twist coming at all! The Furies still scare me after so many years (decades) but it's interesting to see they're trying to acclimate to the new Otherworld status quo.

I love the energy between Betsy and Doom, and I love that she of course wouldn't put up with his ****.



Which of course only turns him on more. LOL!

[IN-a-Synch]

So pissed. I just left from my comic store and he was sold out. I’ll try another store.

[Gripstir]

I thought Doom flirting with Betsy was cute, loved seeing Jaspers I liked the moment when the Furies had to stop and recalculate and stopped attacking.

I am not a fan of the pacing, I feel betrayed that we had Gambit and Doom in a comic and all I can get excited about is just that Doom recognized Gambit. The lack of Doom interaction with the rest of the team made me not like the issue that much. I really feel like they could have spent time with this squad. We did not need to separate at all, instead use that moment to give us what we want Doom and the team. That's literally what intrigued me and not having that hurt the issue.

I really like that Gambit has these cards, but if you are going to have the cards don't make them seem pointless on the 2nd attempt at using them. I really didn't like that.

I feel like this is a issue where you need to binge it with other things to enjoy it. On its own it's kinda fillery and you only read it for Doom being in it not for the actual characters in the book

Also kinda bugs me that Gambit and Doom both have a flirty moment with someone and Doom out flirted gambit. That sucked to see

[DarkMagnus]

The writer suffers of Clareamazon syndrome.

She loves Betsy at all that much that she is forcing us to like her.

[Devaishwarya]

Yes. Another solid issue. Mordred being a mutant is...a very interesting complication for Merlin, Arthur and Excalibur.
Though I was slightly taken aback by the start of this story as the ending of the last issue had them hopping the gambit train to escape Merlin...I was hoping for a dimensional excursion of sorts but it seems the train just took them out of Fae and they went back home to the Lighthouse. Oh well.

Doom the Dom-Daddy. (I need a cold shower)

[Malachi]

Gambit finally has a personality. To bad the card game didn't go anywhere, but it started out as something that had potential. Then it reverted to this slapstick humour that happens in Excalibur. With the actual change happening off panel. There really should be a bingo game for Excalibur now. It's nothing if not reliable in resusing these beats.

So lets see what the next 23 issues can do with Gambit. Perhaps Thanos guest stars then.

[Master of Sound]

I was hoping at the crooked market to see Redroot again....

[Triniking1234]

X-Men books writing Doom better than in F4.

[Fokken]

X-Men books writing Doom better than in F4.

X-Men books writing BETTER. Full stop.

[Rzerox21xx]

Jeez how many times do I drop this book only to find out that the issue i miss is the best issue and then i catch up and then drop it, and hear that issue is great, rinse and repeat. what you think?

[Triniking1234]

Jeez how many times do I drop this book only to find out that the issue i miss is the best issue and then i catch up and then drop it, and hear that issue is great, rinse and repeat. what you think?

I must've dropped this book 4 times.
I remember when I dropped it after Swords then everyone said it got good again for the Betsy search which it did but then they dropped the ball again with that boring Malice crap so I left. It's ridiculous at this point; not even an ex treats me this bad.