Words Richard Ashford
Pictures Ken Lashley & Randy Elliott
Letters Pat Brosseau
Colors Chris Mattys & Pat Garrahy
Edits Suzanne Gaffney
Bigger Edits Bob Harras
Biggest Edits Tom DeFalco
Cover Dated April 1994
Cover has a fun spin on the “Hope You Survive the Experience” tagline.
Inside front cover ad is for Naked Gun 33 1/3, the Final Insult. It was mostly okay.
Cottbus, Germany, 1994. This issue is super dated. It has been nearly a half of a century since the death of Hitler. Ten years after Orwell’s Big Brother failed to appear. Four years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Two years after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
People are fighting in the streets. This is all due to D’Spayre and his lady companion, Margali (Amanda Sefton’s mother, who is green at the moment). I feel like this is the fourth comic I own with D’Spayre, and as silly as his name is, I sort of dig him. He’s causing all types of despair (get it?) to the good Germans. We haven’t seen D’Spayre in these pages since Excalibur 35.
https://shadowandflamewithmagik.com/2014/02/14/excalibur-35/
It has been 41 issues, so that’s so nearly three and a half years.
During the events of Issue 75, Nightcrawler got hurt. He’s in the hospital, amusing the nurses. Amanda shows up and asks for his help. They kiss, they get their superhero uniforms on, and they are out.
Actually, Nightcrawler is hurt from the events of X-Men Unlimited 4, that just came out. Two decades later, the worst kept secret is finally canon – Mystique is Nightcrawler’s mother.
There is a two page ad for the game I never got to play but wanted to, SO MUCH! – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters.
Amanda tells Kurt that their mother (Margali is Kurt’s adopted mother) is in trouble. Since Kurt believes Mystique is dead (she sacrificed herself so that he can save Rogue), he wants to protect his other mother. We do get a fun moment when Kurt realizes who is in his family tree now. Rogue, his adopted stepsister. Graydon Creed, his half brother. Sabretooth, is a technical stepfather. That’s up there with the Maximoff / Pym family tree that I’m such a huge fan of.
Since the last time Shadowcat saw Nightcrawler, he was jumping into a jet and flying to America – so she has been waiting for any sign that he is okay. Look at that sweet looking Lockheed, by Lashley & Elliott. His shade of purple is pretty nice as well, good job Matthys & Garrahy! Makes him look a little grim.
Look, also, at how sweet Lockheed is! He’s putting a blanket over his best friend! That guy is the best!
Kitty has been through an emotional roller coaster. Illyana has died, Rachel is lost in the timestream, Captain Britain is back but with a few screws loose, thus Meggan has received a power upgrade as he has, as well.
Carmen Pryde calls his daughter but she sleeps through his message. Poor Carmen, doesn’t look so good there. He tells her that he loves her, like a good father. Kitty mutters that she loves him too, which wakes her up.
I’m not really sure where this story is going.
http://comicbookdb.com/character_chron.php?ID=10329
We don’t see him again until Excalibur 14 (the Magneto / Xavier not-so-buddy book) and that’s only in a flashback that we learn that Xavier and Mr. Pryde were old war buddies. That’s in 2005, so that is 11 years later. Mekanix, in 2002, is when we learn he dies in the Genosha genocide, New X-Men 115. Which I just now realized that I don’t own and should add it, just for that connection.
Kitty tries to answer the phone. In her rush, she phases through the computer, causing it to go haywire. We’ll have to see if this subplot ever comes up again. Not during this month, but maybe some other day.
Kitty hears a sound and goes to investigate it.
In the MedLab, Dr. Rory Campbell is trying to hold Brian back. Brian is calling himself, Britanic, and wants to leave. Rory notes that Brian has some clear memory issues. Since this is only the next issue, the scientists don’t know enough about his time spent in the timestream, to allow him to travel about.
Britanic is being summoned and he wants to go.
Kitty and Meggan agree to follow, to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself or anything else.
Poor Campbell learned, last issue, that he will one day turn into Ahab, of the Days of Future Past. Which is pretty heady. Now knowing that, he is unsure of any moves that he should make, as it may trigger that future becoming a reality. Why he just doesn’t leave and spend no time with mutants, is beyond me.
Issue ends with Kurt and Amanda, in Germany. They start trying to quiet the riots. Kurt takes a brick to the head! Proving that he is a mighty X-Man! Kurt goes down and D’spayre loves it! We’ll have to find out what happens, some other time.
On Sale, Then –
Beavis & Butthead 3
Doom 2099 17
Excalibur 77 – Concluding Nightcrawler’s origin! With Captain Britain
Ghost Rider 2099 1 – which is also spotlighted in the Hype Box
GI Joe 148
Marvel Age 136
Sabretooth Classics 1
What If 61 – Spidey flips out when the unthinkable happens to Mary Jane
X-Factor Annual 9 – Professor X finds there’s no safe place to hide from Haven
X-Men 32 – Are you hungry for Revanche? Read this issue!
X-Men 2099 8 – Say — that couldn’t be the original X-Men in this issue — could it?
Sword Strokes, letters from – Courtney Knapton of Manchester, CT / Tue Sorenson c/o Waage of Denmark / Robert Smith / Stephen Strawn of Little Rock, AR / Chris Stempie of Canada / Dharma Aymara Arthur of Panama City, FL and Joey Marchese of Union, NJ.
Next issue – Conclusion of the D’Spayre storyline, the beginning of The Douglock Chronicles and Zero from X-Force and the first Deadpool Limited Series.
. . .
We’re taking a break from Excalibur to review Marvel Comics Presents 174 and DC’s Sovereign Seven 3. Then we come back around for Excalibur 96 – Lockheed is missing from nearly 25 issues, that’s two years! Marvel must have gotten so many letters!
Shadow and Flame with Magik 