New Excalibur is a book in limbo.

The precise purpose of New Excalibur has never been altogether clear.  The book doesn't seem to have any obvious premise besides "They're in England", which isn't a premise at all.  (See also: Alpha Flight.)  The original Excalibur series knew better, and had an clear purpose to serve - it was the light hearted X-book which offered an alternative to the angst in the other titles, and provided a playground for Chris Claremont and Alan Davis.  New Excalibur, in contrast, is just this thing that happens to be in London.

In fact, the real point of the book seems to be quite simply.  It's to give Chris Claremont something to write, and his fanbase something to read.  A Chris Claremont book featuring Chris Claremont stories for Chris Claremont fans.  Nothing wrong with that - there's a loyal audience who want to buy it.  But it only really works if you happen to have a Chris Claremont on hand to write the thing.

Unfortunately, due to Claremont's health problems, that's no longer the case.  We're currently working through his pre-written plots with guest scripters (in this case, Christopher Yost from New X-Men).  But there's been no indication of when or, let's be blunt, if Claremont can be expected to return.  Which leaves New Excalibur distinctly in limbo.

In the meantime, we're left with a perfectly efficient story, as Yost keeps his head down and gets on with the job of telling the existing story.  To be honest, with a less distinctive style of dialogue, it actually flows a little better than normal.  On the other hand, it's hard to know quite whether Yost knows where the plot is going, and how far he's busking. 

Most notably, Black Tom Cassidy ends up giving a speech about how he was restored to normal on M-Day.  This begs two obvious questions, which nobody thinks to ask - first, if he lost his powers on M-Day, why is he using his powers in the same panel?  (Did he have a special, extra-convenient M-Day experience which just reset his powers to normal?)  Second, the last time we saw Cassidy, he was stranded in another dimension along with two of this book's title characters - presumably one of the main reasons Claremont chose him as a villain in the first place.  Isn't anyone even a little curious about how he got back?

Neither of these are exactly plot holes, but they're glaringly obvious questions which nobody seems to want to ask, possibly because Yost doesn't know what the answers are.  Instead, the story just barges past them and hopes for the best.  And for the most part they get away with it - the results are eminently readable.  They just make me wonder who's at the helm here.  Frank Tieri is lined up to do the next arc, but is that a long term plan...?

Rating: B

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