• Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 100

Topic: Excalibur!

I have recently (within the last half year), started susncribign to DCUniverse and Marvel Unlimited and have rediscovered the old X-Men djacent comic, Excalibur. If you've ever read it, you might want to seek it out as it is very Sliders-esque at least so far.

Somewhere after the first half a dozen issues or so, the team gets hijacked by a mechanical widget and begins a trip hopping through a multiverse of worlds. It's not always earth, but they play a lot with it so far, showing different versions of heroes and villains and such. It's been kind of fun. Not sure when the multiverse travels will stop but for now, I'm enjoying it,

They don't necessarily get into the "solving a world's problem" thing that Quinn and company did, but if you enjoy seeing different takes on different worlds, it's a fun little diversion. I don't know why I never thought about this comic back when we were doing the Podcast. Just was buried deep in my memory I suppose!

  • Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 4,685

Re: Excalibur!

I really liked EXCALIBUR during a massive re-read of all X-MEN comics several years ago. EXCALIBUR stood out because the core X-MEN titles had gotten deeply muddled and confused. Writer Chris Claremont had sought to evolve the X-Men team by having Cyclops get married and retire, Professor Xavier leave the team and choose a redeemed Magneto as the new headmaster of the school. But due to editorial interference and crossovers and mandated resets, Claremont was unable to explore the ramifications of Magneto as the team leader. EXCALIBUR, set in England and featuring some X-Men characters (Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Shadowcat) allowed Chris Claremont to tell X-Men adventures without the obnoxious convolutions of the other titles.

Later, Alan Davis took over both writing and illustrating the title and added a new lightness to Claremont's 80s style superheroics. In a SLIDERS Season 6 fanfic type twist, Davis also took issue with the EXCALIBUR SPECIAL EDITION comic which had mis-drawn and mis-characterized various cast members and devoted #47 to explaining it away. https://www.cbr.com/the-abandoned-an-fo … excalibur/

Alas, it was too good last; with #68, EXCALIBUR saw a truly bizarre retool/reboot akin to "Genesis" and "The Unstuck Man" with cast and story changes so abrupt that the editors put in a note trying to assure readers that they hadn't missed an issue. However, I felt things improved with #83 when the brilliant Warren Ellis took over and introduced the character of Pete Wisdom, a hilariously cynical protagonist. Ellis left with #103 and the book would be cancelled with #125, but Ellis later took over X-FORCE with #102 and was able to continue some of his Pete Wisdom stories there until that too was cancelled with #115.

Warren Ellis also once remarked, "I don't know how a bunch of cultural rejects manage to get an abortion like SLIDERS renewed every fucking year." :-D

**

Another X-MEN comic that reflects SLIDERS is EXILES in which the characters visit alternate Marvel timelines. At one point, Wizard Comics Magazine said that the EXILES writer, Judd Winick, should write a SLIDERS comic and the SLIDERS fanbase protested on the grounds that Winick introduces gay characters to every property he writes and would likely make Wade bisexual.

Personally, I would love for Judd Winick to write a SLIDERS comic because he introduces gay characters to every property he writes, properties often devoid of LGBTQ individuals and people of colour until his arrival, and he would likely make Wade bisexual which I think would fit in well with Wade.