Stuff

TSID opens with Kitty Pryde tossing and turning in bed at night. She's restless because she's just learned not long ago that the X-Men have all died in Dallas fighting some super being. She does not know they were also resurrected by Roma, daughter of Merlyn, who is the Omniversal Guardian. She's from the Captain Britain lore, I believe, which was drawn into this comic series. Davis had previously worked on the Captain Britain series quite a lot so he was familiar with the character.

As a kid, reading this for the first time and knowing literally only who Nightcrawler was, it didn't affect my enjoyment of it. I think I read this comic about 4,000 times.

Anyway, Kitty's restless, then she begins dreaming. She dreams the X-Men are alive and well, and she is moved to tears with joy.

Except something's not quite right... many somethings in fact. She's confused about why they're on a soundstage. And if you look closely there are some interesting clues here. For example, the guy on the far left playing cards with Piotr is wearing a Mojo uniform.

My personal favorite thing about this is that she does not focus on Piotr, at all. She goes to Storm, to Rogue, to Betsy, both happy and confused at how they're all acting. Finally she asks Betsy what's going on.

Something I recently learned about this scene is that at the time, none of the X-Men knew about Psyloche's camera eyes. During Captain Britain, a villain injured her and blinded her. Her eyes were later replaced by (I think?) Mojo, who used them to watch people (I think?). Anyway, Kitty wouldn't have known about this so it's just all the more shocking to her.

The dream continues and eventually Rachel shows up. But the director, Professor Xavier, is angry to see her, yells at her to leave, and sics the X-Men on her. When Kitty saves her, the X-Men turn into disgusting silver wolf-like things called Warwolves.

She wakes up before they can kill her, and outside, she sees the Phoenix effect in the sunrise. She hasn't thought about Rachel in ages and feels bad about it. Then, inside, she remembers that she fell asleep holding a photo of the team before they all (to her knowledge) died.

Cut to Meggan, a new-to-the-X-Men-character. She is the girlfriend of Brian Braddock, who when I first read this, I thought was at least thirty, but who is apparently only like 17 or so. He's much older; I thought he was mid thirties when I read this as a kid (I was 11 or 12, cut me some slack) but I guess he's mid twenties.

Meggan's been out playing with some dolphins, using her power to shapeshift to join them. She flies back to the lighthouse where she lives with Brian to find the place in shambles. However there has been no fight, and the stench of alcohol is strong.

Brian has just learned his twin sister Betsy, who only recently joined the X-Men, has been slain in Dallas along with the team. He is drinking to excess. She feels pretty bad about it all, says she misses her, too, and Brian just loses his shit, exploding at her in uncontrollable rage. He flings his helmet into a table, and she runs off to their bedroom to cry.

Interesting things to note: the timeline on this is really weird. It's impossible to know if the X-Men have been (apparently) dead for a day, a week, a month. Kurt's out of the infirmary but it's unclear for how long; he was told about their deaths the moment he woke from the coma, when Moira bailed on sharing the news and left it up to Kitty, who is still a kid. In canon she is either 14 or 15, depending on which canon you go by. In earlier X-Men titles, she turned 15 already, but here in Excalibur (later issues) she will turn 15 again. I personally go with her being at least 15 at the start, turning 16 instead of 15 later. I really wish she'd been even older, as this comic relies heavily on some sexual humor throughout.

Another interesting thing is that Meggan, we will gradually learn, is unbelievably powerful. She is by far the strongest member of the team that will be formed by the end of this comic. However she has led a traumatic life, and hasn't come into her own just yet. She's shapeshifted to look like a female version of Brian, because that's what she believes is beautiful. She doesn't know what her true appearance is, because she was born in a storm and immediately her body shifted to an animalistic form to protect her from the elements.

Moving along.

Returning to Muir Island, we see Nightcrawler, swashbuckling it up in the hologym with some robots. He's having a great time until he gets nicked in the back, teleports without thinking, and collapses on the floor.

This is bad because we soon learn he's turned off all the safeties in the gym. That means those robots intend to kill him.

Fortunately, the alarms sounded in the house, Kitty came running, and when she phased through the circuits it all shut down. She then proceeds to ream Kurt out for being a moron, then demands to know if he's trying to get himself killed so he can join the X-Men.

He does, at last, feel contrite, and for possibly the only time in comics, confides in her. He tells her he had a horrible dream about the X-Men, that they were in a movie studio and they weren't themselves. Kitty's understandably kind of surprised, because they had the same dream. They wonder if it was Rachel sending a message.

As they walk back to Moira's house, where they're living (she is away), we see a good view of the landscape, and clearly no one is there.

So who's knocking on the door?

Just Gatecrasher, leader of the Technet, an intergalactic group of bounty hunters hired by Roma's assistant, the Omniversal Majestrix Saturnyne. She's sent them to capture Rachel, who isn't there. Meggan, who has left Brian at the lighthouse, flies in looking for Kitty for some advice. Yes, advice about love from a 15 year old. Meggan knows Gatecrasher and assumes she's there for Brian, but Gatecrasher explains her real purpose.

Kitty gets sassy with this giant annoying woman who wants to kidnap their old friend, and the rest of the Technet shows up, ready to fight. Unfortunately, none of them are quite in shape for fighting, and Kitty and Meggan are quickly apprehended. Kurt manages to teleport away, probably to pass out for several hours.

Rachel arrives in London, having escaped from the Mojoverse where shew as being held prisoner. The Warwolves are real and they're after her, sent by Mojo to bring her back. Her psi-powers have no affect on them, but she can use her telekinesis on other things to attack them.

Back at the lighthouse, Kurt has shown up to get some help from Captain Britain (whom he's never met, and had to ask Kitty about when Meggan arrived). To his dismay, the guy is blackout drunk. Kurt says even Wolverine's binges weren't that bad. He figures he'll chuck Brian, who he's learned is essentially immortal, into the sea and if he dies, oh well. Kurt is not in a mood to be messed with. I love this, though it's a bit extreme for him here, the way Kurt is so patient until someone messes with his friends, and then watch out.

This is one of my favorite scenes of all time. I think I sort of fell in love with Kurt when I first read this scene. Brian doesn't die at all, but wakes from his drunken stupor, flies into the kitchen and sees Kurt there. Brian knows who he is from X-Men fame, but Kurt's not in a mood for pleasantries.

"...Simple. I need you awake and sober. And I'm not in a mood to be polite about it. That's the explanation. If you wish an apology, Herr Braddock... earn it!"

It gets better.

Kurt explains that both Kitty and Meggan have been captured by the Technet, and Brian's response is lackluster. He seems completely disinterested. Kurt's not having it.

This is perhaps one of the best speeches ever given in a Marvel comic. My opinion. "All I am is a man, trying to live life as best he knows how and be true to what he was taught."

"Those beliefs got my sister killed!"

"Ja--and my dearest friends with her! My "family"! Mein Gott--sometimes all I yearn for more than anything, is to have been given the chance, the privilege, of standing with the X-Men and sharing their fate! It isn't fair they're dead. It's far worse that I remain alive to grieve for them, because it's more pain than I can endure!! But I AM alive, Braddock! And I must remain true to myself, as to their memory. If that is more than you can handle, Captain Britain... I am sorry to have troubled you."

Brian tries to give some bullshit excuses about how Kurt doesn't know what it feels like to die, as if that's relevant, and Kurt's just like, whatever dude, do you know what it's like to live? Peace out.

Kurt, who is fresh from a coma, fresh from infirmary, can't teleport without passing out, decides he's going to get Kitty and Meggan back BY HIMSELF.

He goes to London, tracking Rachel, whose signal is quite strong. (I did some research into the location of these fictional places, and from what I found, it would have taken him about a day to get to the lighthouse and probably another half day to get to London. These places aren't close by).

In London, he's just in time to find out Rachel's been grabbed by the Technet, who are promptly attacked by the Warwolves. He's tempted to let the fight go on without him, but he's afraid Kitty, Meggan, and Rachel will be injured in the crossfire. So he jumps down and enters the fight, freeing them all from Bodybag's sacs.

Kitty and Meggan are still unconscious but Rachel's awake. The fight continues and the villains are winning by a landslide. Brian shows up, trying to be all macho, and gets slammed by one of the Technet. Kitty and Meggan wake up and try to join the fight. Ringtoss traps Rachel and Joyboy turns Kitty's dream of being solid into a nightmare of it, rendering her so large she can't move. The fight continues. They are losing badly. Kurt realizes that his group isn't functioning like a team. He decides it's up to him to fix that.

Do you see what he does? That takes major strength. I am so freaking impressed every time I see him do this move.

And he will do it again in later issues, so if you like it, too, you should read more Excalibur. :-)

With the tide turned, the villain groups slink away to fight another day, and the good guys regroup.

Kurt, Kitty, and Rachel reunite with happy tears. Later, the five make plans to hang out in uniform around a campfire somewhere in the hills of Great Britain. They tell stories about the X-Men and reminisce about their departed (supposedly) friends. Kurt mentions a story that took place in an earlier comic, a story called "The Big Dare" (read it--it's really good) and then Rachel tells them she can't trust any of her memories because she can't tell what's real and what isn't.

This brings the mood down a bit. Then Brian and Meggan are about to leave and Rachel says wait, what are we doing, why don't we be the ones to continue this dream?

Meggan agrees immediately, as does Kurt, with Brian and Kitty joining quickly after. So, as the issue ends, a new team has formed.

I love the pun in this.

"And so--with laughter and transcendent joy--the dream is reconsecrated... and EXCALIBUR... that most ancient and noble blade... once more redrawn."

Redrawn. I love that.

That is the end of The Sword is Drawn! It's really excellent, and while I've summarized it, I still recommend reading it in its entirety. Kurt is amazing and the rest of them are great, too. These are the versions of these characters I cling to, because they became embedded in my brain after reading this issue forty gajillion times. I had up to issue 7 as a kid, then there was a new artist and I hated it, and then school got in the way. I recently came back to comics in my forties and it's been a wonderful return to some favorites.