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Excalibur is the title of two Marvel Comics series, both offshoots of the popular X-Men franchise.
The first Excalibur, (1988-98), featured an eponymous group consisting of the English superhero Captain Britain, his lover Meggan and several onetime members of the X-Men and related mutant teams. Originally a wacky series involving cross-dimensional travel, it became a more typical X-Book in later years.
The second Excalibur, (2004-present), which has little to do with the first, chronicles the efforts of X-Men founder Charles Xavier and his former nemesis Magneto to rebuild the mutant homeland of Genosha.
The original Excalibur
Cover to Excalibur #1 by Alan Davis. From left Meggan, Captain Britain, Phoenix, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler Excalibur's original creative team, writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer Alan Davis, incorporated elements of two Marvel properties: the X-Men and Captain Britain.
The X-Men are a group of mutants - human beings born with extraordinary powers - who use their abilities to defend a society that hates and fears them. Claremont had authored their series since 1976, guiding them to tremendous success. He borrowed four characters from the X-Men for Excalibur:
A Marvel UK property co-created by Claremont in 1976, Captain Britain is a protector of Great Britain, endowed with superhuman powers by the legendary wizard Merlin. Davis and Alan Moore, during their joint early 1980s stint, established that the Marvel Universe's Captain Britain one of many from various dimensions and that one of his main roles is guarding the lighthouse that is placed at the convergence of realities.
Excalibur, which also featured Captain Britain's emotionally unstable, shapeshifter love Meggan, first gathered together in Excalibur Special Edition #1 (1988) and were soon featured in a monthly series. With the help of a maniac, dimension-hopping robot named Widget, they embarked on a series of wacky adventures through parallel worlds, many of which had previously been featured in Captain Britain’s UK-only series.
Claremont left the series in 1991 and Davis then became its writer and illustrator, maintaining the tone of Claremont’s run. As typical with X-Books, many characters joined Excalibur only to leave shortly after. Shortly lived members include the warrior Kylun, the alien seductress Cerise, and the giant-sized Micromax.
Davis left in 1993 and Uncanny X-Men writer Scot Lobdell took over. Marvel stationed the team on the fictitious Muir Island, off the coast of Scotland, and tied the series closer to the X-Men family, casting-off many of most Captain Britain-related elements and eventually Captain Britain himself (Phoenix also left during this time).
In 1994, Briton Warren Ellis assumed writing duties and, using his dark sense of humor, helped the book gain its own voice once again. He returned Captain Britain and added new additions to the team including:
- Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), a werewolf-like young woman from the X-Men spin-off The New Mutants
- Douglock (Doug Ramsey), another New Mutant reborn as a cyborg
- Colossus (Peter Rasputin), a Russian X-Men who could turn into “organic steel.” A popular X-Man, Colossus added some star power to the group
- Pete Wisdom, an often-obnoxious British spy, often considered Ellis’ alter ego, who could turn his fingers into hot knifes. In a bold move, Ellis made Wisdom the romantic interest of the once young and innocent Shadowcat.
Ellis made Excalibur a cut above most X-Books in artist finesse and originality, but he left in 1996 and subsequent writers failed to find a voice for the series, often borrowing plotlines from other X-Books. Sales fell and Marvel cancelled the series, partially so Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Colossus could return to the X-Men. The series ended with issue #125 (1998) featuring the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan.
In 2001, a 4-part miniseries titled Excalibur detailed Captain Britain's advent to King of the extra-dimensional realm of Otherworld.
The new Excalibur
The cast of the new Excalibur series. Art by Aaron Lopresti. In 2004 Marvel Comics launched a new ongoing series titled Excalibur, this time dealing with the efforts of Professor Xavier and Magneto to rebuild the devastated mutant nation of Genosha (which was destroyed at the beginning of Grant Morrison's X-Men run). Aside from the name and the writer (Claremont) it has no connection to Marvel's previous Excalibur titles. Other cast members include Callisto, another mutant leader, and newcomers such as Wicked, Freakshow, Shola Inkose, and Karima Shapandar.
Bibliography
- Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn (1987) (also known as Excalibur Special Edition)
- Excalibur #1-125 (October 1988 - October 1998)
- Excalibur #1-15 (October 1988 - November 1989)
- Excalibur #16-91 (December 1989 - November 1995, ISSN 1045-1366)
- Excalibur #92-125 (December 1995 - October 1998, ISSN 1083-3609)
- Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem (December 1989)
- Excalibur: Weird War III (December 1990, ISBN 0-87135-702-X)
- Excalibur: The Possession (July 1991)
- Excalibur: Air Apparent (December 1991)
- Excalibur: XX Crossing (July 1992) (also known as Excalibur vs the X-Men)
- Excalibur Annual #1-2 (1993 - 1994)
- Excalibur #-1 (July 1997)
- Excalibur #1-4 (February 2001 - May 2001)
- Excalibur #1-present (July 2004 - present)
- Excalibur Volume 1: Forging The Sword Tpb (November 2004, ISBN 0785115277)
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