Excalibur #97
“Counterfire”
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Casey Jones
Inks: Tom Simmons
Colours: Ariane Lenshoek
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
Original publication date: March 1996
The New Nightcrawler™ takes centre stage only to be upstaged by another new Meggan and Mav’s story about wrestling Doink the Clown. Jamie James from the Marvel by the Month podcast joins us to jam about that plus Hellfire Clubs, marvelous Marvel jigsaw puzzles, shared universe storytelling, and what makes a Strong Female Character in Excalibur #97, “Counterfire.” Also: shocking truths from Anna’s high school transcript!
“So many of us dip in and out of comics, but I always feel like comics find us again when we need them.” -Anna
“This issue feels a bit like we’ve captured the awkward moment either before or after a good picture.” -Jamie
“Why does Alistaire show up in Westchester so they have to spend a day going to get him and flying him back? Basically to remind you—hey, these are the X-Men, they’re friends with Excalibur.” -Mav
“I thought Brian joining the Hellfire Club would do the ‘undercover cop’ trope, where he has to do drugs to prove he’s one of them, and maybe he makes out with the Black Queen and it gets really seedy… but it didn’t really go there?” -Jamie
“This version of the Hellfire Club got me thinking about how, in some ways, the X-Men franchise of the 90s was very sanitized compared to the X-Men franchise of the 80s.” -Anna
“Nightcrawler is the most physically different mutant for a very long time, and still manages to be so unceasingly kind, and well-intentioned, and big-hearted.” -Jamie
“If this was a totally new character, I might like it better. But we used to have Meggan shapeshifting into Wolverine and slashing people apart… now she’s technically more powerful, but is only pictured posing sexily in her new strapless costume.” -Anna
Jamie is a lifelong comics reader with a specialization in Marvel comics and a sub specialization in obsessively reading X-men. He’s a friend-of-the-shop to the Eisner award winning “Books With Pictures” comic store out in Portland Oregon, was drafted as the third member of the Marvel By The Month podcast, and is, perhaps most importantly, a Nate Grey apologist.
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