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  1. #1
    Extraordinary Member CGAR's Avatar
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    Default Excalibur [20] : Review and Spoilers

    Marcos To art is always good even if its not my preferred style. He's been one of the most consistent things on this run.

    Also the colorist has gotten better in my opinion

    After thinking about it this issue and last are probably the two I appreciated most in this run so far.

    There are little things TH is writing that I like but so much more that I wish was delved into story wise and character wise.

    If you're big on Gambit and Rictor they don't show up in this issue.

    And Jubilee and Rogue make mini appearances.

    This issue starts of with a character named Alice coming home and having an argument with her mom for coming home at 4am. She seems very angry and jaded. And goes to her room. There mother goes up and checks on her and we find her passed out/dead. And her spirit/astral form saying she doesnt know what happened but maybe she's better off this way.

    The next page is a data page which lets us know that character was Malice.

    Cut to the preview pages where we see the council meeting. It is adjourned quickly but Emma Frost stays back to discuss something with Betsy. Emma reads Betsy's mind about the intruder of Krakoa. Betsy says that she will handle it because its personal. Emma blindsides Betsy and is going to attack from behind but we realize that Kwannonlocke shoots her with a psychic dagger before she can do any harm. And EmMalice passed out. Malice has control of Emma's body.

    Malice is stronger than we know and this is probably why Emma didn't sense her in previous issues. Also she probably had no reason too I suppose.

    Xavier comes back sensing this and asks for things to be explained. Betsy and Kwannon want to help Malice because they think she was seperated from her body without wanting that.

    Xavier says that Malice has a lot of ill will and has put Krakoa in danger and she will have to go in the hole. Like Sabretooth.

    Magneto comes back as well and says that Malice will have to do and be better. Just because she's a mutant she doesn't get leniency.

    Somehow Malice is transferred into the psychic dagger.

    Kwannon and Betsy along with Rogue come up with a plan to try to help Malice. But honestly Malice doesnt want help.

    So Kwannon and Betsy go to the astral plane to help Malice but she kicks Kwannon out and starts antagonizing Betsy to start a fight. Betsy comes off confident in these scenes wish is nice to see.

    Kwannon some how picks Malice out of the astral plane and purposely gets taken over. And this is where Betsy grabs her Malice necklace and throws it in the fire to be destroyed.

    They didn't want to do it that way but its what had to happen.

    They bring back Malice in a body and shes still negative and bitter. Xavier wants to put her in the hole but Emma, Betsy and Kwannon overrule it and say she deserves a second chance.

    Last scene is Malice in her new body look out onto the beautiful island of Krakoa. She is still very jaded.

    There are some things I may have left out but this is the jist of it and others who have actually read the issue can clarify on points I may have missed.

    I think this issue has some underlying themes that others can talk about better than me.

  2. #2
    Invincible Member Havok83's Avatar
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    I think I prefer Malice being mysterious and am not here for her having an origin. She has one now and its lame that she is just another white woman when this was an opportunity to add some diversity. Overall the issue was decent though

    I also think Xavier wanting to put her in the pit was very over the top. Why even bring her back and give her a body if that were his intent? Whatever happened to redemption and trying to help the mutants of Krakoa? Nope, she dserves to be punished for an offense which really wasnt that serious. If anything, placing her on Hellions would have made more sense, especially since Kwannon was here to help with her
    Last edited by Havok83; 04-07-2021 at 11:07 AM.

  3. #3
    Beware! Daedra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Havok83 View Post
    I think I prefer Malice being mysterious and am not here for her having an origin. She has one now and its lame that she is just another white woman when this was an opportunity to add some diversity. Overall the issue was decent though
    There still a lot of diversity to be found within the perimeter of a caucasian looking woman, “white woman” generally speaking could mean so many different things, just like black or brown, it doesn’t really tell us much
    Ommadon: “By summoning all the dark powers I will infest the spirit of man So that he uses his science and logic to destroy himself. Greed and avarice shall prevail, and those who do not hear my words shall pay the price. I'll teach man to use his machines, I'll show him what distorted science can give birth to. I'll teach him to fly like a fairy, and I'll give him the ultimate answer to all his science can ask. And the world will be free for my magic again.”

  4. #4
    Astonishing Member vasir12's Avatar
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    I wonder if Marvel will ever admit that this is not a team book.

    Betsy is done well enough as always while all the side characters support her.

  5. #5
    Moderator Nyssane's Avatar
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    Love the use of Malice. Don't love anything else about it.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Havok83 View Post
    I also think Xavier wanting to put her in the pit was very over the top. Why even bring her back and give her a body if that were his intent? Whatever happened to redemption and trying to help the mutants of Krakoa? Nope, she dserves to be punished for an offense which really wasnt that serious. If anything, placing her on Hellions would have made more sense, especially since Kwannon was here to help with her
    I was recently wondering if there might be mutants (especialy former villains), who might consider themself not worthy of being brought back from the dead, beacuse of their trauma or the sins they commited and instead would seek the compromise that if they die, Krakoa will bring back a younger (or even newborn) version of themself, who are free of these issues.
    Basicly a second chance for a new version of themself.

    Which narrative would also create a set of mutant characters who are actualy still in danger of dying (as the characters they are), adding tension to their involvements in stories.

    But this also made me notice that there was always a fourth option they could have picked for Sabertooth.

    If i recall right the reasoning for throwing him into the pit was that they can't let him run around the outside world, because he would just kill humans again, they can't kill him, because no mutant is allowed to stay dead and they can't put him in a prison because Krakoa is not supposed to have prisons.

    So instead they threw him into a pit where he would remain in an eternal fully aware stasis.

    But as mentioned. There was a fourth option. Execute him and bring an entirely fresh version of him back, who could grow up in a way that would prevent him from being the person the original Sabertooth was.

    Now mind you that's still a pretty amoral idea, but given the extreme context it would be a form of redemption and second chance, while the alternative is eternal torture, which isn't particular moraly upright either.

    So yeah. it feels like they are weirdly trigger happy at times with throwing mutants in the pit, when they still have alternatives at hand.

  7. #7
    Astonishing Member Hulkout42's Avatar
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    They don't have prisons, they just have a dank hole that serves as their personalized hell for their remainder of their lives that won't end because they can be brought back to life, way to go Xavier!

    Got to give Malice credit though, she had some cojones to choose Frost for her swan song.

  8. #8
    BANNED Rang10's Avatar
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    Malice being a teenager emo ahahahahahahah OMG

    This book does something cool, but there is a bunch of wrong decisions

  9. #9
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    I am not familiar with Malice's previous appearances, but based solely on her actions in these issues of Excalibur - I struggle to find any sympathy for her character and so am more on Xavier's side than the others.

    She's not characterized as not able to control her powers, she's not characterized as being misguided, she hasn't been shown to have an origin that explains why she is acting the way she is (Her 'origin' story just shows a standard teenager rebelling against her mother, with shades of feelings of depression/lack of self worth).

    I get why Betsy, Psylocke, and Emma are favoring rehabilitation over imprisonment, based on their personalities and character development, but nothing that Malice has done in these issues supports that choice.

  10. #10
    Astonishing Member Kingdom X's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Havok83 View Post
    I also think Xavier wanting to put her in the pit was very over the top. Why even bring her back and give her a body if that were his intent? Whatever happened to redemption and trying to help the mutants of Krakoa? Nope, she dserves to be punished for an offense which really wasnt that serious. If anything, placing her on Hellions would have made more sense, especially since Kwannon was here to help with her
    There was no middle ground! They made Charles too strict but they also made the ladies waaaay too forgiving.

    Still, I like to see Excalibur improving. It’ll never be my favorite, but I’m happy to check-in here and there.

  11. #11
    BANNED Rang10's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by lefthanded View Post
    I am not familiar with Malice's previous appearances, but based solely on her actions in these issues of Excalibur - I struggle to find any sympathy for her character and so am more on Xavier's side than the others.

    She's not characterized as not able to control her powers, she's not characterized as being misguided, she hasn't been shown to have an origin that explains why she is acting the way she is (Her 'origin' story just shows a standard teenager rebelling against her mother, with shades of feelings of depression/lack of self worth).

    I get why Betsy, Psylocke, and Emma are favoring rehabilitation over imprisonment, based on their personalities and character development, but nothing that Malice has done in these issues supports that choice.
    Krakoa theme is second chances without earning them. They could just not ressurrect her, since puting someone on a pit fpr a whole is freaking awful

    Quote Originally Posted by Hulkout42 View Post
    They don't have prisons, they just have a dank hole that serves as their personalized hell for their remainder of their lives that won't end because they can be brought back to life, way to go Xavier!

    Got to give Malice credit though, she had some cojones to choose Frost for her swan song.
    Funny that he couldn't do the same for Teen Jean

  12. #12
    Extraordinary Member Glio's Avatar
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    Yeah, after X of Swords this comic has improved. It's still probably the worst of the mutants (ignoring X-Men Legends) but it's acceptable now.

  13. #13
    Invincible Member Havok83's Avatar
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    So can anyone explain why Alice's hair switched from black to brown and then back to black?

  14. #14
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    I like the Betsy and Kwannon working together parts. The Malice part was not good. When had Malice ever given the impression that she didn’t want to live? She truly enjoyed being evil.

  15. #15
    Sarveśām Svastir Bhavatu Devaishwarya's Avatar
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    I have to say...the inclusion of Malice as a significant plot point in this arc focusing on Betsy and Kawannon is so...effin' random. You could remove her from this story entirely and have no impact on how the story between Kwannon and Betsy unfolded.
    It started out being a search for Betsy but ended up being about Malice in a new body living on Krakoa. Tsk!

    While I enjoyed this arc for the most part...I think TH really needs a better editor for her single issues and arcs.
    Last edited by Devaishwarya; 04-07-2021 at 12:58 PM.
    My Summer rain. My rooftop in Japan. My quiet in the storm. *cries* Al Ewing is GOD...Praise His name! Uplift Him in song! Glorify His works!

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