BLADE CYBERCOMIC - 1998

Blade

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors),  Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: A young vampire attempts to recruit a new bloodsucker by describing the excessive lifestyle they live thanks to Deacon Frost. The only downside is the vampire hunter Blade, who suddenly appears and kills the vampire and his female companions.

Review: Confession -- I’ve never seen any of the Blade films. I have no good reason for never seeing them, either. (And I realize that Blade is significant for being the first Marvel movie that didn’t look embarrassing and actually turned a profit.) I’m sure I had an opportunity to see the first one, but didn’t feel like it at the time and never bothered to go back to it. Every few years, a new sequel or TV series would continue the franchise, and I ignored them because I never saw the first movie. For some reason, the sequels are rerun continuously on various cable channels, but the first movie always seems to be ignored. Of course, if I really wanted to see the movie, I know I could at any time, but I’ve never felt any real motivation to do so.

As you might’ve guessed this was a short created to promote the 1998 Blade movie. There are a few vague references to the Book of Erebus, which I’m assuming is a plot device in the film, but aside from this brief diversion, this could easily be read as a standalone story. Chichester has a clever premise for the short; a bratty young vampire recruits you, the reader, into the world of vampirism. Apparently, you rule the city, “recruiting” all of the women you want, with a compliant police force that’s too cowardly to stand in the way of your fun. The only snag is someone called Blade, though, who conveniently arrives to kill all of the characters in the final few panels. And, as crude as this animation can be, the sequence of Blade’s stakes and shuriken (?) hitting the vampires does look pretty cool. I wasn’t expecting much from a quickie move tie-in, but it’s actually worth reading.

DAREDEVIL CYBERCOMIC - PROTECTION RACKET 1998

Chapter One

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil meets with Federal Prosecutor Malper, who informs him that a Southwestern racketeer named Badlands is moving into New York. He seeks to make a name for himself by killing the Kingpin. Meanwhile, Badlands hires Bullseye for the job.

I Love the '90s: Daredevil asks Malper if the Justice Department has gotten tired of going after Microsoft.

Review: I have mixed feelings about D. G. Chichester’s Daredevil run, but I’ll readily admit that I enjoyed several of his issues. The cybercomic format doesn’t exactly indulge his propensity for overly complicated plotlines narrated by stream of consciousness rambling, so hopefully we’ll get a simple, clean Daredevil story out of this. The opening chapter mainly serves to introduce the concept of Daredevil and his alter ego. The conflict that’s created has a lot of potential, though; a part of Daredevil absolutely wants Kingpin dead, making this a mission he’d rather not take. Bullseye’s relationship with his former employer is another avenue Chichester can explore. I seem to recall Bullseye still trying to win Kingpin’s favor back in the ‘90s, so I’m interested to see where Chichester goes with this.

Chapter Two

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil sneaks into the Kingpin’s office, warning him of Badlands. Kingpin ignores his warning and leaves his skyscraper. On his way out, Bullseye strikes his limo with a rocket. Daredevil attacks Bullseye as Kingpin tries to escape the car.

“Huh?” Moment: Police Commissioner Tanner appears on the news, openly calling the Kingpin a criminal and stating that the police won’t protect him from Badlands. If the police are so confident in Wilson Fisk’s guilt, why are they putting no effort into arresting him?

Review: Well, Bullseye certainly got to the Kingpin fast. There isn’t a great confrontation between the pair in this installment, and the acknowledgment of their past together consists of Kingpin calmly telling Bullseye he’s chosen the wrong side of the fight this time. No great surprises in the Daredevil/Kingpin confrontation, either. On a very basic level this is fine, but I wish Chichester was getting more depth out of the material. (And some of the corny dialogue is cropping up again: “Just ‘cause you dress like a devil doesn’t mean you can stand the heat, red!” “Let’s see who gets burned…”) I did enjoy Daerick Gross’s artwork in this chapter, though. Since this was originally posted in 1998, I’m assuming that the Joe Quesada rendition of Daredevil was considered the “official” one; it’s a style Gross handles quite well.

Chapter Three

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Daredevil rescues Kingpin from Bullseye, but is maimed by one of Bullseye’s projectiles. Later, Bullseye assures an annoyed Badlands that Kingpin will die.

Review: Wow, if the previous chapters didn’t make the Quesada influence obvious, you’d have to be blind not to see it here. Regarding the story, this is the fight chapter, and it’s executed well enough. Chichester actually does manage to work in some of his stream of consciousness ramblings in this chapter, but it works as an effective dramatization of Daredevils’ wound.

Chapter Four

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Atomic Paintbrush (colors), Comicraft’s Liz Agraphiotis (letters)

Summary: Bullseye kills the hospital’s power, sneaking into the Kingpin’s room as Daredevil has his wound examined. Daredevil reaches the Kingpin in time to save him from Bullseye, and afterward threatens to make Kingpin pay his debt at a later date.

Review: Oddly enough, Chichester throws out an idea in the final chapter that could’ve carried its own story. A doctor informs Daredevil that he has “synesthesia” following the hit on his head in the previous chapter. The temporary condition causes his senses to become cross-wired, causing him to “feel” shapes, “see” colors, etc. Why Chichester introduces this idea and does nothing with it, I don’t know, but it could make for a great Daredevil story (for all I know, someone might’ve already used the idea in the past.) Regarding the conclusion of the story, there’s not much here. Daredevil defeats Bullseye with barely any effort, tells Kingpin that he now has a marker against him, and that’s the end. I wasn’t honestly expecting a full Frank Miller angst parade regarding Daredevil’s decision to protect the man who’s previously destroyed his life, but a little more depth would’ve been nice.

CAPTAIN AMERICA/IRON MAN - INVASION FORCE

Chapter One

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Comicraft’s Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

Summary: A mysterious spacecraft has landed on Earth. Captain America interrupts Tony Stark’s date and asks for Iron Man’s help investigating it. The duo locates the craft, unaware of a shadowy figure nearby.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Actually, this isn’t a published comic, so it was never CCA approved. However, I’m assuming Marvel wanted this to be all-ages friendly, so I was slightly surprised to see Captain America making what appear to be veiled references to Tony Stark’s erection, and Tony promising to show Cap a video of what he’s about to do with his date.

Review: This is closer to the D. G. Chichester I remember from Daredevil. A lot of snarky dialogue and world weary heroes, with a few lines thrown in to assure us that the old friends are just giving each other a hard time. Reading this today, it’s easy to hear Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man speaking this dialogue. It doesn’t quite match up with Kurt Busiek’s interpretation from this era, though, and it’s slightly disappointing to see Rumiko Fujikawa ignored in favor of an interchangeable bimbo. Anyway, the dialogue is pretty clever and the mystery is quickly set up for the next installment, so it’s a perfectly okay opening chapter.

Chapter Two

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Comicraft’s Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

Summary: Captain America and Iron Man are attacked by gas when they open the spacecraft. After Iron Man shuts it down, Cap overhears a cry for help. They rescue the alien Mendak, who’s trapped under heavy debris. He explains that his race of traders crashed on Earth after passing through a wormhole. As the heroes help repair the alien ship, Mendak plots their death.

I Love the '90s: During the opening, the narrative captions advise the heroes to follow a politician’s advice and “don’t inhale.”

Review: D. G. Chichester does use Iron Man’s various weaponry in a clever way during the opening, but the rest of the chapter is rather dull. At least the heroes are smart enough to be suspicious of Mendak, but this is starting to read like a lesser Stan Lee story from the Silver Age. Heroes find aliens, heroes help aliens, heroes learn aliens are evil…not very inspiring, is it?

Chapter Three

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Comicraft’s Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

Summary: As Iron Man and Captain America help repair the ship, Mendak distracts them with offers to travel into space with the aliens. Later, contaminated elements underneath the ship explode. The heroes confront Mendak, who turns a weapon on them.

Review: Some character drama is introduced into the story, as Captain America and Iron Man are given the option of abandoning Earth and joining this mysterious alien civilization in space. Iron Man has a more compelling reason than Cap, since leaving Earth would release him from his numerous business and philanthropic responsibilities and enable him to explore science in a way he’s never been able to before. Cap’s dilemma is simply that his value system is increasingly viewed as outdated in his own country, so perhaps an alien culture would be a better place to fight for his ideals. Chichester handles Iron Man’s quandary quite well, but understandably, it’s hard to come up with a believable rationale for why Captain America would not only leave his country, but the entire planet. At any rate, this chapter has the strongest character work of the serial and it’s nice to see the storyline diverge a bit from a predictable formula.

Chapter Four

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Comicraft’s Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

Summary: Mendak reveals that the “crashed” ship is actually a mechanical parasite that’s turning Earth’s elements into poison. Iron Man develops a plan that sends Cap into the ship’s maintenance hatch, where he struggles to trigger the emergency override of the star drive. Cap succeeds, sending the spacecraft and the Ravelians back into space.

Review: And now we’re back to predictable formula. The aliens are evil, the heroes struggle really hard to defeat the aliens, and the aliens are kicked off Earth. I realize that the standards for a free webcomic on a company’s official website are already pretty low, but that doesn’t mean the serial has to actively live down to the expectations. When Chichester makes an effort to flesh out the heroes, the story feels like an authentic Cap/Iron Man team-up, but unfortunately the bulk of the story is wasted on a goofy, yet humorless, alien invasion story. Taskmaster wasn’t available? The visuals are also disappointing, as Daerick Gross’ art is covered in simplified inking and coloring that wouldn’t pass muster in a published comic.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN CYBERCOMIC

Sandblasted - Chapter One

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

The Plot: Peter Parker is sent to cover a sandcastle building contest on Coney Island, judged by J. Jonah Jameson. Meanwhile, Sandman’s mole Skratchetti informs him that a local freakshow is being shipped a priceless mirror. Sandman steals the mirror from the freaks, but is confronted by Spider-Man.

The Subplots: Peter initially plans to spend his paycheck on a date with Betty, but realizes that he must help Aunt May with the bills.

Web of Continuity: Peter is still wearing glasses, living with Aunt May, and pursuing Betty during this story. Clearly, this is another “Untold Tale” even if it’s not officially labeled that way.

Review: I used to wonder why Marvel never reprinted these Cybercomics, but now I can understand why. Although each page initially looks like a standard comic book page (with most of the panels grayed out), I’ve discovered that hitting the space bar doesn’t automatically unlock the next panel. Instead, new word balloons often pop up in the existing panel. If Marvel did reprint this on paper, each individual panel would probably have to be blown up to almost a full page to make room for all of the dialogue. Plus, there’s the cheap “animation” that has new characters occasionally popping into existing panels after hitting the space bar. The reader would be stuck with a “repeating images” page of a static Peter and Betty having a mundane conversation that ends with a final panel with the same image, only now Jonah is leaning over the wall, telling them to get back to work.

In regards to content, this might not be worth reprinting anyway. At this point in the story, we’re still on the level of an annual backup, or a Fruity Peebles free comic giveaway. Perhaps Chichester has more planned, but right now all we have is a freakshow that’s somehow received a priceless picture frame, which makes them targets of the Sandman. As for the subplots, Peter must help Aunt May with the bills yet again, and he has to endure Flash kicking sand in his face while on his Daily Bugle assignment. This…isn’t riveting. Some of the jokes are amusing, though, and Daerick Gross’ artwork isn’t bad. (Although I question his decision to clad teenage Flash in a very tiny speed-o).

Sandblasted - Chapter Two

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

The Plot: The supernatural mirror rips Sandman into numerous pieces. He takes advantage of his multiple bodies and proceeds to attack Spider-Man. When mini-Sandmen clog his webshooters, Spider-Man is forced to crash into a rollercoaster car. The Sandmen destroy a portion of the tracks, sending Spider-Man’s car racing towards the crowd below.

Review: Wait, now the mirror’s supernatural? Like it wasn’t odd enough that a freakshow ended up with a jewel and diamond-encrusted mirror in the first place? Anyway, this is a half-way decent action chapter, which benefits a lot by the tiny Sandman clones. Having Spider-Man fight Sandman on the beach is just a painfully obvious idea, but the tiny Sandmen help to add another element to the story. The cliffhanger isn’t bad, either.

Sandblasted - Chapter Three

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

The Plot: Spider-Man escapes the car and uses his webbing to throw it away from the crowd. He grabs a mallet from one of the attractions and uses it to bat the Sandmen into the beach. The Sandmen realize that they can now absorb more of the sand, and each other, to form a giant Sandman.

The Subplots: Spider-Man catches Flash flirting with Betty, which reignites his insecurities that Betty is out of his league.

Review: Oh, that’s just cheap. Spider-Man gets out of the last installment’s cliffhanger by using his webshooters, the same webshooters that the Sandmen had hopelessly clogged up just a few seconds earlier. It’s amusing to see him throw the car into a giant recreation of J. Jonah Jameson’s head, but the scene still feels like a copout. The “Oh no, Flash is makin’ time with my girl!” sequence also feels tired. It’s nice to see a reminder of Peter’s insecurities, even in the middle of a supervillain fight, but I’d like to think Chichester can dream up better dialogue than “It makes sense Betty would go for a ‘hunk’ type like Flash! She’d never want to hook up with a longtime ‘nothing’ like Peter Parker!”

Sandblasted - Chapter Four

Credits: D. G. Chichester (writer), Daerick Gross (artist), Liz Agrophiotis (letterer), Atomic Paintbrush (colors)

The Plot: Spider-Man grabs the mysterious mirror and points it at Sandman again. Sandman is reverted to his normal size and blasted into the ocean. Spider-Man picks up his camera, but discovers his film has melted in the summer heat.

The Subplots: When Peter sees Flash is still talking to Betty, he walks away from their planned date. Unbeknownst to him, Betty is politely trying to get away from Flash.

Review: Well, that’s certainly a very Stan Lee ending. Chichester’s efforts to evoke the Lee/Ditko era of Spidey have largely failed, but the ending does capture a bit of the genuine sadness that permeated those comics. This is still far from Untold Tales of Spider-Man, though. The main plot remains dopey, requiring that unexplained magic mirror to do whatever the story needs it to, and there’s rarely any sense that Sandman is a real threat to Spider-Man. I don’t think Chichester’s sensibilities necessarily fit “classic” Spider-Man, though, so hopefully the other Cybercomics won’t be so disappointing.

Now, in conclusion, please try to keep this image out of your nightmares:

X-FORCE AND CABLE ’95 – December 1995

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Credits: Jeph Loeb (writer), Matt Ryan & Rurik Tyler (pencilers), Mark Pennington, Andrew Pepoy, & Ian Akin (inkers), Matt Webb & Malibu’s Hues (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

While vacationing on a tropical island, X-Force’s volleyball game is interrupted by the Impossible Man. He wants Cable to allow his three teenage children to join the team, but he refuses. After Impossible Man continually pesters the members of X-Force, Cable finally relents. The three teens check into X-Force’s hotel, but are only interested in watching television. While jet-skiing, X-Force is attacked by a giant green and purple monster named Barrachus, the Kalinator. Cable assumes that the monster is secretly the Impossible Man, until he realizes that the alien is actually disguised as his bar of soap. Cable uses his telepathic powers to learn Barrachus’ greatest fear, which is to be eaten by its mother. The Impossible Man’s children join forces to shapeshift into a larger monster and swallow Barrachus. Impossible Man thanks Cable for motivating his children, who have now taken Cable as their role model.

Continuity Notes

Caliban is referred to as “the purple one” by a hotel clerk, even though he’s actually colored gray in this issue. Since it’s actually written into the dialogue, I guess Caliban was officially considered purple at this time (he was colored white in all of his original appearances, for whatever that’s worth). There’s also a narrative caption that refers to the Askani as a “cult of women”, which contradicts the fact that men were shown to be a part of the order in the early issues of Cable.

Production Note

Mark Waid gets a “special thanks” credit, labeling him the “Ambassador to Popup”.

I Love the ‘90s

Cable is horrified to learn that the Impossible Man’s kids are “slackers”. Later on in the story, they’re concerned about missing the latest episode of Melrose Place.

Review

I believe this is the first (allegedly) comedic story to feature Cable and X-Force. Very little of it is actually amusing, since almost all of the humor is just based on the idea that the Impossible Man is annoying. Annoying doesn’t automatically equal funny, so it’s a bit that gets old quickly. Loeb keeps the story from being too obvious by revealing that the green and purple monster isn’t the Impossible Man, which at least adds a small twist to an otherwise predictable Impossible Man story. I think this is supposed to be an homage to the Impossible Man’s occasional appearances in Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants annuals in the ‘80s, but it lacks most of the imagination and fun of those stories. I will give Loeb credit for trying something different, though, and some of the scenes with the teenagers aren’t bad (their imitation of various Cable action figures is amusing). The art is extremely inconsistent, as the members of X-Force suddenly look as if they’re small children towards the end of the story. They’re not drawn in that style at the start of the issue, so I have to assume that one of the multiple inkers misinterpreted Ryan’s pencils. The transition from Ryan to Tyler is also jarring, as Tyler’s art is less cartoony and more hard and angular.

The Gamut

Credits: Todd Dezago (writer), Daerick Gross (art), James Houston (colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

In a back alley, Domino fights a group of ninjas and a doppelganger of herself. After defeating them, Grizzly appears, quoting the words he spoke before she had to kill him. She stabs Grizzly with a broken street sign, exposing him as a robot. Domino yells at Arcade, who has been secretly watching in a nearby truck. She tells him she’ll see him at the same time next year.

Review

It’s annual filler, not surprisingly. Dezago does introduce one unexpected twist, which has Domino allowing Arcade to try and kill her annually in order to test herself. It’s slightly ridiculous, but seems to fit her character. The story’s nicely drawn and does what it needs to do in eight pages, so there’s really not a lot to complain about. Arcade has been redesigned to look like some sort of gruesome freak, which ties in to the Wolverine/Gambit miniseries that was released around this time.

EXCALIBUR #88 – August 1995

Dream Nails

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Larry Stroman w/Darrick Gross, Ken Lashley, & Jeff Moy (pencilers), Cam Smith w/Darrick Gross, Tom Wegrzyn, Phil Moy, Don Hudson, & Jimmy Palmiotti (inkers), Joe Rosas and Digital Chameleon (colors), Comicraft (lettering)

Summary

Peter Wisdom receives a request for help from his friend, a fellow Black Air operative named Cully. Shadowcat volunteers to take Wisdom to London in the team’s Midnight Runner plane, mainly to keep an eye on him. They arrive in London and investigate one of Cully’s hideouts. He’s missing, but the words “I’m losing my body” are written on the wall. His apartment is littered with papers with odd designs drawn all over them. On Muir Island, Moira discusses with Professor Xavier how a hacker could’ve broken into Muir Island’s database and leaked information about her Legacy Virus infection. She then explains to the rest of Excalibur how the Legacy Virus mutated and infected her. Meanwhile, Britanic devises a laser pen that will be used to house the mutant killer Spoor during his sessions with Rory Campbell. At a spy hangout, Wisdom learns that Cully has died. They soon view his body at the morgue, where the coroner reveals that he died of a mysterious disease. The coroner tells Wisdom that Scicluna, his boss at Black Air, is trying to cover up the death. As Wisdom and Shadowcat leave the morgue, they’re attacked by two armed men. After they’re subdued, Wisdom pulls Black Air IDs out of their wallets.

Review

This is the start of a three-part storyline, which serves to flesh out Peter Wisdom as a character and introduce his romance with Kitty Pryde. This issue is mainly setting up the mystery of what happened to Cully while giving Wisdom and Shadowcat some room to play off of each other. Ellis is good at giving the characters personality, so even if the plot moves pretty leisurely, the story isn’t dull. The rest of the issue is dedicated to acknowledging some of the ongoing storylines that involve Muir Island. Ellis spends quite a bit of time justifying how Muir Island was hacked and how Moira was infected, leading me to believe that someone somewhere thought that these storylines were actually going somewhere. Some obscure continuity is dredged up, as Ellis revives the idea that Muir Island was created as a rehabilitation center for rogue mutants, an idea that I think had been ignored after its first appearance. This leads into a storyline involving Spoor, one of the multitude of Acolytes who hadn’t been developed yet. I like the way Ellis is using what already exists in the X-universe while adding some new elements, so it doesn’t feel as if the book is totally divorced from its roots. Larry Stroman draws the majority of the issue, although the pages are randomly divided amongst three other artists, so you end up with a three-page fight scene with two pencilers. None of the styles blend at all, which is distracting (although it’s hard to think of any artist that can fit in easily with Stroman’s unique look). I think this was Stroman’s return to Marvel after his attempts at a creator-owned series didn’t go very far. His art is even more exaggerated than his X-Factor run, which leaves many of the characters virtually unrecognizable. It’s still an interesting style, but he’s starting to border on self-parody on a few pages.

EXCALIBUR #84 – December 1994

Dark Adapted Eye

Credits: Warren Ellis (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Bill Anderson (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), J. Babcock (letterer)

Summary

Nightcrawler, now secretly possessed by Gravemoss, tries to talk Kitty into giving him the Soul Sword. Britanic crashes through the wall and stops Kitty from killing Moira. They take the unconscious Kitty to the medlab, as the Soul Sword returns to her body. Gravemoss is waiting outside when Amanda Sefton appears. When he learns that she’s come to help Kitty, he nerve pinches her and drops her off of a cliff. Professor Xavier and Moira watch enhanced footage of Illyana’s death, and witness the magic within her transfer to Kitty at the time of her death. Meanwhile, Gravemoss sets an occult fire inside Douglock’s body, forcing the rest of the team to leave Kitty alone in the lab. She wakes up and is confronted by the sorceress Shrill. Shrill’s eye is made of the same material as the Soul Sword, which creates a supernatural friction that causes her great pain every time the sword is unsheathed. She tells Kitty that she’s going to kill her because she doesn’t know a way to destroy the blade. Gravemoss teleports in, still inside Nightcrawler’s body, telling Kitty that he’ll protect her if she gives him the blade. Inside Douglock’s room, the rest of the team is unconscious.

Continuity Notes

Britanic is no longer speaking with the Shakespearian accent, saying that he’s begun to adjust to his experiences.

Shrill says that the previous owner of the Soul Sword was the demon “Darkoth”. There’s an editor’s note saying that the story of Shrill’s meeting with him is “yet to be told”.

Moira says that the “tiniest contact” with Douglock will infect her with the Transmode Virus. This seems to be going back to the original continuity Claremont established with Warlock back in New Mutants, but the recent Phalanx storyline doesn’t fit into this. If just touching a techno-organic being infects you with the virus, why weren’t all of the characters who fought the Phalanx infected? I don’t think Marvel stuck with the “no one can touch Douglock” idea, but I could be wrong.

Review

The Soul Sword trilogy continues, moving at a pretty leisurely pace. Ellis doesn’t go in-depth with the continuity, essentially saying that Illyana used to have a sword that made her evil, and now it’s passed on to Kitty. What isn’t explained yet is why exactly the Soul Sword waited so long to manifest inside Kitty, and why she began to fall under its influence at this specific time. Introducing new characters who are also after the Soul Sword could needlessly complicate the story, but so far Ellis manages to keep things under control. A few Ellis-isms are starting to surface, as Gravemoss refers to Excalibur as “spandex clowns”, and says that he’d like to eat their eyes. There’s also almost an entire page dedicated to the characters discussing coffee. Daerick Gross’ fill-in art isn’t bad, and it’s a lot more consistent than his previous work in the recent annual back-up. It fits in well with Dodson’s work in the previous issue, so it’s not a jarring transition.

EXCALIBUR ANNUAL #2 – 1994

The Interpretation of Dreams

Credits: Richard Ashford (writer), John Royle (penciler), Moy/Anderson/Carani (inkers), Janice Chiang (letterer), Ariane (colorist)

Summary

Britanic has a vision of fighting a battle with his brother, Jaime Braddock, in the year 2040. Their sister Psylocke uses her psychic powers to enter Jaime’s comatose mind. Britanic joins her as they tour Jaime’s memories. They watch as Jaime grows to resent having to care for his younger siblings, and the close bond they share with each other. When they try to help, Jaime resists their intrusion into his mind. After mentally confronting both of his siblings, Jaime creates a false childhood memory of joining them inside their secret hiding place. When Psylocke tries to tell him that they have a chance to reconcile, he wakes up and fights against her in reality. Britanic attacks, and the two stare into each other’s eyes for the first time in years. Jaime goes back into his coma. As the twins leave, Jaime dreams of playing with his siblings inside their hiding place.

Continuity Note

How exactly Jaime Braddock ended up in a coma and in custody isn’t explained. He was last seen escaping the Braddock’s mansion with Saty-Yr-9 in Excalibur #56.

Review

I didn’t have high hopes for an annual story during Excalibur’s awkward post-Davis era, but this is worse than I expected. The premise isn’t a bad one, as previous writers have told quite a few interesting stories about the Braddocks’ childhood. The idea that Jaime resented his younger siblings is a nice human emotion to ground the story in, but nothing else about this story works. Why does Britanic have visions of fighting a battle with his brother in the future? Who knows. By the time the story’s over, it seems like even the writer has forgotten about it. Why is Psylocke performing some type of dangerous psychic invasion on her brother, which she acknowledges isn’t really a function of her powers, when they could ask Professor Xavier or Phoenix for help? It’s a pretty glaring omission, especially when you consider all of the work Marvel was doing at the time to connect the X-Men characters to Exclaibur. The actual events of the story are a confused mess, not helped at all by the stiff, clumsy artwork. There should be a lot of emotional weight in a story about a dysfunctional sibling relationship, but there’s nothing in here to make you care about any of the characters involved. It’s a weak effort that just fails on every level.

Black Queen Rising

Credits: Eric Fein (writer), Daerick Gross (penciler), Candelario/Austin/Wiacek/Anderson (inkers), Janice Chiang (letterer), Monica Bennett (colorist)

Summary

Selene sends a summons out to Amanda Sefton, threatening to kill everyone on the plane where she’s working if she doesn’t help her. Amanda agrees, and teleports to the mysterious mansion where Selene’s being held. Selene is still trapped inside Fitzroy’s spooling chamber, which is continuously ripping her body apart and stitching it together again. When Amanda frees her, Selene tries to shove Amanda in her place, but is stopped when Nightcrawler suddenly teleports in. Selene throws Nightcrawler into the device, explaining that someone must take her place, or else the spooling chamber will self-destruct and destroy the entire mansion. Amanda uses her powers to blast Selene outside of the building and frees Nightcrawler. He tries to teleport away, but the building’s power dampener won’t let him use his powers. Amanda encourages him to combine powers with her and they escape. Selene escapes into the night, realizing that she left the chamber before she was fully reassembled, causing her legs to bleed continuously.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority

In the final page of the story, Selene’s legs are covered in blood from her excessive wounds. Considering her outfit, it looks like a drawing from some sort of fetish magazine.

Continuity Note

Selene was trapped inside Fitzroy’s spooling chamber ever since Uncanny X-Men #301.

Review

I guess Marvel wanted a story that freed Selene up again, so they put it in an Excalibur annual with some pages to fill. Selene has no specific reason to select Amanda Sefton to free her; a fact the story keeps reminding us of by pointing out repeatedly that they’ve never even met. The fight between Selene and Amanda isn’t engaging at all, and Nightcrawler’s sudden rescue makes no sense. Nightcrawler says that he found Amanda after getting her “coordinates” from the plane’s crew, yet Amanda teleported away to find Selene. How could they know specifically where she went? Does anyone even know that Amanda’s a sorceress? I like some of the artwork, but it’s extremely inconsistent, which is probably due to the four inkers the story required. How does a sixteen-page story end up with four inkers?

A Change of Worlds

Credits: Kim Yale (writer), Jaye Gardner (plot assist), Hannibal King & Yancy Labat (pencilers), Minor/Champagne/Caranni (inkers), Dave Sharpe (letterer), Chris Matthys (colorist)

Summary

Kitty receives a collection of old floppy discs that contain Doug Ramsey’s journals. She tells Douglock to read them, but he doesn’t recognize any of the memories. Nightcrawler encourages Kitty to accept Douglock for who he is, and not who she wants him to be.

Review

It’s the strongest story in the annual, even though it’s going over material that the monthly book has already covered. The first person narration by Doug Ramsey on the discs is nicely done, and it serves as a good introduction to the character. Some of the dialogue is unnatural and the art is once again inconsistent, but the story mostly accomplishes what it set out to do.