Excalibur #75
“Hello, I Must Be Going”
Writing: Scott Lobdell
Pencils: Ken Lashley
Inks: Randy Elliott
Colours: Pat Garrahy and Chris Matthys
Letters: Pat Brousseau
Editors: Suzanne Gaffney
Original publication date: March 1994
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″] [/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/8660/excalibur_1988_75″ url_new_window=”on” button_text=”marvel unlimited link” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ 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%” hover_enabled=”0″ 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” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][/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=”4.16″ custom_margin=”23px|||||” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”-78px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||7px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]This week, we’re talking about Excalibur #75, “Hello, I Must Be Going,” and trying not cry through the loss of a beloved character who’s been with us since the beginning. But X-Men comics have taught us it’s best to face grief with good company, and we’ve got some fabulous company with us in writer and transfeminist activist Daisy Letourneur! We talk through trans readings of Rachel Summers and why this comic is an awfully awful sendoff for a queer character born to survive. Plus a hard-to-find Nightcrawler backup story that gave Anna hives, and the debut of Daytripper!
Content warning: this episode discusses a comic book with themes of suicidal ideation.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On queer coding:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_kitty-and-rachel.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_kitty and rachel" sticky_enabled="0"]“X-Men appeals to everyone who’s ever felt like an outsider. But re-reading it as adult who’s queer and out and understands a lot more about myself—I realize there might have been other reasons it appealed to me.” -Daisy
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title="On problematic undercurrents:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_brian-erases-rachel.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_brian erases rachel" sticky_enabled="0"]“Everyone is trying to convince Rachel to switch places with Brain. And these people are her friends. It becomes very Midsommar-like.” -Daisy
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On character assassination:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_rachel-character-assassination.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_rachel character assassination" sticky_enabled="0"]“Lobdell had been assassinating Rachel’s character for a while. This is his finishing move.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="-16px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On rewriting to write out:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_hetero-rachel.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" custom_padding="0px|||||" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_hetero rachel" sticky_enabled="0"]“We open with Rachel being framed very heteronormatively, which makes that central to the tragedy of what happens… I understand the attempt to give Rachel a heroic send-off. But the terms of her heroism are upsetting.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On trans coding:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_rachel-brians-body.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_rachel brians body" sticky_enabled="0"]“I had a revelation when I read Uncanny X-Men #201, where Rachel sees Scott and Madeline’s baby and it’s a boy. I was like—oh, Rachel was born a boy. Nathan grew up to be Cable, but could have grown up to be Rachel.” -Daisy
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On the further diminishment of Meggan:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_meggan-no-agency.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_meggan no agency" sticky_enabled="0"]“The capacity for feminist bonding is limited here by a lot of things… including the fact Meggan is specifically framed as an avatar for Brian, and nothing but that—an anchor without her own agency.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_blurb title="On accidental feminism:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_accidental-feminism.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_accidental feminism" sticky_enabled="0"]“If there’s anything feminist in this story it’s a happy accident. The main story is: a woman’s love can draw you back through time so that you can be even more manly than you were before.” -Mav
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title="On problematic religious tropes:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_nightcrawler-2.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_nightcrawler" hover_enabled="0" sticky_enabled="0"]“When stories about Nightcrawler’s Catholicism foreground his shame about being a mutant – to me that’s putting Catholic tropes on a character who’d previously resisted them in more productive ways. Also, having the conclusion be—yes, being a mutant is a punishment you have to bear… this gave me hives.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" custom_margin="20px|auto||auto||" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content"][et_pb_team_member name="Want more Daisy Letourneur?" image_url="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75_daisy.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" theme_builder_area="post_content" title_text="#75_daisy" sticky_enabled="0"]Find her on Twitter (@DaisyLetourneur)!
And! Find her musings on her blog.
Plus! If you’re lucky enough to read French, check out her book, ON NE NAÎT PAS MEC: Petit traité féministe sur les masculinités (WE ARE NOT BORN MEN: A short feminist treatise on masculinities).
[/et_pb_team_member][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-107px|||||” custom_padding=”80px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-63px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]And as usual:
You can find Anna on Twitter (@peppard_anna) and at Sequential Scholars (@seqscholars).
You can find Andrew on Twitter (@ClaremontRun) and at Sequential Scholars.
You can find Mav on Twitter (@chrismaverick) and on his podcast, VoxPopcast (@VoxPopcast).
Enjoy!
-GGW Team
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