In Review: Excalibur (2019-) #12

Synopsis: With Rictor in his clutches, Apocalypse must survive long enough to begin the ritual he has waited on for eons.

The Story

With Rictor now on his side, Apocalypses summons the High Lords to complete his ritual, but little do his fellow Lords know that they are a part of his planned Sacrifice. Meanwhile, Betsy Braddock tries to smooth things over with a rather annoyed Saturnyne… Little do either of them know what the full extent of Apocalypses plans are.

The Artwork

Marcus To continues to deliver some brilliant panels for this series. The opening image of Apocalypse descending the steps to meet with the High Lords was a really strong opening image that was filled with mysterious symbolism. But it is the opening image of Rictor as he appears to have gated through the earth’s core and suddenly stands before Apocalypse that was really powerful. Especially the image of him surprising the High Lords whose first reaction is to cast him out. The battle that follows between Apocalypse and the other High Lords is brilliantly depicted and aided by some fabulous dialogue.

Overall

It is fair to say that Apocalypse’s plan is very much evolving as more is slowly being teased out. But the real drama is in the consequences that are left behind by Apocalypse’s actions, which seems to be persistently seeing Betsy aka Captain Britain having to put out fires or negotiate some sort of compromise to deal with the collateral damage. The mere fact that Apocalypses now has a direct gate to Saturnyne’s world and will soon have Gates going all over the place is only likely to cause much havoc in future issues.

I loved the sequence where Saturnyne was explaining to Betsy how much Brian Braddock was an ally to her and her people and seeing all the other Captain Britains was also a bit of a thrill. I still find myself a little unsure in regards to the sides in this book given that nothing seems to be straightforward or very black and white, but I guess that is why am enjoying the story.