By Zack Quaintance — This week’s Excalibur #1 brings us right to the edge of the halfway point of Dawn of X, which is the new wave of six X-Men titles springing out of the recently-concluded House of X / Powers of X reconceptualization of Marvel’s X-Men franchise. Next week, a double-punch of New Mutants and X-Force will hurdle us over that halfway point, but for now, here we are. So, about this comic...Excalibur #1 is the first title of the new X-Men era that I, quite frankly, don’t really know what to make of.

My main point of confusion with this comic is I don’t quite see how it’s additive to the concepts created in House of X/Powers of X. It feels to me like a story that could have taken place prior to that massive reconceptualization, with very little that would have to change to make that possible. Without spoiling anything, I will say that some of the events of this summer’s stories do play a part here, but it’s not really anything that couldn’t be easily reconfigured...move a portal here, create a new reason to cooperate with Apocalypse there...at least not through this first issue. 

Excalibur was preceded within Dawn of X by X-Men — a high-energy title that seems aimed at giving glimpses of the franchise’s headliners within the new status quo — and Marauders #1, which is almost a geo-political look at the implications of mutants having a utopian nation-state, specifically tasking a set of characters to sail the globe and try to help mutants who for whatever reason can’t get in. Excalibur #1 does not feel as focused as these other concepts, with its own concentrated pitch being that something is wrong on Otherworld (more on that in a bit), and as Betsy Braddock strives to fix it, a team of other mutants are helping her for....reasons. 

Part of this hazy focus to my mind is because this book is rooted in the magical side of the X-Men franchise, which has always been relatively undefined and malleable, owing to the fact that while science can be easily extrapolated into recognizable concepts, magic is grown from ideas and incidents humans can’t explain. That’s why we chalk them up to magic. So, of course this book isn’t going to be hyper-focused. On top of that, this book makes an aforementioned choice to set its central conflict in Otherworld, an enchanted land in another dimension that has long been an integral part of the traditional Excalibur franchise. Part of my knee-jerk reaction to the first issue of this comic was, wait, I don’t want to go to another dimension...I want more Krakoa! There are still plenty of questions to be answered there.

This is, perhaps, a bit short-sighted on my part, because by this time next month we will have three additional new ongoing (for now) comics grounded in that world with more coming early next year, but, nevertheless, my interest in what was happening on the page essentially ground to a halt every time we left Krakoa. This also felt like a story that was largely backwards engineered from one specific event/image toward the end of this issue, which is something that tends to happen in superhero comics a lot, and, to be fair, can often be easily built upon if what comes after that event/image feels compelling and natural. 

All of that said, this comic is very pretty, as all of these new X-Men books have been so far. I can’t articulate it well, but there’s a shared aesthetic that has taken hold in these books. Maybe it’s the color pallette. Anyway, the team of artist Marus To and Erick Arciniega work within it while still very much doing their own thing. To’s linework is clean and Arciniega’s colors vibrant throughout, and they absolutely nail that big event/image I mentioned earlier. Writer Tini Howard is great at writing interactions between characters, and we get some great dialogue through this comic as our unlikely team starts to interact. Gambit sounds hammy, but, hey, that’s Gambit, so it’s perfect and it works. 

In the end, I have a hazier idea of where this comic is going than any of the others that have so far launched...which might mean it ultimately ends up being my favorite. There are a lot of new X-Men comics coming our way soon, and, knowing Marvel Comics, there are likely more to be announced. Excalibur being an odder, singular title within that line might end up being a great strength, one that separates it from the pack and gives it great longevity. The creative team is certainly built for that.

Overall: Excalibur #1 is the first Dawn of X title that carves out a singular place that’s barely dependent on everything else. Ultimately, as more and more of these titles launch, that might be its greatest strength. 7.5/10

Excalibur #1
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Marcus To
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.