Excalibur #14 is a memorable installment to the X of Swords saga. Tini Howard effortlessly puts together a fast-paced and emotional narrative, which is given an enchanted quality to by artist Phil Noto. This is a definite high point of the Excalibur series. Read Full Review

These crossover issues are only for fans of X OF SWORDS. Sure, Betsy, Shogo, and Jubilee make an appearance from the main EXCALIBUR run, but ultimately this isn't the focus of the issue. Thus, if you're not into this event, you may want to skip this month's installment. However, I highly recommend giving this a look. Read Full Review

In this book, unbalanced, unsatisfactory storytelling is partially ballasted by beautiful art. Read Full Review

Overall this chapter comes from the opposite direction I was expecting it would. It delivers a fresh and intriguing set of battles like no other. This tournament is going to be an interesting one that’s for sure. Read Full Review

I will always appreciate when event crossover comic book get weird and Excalibur #14 is certainly that, on top of some fantastic artwork and character beats. That said, it might read a little silly amid the overall high stakes of 'X of Swords.' All we can do is hope that Excalbur #14's changes to the scoreboard matter once the game is done. Read Full Review

The contest isn't as riveting as the previous issues foreshadowed. I am hoping that the next few issues are going to have more depth than simply a "I pass this challenge and you pass that one." I think the ideas are there but they aren't paying off quite yet within the story as a whole. Read Full Review

"Excalibur" #14's slow pacing muddles the script's solid character beats. Read Full Review

The sword fights commence and they can't even get that part right. This is a pleasant issue to read on its own, but it really throws X of Swords for a weird loop. Read Full Review

Excalibur #14 finally kicked off the tournament that X of Swords has been building up to. The first two matches of the tournament did a good job in showing what the X-Men are up against, especially with the big loss they suffer in one of the matches. That said, when things were said and done it did not feel like Excalibur #14 moved the goal post forward very much. Hopefully the story development is better paced out as we are now entering the final chapters of the X of Swords story. Read Full Review

After more than a dozen chapters of intricate and interesting build, it's disconcerting that the high-stakes game now reads like an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Read Full Review

This was definitely an unexpected twist from what was seemingly going to be the beginning of a action-packed sword fight, but it's a welcome twist at that. I don't think a story has to be unpredictable to be good, but I think this was a super intriguing direction to go in. I particularly found Cypher and Bei's pairing and marriage to be super interesting, considering Cypher's inability to understand her and, thus, his fascination with her. Oh yeah, and Noto absolutely kills it in this issue. He was a great choice for this story.

Man, the amount of people who get distressed when a comic doesn't go the obvious, expected route. It's pretty clear Saturnyne isn't holding a very robust and fair contest.

Uhm, what

Event:
OK, so Saturnyne's just going to ☠☠☠☠ with the rules whenever and however she wants. That turns X of Swords from a trial by combat into a dog-and-pony show. All that really matters is that Genesis/Annihilation feels fairly beaten at the end; otherwise, the Arakki are gonna roll over Otherworld and Krakoa regardless of the outcome. I am … surprisingly OK with this?

This Issue:
A pretty good dog-and-pony show. I do love an absurd turn, and I also like the art. Doug's dialogue coulda used some more oomph, though.

It's not bad. Is it very clear what's happening? Not really, but it's obviously failing in the hype department but as a story I'm all in for craziness and weirdness as long as the payoff is worth it. Let's see what happens. Noto is outstanding as always.

Art 4.5/5
Story 3.5/5

idk why people are hating on this i get the competitions are not what we thought at least for now but i think there is still time to have the actual sword fights

I found the writing of this a little too chaotic for me.

Excuse me?

XOS Ch. 15: Uhhhhhh...what? The Betsy/Isca half of the issue was alright, but the Doug/Bei half doesn't make much sense. How does one participant lose a wedding? I guess if one of them left the other at the altar? Anyway, 'meh' issue.

Weird, not the good kind.

After all the buildup for the tournament, this was astonishingly lame. So it turns out all those great swords are pointless because this is just some weird tournament with made-up rules where you can score a point by marrying someone. Heh.

The next contests in Wolverine aren't any better. This has severely deflated my interest in the X of Swords event.

Last issue, I said Excalibur was bordering on confusing, this week it's crossed the border and immigrated to Central Confusing City and set up a boutique emporium peddling home-made confusion.

+ Like • Comments (1)

• Likes (1)

• CrazyforRAMU

CrazyforRAMU - Mar 10, 2021

I disagree with your rating but I love your phrasing.

Sign in to comment

Wait, this is a joke right? RIGHT? The mutant series were not stopped for this... RIGHT?

Wow, that was bad.

The fight between Betsy and Isca was so short and weak, and ended without explanation.

I knew how the fight between Doug and Bei would end, and i really wondered how they would turn the fight into a marriage. If one of the other characters would try to skirt around the rules in order to allow Doug to live, but turns out there was 0 motivation at all! What the hell was that?! Why would Saturnyne just decided to do a marriage? So dumb

Then there's the Jubilee stuff which was brought up out of nowhere. Jubilee didn't knew about the event? Why? Such a dumb conclusion.

Also love the "Doug can't understand her because of uhhhhh reasons"

At least Phil Noto's art was good, and the scene between Isca and Betsy before the fight was cool. more

Este es quizás el número más flojo de todo el evento XoS, no solo la trama se siente de relleno, sino que encontramos un rápido y aburrido descelance para Betsy. Esta última ha sido tratado como incompetente e inútil durante todo Excalibur y este número lo empeora aún más. La boda no nos deja nada más que un sabor amargo, en si este número de Excalibur no ha aportado nada significante, la relación entre Bei y Doug no es nada orgánica, es algo sacado de nada y resuelto rápido. En conclusión mucho relleno y aburrido.

So frustrating.

XoS just gets worse.
i love Tini's Excalibur but that issue i just cant swallow. The art is good but just that.

Honestly... I've absolutely loved X of Swords so far. But this... this was bad. It's not just that it was weird... it was just, not good at all. The tone didn't match any of what we've seen so far. The kickoff of the tournament was incredibly anticlimactic. Why was Jubilee even there? And a wedding instead of a sword fight? What the f.
Only saving grace is Noto's art.

Jesus Christ can't save this event.

I usually love Tini's writing but the only good thing here is the art.

So much for a fight and it lats 2 pages. LOL