New Excalibur # 22 - Turn Back The Clock

New Excalibur was one of the few series to be spun out of House of M. Surprisingly the plot of the series has had little to do with the aftermath of M Day, instead just using it as an excuse to bring back Captain Britain to the regular Marvel Universe. The reasoning for his return actually made sense, but was never explored further after the series launch. The series has been mainly written by the legendary X-Men scribe Chris Claremont with Frank Tieri temporally scripting the series while Claremont took some time off. While Tieri's small run was nothing spectacular, it was actually somewhat better then what had come before. The dialog was improved somewhat, and there was a little more character development then usual. When Claremont returned to the title it was as if nothing had changed. His current story arc sounds intriguing on paper, but the delivery is just really poor.

Issue #21 actually had a somewhat shocking ending as Sage killed "dark" Cyclops by beheading him to save Albion. She is posing as an ally with Albion and there is no explanation for her current actions, especially since the Dark X-Men were helping Excalibur to defeat Albion. Meanwhile Albion and his forces have taken over London. With the mystery of what's happening with Sage and London under siege you'd think this was a good issue. The story itself seems intriguing, however the dialog and art just drags this issue down. While reading this you'll think you were transported back to the 1990s where super heroes were constantly explaining their powers in the middle of fights. Having a super powered being explain to his foe what he's going to do to him moments before, just doesn't make sense. In all honesty it feels like a chore to read what these characters say to each other. A character actually says "It's simply a matter of cutting you down to size..." before stabbing someone with a sword, and as a reader you're suppose to take that seriously. The story itself is somewhat new, but the dialog and set up hits almost every comic book cliche there is.

If it wasn't for the fact that Paul Cornell will be taking over New Excalibur, I would lose all hope with this series. Unfortunately Chris Claremont doesn't seem to have evolved as a writer. While his classic X-Men stories still stand the test of time, his new tales will never be considered remotely classic. You might want to stay away from this series until Claremont finishes up his run.