Excalibur #50
“Winner Loses All”
Writer and pencils: Alan Davis
Colours: Joe Rosas
Inks: Michael Heisler
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Original publication date: May 1992
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”] [/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/8633/excalibur_1988_50″ url_new_window=”on” button_text=”marvel unlimited link” _builder_version=”4.14.7″ custom_button=”on” button_text_size=”14px” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#ef00db” button_border_width=”8px” button_border_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” button_letter_spacing=”2px” button_font=”Nunito|700||on|||||” button_use_icon=”off” custom_margin=”30px|||” animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”right” animation_intensity_slide=”5%” animation_starting_opacity=”100%” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_vertical=”25px” box_shadow_blur=”45px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(148,166,191,0.25)” global_colors_info=”{}” button_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”][/et_pb_button][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”My Books Section” _builder_version=”3.22″ custom_margin=”23px|||||” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_margin=”-78px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.7″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||7px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]Our guest, venerable comics scholar Dr. Andrew Kunka, says he wanted to join us for the mega-sized Excalibur #50, “Winner Loses All,” in part to hear us talk about a particular scene, in which saving the multiverse requires everyone going inside everyone. We hope we didn’t disappoint him (or you!) with our discussion of this supersexy climax—and its scholarly and narrative significance. We also discuss what makes a good anniversary issue and bask in the cosmic glow of Rachel’s very big (literally earth-shattering) Big Hero Moment.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On anniversaries:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_crest.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“This issue feels like it earns its anniversary issue status, through its consequence, and its action, and its excitement. Whether it’s ‘good’ or not almost doesn’t matter. It’s worth my $2.75.” -Andy
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On spiritualism:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_spirituality.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“This comic sets up three different versions of being the chosen one. Kylun’s pagan approach, Feron’s Christian one, and Rachel’s wicca-inspired heritage. It would be cool to see those approaches square off. But we don’t quite get there.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-16px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On sexual symbolism:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_lead-up-to-sex.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" custom_padding="0px|||||" global_colors_info="{}"]“Before this podcast, I would have gone with a food metaphor and called this Excalibur Turduken. Now, after listening to 50 episodes of you talk about this comic, I see it and say—that’s a five-way.” -Andy
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="More symbolism:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_all-merged.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“I think, in light of the love triangle, you have to particularly spotlight the visual depiction of Meggan reaching out to Brian in Kurt’s voice.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On utopian supersex:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_multiverse-sex.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“It’s sexy but it’s not about putting a penis into a vagina. It’s queerer than that. It’s about the queer ways bodies can relate to each other, which are metaphorized but also literalized by the presence of superpowers.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On undeniability:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_merge-copy.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“There’s usually a deniability with supersex. But this is different from me wondering if Reed Richards uses super-stretching in the bedroom off-panel. Their genitals are aligning here in order to transform them into a singular being.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On callbacks:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_merged.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“This scene is also riffing on Dark Phoenix, which has a very established symbolic vocabulary, in which merging together is sex, and sex is merging together.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On Rachel letting loose:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_rachel-battle.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“Rachel has been suppressing the Phoenix, for plot reasons and for emotional reasons. Seeing her get to cut loose, after all that anticipation—that’s satisfying.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On catharsis:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_rachel-disintegrates-necrom.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“It’s very cathartic that Rachel defeats Necrom with the very thing she’s been fearing throughout her arc—being overwhelmed by the power of the Phoenix. And in defeating Necrom she in theory ascends, emerging from the battle in the original Phoenix costume.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On formal explosions:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_rachel-battle-2.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“When Rachel goes cosmic, the panels start growing and overlapping, to the point where, once she really goes super-Phoenix, the borders of the panels disappear altogether, giving the impression that the fight literally can’t be contained.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On powerful sexiness:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_release.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“I’ve talked on the pod before about how I often have trouble identifying with female superheroes, whose hypersexualization can take me out of the story. But for me this is an image where the sexiness isn’t taking away from the power—the sexiness is enhancing the power.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title="On toppling the patriarchy:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_towers-fall.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“From a feminist perspective, Roma, the lied to, manipulated daughter of Merlin, issuing a telepathic command that lets Meggan use Brian’s powers to topple every tower in the multiverse, halting Merlin’s power grab—from a feminist perspective, I love this. But I am worried about their stuff.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title="On faith:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_kurt-lack-of-faith.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]“For Brian to have faith, and Kurt to lack faith, is an interesting character beat. Kurt’s a faithful character in many ways, not just religious. He’s faithful to Xavier’s dream, and in the idea of the world being just and fair. This is foreshadowing the toll of leadership.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="20px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_team_member name="Want more Andy Kunka?" image_url="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_andy-better.jpg" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"]You can find him on Twitter (@doctork100)
And! Check out his brand new book from Rutgers University Press, The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse: Taking Risks in the Service of Truth, available wherever fine books are sold!
You can also check out his previous book, Autobiographical Comics, from Bloomsbury!
Also, if you’re in a scholarly field or just want a taste of the same, check out Inks, the journal of the Comics Studies Society, where Andy serves as book editor.
[/et_pb_team_member][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure="1_3,1_3,1_3" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_cruse-book.jpg" title_text="#50_cruse book" url="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-life-and-comics-of-howard-cruse/9781978818859" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_auto-comics.jpg" title_text="#50_auto comics" url="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-life-and-comics-of-howard-cruse/9781978818859" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_image src="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/50_inks-scaled.jpg" title_text="#50_inks" url="https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/701" _builder_version="4.14.7" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-107px|||||" custom_padding="80px|||||" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.14.5" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-63px|||||" global_colors_info="{}"]
And as usual:
You can find Anna on Twitter (@peppard_anna) and on her podcast with Andrew and Michael Hancock, Three Panel Contrast (@3PanelContrast).
You can find Andrew on Twitter (@ClaremontRun).
You can find Mav on Twitter (@chrismaverick) and on his podcast, VoxPopcast (@VoxPopcast).
Enjoy!
-GGW Team
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