Excalibur #98
“Fireflies”
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencile: Carlos Pacheco
Inks: Bob Wiacek
Colours: Ariane Lenshoek
Letters: Richard Starkings & Comicraft
Editor: Suzanne Gaffney
Original publication date: June 1996
Explosive change is in the air in Excalibur #98! Kurt Wagner definitely feels that (plus every tiny breeze) as he debuts a brand-new Carlos Pacheco-designed costume that our returning guest, writer, music critic, and Excalibur super-fan Quentin Harrison, describes as Eurotrash swashbuckler chic (*affectionate). In addition to full team coverage of Kurt’s flamboyant fashion, we’ve got more gushing about Pacheco and plenty of praise for an action-packed issue where everyone gets a chance to shine. Plus! The blessing of Papa Chris and Pete Wisdom’s pancake butt.
On That Costume:
“The thing that interests me about this costume is how it distills the objectification of Nightcrawler, where his presumed monstrousness lets you get away with things I’m not sure you’d get away with if he was another type of male character.” -Anna
On synchronicity:
“Sometimes you read a comic and the art is great and the script is terrible. Sometimes the script is good but the art is awful. I love that in this book, art and script are in synch.” -Quentin
On the beauty of Nightcrawler:
“When I was reading this comic at eleven years old, I wasn’t thinking about the sexualization of Nightcrawler. But trying to give words to my younger self, I think I did see him as a beautiful man.” -Quentin
On Pacheco:
“For the first time since Alan Davis left, Excalibur has a position at Marvel where it has an elite level of visual artistry.” -Andrew
On hands:
“Carlos Pacheco does a lot of storytelling with hands…” -Anna
On role reversals:
“Brian is at the Hellfire Club, using his soft skills and exploiting his sexual appeal, while Meggan is on the strike team, being the team’s ‘bulldozer.’ I liked that role reversal.” -Anna
Want more Quentin Harrison?
Quentin Harrison has dedicated his career to bringing critical discourse to the world of popular music. This includes his Record Redux Series, a 10-book set dedicated to resetting the critical narratives of influential (but often misrepresented) women in popular music, including the Spice Girls, Carly Simon, Donna Summer, Madonna and Kylie Minogue. In addition to his books, he’s been an active contributor to http://Albumism.com, crafting a range of content for the site that includes retrospective tributes, new album reviews, playlists and more. Just as importantly: he is an avid comic book collector and reader with a passion for the comics of both Marvel and DC.
You can find him on Twitter (@TheQHBlend).
You can also find links to all the fabulous things he gets up to, including the Record Redux book series and his ongoing interviews, reviews, and essays for Albumism, via his website!
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