You can feel just how much she enjoys coming up with this. Marcus is putting out incredible art on this series, with powerful linework and bold images that emanate strength. Any panel we see Betsy in is a gift that I cherish, as her Captain Britain suit is nothing short of legendary. The colors compliment and raise the bar on the pencils at every juncture in Excalibur #5. Read Full Review

Likely this is the penultimate issue and you can tell by way of the amount of action and twists in the narrative. Howard and To are preparing us for a whole new adventure as the characters come together and fight as a (nearly) a full team.  Read Full Review

EXCALIBUR #5 is one of those issues where you will be forced to read it because everybody else will be talking about it. You will also want to avoid any spoilers in order to fully appreciated what Tini Howard has in store for some of the most interesting characters in any of the X-books. If you were thinking that once again, EXCALIBUR is just too far adrift from what else is happening in all of the other X-titles, think again. This issue is not one to pass on! Read Full Review

For as much as it provides good plot momentum, much of this issue ofExcalibur is more of a "par for the course" situation. That'snot bad, because what we've had is a lot of fun. Howard's voice for thecharacters ring true, and I'm very interested to see where the storygoes from here. "Panic on the Streets for London" adds toExcalibur's strong case for being the most consistent of the Dawnof X books. Read Full Review

While a bit lost in the fog of battle this chapter, Excalibur #5 continues to be a worthy tale for the new incarnation of the team. Read Full Review

The Very Good fire Fox is back and so is Rogue. This issue is a lot of fun, and exactly what you want from a fantasy X-Series. Read Full Review

The character bits in Excalibur #5 offer a reminder as to why this series still offers plenty of promise, even after multiple false starts and an opening volley of plots that all landed with a thud. Read Full Review

We're on our way back up in terms of quality for this series. We get a good amount of Apocalypse this time around, and every page with him there is great. Plus, we finally get Rogue back as well. Her dreams were very interesting and I really enjoyed her fight with Apocalypse. The same thing with Gambit as well, as I've been enjoying Howard's writing of him over the course of this run so far. I don't even care for Gambit that much, but she's been making him a solid character in my eyes. On top of everything else, we get that crazy ending with Rogue and I'm very intrigued to see how that develops.

Art lifts this up

I was into this issue. I found it exciting and interesting. The cliffhanger is something else. I wonder where it's headed.

We're all blue

Rogue! Finally!

Rogue waking up is exactly what I needed. For me, her dream sequence was the visual, narrative, and characterization high point of the series so far. Here's hoping she can serve as the unifying tentpole this title needs so badly.

But on the saltier side: My optimism may be misplaced. The author has already flubbed two tentpole attempts with Apocalypse and Betsy -- and the latter in particular felt like missing an easy pitch.

Prelude:
I've been loving Excalibur so far, so let's see what Howard can do with this issue.

The Good:
I like the Rogue scenes in this issue.

Cliffhanger is really interesting.

Like always, Marcus To's art is great.
The Bad:
Apocalypse was a bit much this issue. I get that it's... well Apocalypse but still.

Things are wrapped up too fast with the threat.

Conclusion:
Bit more a lackluster issue than the last few, some interesting progress especially with Rogue but it does have its faults with Apocalypse and pacing.

" Yes... Do it. The crystals were made from mutant bones thousands of year old. My own bones are as old--older perhaps. Yes ! Keep going ! Take my life. My power. Kill me, Rogue. Complete the ritual. YESSS. "
- APOCALYPSE

"Just like a man"

Rogue's dream sequence was a little bit on the nose with its message and I still can't decide if Pete Widom is a charming smooth talker or a crude ass, but other than that I rather enjoyed this issue of Excalibur.

Gambit's argument with A was pretty intense and showed just how utterly powerless Remy is compared to En Sabah Nur, but the real winner was the ending.

Surprising, great and with a promise that maybe, this series will finally transition from mildly interesting to a really entertaining read.

Aside from some really great lines from Rogue (that Dolly Parton line made me chuckle), this issue was a bit flat for me. With the Mutant resurrection, I don't understand why Remy is so freaked out about Rogue...
The other big complaint I have is that this team has yet to mesh. Captain Britain has yet to really lead anyone, no one else seems to have an inclination for magic, and Apocolypse still feels out of place.
Art is decent, and so far it's enough to keep me reading.

I’m super glad that Rogue is finally awake but I can’t get myself to like this series as much as a lot of other people do. There’s no clear purpose and this series, this issue especially, has terrible pacing. I like Hickman’s take on Apocalypse much more than Howard’s

Hectic.

I like the art, but the whole concept for this series feels terribly shoehorned in, like the writer is reskinning a non-Marvel story about magick stuff with X-characters. Apocalypse is the worst in this regard, almost unrecognizable in his actions and motivations. The plot skips around in a way that's difficult to follow, and is full of poorly-conceived ideas like beardy druid cults living deep underground and babies being able to turn into dragons, that all might work pretty well in a separate fantasy series where all the basic assumptions about the world are more fluid. And that moon and sun chart page -- what was that?

THE GOOD:

-Apocalypse is legitimately the only interesting thing about this issue.

THE BAD:

-Oh gooooooood. This was really bad.

-I don't know if I've mentioned this, but the writing feels incredibly weak, not just in this issue, but the entire series. It's not terrible, that's reserved for later Frank Miller, or Scott Lobdell or something like that, but it's really, really bland, in this sort of off-putting way.

-You can get me to either care or have fun reading this. I want to. I want to love every Dawn of X comic, because the ones that are good, are really, really good. I can't tell you how happy I'd be to have another comic like X-Force, or Marauders or New Mutants when Hickman's writing it. But, from the start, I've never clicked with this series.

-I was bored to death the whole way through.

-The art has really gone downhill.

-Eh. ApocaRogue doesn't interest me at all. It's also an incredibly cliched "Uh.... guys?" cliffhanger. more