Excalibur Annual #1

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Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Col_Fury »

EXCALIBUR ANNUAL #1 (1993)
1st story:
By Evan Skolnick, Chris Marrinan & Audwynn Newman

APPEARANCES:
Excalibur: Captain Britain, Cerise, Feron, Kylun, Meggan, Nightcrawler, Phoenix (Rachel Summers), Phoenix Force (-BTS), Shadowcat; Ghath (also in -FB), Khaos (also in -FB & -FB-FB) & his pals: Kamendae, Kromm, Longstrider, Quarto (prev 4 also in -FB)

FLASHBACKS:
Khaos is born of two royal elf families but raised in secret so no one knows he’s heir to two thrones (-FB-FB). Khaos grows up taunted by other elves because he’s different, so he learns how to fight. The world is fought over by warring factions, the largest of which is led by the magician Ghath. Khaos and his pals eventually defeat Ghath and scatter him across the multiverse. Unfortunately, Khaos learns that Ghath is still active and leaves to search for him (-FB).
SYNOPSIS:
After a week of nightmares, Cerise finally decides to go look for what’s causing them. She and Excalibur fly to a (kind of) nearby castle where they find Ghath, a magician who says he’s trying to find a way back to his home reality (Irth). Suddenly, they’re attacked by Khaos; he’s trying to kill Ghath and assumes that Excalibur are working for him. Excalibur defeats and imprisons Khaos. Later, Khaos tells Cerise. When Cerise leaves to ask Ghath about Khaos’ story (and is quickly defeated by Ghath), Khaos escapes. He returns to the castle and finds Cerise imprisoned. He’s quickly defeated by Ghath, who uses one of Khaos’ gizmos to go back to his home reality. Excalibur notices Khaos is gone and find him at the castle. They follow Ghath to Irth, meet up with Khaos’ pals and eventually defeat Ghath. However, when Excalibur return home, Khaos is pulled with them. Stuck in the wrong reality, Khaos leaves to try and find a way back home.

NOTE:
An editor’s note says this story takes place before XCAL 67 (where Captain Britain is lost in a temporal time wave). Captain Britain appears here, so that makes sense.

Phoenix is wearing the red version of Jean’s original Phoenix outfit here, so this is after XCAL 50 where she starts wearing it. Rachel falls into a coma in XCAL 50 and doesn’t wake up until XCAL 52, where she then leaves the team and goes into outer space. She doesn’t appear again until XCAL 61, where she’s still in space, and that goes through a chain of events that leads directly into XCAL 67. But it can’t go there, because by then Captain Britain’s gone. We can’t go farther back than this, because Feron’s with the group, and he wasn’t around until XCAL 48, which leads directly into XCAL 50.

There isn’t a comfortable place to put this Annual. The ONLY spot I’m seeing for it is right after XCAL 52, after Phoenix wakes up but before she leaves for space. However, it’s Phoenix in charge at the end of XCAL 52, not Rachel. Rachel is actually close to death and Phoenix is healing her, so that doesn’t quite work, either, but it’s the best solution I’m seeing. Maybe she circled back to check on Cerise’s nightmares? Yuck.

Remember how all of the 1993 Annuals introduced a new character and came bagged with a card? This Annual’s card is #19, introducing Khaos.

2nd story:
By Joey Cavalieri & David Boller

APPEARANCES:
Technet: Gatecrasher, Bodybag, China Doll, Ferro, Numbers, Ringtoss, Waxworks, Yap; Flavia & her fiancée

SYNOPSIS:
Some guy holds Numbers hostage and forces Technet to retrieve some nectar for his fiancée Flavia. The Technet gets the nectar from a bunch of giant bees and hands it over. Flavia appears and uses the nectar to cure the guy’s acne. Now they can get married!

NOTE:
The guy calls Flavia a princess, but it’s unclear if she’s actually a princess or if she’s just his princess.

Placement suggestions:

BODYBAG

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


CAPTAIN BRITAIN/BRIAN BRADDOCK

XCAL 51
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 53


CERISE II [SHI'AR]

XCAL 51
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 54-FB


CHINA DOLL

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


FERON

XCAL 51
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 55


FERRO2

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


GATECRASHER

XCAL 51
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


GHATH | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

KAMENDAE | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

KHAOS | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB-FB
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

KROMM | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

KYLUN/COLIN MCKAY

XCAL 51
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 54-FB


LONGSTRIDER | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

MEGGAN/MEGGAN PUCEANU

XCAL 51
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 53


NIGHTCRAWLER/KURT WAGNER

XCAL 51
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 54


NUMBERS

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


PHOENIX/PHOENIX FORCE/PHAL'KON/"JEAN GREY"

XCAL 51-BTS
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1-BTS
XCAL 61


PHOENIX V/RACHEL SUMMERS | DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

XCAL 51
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 61


QUARTO | IRTH-VERSE
XCAL@ 1-FB
XCAL@ 1

RINGTOSS

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


SHADOWCAT/KATHERINE "KITTY" PRYDE

XCAL 51
XCAL 52
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 54


WAXWORKS

XCAL 47
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125


YAP

XCAL 51
*XCAL@ 1/2
XCAL 125
-Daron Jensen
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Somebody »

Col_Fury wrote:Phoenix is wearing the red version of Jean’s original Phoenix outfit here, so this is after XCAL 50 where she starts wearing it. Rachel falls into a coma in XCAL 50 and doesn’t wake up until XCAL 52, where she then leaves the team and goes into outer space. She doesn’t appear again until XCAL 61, where she’s still in space, and that goes through a chain of events that leads directly into XCAL 67. But it can’t go there, because by then Captain Britain’s gone. We can’t go farther back than this, because Feron’s with the group, and he wasn’t around until XCAL 48, which leads directly into XCAL 50.

There isn’t a comfortable place to put this Annual. The ONLY spot I’m seeing for it is right after XCAL 52, after Phoenix wakes up but before she leaves for space. However, it’s Phoenix in charge at the end of XCAL 52, not Rachel. Rachel is actually close to death and Phoenix is healing her, so that doesn’t quite work, either, but it’s the best solution I’m seeing. Maybe she circled back to check on Cerise’s nightmares? Yuck.
No, when Phoenix recreates Rachel in XCAL 50, she's wearing the GREEN Phoenix costume, which Phoenix continues to wear until she returns control of Rachel's body to her in XCAL 64 after its encounters with Galactus and Death. Then AND ONLY THEN does Rachel herself switch to the Dark Phoenix costume, for a cliffhanger fakeout - which causes Excalibur a moment of panic when she returns in XCAL 65, since Phoenix was in charge and wearing the "good" Phoenix suit, until Rachel explains that it's actually her and she just preferred the red suit.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Jason Doty »

Would it be creative to assume that this adventure, takes place between 67 and 68 and that Captain Britain is lost in the time-stream trying to help send Khoas home after this adventure which involved time-travel and magic?
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Col_Fury »

Somebody wrote:until Rachel explains that it's actually her and she just preferred the red suit.
Man, I must have had too many comics spread across my desk or something.
Jason Doty wrote:Would it be creative to assume that this adventure, takes place between 67 and 68 and that Captain Britain is lost in the time-stream trying to help send Khoas home after this adventure which involved time-travel and magic?
Hm.

There's no flashback in XCAL 68 showing Captain Britain vanishing, and there's no scene or flashback that I can find showing Excalibur returning from the Days of Future Past. It's just heavily implied in dialogue that he went missing on the way back from XCAL 67/DoFP, and we just join the story already in progress.

Now, in XCAL 74, Rachel is worried that since she and Brian can't be in the same place at the same time, she'll be sent back to her future if he returns (her future is the Days of Future Past). But she also says that's her worst case scenario; she's just assuming (and maybe rightly so) that she'll end up in her proper time (of course, that's not what happened when Brian finally did return, so what does she know?). However, I was under the impression that Brian wasn't stuck in a particular timeline, I thought he was bouncing between realities.

What XCAL issue reveals what happened to Brian?
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Jason Doty »

Brian returns as Britanic in Excalibur no. 75. In, Excalibur no.81, Brian as Britanic explains what happened to him in the time-stream.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Col_Fury »

Thanks!

OK, so I'm not crazy. XCAL 81-FB shows that Captain Britain was bouncing between realities (also, we're missing XCAL 81-FB in his chronology). He wasn't stuck in DoFP, and Rachel was just wrong in XCAL 74.

Can anyone see any problems with placing XCAL@ 1 after XCAL 67 and before XCAL 81-FB & XCAL 68?
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by DonCampbell »

Col_Fury wrote:Thanks!

OK, so I'm not crazy. XCAL 81-FB shows that Captain Britain was bouncing between realities (also, we're missing XCAL 81-FB in his chronology). He wasn't stuck in DoFP, and Rachel was just wrong in XCAL 74.

Can anyone see any problems with placing XCAL@ 1 after XCAL 67 and before XCAL 81-FB & XCAL 68?
Actually, I've pretty much always just assumed that the idea that XCAL 67 led directly into XCAL 68 must have been wrong. I have been patiently waiting for some continuity-conscious writer to "reveal" that the team had actually all returned safely to their own time (after XCAL 67) and stayed there for at least a week, during which time the events of XCAL@ 1 occurred. Then, *something* happened which caused Captain Britain to become lost in time and which also blanked out his teammates' memories of recent events, causing them to forget what had happened since they left the DoFP future. As a result, their flawed memories caused them to all just assume that CB had been lost during their trip back in time.

Or, if such an explanation is considered too fanfic in nature, we could just choose to ignore any references in XCAL 68's omniscient narrative and/or dialogue to how Captain Britain had disappeared during Excalibur's trip back to their own time.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Chris McCarver »

I had a similar stretch of the imagination inasmuch that I figured Excalibur found some reason to go back to Otherspace after the Annual and that's where Brian went missing.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Jason Doty »

Also Fury, I think you should update with the "See Britanic" and then back to "see Captain Britain" when he reverts back to that.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Michael »

Can someone take a look at Kurt's conversation with Scott in Excalibur 71? Doesn't Kurt imply that Brian was returning from Rachel's future when he vanished?
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Col_Fury »

Jason Doty wrote:Also Fury, I think you should update with the "See Britanic" and then back to "see Captain Britain" when he reverts back to that.
Good point.
Michael wrote:Can someone take a look at Kurt's conversation with Scott in Excalibur 71? Doesn't Kurt imply that Brian was returning from Rachel's future when he vanished?
Just checked; Kurt does say Brian vanished in a "chronological wave" when they were returning from Rachel's future, but there's no footnote pointing to XCAL 67. It COULD have been a seperate, unseen trip.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by DonCampbell »

Col_Fury wrote:Kurt does say Brian vanished in a "chronological wave" when they were returning from Rachel's future, but there's no footnote pointing to XCAL 67. It COULD have been a seperate, unseen trip.
So, there are two in-story references to the idea that Brian was lost in the timestream while returning from the DoFP timeline: the omniscient narrative on page 1 of XCAL 68 and Kurt's conversation in XCAL 71.

I recall reading some "official" text which stated that the events of XCAL@ 1 happened within XCAL 66. I can't remember exactly what text that was but I'm sure that's what it claimed and I always really disliked that idea.

It seems to me that there are only three options for dealing with the placement of XCAL@ 1:
1. We stay with the official idea that the events of the annual take place between the pages of XCAL 66. This satisfies the above-mentioned references and the cast of characters (Brian, Cerise, Feron and the red-suited Rachel) who had to all be present but really wrecks the story structure of XCAL65-66 by inserting at least a week of elapsed time in between pages.
2. We could create a second, unseen trip to the DoFP timeline and claim that Brian was lost during the second return. In this scenario, the entire team returned safely after XCAL 67, stayed in their correct time for at least a week (during which XCAL@ 1 occurred) before returning to the DoFP timeline and it was only after that visit that was Brian lost during the second return. This theory satisfies those references and the cast requirements without disrupting XCAL 66 but depends upon the existence of an entirely unofficial/fanfic adventure. Also, it would require a good reason for why the team would go back to that DoFP timeline.
3. We could speculate that, after the events of XCAL@ 1, something happened which caused Brian to be lost in a "chronological wave" and something (else?) also caused the members of Excalibur to "remember' that it happened during their return from the DoFP timeline (i.e., just after XCAL 67). Again, this scenario satisfies all the necessary conditions but does so by (again) inserting unofficial/fanfic elements into the published storyline.

So, which option is best? Or perhaps I should ask, which option does the least harm to established continuity? I favour option #3 but I'm biased.

Update: After posting the above, I decided to read Excalibur #75 and came across another relevant in-story reference to how Brian disappeared. One page 8, Rachel thinks to herself: "Sure, I'd finally changed my future - - * - - but I came back with the others to discover Captain Britain was awash in the time stream." And the * is a footnote which refers to Excalibur 67. Sure, that footnote is actually linked to the "I changed my future" part of Rachel's thought but it would be hard to argue that it could be separated from the "we discovered that CB was awash in the time stream" part. So, it looks like option #2 is off the table...unless some memory manipulation was involved there as well?

Again, thoughts?

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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Chris McCarver »

Well, option #2 and #3 both suggest the same placement but rely on inserting unseen fanfic elements. And option #1 allows us not to have to rely on unwritten lore but breaks the story structure. And XCAL 75 renders #2 implausible without further off-panel speculation.

Just one man's opinion here, but my vote is for the between 67-68 placement, if for no other reason than it's a cleaner insert and we've devised more than one theory that lands at that conclusion.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Somebody »

I think I agree. The whole post-Alan Davis transition is SO cack-handed (to the point that XCAL 68 feels the need to say "you didn't miss an issue, honest!" as characters disappear off-panel left, right and centre!), that if we need to break something - as it seems we do - that's the thing to break.
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Re: Excalibur Annual #1

Post by Col_Fury »

It really does look like the least damaging spot.

Here's what the Excalibur members look like with the revised placement. All the other characters (Technet from the second story, the Irth characters) are unaffected:

BRITANIC/BRIAN BRADDOCK
*From Captain Britain
*XCAL 75
*W2 81-BTS
*XCAL 76
*XCAL 78
*XCAL 79
*XCAL 80
*XCAL 81
*XF 106-FB
*XF 106
*XFOR 38
*XCAL@ 2
*XCAL 83
*XCAL 84
*XCAL 85
*XCAL 86
*X:PRIME-BTS
*XCAL 87
*XCAL 88
*X '95/2
*XCAL 91
*XCAL 92
*XCAL 93-BTS
*XCAL 94
*XM 12
*XCAL 95
*XCAL 96
See Captain Britain

CAPTAIN BRITAIN/BRIAN BRADDOCK

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
*XCAL 81-FB
XCAL 72
XCAL 73
XCAL 74
*See Britanic
**XCAL 75 (delete)
**W2 81-BTS (delete)
**XCAL 76 (delete)
**XCAL 78 (delete)
**XCAL 79 (delete)
**XCAL 80 (delete)
**XCAL 81 (delete)
**XF 106-FB (delete)
**XF 106 (delete)
**XFOR 38 (delete)
**XCAL@ 2 (delete)
**XCAL 83 (delete)
**XCAL 84 (delete)
**XCAL 85 (delete)
**XCAL 86 (delete)
**X:PRIME-BTS (delete)
**XCAL 87 (delete)
**XCAL 88 (delete)
**X '95/2 (delete)
**XCAL 91 (delete)
**XCAL 92 (delete)
**XCAL 93-BTS (delete)
**XCAL 94 (delete)
**XM 12 (delete)
**XCAL 95 (delete)
**XCAL 96 (delete)
*From Britanic
XCAL 97


CERISE II [SHI'AR]

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


FERON

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


KYLUN/COLIN MCKAY

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


MEGGAN/MEGGAN PUCEANU

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


NIGHTCRAWLER/KURT WAGNER

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


PHOENIX/PHOENIX FORCE/PHAL'KON/"JEAN GREY"

XCAL 67-BTS
*XCAL@ 1-BTS
XCAL 68-BTS


PHOENIX V/RACHEL SUMMERS | DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68


SHADOWCAT/KATHERINE "KITTY" PRYDE

XCAL 67
*XCAL@ 1
XCAL 68
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