Excalibur #3
“Moving Day”
Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Paul Neary
Colourist: Glynis Oliver
Letterer: Lois Buhalis
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Publication date: December 1988
In this episode, Anna, Mav, Andrew, and special guest Brad Mendenhall of the Cosmic Geppetto Podcast discuss Excalibur #3, “Moving Day,” and fight about the Juggernaut (just kidding—everyone loves him). Other topics include the domestic texture of Excalibur, and why this might just be the Best Issue Ever. Also, Anna shuts down Mav’s assertion that Kurt is the Duckie of Excalibur’s central love triangle.
This episode has an enhanced video version! Watch here:
On Excalibur’s superior strategy:
“We’re told Cyclops is a brilliant leader, but his strategy is often to have everyone run at the bad guys. The fight here is tactical and rational with great visual inventiveness from Davis.”-Andrew
On team dynamics:
“Brian is an overpowered, too good-looking putz. Which makes sense. You can’t have someone that tall, that blue-eyed, that powerful, and have him be perfect. In a team book, it won’t work.” -Brad
It takes a villain to make a hero:
“Juggernaut is a really great bad guy, who shows how impressive Excalibur is. In other comics, entire teams can’t take him down. Here, Excalibur does it in a few panels.” -Brad
On creative powersets:
“Claremont didn’t always like ‘point and shoot’ powers. He liked inventive powers you could use in multiple way. Kitty’s phasing is a good example of that. It can do anything if you let it.”-Brad
On character-driven storytelling:
“John Byrne was quoted as saying, if Claremont had his way, every comic would just be two people having a conversation while strolling through a village.”-Andrew
On visual character building;
“There’s perfect visual character work in the scene where Kurt & Meggan hug. The way she hides her face while burying it in his chest, while he holds her steady with his tail wound down his leg—it says so much about both characters.” -Anna
On Excalibur’s domestic space:
“Fighting Juggernaut is their job. That’s them going to work. But that’s not the interesting story. The interesting story is the relationships between the characters. Superheroics are just the backdrop.” -Mav
And the second appearance of the catchphrase that launched 126+ issue podcast! Which we still don’t explain, ‘cause neither does the issue!
Want more?
You can find Brad Mendenhall at the Cosmic Geppetto Podcast (@CosmicGPod).
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
On the 1/8/23, on my birthday, I started reading Excalbur No.1 and coincidentally discovered your podcast. I now listen to them one after another. I’m up to reading and listening to Episode and issue No. 5 at the moment. Such fun! I started reading Excalibur in the 90’s when the Phalanx attacked. This will be intruding to see the back story and my Insta is currently going to feature Excalibur over later August and Early Sept. I have almost finished drawing all the characters. Hope I haven’t missed any!
Hi and welcome! Hope you enjoy the journey! We’re certainly biased, but we think original flavour Excalibur still holds up after all these years <3