Excalibur (comic book)


Excalibur is the name of several superhero comic books published by Marvel Comics since 1988, generally featuring the team of the same name.
The first volumes ran for 125 issues, complemented by several one-shot special editions, between 1987 and 1998. The second was a four-issue limited series published in 2001, and the third an ongoing series printed from 2004 and 2005 before being relaunched as New Excalibur. While featuring some of the same characters and concepts, the second and third series did not centre on an Excalibur team. The 2019 series, complete with the return of the eponymous team, was revived as part of the Dawn of X X-Men relaunch.

Creation

The genesis of Excalibur came from Captain Britain, an initially unsuccessful attempt by Marvel to break into the British market which was co-created by American staff, including Chris Claremont. Since creating Captain Britain, Claremont's career had gone from strength to strength; Uncanny X-Men had become one of the industry's best-selling titles, and as a result he had set up spin-off New Mutants, which was itself followed by the successful X-Factor. Meanwhile the short-lived Captain Britain had been revived by British creative teams, receiving critical acclaim - albeit while struggling for sales. When Claremont read the reinvigorated Captain Britain stories he was impressed with the development of the characters and immediately planned a sequel to the Alan Moore-penned "Jaspers' Warp" arc, featuring Mad Jim Jaspers, the Fury and the rest of the Captain Britain cast that would be a major X-Men plot arc. Betsy Braddock, the title character's sister, was featured in New Mutants Annual #2 in 1986, soon joining the X-Men as Psylocke, while Jaspers made what was planned to be a teaser appearance in Uncanny X-Men #200, with the plot line of Charles Xavier's exile to the Shi'ar Empire intended to serve as a catalyst. However Claremont was then made aware of an ownership debate between Moore and Marvel, and with the publisher wary of litigation from Moore the storyline was retooled. The Jaspers cameo - during which the character had not demonstrated his powers - was not followed up on, while the role intended for the Fury was instead filled by new character Nimrod. Some of the planned storylines would later be used for the X-Men arc "Fall of the Mutants".
Meanwhile while plot-lines in Uncanny X-Men had seen the popular characters Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Colossus - as well as the Rachel Summers incarnation of Phoenix - sidelined. The new roster featuring Havok, Longshot and Dazzler proved popular and were central to Claremont's plans for the series, so Marvel wanted both a 'home' for the characters and the sales potential of a fourth X-Men book. At the time, Marvel were heavily courting Alan Davis, who had been artist for Captain Britain from 1981 and was an avowed fan of the character. After winning considerable acclaim in Britain, he was head-hunted by DC Comics, again receiving praise for his work on Batman and the Outsiders before falling out with the company. As a result, Marvel gave Davis what was for the time a very generous contract, both in terms of remuneration and creative freedom. Claremont was assigned to write the series, but allowed Davis - more used to working via the full script process rather than the 'Marvel method' considerable leeway and input. Claremont had previously wanted Davis to draw Uncanny X-Men; according to the writer the post was never available at the same time as Davis was, but the artist would later indicate he was uninterested. Ann Nocenti was given the post of editor, and the trio decided the book would be a "cosmic comedy", both to play to Davis' strengths and to offset the dark tone of the other mutant books. Claremont chose to return Colossus to Uncanny X-Men rather than use him for Excalibur, due to Captain Britain already fulfilling the team's need for a strongman type. Davis' regular collaborator Paul Neary also joined as inker.

Publication history

Volume 1 (1987–1998)

Chris Claremont and Alan Davis

The series was launched with the lavish Excalibur Special Edition, a 1987 48-page advertisement-free 'bookshelf' comic promoted with posters and promotional carrier bags for comic stories. It was followed by an ongoing series. Despite being priced higher than most of Marvel's regular titles due to using a more expensive paper stock, Excalibur was a strong sales success - #1 was Diamond Comic Distributors' best-selling title for April 1988, with #2 second-best behind the first issue of the newly-launched Wolverine in May and #3 third behind Wolverine and Uncanny X-Men in June. With the creators given a large amount of freedom by Marvel, the series soon received plaudits for its humorous tone and wit compared to the darker turn taken by both the other X-Men related titles and the wider industry at the time. The success also led to Marvel printing a trade paperback compiling the material Davis had produced for Captain Britain, which was coloured by several artists. Davis and writer Jamie Delano were required to sell their rights to the material to do so; as Alan Moore refused to do likewise, his work on the title was not included in the collection.
While Claremont and Davis intended Excalibur not to cross over with the other X-Men titles, the series was broadly part of the 1989 "Inferno" event, with issues #6-7. However, Excalibur themselves were only peripherally involved in the events of the story, not encountering any of the major characters. Due to Davis falling behind schedule, issue #8 saw Ron Lim guest as artist, while #11 featured Marshall Rogers. A second special edition - Excalibur - Mojo Mayhem - was also published, featuring art from Art Adams. Excalibur #12 began the "Cross-Time Caper", a planned 9-issue arc sending the characters to a wide variety of alternative Earths. The following issue saw the debut of a new costume for Captain Britain; it had been designed for the character's primarily black-and-white British appearances, but Davis found the American colourists were frequently making mistakes and so simplified it. However, in 1990 and partway through the storyline Davis fell ill. After a fill-in issue written by Michael Higgins and drawn by Lim, Chris Wozniak provided art until Davis was fit to return on Excalibur #23. However, his return would only last for two issues - after completing the delayed "Cross-Time Caper" arc he left the title, later stating that he was unhappy with the effect compromises he was having to make to get back on schedule were having on the quality of his work.

Claremont and others

Soon after Davis' departure, Claremont's attention was split by the need to focus on the planned relaunch of X-Men. Other writers including Higgins, Terry Austin, Dana Moreshead and Scott Lobdell contributed issues, particularly when the title went bi-weekly over the summer of 1990. The book was also without a regular artist, instead featuring guest artists such as Barry Windsor-Smith, Colleen Doran, and David Ross. By this point sales had fallen; while still healthy they would never reach the heights of the early issues. Following the three-part "Girls' School from Heck" storyline in #32-34, Claremont left the title. A third special edition, Weird War III, was released in 1991.

Alan Davis returns

Claremont's replacement was meant to be a returning Alan Davis, tempted back as writer-artist from #35 onwards. However, other commitments delayed his return and Lobdell contributed a short run to bridge the gap, including a three-part arc featuring the Avengers West Coast; the events of his stories were guided by Davis. As Neary had decided to continue his more lucrative pencilling career, Davis linked up with Mark Farmer as inker - the pair had briefly worked together before, notably on the final issue of Captain Britain, and would go on to have a long partnership. They appeared as the new team on Excalibur #42; while contemporary Marvel policy did not generally tout creative teams on covers, the issue bore a strapline trumpeting the return of "You Know Who". Davis' double role also meant he could plot issues for other artists to draw when he fell behind schedule. His return allowed the conclusion of numerous unresolved plot-lines and saw the first major expansion to the comic's regular cast with the additions of Cerise, Kylun, Micromax and Feron. Having concluded his storylines, Davis left again after Excalibur #67 to focus on launching the ClanDestine. Comic Book Resources suggested the title never recovered from Davis' departure.

Scott Lobdell

Davis' return had not brought the expected sales increase; subsequently, after a brief tenure under Brian Ashford, the title would take a different direction under Scott Lobdell, who strengthened the title's narrative and tonal connection to the other X-Men titles under the direction of Bob Harras. The recent additions to the cast were abruptly written out, as was Captain Britain - who became lost in the time-steam off-panel before Excalibur #68, leading to Meggan also falling out of focus. The cosmic elements of the book were dropped and the team were relocated to Muir Island, with Moira MacTaggert added to the regular cast. While Captain Britain would return to the series it was at the expense of Phoenix, and he was radically altered to the aloof Britannic, and he and Meggan would take a minor role in the series, which increasingly focused on Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and MacTaggert, as well as the newly added extant X-Men supporting character Amanda Sefton. The new strategy for the title also saw it involved in the crossovers "Fatal Attractions" and "Phalanx Covenant"; the latter saw Douglock added to the regular cast. However, sales only rose slightly.