Comics: Excalibur #3

EXCALIBUR #3
December 1988
"Moving Day"
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Paul Neary
Letterer: L. Lois Buhalis
Colorist: Glynis Oliver
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Editor In Chief: Bob Harras

Excalibur and Wolverine have always been the biggest holes in my X-Knowledge. Both series were harder to find and more expensive when you did (this issue's cover price is fifty cents more than the standard Marvel Comics at the time). I also have to note that this issue has held up amazingly for being ten years old. The pages are all still very crisp and white, unlike every other comic I'm reading from this era. I don't know what's different with the paper stock, but that extra fifty cents has somehow made all the issues of Excalibur that I've read so far hold up far better than all the other comics I have from this time. Interesting.

This is also my first time reading Excalibur's early issues and I'm quite surprised by how good they are. Claremont's run on Uncanny at this time was by no means poor, but all the characters had very much settled into their stereotypical Claremont voices and all the crackle and energy of the John Bryne and Paul Smith years have faded away into something a bit more amorphous (but still good). It might be Alan Davis' gorgeous art or the fact that the creative team is obviously excited by this new series, probably both, but this series so far and this issue in particular is really fun and holds up amazingly well today.

The issue opens up with that stuffy/slutty old English lady we saw last issue busting Juggernaut out of a prison and putting him in the path of Excalibur. The fight scene that follows is almost as funny as some of Giffen and DeMatteis' run on Justice League International, with Captain Britain stubbornly thinking he can take on Juggernaut and Shadowcat using her phasing powers in creative ways against a car full of escaped convicts. The team displays effortless teamwork and it's really a joy to behold.

The second half of the issue mixes light moving in comedy (Kitty in the bathroom too long, Nightcrawler's morning exercise making noise) with serious character moments (Captain Britain gets an impromptu intervention because of his drinking and almost gets with lady pal Courtney Ross). Shadowcat also stumbles across a parallel universe/wacko version of herself and Lockheed, thus giving the team more evidence that something fishy is up in their new lighthouse home.

Overall, this issue was ten times more entertaining than I expected it to be, and I'm now looking forward to reading the next issues of Excalibur.

MY SCORE: 8.8/10