Excalibur #23 Review

by Ryan.L on September 08, 2021

Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Marcus To
Color Artist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Ariana Maher
Design: Tom Muller
Publisher: Marvel Comics
 
Doom comes to Braddock Isle with a demand.
 
This was an alright issue. There was the usual comedy and a bunch of action, but the story overall felt a little lackluster. I’m not sure why but I struggled to get into this story. I did enjoy the interaction between Dr Doom and Captain Britain. I liked how she stood up to him and didn’t waver. That was one of the few highlights for me. Doom though seemed more of a farce than powerful and menacing like he usually is. When we saw Doom sit down for dinner with Storm you could sense his power and importance. It was a very different feel than here where he was almost the butt of the joke throughout the issue. I guess part of that comes from how the characters’ view Dr Doom. Storm obviously does not like him, but she still showed him some respect. Where Betsy seems to either think she is better than him or doesn’t respect his power at all.
 
The rest of Excalibur felt like an unnecessary addition to this issue. They never really gave anything of substance to the story other than to make more jokes at Dooms expense and then also get themselves into mischief.
 
I guess I felt that this issue came off as a filler issue. Everything that happened could have been condensed. It was more to just set up a story plot that is revealed at the end of this issue. Some of the comedic scenes were fun to read and so it was a bad issue entirely. But We could have sped things along and started the next story plot and gotten further into that new plot in this issue.
 
Overall, this book is an adequate installment to the series. It has some fun exciting moments, but it does feel a bit drawn out. A new story plot is set up in this issue, but as of now nothing else of importance seems to have happened. Unless what Doom was looking for has implications on the mutants and on Otherworld in the future.

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside