There have been a lot of X-teams over the years, and while it can be easy to confuse your X-Force with your X-Factor, it’s hard to mistake Excalibur for anything else (perhaps in part because they don’t call themselves X-Calibur). The team first launched in 1987 and has had several iterations over the years, including a current ongoing with Betsy Braddock as Captain Britain. So let’s take a trip back to 1991 to look at the short but sweet “Air Apparent” story arc.
Written by Scott Lobdel
Illustrated by Ron Lim, Brian Stelfreeze, Dwayne Turner, Jackson Guice, Rick Leonardi, Erik Larsen, and James Fry
Colored by Glynis Oliver, Dana Moreshead, and Aiane
Lettered by Michael Heisler and Steve DutroSuper-sized special! Each team member goes on a personal mission to dissemble Jonothon Cayre and his Air Walker android. Scattered across the U.K., will Nightcrawler, Meggan, Cap Britain, Shadowcat and Phoenix fare better together…or apart?
“Excalibur: Air Apparent” is a shorter story designed to highlight each of the members of Excalibur: Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Meggan, and Phoenix (plus Lockheed). The team has to work individually to stop a threat, allowing each part of the story to focus on one hero at a time.
We’re brought into the story easily enough, as it uses the mission briefing to introduce us to the threat and characters. It’s direct, but it works. The story connects with the Marvel universe nicely, focusing on a scientist’s experiments with regenerating fragments of a mechanical herald of Galactus, which also makes the stakes sufficiently high. There are enough moving pieces on the board that the team reasonably has to split up to carry out the mission, so no story feels forced.
Each section shows us the characters carry out their missions in a fairly straightforward manner. They find a villain, they fight, they show off their powers, the villain does something unexpected that puts them on the ropes, and they use their heads to find a way to win. Again, nothing world-shaking, but effective.
Of course, the best parts are seeing how the characters think their way to victory. Shadowcat’s opponent can copy her phasing? Trick them into something they can’t phase out of. Phoenix is fighting a foe that can constantly regenerate and pierce her psychic barriers? Trap him in something physical instead. While the formula is similar, the means of execution vary enough to keep each segment interesting. They also make good use of the characters’ powers, showcasing the various ways their abilities can be utilized.
The dialogue itself is hit-or-miss. In some moments, the character voices come through nicely. Captain Britain’s scene is particularly effective, giving us an internal monologue where he tries to figure out the most suitably heroic way to call out his foe. It’s a look at the hero we don’t always get and provides some amusing humanization for him. Nightcrawler also gets some nice in-fight banter, helped by his opponent bantering back.
Other times, though, the dialogue is primarily internal narration describing the fight. It gets us into their heads, but doesn’t provide much more than reminding us how their powers work. Fortunately, that’s less than frequent, so it’s not a major issue.
When we get to the artwork, there are seven different artists, one for each section. As this is the early 90’s, their styles are relatively similar, but the quality can vary across the book. Sometimes we get clean details, while other times the character designs are inconsistent and slightly misshapen. While the missteps aren’t entirely distracting, it’s still noticeable in the Phoenix section, where heads and necks often take odd angles.
The comic came out in 1991, so the grizzled, over-shaded style of comic art the 90’s were known for was not quite in full-effect. We can still see it starting to develop here, particularly when Nightcrawler picks up a rather large gun to shoot a cyborg, but it’s not distracting. Even the most muscular of the male characters is still within reason for the era, and none of the heroines have particularly misshapen spines. There are some close calls in Shadowcat’s section, but it’s not egregious.
Continued belowExcept for characters’ feet. I know that feet are annoying to draw, but those things are so misshapen at times it’s incredible they can even stand. Look at the cover and you’ll see just what I mean; Rachel’s leg seems to bend and warp into a noodle-like segment at one point, not to mention how Shadowcat’s legs seem entirely misaligned and stretched. For some reason, there’s also no shading or detailing put into Phoenix’s pants at all. It’s just one consistent, flat red, and a shade brighter than the rest of the comic at that.
Particular credit should be given to the artwork in part 4, focusing on Meggan. The artwork is much cleaner while still nicely detailed, with appropriate and consistent character proportions. It stands out as one of the easier to read, thanks to Jackson Guice’s designs.
Chapter 3 also has Shadowcat fighting what appears to be a cybernetic Xenomorph, so kudos for the design there.
The artwork still feels consistent across the seven artists thanks to the color artists. While there are three of them, they utilize similar styles and color schemes to maintain a sense of continuity between each section. The shading is typically dark (with the exception of Phoenix’s pants) but not entirely muted. It’s a style of shading and color usage familiar to the era, complete with plenty of bright reds and yellows when things explode.
Last but not least, I want to provide extra kudos for the Lockheed-focused section at the end. It was a more comedic chapter, where he fends off some bumbling invaders in an almost Home Alone-like heist. This provides some nice levity and sets Lockheed as an equally-valuable member of the team.
“Excalibur: Air Apparent” is not the greatest of story arcs, but it serves its purpose. It highlights each member of the team well, and the artwork isn’t aggressively 90’s. If you want a quick, light read that will take you back to older eras of comics, there are definitely worse choices to make.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – A good way to highlight each member of the Excalibur team, but nothing more outstanding than that. It’s a fun comic, though, and that counts for a lot.
