Cross Time Caper

All posts tagged Cross Time Caper

Excalibur 24

Posted by John Klein III on February 11, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Excalibur 24

Chris Claremont

By

Alan Davis

Finisher Paul Neary

Colorist Glynis Oliver

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Cover Dated July 1990

We jump back into Cross Time Caper with the final chapter!  Its a fun romp, it just lasts way to long.

Lockheed is on the cover!  That’s twice this month!

Lockheed wasn’t in issue 23.

Issue opens with Saturnyne being displeased with Excalibur and Courtney Ross celebrating Kitty Pryde’s 15th birthday.  They are the same woman.  Saturnyne is going to send Excalibur home, but she wants to keep Rachel here at the Omniversal Matrix.

London.  Kitty doesn’t want to get out of bed.  Courtney wants to celebrate.  Kitty finally agrees.

It is so great to be seeing old school Alan Davis art again.  Oliver’s coloring makes the art pop too.

Omniversal Matrix.  Meggan is so mad (and jealous) of Saturnyne.  They need a plan to sneak Rachel back home.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 1

Rachel dresses in the classic blue Shadowcat costume, and like the cover, Lockheed almost ruins the situation.  He hasn’t seen his dear friend in weeks and is excited to see her.

London.  Kitty is going to get a makeover.  She looks like a very young adult woman, ready for a classy evening.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 2

Matrix.  The Immigration Inspector isn’t happy with Excalibur.  Captain Britain has a new costume, as does Meggan.  He looks at ‘Shadowcat.’  She is taller, her voice is deeper and her . . . physiognomic configuration is different.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 3

This upsets the John Byrne ‘homage,’ whose entire job is to have updated image of every costumed character.  He is the, Artistarchivist.  A brawl breaks out.  With the distraction, Captain Britain flies off.

London.  Kitty is mistaken to be much older by the waiter.  She is able to order some crystal champagne.  I’m not a fan.  Courtney is impress with Kitty being able to pull it off.

Hub.  Captain Britain cuts to the front of the line.  He is attacked by Lady London and Centurion Britannus.

London.  Courtney wonders if there is anything else Kitty wants to do before the sun comes up.

Hub.  Nightcrawler gets into a sword fight with Chevalier Bretagne.  Good thing everyone either provides their own name or another character calls them by name.  Meggan comes in to help Kurt.

Paris.  Kitty wanted to see Paris, she didn’t get much chance to during Uncanny X-Men 200.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 4

Captain Britain seems to be winning.

Alistaire, Rachel and Lockheed are watching that fight on the news.  Poor Lockheed and Rachel get blasted by some mud.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 5

Captain Cymru was the one with the mud gun.  The mud was meant to keep Kitty from phasing.  Meggan and Kurt rejoin them.

Paris.  Kitty is flirting and dancing, having a grand time.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 6

The Hub.  ‘Shadowcat’ helps Captain Britain out.  She gets snatched up by a bigger Corp member.  Good thing Lockheed was there with the save!

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 7

Meggan punches the Centurion.  Widget gives them a warning to come back.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 8

Saturnyne isn’t happy that she had to wait for Excalibur.  She is going to let all of Excalibur go home, with strong hints that she isn’t being fooled by the Shadowcat gimmick.

Paris.  Kitty is happier than she has been in a long while.  Courtney has gotten Kitty, as the official present, a brand new car!  A red Jaguar.  Whatever happened to this car?  Kitty drives it all the way to London.

Excalibur 24 Lockheed 9

Excalibur made it home, it only took twelve or so months.  Meggan heads outside.  First up on the agenda, locate Kitty.  Meggan comes back, super excited.  They are home, she gives Kurt and not Brian, a hug.  Brian’s ?, Kurt’s !, is fun!

The final page is Galactus floating in the sky, waiting for Phoenix.  He must have showed up during the few minutes between Meggan’s lap.

Excalibur 22

Posted by John Klein III on February 5, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Excalibur 22

Writer Chris Claremont

Artists Chris Wozniak & Al Milgrom

Letterer Tim Harkins

Colorist Brad Vancata

Chief Interrogator Tom DeFalco

Cover Dated May 1990

Issue opens with Nightcrawler being interrogated.  No one believes that he could be from an alternate universe.

Crusader-X flies to the Xavier School.  He flies into a female Archangel.  Cable is investigating the damage along with various police officers.  Crusader-X takes off his helmet, we see he has long black hair.

Rachel remembers her origins.  She fought the Shadow King and Mojo, already, she is ready for another round.

Proper Marvel Universe.  Kitty heads over to the Regent’s Park Zoo, where the four Warwolves are kept.  She taunts them, and walks away.  Their leader implies that they will regain two members soon.

Excalibur 22 Lockheed 1

A lady who looks like Kitty Pryde, in a green dress, walks outside.  Some street thugs start harassing her because she is Crusader-X’s girlfriend.  Lockheed shows up to save Kitty.

Look how great Wozniak’s Lockheed is!

Excalibur 22 Lockheed 2

Captain Britain balls up the thugs’ van.  That must be awkward with it between his legs.  Meggan keeps calling her, Kitty.  Kitty corrects her, she is the Courtney Ross of this Earth.  Which furthers the subplot of our Kitty and Courtney and why Courtney is so interested in Kitty.  I’m not sure if that is ever resolved.  I suppose we will find out.

Hellfire Club.  Rachel is told Iron Man and Shadow King’s big plan.  At the Queen’s birthday party, with all of the assembled world leaders, Iron Man is going to kill them all.  Jean Grey is suppose to be the head of security.  Rachel is going to fool people to believe she is her mother.

Over with Nightcrawler.  He is hitting on Alistaire’s sister.  On this Earth, he is the soldier and she is the scientist.  Crusader-X finds Kurt and tries to attack him.  Good thing Captain Britain shows up.  They are essentially evenly paired.

Hampton Court, with the World Summit.  Rachel successfully gets Iron Man into the building.  It is empty, as Rachel warned everyone ahead of time.  We get Iron Man vs Rachel.  Once she hits him with a psychic attack, the armor takes over.  Tony, weirdly, prerecorded a message, as he anticipated Shadow King turning on him.

Excalibur 22 Lockheed 3

Lockheed, Meggan and Courtney are watching the Braddock battle.  Rachel summons them to help her.  Meggan shows up, as Rachel passes out at her feet.

Excalibur 22 Lockheed 4

Lockheed gives a mega-roar, a move I didn’t give him on Pokemon but I could have.  This gets the attention of the Braddocks.  They see Iron Man has beaten Meggan, this doesn’t please them.

Excalibur 22 Lockheed 5

The police can’t hold Iron Man, as he only really hit two women, he didn’t try to kill any world leaders.  The police will be keeping an eye on him.

Next issue, Alan Davis returns!  He will do the final two parts of Cross Time Caper, and then a new creative team takes over.  Apparently, we’ve already seen them, so it is probably this issue’s creative team.

Two letters this issue – Bob Schreub Jr. of New Jersey and Jacqueline Middleton of Australia.

Excalibur 21

Posted by John Klein III on February 3, 2015
Posted in: Homage, Review. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Excalibur 21

Writer Chris Claremont

Penciler Chris Wozniak

Inker Al Milgrom

Colorist Brad Vancata

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

Lord of all he surveys Tom DeFalco

Cover Dated April 1990

We jump right back into Cross Time Caper!  yay?

Fun homage cover to Excalibur 1!  Good job, Mr. Wozniak!  I like how Lockheed gets onto another cover!  Still a rarity!  It comes at a price, as Lockheed doesn’t appear in the issue itself.

Issue opens on Crusader-X’s Earth.  He is this Earth’s Captain Britain.  He is on patrol.  I sort of dig his costume design. I like the brown boots with matching shoulder pads.  He catches up with the science team, WHO – inspired by Doctor Who.  They have found Excalibur’s train that they have been using as a base.  Turns out that Nightcrawler is a Prussian villain.  Fun descriptions of what Excalibur’s costumes look like.

Proper Marvel Universe.  Kitty wakes up in Braddock Manor.  She wonders who undress her and then redressed her.  Courtney Ross enters the room with some coffee. Kitty is frustrated that her natural state is to be intangible.  Kitty gives a quick recap of how Doctor Doom healed her and soon after, the X-Men presumably died.

Crusader-X Earth.  We see Jean Grey going to the Xavier School, in England.  Mastermind is pulling his old trick on her.  This time, he is making her, the Shadow Queen.

Rachel senses this Jean being in trouble.  Excalibur tries to calm her.

Over at the Hellfire Club of London.  Shadow King just killed Emma Frost.  He is the overall ruler of the club.  He doesn’t waste time with the whole Black and White nonsense.  Tony Stark, in full Iron Man (minus helmet), is trying to make a deal.  Tony wants to break America away from British rule.  He is there knowingly against Captain America’s wishes.

Proper Marvel Universe.  This is the issue with Nigel Frobisher and Vixen.  Nigel was a business man who kept annoyingly hitting on Rachel.  Vixen is the low level head of a gang.  Jimmy, the brother of Brian and Betsy / Captain Britain and Psylocke.  He is walking around in just a tiny pair of white undies.  It is unsettling.  Jimmy kills Vixen’s henchmen and Vixen.  Jimmy makes it possible that Nigel can change into Vixen when needed.  Which is also unsettling.

Crusader-X’s Earth.  Jean gets attacked by Cannonball, he was just trying his skills.  It doesn’t work out for him.  Shadow King makes it so that Jean believes she not only killed Xavier and Moira, but she enjoyed it.

Rachel ditches Kurt to save her not-mother.  Just then, Crusader-X finds Kurt and starts beating him.  He flies off with Kurt.  Meggan and Captain Britain show up and start tracking Kurt.  Meggan can tell that Rachel ditched him.

Issue ends as Rachel gets to Jean, as Jean dies.  Rachel swears vengeance.