In Review: Excalibur (2019-) #11

Synopsis: The Citadel has committed an act of war and Excalibur must respond. While they lick their wounds deep in Otherworld, Apocalypse takes steps toward his ultimate goal.

The Story

Having been shot out the sky in the last issue by Saturnyne. Shogo the Dragan is badly wounded and Jubilee is furious and attacking a couple of the Priestesses of The Green who are attempting to help. Thankfully Betsy, Richtor, Gambit, and Rogue arrive and after an initial misunderstanding, they accept the hospitality of the Priestesses while talking Jubilee down.

Having failed to initially to plant their gate outside of Saturnyne’s Citidel. The gang has to come up with another way of getting the job done and Richtor comes up with a fairly clever solution.

The Artwork

Marcus To gets a lot to play within this issue. I particularly enjoyed his take on the living environment of the Priestesses of the Green and the panels concerning Jubilee when she was attacking the priestesses were really good as was the huge single page splash that announces the arrival of Betsy and the Excalibur team. I also really liked the sepia type wash that was used during Apocalypse’s explanation of his early days with The Externals.

Overall

Tini Howard continues to weave an interesting story that is packed with mythology. I loved the description of the Green and White Priestesses that have us a background into how they worked and what their beliefs were. I also loved the backstory we get from Apocalypse about The Externals, which is shared between himself and Richtor during a psychic chat. I’m still not totally sure where Apocalypse stands in all of this given that he seems to be plotting stuff out while Betsy and her team are taking care of business.

I look forward to seeing how all of this will play out in the next issue and finding out how Betsy’s chat with Saturnyne will turn out.