Excalibur #16 Review

Writer: Tini Howard // Artist: Marcus To // Marvel I will say that if there is one thing that the X of Swords event has succeeded in, it’s getting me to read Excalibur. With Excalibur being X-Men cross Dungeons and Dragons, it was initially one of the books I passed on. It wasn’t my speed and let’s be honest, there are far too many X books to keep track of consistently. However, the end of X of Swords left a lot of curious threads that are begging to be followed. The mystery of Betsy Braddock’s shattering, along with the arrival of a Captain Britain Corps made up of Betsy’s multiverse counterparts may keep new readers around for the next couple of issues. Picking up right around X of Swords, Excalibur is definitely the team most affected by the tournament’s fallout. Betsy’s shattering and Apocalypse returning to his wife have left a rift in the team. It’s obvious that Ritcher had some form of a close relationship with Apocalypse and feels some type of way about old En Sabah Nur’s absence. It’s too bad the rest of the team doesn’t feel the same way and would rather focus on Betsy’s predicament, as they should. Don’t get me wrong, I feel for Ritcher, but points are made by the rest of the team. 

Apocalypse chose his path, meanwhile, Betsy’s case is a bit of a dilemma. After a thorough investigation by X-Factor, the team can’t exactly resurrect her. It makes sense, we know that anyone who dies in Otherworld comes back broken and in Betsy’s case, there is no conclusive ev…