Excalibur #83
“Bend Sinister”
Writers: Warren Ellis & Scott Lobdell
Pencils: Terry Dodson
Inks: W.C. Carani
Colours: Joe Rosas
Letters: Jon Babcock
Editors: Suzanne Gaffney & Bob Harras
Original publication date: November 1994[/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]
[/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=”https://www.marvel.com/comics/issue/8669/excalibur_1988_83″ 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%” 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=”4.16″ custom_margin=”23px|||||” custom_padding=”100px||100px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”-78px|auto||auto||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||7px|||” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]We’re (still) back from the winter break and reeling from term prep, but that doesn’t mean we’re not excited (positively possessed!) by the start of a brand-new era for our beloved British-y mutants, with a new regular writer (Warren Ellis) who brings lots of baggage but definite skill at scripting. Dr. John Edward Martin helps us slice through atmospheres of horror in a story that sharply exploits tropes in the service of something truly uncanny! Who’ll get to Kitty first—the evil sword, the demon weed, or the fashion police?? [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On identification:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_kitty-pov.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_kitty pov" sticky_enabled="0"]“I came to the X-Men right about the same time Kitty Pryde did… and she became, along with Peter Parker, one of the first characters I strongly identified with.” -John
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On the greatness of Mr. Kurt Wagner:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_kurt.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_kurt" sticky_enabled="0"]“I love the gentleness of Kurt and how he embodies everything that the X-Men stand for—the outsider-ness, the acceptance, the courage… While being a swashbuckling romantic, he was all of those things.” -John
[/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="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On tone:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_building-tension.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" custom_padding="0px|||||" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_building tension" sticky_enabled="0"]“This comic does what a lot of good horror movies do, which is that it opens with a sense of something being slightly off… Kitty’s sense of alienation builds to corruption.” -John
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On the uncanny:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_kitty-uncanny.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_kitty uncanny" sticky_enabled="0"]“Demons and the supernatural don’t scare me in and of themselves, but what does scare me is exactly what we have in this comic—the combination of the familiar and the strange that Freud called the uncanny.” -John
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On writing:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_douglock.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_douglock" sticky_enabled="0"]“To me, this one line captures Douglock’s pathos better than the entire ‘Douglock Chronicles.’ That’s what a good scripter can do.” -Andrew
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On retconning:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_sword.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_sword" sticky_enabled="0"]“I prefer the Soulsword as a manifestation of Illyana’s trauma that she uses as a weapon compared to what’s presented here, which is—an evil sword drove her mad.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_blurb title="On symbolism:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_kitty-sword-stomach.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_kitty sword stomach" sticky_enabled="0"]“Does Kitty with the sword in her stomach reflect an ideal self or a nightmare self? The ambiguity there can be powerful.” -Anna
[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title="On reflections:" image="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/83_kitty-mirrors.jpg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#83_kitty mirrors" sticky_enabled="0"]“The mirror scene deconstructs the character… we see different types of mirrors reflecting different views of Kitty… She’s multiple things simultaneously, reflecting possession but also her inherent character.” -Andrew
[/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="{}"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="4.16" _module_preset="default" global_colors_info="{}"][et_pb_team_member name="Want more John Edward Martin?" image_url="https://voxpopcast.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/82_john.jpeg" _builder_version="4.18.0" _module_preset="default" hover_enabled="0" global_colors_info="{}" title_text="#82_john" sticky_enabled="0"]You can him on Mastadon under the handle @passableghost.
He organizes the Comics Studies at UNT outreach initiative through the library (https://blogs.library.unt.edu/comics/), serves as the Book Review Editor for The Edgar Allan Poe Review, and is a Board member of the Digital Cultural Studies Cooperative (https://dcsco-op.org/) which, among other things, has organized three Star Wars-themed scholarly conferences called Realizing Resistance, Episodes I, II, III.
[/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=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-63px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]
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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