Taking the time to cross dimensions
November 22, 2014
Excalibur: Cross-Time Caper Book 1 TPB
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Alan Davis
By Avi Green
Picking up from where the second trade’s storylines left off,
Captain Britain and company from Excalibur find themselves
transported by accident into different parallel worlds, some of
which look medival, some futuristic, but still have plenty of modern
resources to offer. That explains why this is called “Cross-time”.
And quite an amazing, tongue-in-cheek journey it is, in the best
Monty Python tradition possible!
The first world Excalibur ends up in is a medival fairy-tale kingdom
where Kitty Pryde meets a prince who develops a crush on her, but is
engaged to another princess. And to prove the amusing
“anachronisms”, when this prince first appears riding a horse, he’s
listening to a radio with earphones while wearing wraparound
sunglasses!
The next world they arrive in features a shipload of doppelgangers
of the 616 dimension’s own superheroes, though the first person they
meet is a duplicate of their world’s own Rick Jones! Speaking of
which, we even meet a clone of the Hulk who’s something of a
cry-baby, and this dimension is being menaced by its own variant on
Galactus! Plenty of funny moments involving numerous doppelgangers
running around, including one of Daredevil who's got his leg in a
cast.
And, as all these dimension-hopping capers are going on, Technet is
scheming back on 616 Earth, plotting against Excalibur while trying
to exploit James Braddock, Captain Britain’s mentally schizoid
brother, who has some powers of his own, mutant or not. It all makes
for a pretty fun romp around an infinity of worlds and plenty of
possibilities, and is some of the best this series had to offer in
its first half of a decade-long run, including some nods to notable
anime series of the time. I say it’s well worth reading.
Copyright 2014 Avi Green. All rights reserved.
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