Marcus To delivers some beautiful art throughout this issue. The characters look great and the art captures the magical tone of the story and its stakes perfectly. Read Full Review

OverallThus far Tini Howard has done a fairly good job of moving this story forward. We get a look at some Scottish folklore here when it comes to the Selkie and it was fun to see some Druids brought into the story. We also learn that it is a rival tribe to these druids that have been helping Morgana, which could make for some interesting events in issue 3 given that Apocalypse and unconscious Rogue are the only defence for the Lighthouse given that Captain Britain has gone off to the otherworld. Read Full Review

By the end of this issue, audiences will very much know whether Excalibur is a book for them. Howard has a hell of a final page to close this out, which will throw some fans off but make people who loved Claremont and Davis' Excalibur work smile in anticipation. There's plenty to like here in the coming battle against the forces of Otherworld, and as a big Excalibur fan I'm finding this a thematically familiar and exciting ride to date. Read Full Review

There was some action, though for the most part Excalibur #2 continues to lay the foundation for this journey into the Otherworld. I only hope that in the issues to come, they do just a bit more to add some appeal to these characters. They all have been written to have something to worry about or fight for, but those things at the same time they should be careful not to lose themselves with. It can be very easy for something like Jubilee worrying about Shogo to be one too many things to follow or focus on. Read Full Review

The comic is entertaining building out the direction of this series and dancing around some interesting topics like Captain Britain's role and the rivalry between magic and mutants. There's also the fantasy tragedy of fairytales to get things going. Excalibur #2 is a solid comic and one that weaved with the first continues to paint a unique voice for the new direction of mutants. Read Full Review

Vibrant colors and a dark, beautifully fantastic tone to Excalibur #2 (Howard, To), combine into a story that, despite its (many) flaws, is shaping into something very special indeed. Read Full Review

"Excalibur" is fun, but this introductory arc has yet to unsheathe something to make it flesh out into the truly great as compared to other 'Dawn of X' titles. Read Full Review

Coming at this from the perspective of a new reader, which I am, I'm left with too many questions and kind of lost honestly. I really want to like this series. Unfortunately, it's extremely hard to right now. I'm hoping it improves. Quickly. Read Full Review

Excalibur is a perfectly fine X-Men comic featuring an unexpected assembly of familiar heroes and anti-heroes with an ongoing battle to justify at least one action sequence and a handful of juggled subplots in each issue so far. Read Full Review

Excalibur is written well, with great art, but the story is already off the rails and the characters just don't fit all that well. Read Full Review

Overall this book fumbles in its second instalment to the series. Yes it is fun and has some great action sequences, but it just lacks substance and suffers from some questionable creative choices. Hopefully this book can find its footing again. It has a unique and fresh idea that has a lot of potential. Read Full Review

Luckily, there are plenty of other X-books to check out. Read Full Review

If you're a Psylocke fan, this is a series you should read Read Full Review

Excalibur 2 vastly improves on Excalibur 1. Each character gets equal panel time, and not just Apocalypse and Betsy this time. There is plenty of action and the art is divine. Howard looks like she’s playing the long game and it’s pretty impressive, but her understanding of these characters seems just as impressive. Top 3 Dawn of X title right here

Prelude:
Excalibur started off well enough last issue. Let's see if it improves or not.

The Good:
I like that the Dawn of X books have these quick cameos with each other. Really helps with it being an interconnected world.

I'm loving the British mythology and fantasy aspect to this.

I liked the infographics more this issue than the last.

I also liked the dive into our character's concerns and fears with those dream sequences.

Also the art here is great. Marcus To is doing a great job.

The Bad:
Surprisingly nothing for me.

Conclusion:
This issue really boosted Excalibur for me. It boosted what I liked about the series and took away/didn't mention the problems I had with the last issue. more

not as strong as the first issue but still great

Glad to say that I enjoyed this more than the first issue. The first issue was setting up a good amount of things, which was to be expected, but I think this issue worked better for me due to the fact that it's less set-up and more regular story. I thought that Howard wrote Gambit's frustration well throughout the issue, and I also enjoyed the uneasiness between most of the characters and Apocalypse. I wasn't that interested in Morgan le Fay in the previous issue either, so her absence here allowed more focus on the main characters I enjoyed from Issue 1. However, I do think the potential is there to make her a better villain, especially with her keeping Brian hostage. While Issue 1 felt a bit slow, to me, at times, this does a good job of picking up the pace without going too fast. more

Im getting into this. Im surprised

A fun issue. It's cool having a sword & sorcery X-Men comic but I wish it had more of the crazy, out-there, zaniness of the original Excalibur.

Things are moving forward and I'm enjoying this more and more.

This edition advanced the plot of the first edition and it was quite clear that they will follow a path of magic, away from the political plot of Krakoa.

Although we don't have big steps, we can see a little more of the team's interaction. Gambit remains the weak piece of time, he appears quite out of place with only the role of companion to Rogue who really seems to have become a part of Krakoa.
Apocalypse remains the most interesting part, despite the volume looking like a solo Betsy magazine. I think Shogo's transformation into a dragon was the big event of the volume, but it's not like it's something we care about.

Kate Pryde delivers the new Excalibur squad to the old Excalibur stomping grounds in England, where they're immediately swamped with magic shenanigans. I like the crisp, detailed art, the brisk plot progression, and the increased distance between Brackets and the more heroic protagonists. But I don't appreciate the one-note characterizations for Gambit and Jubilee; this cast is too small to marginalize two characters. And the script implies a lot of interesting things, but always in a confused, ambiguous, frustrating way.

(Brackets is my name for Mr. "Dont-Call-Me-Apocalypse.")

" My baby ? Where is my baby !? "
- Jubilé

This was pretty good, although I felt the dialogue and pacing were off at times. I'm still invested in the story though.

THE GOOD:

-This was a huge improvement over the first issue.

-The opening scene was different and I liked the way it ended.

-The art is quite good here. It's very, very traditional and occasionally flat, but I enjoy looking at it.

-Overall, there was some cool imagery here.

-I'm very interested in where this is going next.

THE BAD:

-The characters are really the weak links here. I think that's why I hated the first issue. Thankfully the actual story was interesting enough here that I enjoyed the issue a lot more.

-That dream sequence made me roll my eyes. I don't know, it was obvious, and not really necessary.

Horrible pacing

I’m still not very invested tbh, and I found it not particularly well written.

Excalibur #2

Writer:Tini Howard
Artist:Marcus To
Colour Artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC's Cory Petit

(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

After being crowned the new Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock, along with Gambit, Jubilee, Kate Pryde and a glowing, comatose Rogue, embark on a journey to Otherworld to free Betsy's Brother (the previous Captain Britain) Brian Braddock , and to find out just what is happening to Rogue. Meanwhile, Apocolypse is moving the group around, as if they were pieces on a chess board. Is Apocalypse up to something? Read on to find out.

Script

Before I begin, I want to say that I liked Excalibur #2. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Excalibur #2 does some good things, but it also does a lot of bad things. It's the bad things that really hold the book back from being as good as it should be. To prevent this review from being overly negative, I'll begin with the book's positives. I really like how Tini Howard writes Betsy. I like that she doesnt necessarily want to be Captain Britain,but realises that she has to in order to stop le Fey and save her Brother. These selfless acts make me care about Betsy, and gives me a reason to invest in the story. I also like Apocalypse's role in the book. He's like palpatine from the prequel trilogy- someone who has a plan and is able to manipulate the people around him to achieve his goals. Tini is playing Apocalypse's true goals close to her chest, and that mystery is one of most interesting things about the book for me. I'm sure the next few issues will really build this thread, and I hope it pays off when the penny drops. Another thing that I like is the world that this story is taking place in. I love the magic and fantasy elements, I love the mystical characters that appear, for example: the Monks that are invisible to all but Betsy. I love the feeling of not knowing who could appear next, and I hope this continues in future issues.

With that said, let's move on to the stuff that I didn't like. For all the good that Betsy and Apocalypse bring to the book, I can't say the same for the other characters. I feel like Gambit has no real point of being there except to worry about Rogue. I know Rogue's his wife, but I still expect-within 22 pages-one of the 5 principle characters have something of importance to do. It's not a lot to ask for. Jubilee is similar; she doesn't do a lot other than feel sad over leaving her son. I mean, yeah, that subplot is directly tied to Apocoalypse and you witness some back and forth between them,but there still isnt a whole lot she does in the issue. However,going off the final page, that could likely change in upcoming issues, which is a good thing. Jumping back to Gambit real quick, he just lounges around complaining about Rogue's predicament for most of the issue. He doesn't impact the story at all. That's my main problem with the issue-about a third of the book is dead space. There is a ton of pages that could either be devoted to Apocalypse or Betsy;or even to scenes where Gambit and Jubilee impact the plot. But no, instead it's given to scenes that don't add anything.scenes that if were removed, wouldn't really detract from the story.

Again, I would like to say that I liked the issue, it's just that Gambit and Jubilee make the book feel unfocused in places. If they had more to do plot wise, the issue would improve vastly, and the script would feel a lot tighter.

Art

Marcus To does a good job with the pencils this issue, and I especially love how he draws action. It's fun and engaging, and is definitely one of the highlights of the the issue. I also love his designs for all the different characters the group encounters. They build upon the mystical feel of the book perfectly, and gives it a rich, lived-in feel. Erick Arciniega does a fine job of colours too. I appreciate how he tweaks the colours depending on whether they're in reality or a dream. It's a nice touch that prevents the issue from becoming confusing. I also enjoyed Cory Petit's lettering. I enjoyed how he would change up the size or font of the onomatopoeia's depending on the context, for example: whenever there is an explosion the onomatopoeia is big and blocky, where as whenever there is a creaking or something unsettling, Petit makes the onomatopoeia rigid and sharp. It's a great addition that helps cement the atmosphere, that Tini, Marcus and Erick set.

In conclusion, Excalibur #2 is a fun, but unfocused issue that moves the story forward,but leaves a few characters behind without much to do.

Rating: 6/10 more

"Shoooogooo!"

Honestly, this issue was kind of a bore.

The art is still great but the story, as of yet, is not particularly interesting or engaging.

The dialogue here felt off sometimes. And all that "magic", Akkaba and Otherworld stuff is a tad confusing.

I think I'm going to give it one or two more issues.

I'm dropping this one, couldn't care less about what's happening here

This is a very sloppy comic book issue, and I'm pretty sure the Selkies scene is the worst scene ever conceived for a comic book. Tini Howard is incompetent, simple as that. The text is weird and repetitive. The same line is found in 4 or 5 different moments of the issue. For instance, Gambit says he's not in the mood for jokes many times, and Betsy does the same when she repeatedly refuses Apocalypse's help.

Betsy's powerset is the one of the most horrendously treated things in the book. The Selkies try to kill the group, ok. Then, Betsy jumps into the sea, and swims to shore, faster than the killer mermaids. Then, she climbs a rock and is safe. Soon after that, she is followed by Gambit and Jubilee. Only then, she realises she can use her telekinesis [?] to get Rogue. (I'm not even going to criticise that Betsy having telekinetic powers is stupid, Remender knew that). Meanwhile, Kate suddenly disappears for no reason.

Captain Britain's uniform should act as an antenna to channel the energies of the Otherworld. I don't care what powers these are, Howard's free to do her thing. But something that annoys the hell out of me is that the author doesn't care about defining basic things for the characters, such as their powers. Apocalypse for example uses bursts of energy while wearing a robe. Imagine if you're a new reader. You have no idea on what are the abilities of the main characters. They're super-heroes, having powers is their thing.

Otherwise, Meggan and Jamie, for example, don't seem to care about the disappearance of their husband and brother. Neither do they show up in the book, nor does Morgana, THE FUCKING VILLAIN FOR THE STORY. However, the worst of the worst is the text itself. The characters are obnoxious, rude... not sympathetic AT ALL. None of them. Apocalypse is the most charismatic one, and that's bad. Moreover, the text is hard to appreciate, the infographics are useless, pure gibberish.
This is Dawn of X's worst book. It saddens me that the author was hired in an exclusive contract. DISAPPOINTING. more