Excalibur Epic Collection: The Sword Is Drawn (Excalibur (1988-1998))

I first read some of these adventures 30 years ago or so in French. How nice to be able to fill in the gaps of my favourite team of heroes besides the New Mutants.

So glad this finally got reprinted. Its beenmissing from my collection for a long time.

Yet another member of the X-family of books joins the Epic Collection line with the first volume of Excalibur, and quite the debut it is too. This chunky trade collects the double-sized special that first sees Captain Britain, Meggan, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler and Phoenix band together, as well as the first eleven issues of the book itself.If there is a theme to these early adventures, it is Transformation. Co-creators Chris Claremont and Alan Davis seem to delight in putting their oddball team through a whole succession of bodily warping, possession, hallucination and other lunacy as they face interdimensional bounty hunters, insane gamesmasters and their own alternate Nazi selves, among others. Along the way, they bicker, form romantic entanglements and bicker some more in a book that always skirts the line of wackiness without ever falling into outright parody. Claremont pursues the same character tropes he could probably do in his sleep after so long as the main X-Men scribe, and Davis's art is so reliably gorgeous that the issues with fill-in artists seriously pale into comparison.After the 'main' issues, there is another double-sized special, this time seeing the team (mostly just Shadowcat, to be fair) come into contact with the X-Babies, pint-sized refugees from the dimension of the ratings-obsessed Mojo. It's a fairly slight tale, but with some lovely Art Adams art.Next up is an Excalibur story from Marvel Comics Presents, with art by Erik Larsen but sadly a storyline that probably steps over that parody line mentioned earlier, involving as it does ersatz cartoon and television characters in a noisy, slightly incoherent plot. Better is the bonus inclusion of the UK comics that first introduced Captain Britain and Meggan to the Marvel Universe; both form an interesting contrast to the main Excalibur book and the duo's place within.Extras include posters, relevant articles from Marvel Age magazine, a character profile from the Handbook of the Marvel Universe and a cover featuring the team from Amazing Heroes. Excalibur was always the most offbeat of the various X-books, and this collection is a great introduction to their crazy world.

This was a present for my hubby, he loved it!Nice looking book too!

Bit of a slow comic series but decent artwork that carries it

I think this was Marvel’s response to Giffen/Maguire Justice League. It didnt work. Claremont can write some funny stuff (UXM 244-245) but not here. Alan Davis and Arthur Adams art is the only reason to buy this collection. Rachel Summers character was redundant the minute Jean Grey was resurrected. Wasnt a fan when it first came out, and even though i re-tried it buying this collection, still not worth keeping.

Nice and well edited edition. Not, for me, Claremont's very best.

Well done

una de las constantes del comic de X-Men, y sus derivados, fue el cambio. En los '80s, la colección se fue diversificando. Surgieron The New Mutants, X-Factor y Wolverine tuvo su propio comic. Otro de ellos fue Excaliburm con varios de los X-Men principales y que dejaron el tíulo pues en una de las historias sufrieron heridas considerables (en la masacre mutante, que también puedes encontrar en recopilación).Excalibur reune a Nightcrawler, Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde) y Phoenix II (Rachel Summers). Además, integra a Captain Britain y Meggan, de Marvel UK, en los comics norteamericanos.El quinteto decide operar juntos como EXcalibur, en Inglaterra, pues creen a sus amigos de X-Men muertos en combate (en la Caída de los Mutantes, que también está disponible en compendio).Esta serie es una de las más originales de Marvel, pero que por alguna razón, no fue tan comercial (estyos comics eran más caros).Dos de los creativos más importantes del medio , Chris Claremont y Alan Davis, crean algunas de sus mejores historias en este volumen. Se ve el origen de EXcalibur, su integración como equipo y su participación en Inferno, otro crossover recomendable de X-Men y de Marvel (y que también puedes conseguir en dos o tres volúmenes).Este volumen está repleto de interesantes extras, como el especial Mojo Mayhem, dibujado por Art Adams y Terry Austin, una historia de ocho partes de Marvel comics Presents, con arte de Erik Larsen, muchas fichas técnicas y entrevistas, además de historias que no se consiguen fácilmente, con comics de Captain Britain, también por Alan Davis y que incluyen la rpimera aparición de Meggan.Finalmente, también se incluye la primera aparición de Captan Britain, publicada en 1976 en Reino Unido, por sus creadores, el propio Chris Claremont y el cocreador de Wolverine, Herb Trimpe.En pocas palabras, son demasiadas buenas historias en un solo volumen y a un buen precio.

Um dos maiores e melhores autores dos anos 80 e 90 em uma historia interessante e divertida; os personagens são conhecidos, mas a abordagem é diferente. Um pouco datada, mas mata a saudade

Worth buying. Forgot how awesome and inventive this series was in the mid late 80's. Loved the art work and it made me care about CAPTAIN BRITAIN.

Il capolavoro di Clairemont e Davis. La Marvel quando era la casa delle idee. Umorismo e azione, uno dei capolavoro di Chris Claremont.