Spoilers: In Otherworld, in the absence of King Arthur, his sister Morgan Le Fay has taken over as the regent Queen. Otherworld is at the brink of war with the forces of a mysterious White Witch, but Morgan is more concerned with the appearance of Krakoan flowers polluting her scrying pool and tainting the waters of Avalon.
Back in England at Braddock Academy, Betsy Braddock bids farewell to her family and decides to move to Krakoa. She is welcomed by her friends and insists they call her Betsy, not Psylocke. Meanwhile, Trinary calls the attention of Apocalypse to a Krakoan gate opening from Otherworld to Krakoa, but which cannot be breached.
In North Yorkshire, Morgan contacts a Coven of mortals led by a High Priestess called Marianna Stern and orders them to find and destroy the source of the Krakoan flowers, while prohibiting any mortal from channelling magic of Avalon.
Back in Krakoa, Betsy avoids Kwannon while keeping company to Jubilee. Egg, formerly known as Goldballs, takes Betsy to the Hatchery and informs that a newly-reborn Jamie Braddock is causing trouble. Betsy has no time for Jamie’s theatrics and orders him to behave. Jamie assures he has no plans to leave Krakoa, but he doesn’t care about any humans anymore, including Brian.
Apocalypse approaches Betsy and asks her to bring Captain Britain to Krakoa, as he thinks he’d be able to go through the gate. Betsy returns to Braddock Academy, but Brian has already been called to Otherworld. Betsy thinks it’s a trap and decides to join him.
In Otherworld, Brian and Betsy appear before a Krakoan gate in Morgan’s castle. The sorceress has summoned Brian to hunt the mutant who has been polluting her waters with Krakoan flowers. Morgan orders her cover to attack Betsy, for she is a mutant.
Meanwhile in Krakoa, Rogue and Gambit walk the beach at night, amusing about the third mutant law about making more mutants. Trinary warns Rogue that Apocalypse has summoned her. Apocalypse says that Betsy and Brian are trapped in the other side of the gate, in Otherworld, and asks Rogue to break the magical ward off the gate with her powers. Gambit brings in Jubilee since she was the last to speak to Betsy.
In Camelot, Morgan Le Fay turns Brian into her new dark champion and forces him to attack Betsy. Brian tries to fight Morgan’s influence and gives Betsy the amulet of right, the source of Captain Britain’s powers. At the same time, Apocalypse is able to contact Betsy and orders her to disrupt the gate at the same time Rogue touches the portal from the other side. Whatever came through the gate took Rogue as its host, putting her in stasis, covered in Krakoan flowers.
Brian convince Betsy to put the amulet on and she is immediately teleported back to Krakoa. Gambit is upset with Apocalypse and vows to kill him, when Betsy suddenly appear before them as the new Captain Britain.
Epilogue: Marianna Stern has sacrificed her entire Coven and joins another cult, that of Coven Akkaba.
Data Page: A new form of mutant magic has risen, and Apocalypse is aware of it. The symbol of old magic is the circle: “The magic circle has been abolished as a weakness requiring the hands of many magi and points on a line.” The symbol of new mutant magic is X: “The X, as superior, only requires 4.”
ALL HAIL CAPTAIN BRITAIN!
ALL HAIL CAPTAIN BRITAIN!
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
15 comments:
Issue wasnt bad just okay IMO best part was the art. Everyone on Twitter seems to love the issue so that's good!
This was GREAT!! Really loved all the character moments and the art was pretty awesome. To's preview pages pale in comparison to the rest of this book. That page of Betsy debuting as CB was such a big moment I almost teared up haha. Lots of things happened and I can't wait to see where we go from here!
I liked it, but the conversation with Jamie felt a little strange. I mean, the last interaction between them was when Betsy took control over Brian to break Jamie's neck. So why was she so upset that he is back from the dead? Shouldn't she apologize to him or at least be sorry?
I'm curious if shes aware he was resurrected after only to be killed again by Black Widow recently. Such a random inclusion that seemingly went nowhere.
I'm starstruck by the epicness!
Maybe Betsy is angry at James resurrection because she knows how much dangerous he is for reality. James made Betsy his toy many times in the past. On a scale to 10 James Jr. is 19 and Apocalypse is 8.
Finally Goldballs is no more! Bendis cringe and sexual innuendos out the window. Welcome Egg!
I really like the codename name Egg too actually 😅
Great issue. Betsy looks fantastic as Captain Britain. I wonder if there will be an official passing of the "Psylocke" mantle to Kwannon in further issues, or if we're expected to just understand the change from the previews and fanfare of the last few months.
Nice to know people are enjoying this issue.
I'm just worried that it seems Rogue will be out of action for this first arc... she deserves better than that.
Loved the issue! Reminded me of the old Alan Davis days with the clean artwork. I like the little barbs between Apocalypse and the crew (Can you blame them for not trusting him?).
Morgan LeFay will be a great antagonist. I imagine we will be seeing Satyrnine(sp?) one day. Betsy looked amazing in the Captain Britain costume, and I can't wait to see her in action. Was so glad the issue was focused on her, and I chuckled at her being exasperated at everything. Though her anger at Jamie is understandable, I feel like it is just her guilt at killing him before. She is definitely on a spiritual journey to rediscover what she wants. She has a clean slate sort of (despite now being burdened with Captain Britain amulet).
It was funny to see the awkward exchange with Kwannon. Hopefully they will be able to have that talk one day. I am happy that they are now separated and hopefully both women can now pick up the pieces of their lives. One day they should both go and pay Spiral a visit.
Trinary already annoys me. She reminds me of Mermista from the new She-Ra show, who I cannot really stand. Sleeping Beauty Rogue is a bit frustrating since the character just came into the book, but I think it will end up good, I am guessing she will have new powers (like teleportation, etc).
All in all I am excited for the book and the new direction. Great way to end an awful year for me, with a new Excalibur book focused on Betsy!
The Excalibur comic had a lot to unpack! A handful of reviewers praise it and others say they were surprised Tini Howard wasn't as bad as they expected but found it boring. The word boring isn't right for a story that had action and many sub plots. The discussions were the main problem with negative reviewers calling them wordy and unnecessary. In contrast I support the discussions in the first issue because they worked in favor of reviewing the Braddock family history, Betsy's past as Psylocke and the race change issue that plagued her like a curse.
My favorite parts of the comic was the relationship of Betsy with her brothers Brian and Jamie. Tini Howard has nailed the voice of Jamie and Morgan Le Fay. She did well with Apocalypse but has time to get better. Bad guys are the most difficult to write and understand the complexity of their evilness.
Same Tobias. My fave parts were Betsy interacting with her brothers but mostly Jamie I hope he isnt villainized I think hes more interesting as an arrogant annoyance than a major threat because the rapport is just too entertaining.
I thought this was a great first issue, it reminds me of the Marvel Now first issue of Uncanny X-Force. I had some issues but overall it felt like a really solid start and I can’t wait for more.
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