But the Phoenix mini-series didn’t make it to print, Colossus didn’t make the team, and Nightcrawler’s Captains Courageous team wasn’t assembled.
On the letters page in Uncanny X-Men #208 in 1986 it was announced: “Rachel (Summers)’ going to need all the friendship and support and affection she can get, not simply in the X-Men but also in the upcoming Phoenix Limited Series we have planned for later this year, which Chris Claremont will be writing and Rick Leonardi pencilling. We think it’ll be something as different and special as the lady herself.”
However, the Phoenix mini-series never appeared, although it remained in the works until Chris Claremont left Marvel in 1991. “In (Uncanny) X-Men #209 (1986), she was spirited away by Spiral to Mojo’s world and something awful happened, which is going to be explained in a Special Format mini-series,” artist Alan Davis told Amazing Heroes #193. “I don’t know if Chris has finished writing it yet.”
“(The Mutant Massacre crossover) was supposed to lead into a mini-series which would tell the story of what happened between Rachel’s disappearance from the X-Men in issue #209 and her reappearance in the Excalibur special edition (in 1988),” Claremont told Comics Focus #1. “This was supposed to tie into Longshot’s presence in the X-Men and his departure from that book to star in his own ongoing series. Except, for various reasons, the mini-series never got finished and the Longshot series never got launched, so suddenly you’re left with dangles that weren’t intentional but are there nonetheless.”
“Plots come and go for all sorts of reasons. Threads dangle for all sorts of reasons. The writer assumes that there will always be time to tie them up in neat little knots – things that are meant to come to fruition fifty issues down the line will happen. I always assumed I’d be around to do it: Unfortunately, I wasn’t.”
In the Excalibur Special Edition, Phoenix returned from Mojo’s world without the capacity to tell her true memories from the false memories she had gotten in his world of entertainment. It wasn’t a big mystery what had happened to her, though, as it was mentioned - and repeated in Excalibur #1 and X-Men Annual #12 in 1988 - that Mojo had made her a star in his world, and that she had escaped from being kept as his slave.
Hello, Excalibur
“It’s no secret that I’ve been wanting to work with Alan Davis for some considerable time,” Claremont told Amazing Heroes #134. “Basically, in the past what I wanted him for is to draw the X-Men.”
“I like working with Chris (Claremont) very much,” Alan Davis stated in Amazing Heroes #193. “But the difficulty is, if you go on to a book like X-Men, you’re just another new artist on the X-Men, and unless you somehow make a tremendous splash you’re selling yourself into a slavery of working on something where you can’t really do too much because the formula is tested and so successful.”
“The first I knew of Excalibur was when Chris phoned and instead of asking, did I want to draw the X-Men, said Marvel is doing another X-book and it’s going to be set in England and Captain Britain is in it,” Davis recalled in Modern Masters Volume One. “Now Chris was one of the creators of Captain Britain so he obviously had an interest in him. So I don’t know whether Captain Britain was included in the group to encourage me.”
“Usually, when you move on to an existing book, you’re following a regime, and by starting on Excalibur with issue #1, I was able to put a lot of myself into it,” Davis explained in Comics Scene #30. “I liked the characters, and it was nice to be in on something since its inception.”
“I began figuring what could I do with the X-Men who weren’t going to be in the (1988) Fall Of The Mutants (crossover), like Kitty (Pryde) and Nightcrawler,” Claremont told Amazing Heroes #134, “because I knew if I didn’t do anything with them, other people would leap forward like rabid wolves to heist them. Alan (Davis) and I had been talking over the idea of doing something together – a graphic novel, a series, or some such. And then basically the concept of Excalibur evolved, and we decided on a team, which would be Shadowcat (Kitty Pryde), Nightcrawler, Captain Britain, his girlfriend Meggan, Phoenix, and someone new whom we’d invent (Widget).”
”Originally, Colossus was also intended to be a member of Excalibur. However, Colossus ended up rejoining the X-Men for the basic reason that the X-Men didn’t have a big, muscular strongman, and as the Excalibur concept grew along, and Captain Britain came into it, we already had a strongman in Excalibur – we didn’t need two. And the X-Men needed one, so we tossed Colossus back.”
Goodbye, Excalibur
“When we originally started, (editor) Ann Nocenti christened Excalibur “a cosmic comedy,”” Alan Davis told Comics Scene #30. “That was something that really surprised me, because what I had originally agreed to do was basically the X-Men in Europe, and suddenly it was a cosmic comedy. I was told it was because my artwork was so comedic, and while it wasn’t my decision, there was a definite intention to put more humor into Excalibur. There’s always a punchline on the cover, or a humorous incident.”
Alan Davis decided to leave Excalibur with issue #17 in 1989, “Mainly because we were working right up against the deadline all the time and there was no way of getting out of that situation. That was affecting the quality and the look of the book,” Davis explained in Amazing Heroes #193. “I had a great time working with Chris (Claremont) and working on Excalibur was heaven-sent, making it a really difficult decision to give it up. (…) I agreed to do the two fill-ins on Excalibur (#23-24 in 1990).”
Ten issues later, Chris Claremont also gave up Excalibur. “Part of the reason I dropped Excalibur was that X-Men (vol.2) was on the horizon and we wanted to start the new book in somewhat less than the extreme deadline situation we always seemed to find ourselves in on Uncanny X-Men,” Claremont explained in Comics Interview #98. “Also, at the time, I felt Excalibur wasn’t any fun anymore. It had gotten to the point where there was no postive synergistic mix between myself and the people I was working with as pencillers. Rather than perpetuating a book that wasn’t zinging, it was easier to just remove myself from the situation and focus my energies on X-Men.”
With Claremont’s departure, the story announced for 1991 in Marvel Age Preview #1 ended up not happening: “Excalibur goes bi-weekly for the summer, and Nightcrawler forms the Captains Courageous, gathering the Captain Britains from across the multiverse.”
Girls’ School from Hell
Claremont’s final Excalibur story was “Girls’ School from Hell” in Excalibur #32-34 from 1990-1991 – a story that was originally scheduled for Excalibur #7 in 1989 according to Marvel Age #72, and which was to preceed the Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem special edition: “Even in England, Kitty’s education can’t be neglected, so the Excalibur team sends her off to a private girls’ school. But Kitty’s in for a shock when the school turns out not to be what she expected! Written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by Alan Davis.”
““The Girls’ School from Hell” would have worked really well with Alan (Davis),” Claremont told Comics Interview #98. “I thought, when we set out to do it, that it would work as well with Ron Wagner, based on the work I saw on Nth Man – it just didn’t work. What I was looking for, what (editor) Terry Kavanagh and I were hoping for, didn’t gel. It’s no fault of Ron’s, it’s no fault of ours; it’s just one of those things.”
The two Excalibur Special Editions promised in Excalibur #22 in 1990 became the 1999 X-Men: True Friends mini-series instead.
Of Claremont’s abandoned Excalibur plots, one remained unresolved. In Excalibur #21 in 1990, Jamie Braddock turned the head of London’s criminal underworld, Vixen, into a fox and she was last seen as such in Excalibur #27 in 1990. Presumably, she is still a fox.
In Excalibur #32 in 1990, Sat-yr-9’s henchman Nigel Frobisher had become the new Vixen, but whatever plans he had remained unfulfilled, because the subsequent writer, Alan Davis, killed him off in Excalibur #56 in 1992.
Shadowcat: The new Saturnyne?
“I phoned Chris Claremont and asked him if he would have any problems with my going back to the book, because almost immediately after he left, they offered it to me,” Alan Davis told Comics Scene #30. “I didn’t want it to look like there was foul play. That’s not what actually happened, and I didn’t want it to appear that way.”
“When I took over on Excalibur, there was a definite brief that there were too many loose ends hanging and (editor) Terry (Kavanagh) wanted them tied up,” Davis admitted in Modern Masters Volume One. “Fortunately I was able to manage to tie the loose ends up so that many people thought that was the way Chris (Claremont) had planned it all along.”
There was one plotline that Davis initially left for Claremont himself to resolve. “From issue #5 (1989) of Excalibur we’d been building up a subplot where we had Sat-yr-9, Doc Croc, the Vixen, and Jamie Braddock coming together for a climactic battle, which still hasn’t happened, although Chris Claremont is planning on doing that in a special series at some point in the future,” Davis revealed in Marvel Age #100. When Claremont left Marvel before doing the series, Davis used Sat-yr-9, Vixen and Jamie Braddock anyway. In Excalibur #55-56 in 1992, the heroes learned that Sat-yr-9 had killed Captain Britain’s old girldfriend, Courtney Ross, and had posed as her since Excalibur #5. However, Davis didn’t reveal why Sat-yr-9 had taken a special interest in Kitty Pryde, whom she had befriended in Excalibur #21 in 1990 and had spoiled with an amazing birthday celebration in Excalibur #24 the same year.
“From what I gather in terms of the current X-Men, it’s not part of the mix,” Claremont told Seriejournalen.dk. “The key to (the X-Men) was always to deal with (the characters) in terms of how they interacted with the real world – that they were a part of the real world, that they lived in the real world, that they had a future in the real world. That at some point Storm might well marry Forge and go on living happily ever after – or not. That Nightcrawler and Amanda (Sefton) had a future. That Kitty would or would not become the new Saturnyne. All these elements were there.”
Sources:
Les Chester: Alan Davis, Amazing Heroes #193, August 1991
Comics Focus #1, June 1996
Tom DeFalco: Comics Creators On X-Men, April 2006
Marvel Age #72, March 1989
Marvel Age Preview #1, 1990
Joe Nazzaro: Punchlines, Comics Scene vol.2 #30, December 1992
Eric Nolen-Weathington: Modern Masters Volume One: Alan Davis, April 2003
Patrick Daniel O’Neill: Chris Claremont, Comics Interview #98, 1991
Peter Sanderson: Alan Davis On Excalibur, Marvel Age #100, May 1991
Peter Sanderson: High Caliber, Amazing Heroes #134, February 1988
Tue Sørensen and Ulrik Kristiansen: Chris Claremont Interview, seriejournalen.dk, 1995
Other unresolved plots from Excalibur include:
SvarSlet>those dimensional warps in the basement;
>whether Colin McKay was intended as a Warpie;
>Why did Vixen want Colin McKay, and how did he get there? What was the significance of the company name and slogan (Gateway Technologies, "We open the door to tomorrow") which we'd seen twice now, at the open to both issues 1 and 2;
>Rachel's changing of Kitty's clothes. Instantly changing clothes was one of the signs that her "mother's" power was growing too much...;
>Was Meggan's connection to the fairies related to his later plot with the Neo given they were also suggested to be the same;
>Ray and Meggan getting their powers messed up;
>The point to the Courtney/ Kitty mix-up;
>The extent of Meggan's powers? Her losing her powers outside of Britain after Inferno, but being a match for Galactus within Britain was similar to Snowbird's powers;
>Meggan listing six shows that are on TV at the same time, when Britain only had four channels (was this a subtle little hint that the Lighthouse was another nexus of realities);
>Why Tweedle-Dope wanted to build Widget;
>Why Vixen was at the prison in the first place? Was she hired to bust someone out, whom and by who? And did she have a facelift from the last time she tangled with CB (story in Captain Britain paperback where Psylocke loses her eyes);
>The ages of Alistaire and Alysande are *definitely* wrong;
>Exactly how the Nazi-Meggan was defeated;
>What's the little lump was that Kitty was carrying. It's wasn't Widget, whom Alistaire brought along next issue;
>Galactus being a cross-time being;
>How Meggan just "became" Captain Britain. Brian is the Captain, after all, because his father is from Otherworld;
>Whatever happened to Doc Croc after #15?
>The connection between Nightcrawler and Kymri's people;
>The Captain Britain in #21 having tracking ability;
>Why Meggan is hurt when Alistaire uses the gizmo on Galactus;
>Why Kitty was permanently tangible while at St. Searle's; and
>Why Alysande Stuart is immune to Mesmero's powers.
That's all I can think of for now;)
Nathan,
SvarSletHere's a go for ye:
>those dimensional warps in the basement;
Were because the realities were converging, and the Tower that Crosses Time was part of that convergence. You'll need to read Davis' run writing Excalibur to get the full version (the story in issues 42 or 43-50) but there you have it.
>whether Colin McKay was intended as a Warpie;
He's a mutant. Comes back in Alan Davis' run, same set of issues.
>Why did Vixen want Colin McKay, and how did he get there? What was the significance of the company name and slogan (Gateway Technologies, "We open the door to tomorrow") which we'd seen twice now, at the open to both issues 1 and 2;
I always presumed Vixen wanted Colin because he was a mutant. She didn't know he would grow to have the powers he did.
>Rachel's changing of Kitty's clothes. Instantly changing clothes was one of the signs that her "mother's" power was growing too much...;
She did it once, at the front end of Inferno, in extreme duress because of Nathan Summer's troubles. There doesn't need to be a fruition to Kitty's concern; it turned out to be incorrect.
>Was Meggan's connection to the fairies related to his later plot with the Neo given they were also suggested to be the same;
Never read the first story.
>Ray and Meggan getting their powers messed up;
Alan Davis' run, same set of issues.
>The point to the Courtney/ Kitty mix-up;
What mix-up?
>The extent of Meggan's powers? Her losing her powers outside of Britain after Inferno, but being a match for Galactus within Britain was similar to Snowbird's powers;
Both Cap and Meggan are tied to the British Isles. Cap's suit lets him work globally. Meggan has no suit, but she keeps her powers and her fine control suffers. Cap's was addressed in 14, in the Cross-Time Caper, and then later had that new suit attuned to him by Roma in Alan Davis' last storyline. Meggan may have had it pointed out in the OHOTMU Update '89.
>Meggan listing six shows that are on TV at the same time, when Britain only had four channels (was this a subtle little hint that the Lighthouse was another nexus of realities);
Huh. I didn't know this 4 channel thing was the case. Is it still?
>Why Tweedle-Dope wanted to build Widget;
SvarSletTweedle-Dope does things. They don't have to make sense. He's part of the CRAZY Gang.
>Why Vixen was at the prison in the first place? Was she hired to bust someone out, whom and by who? And did she have a facelift from the last time she tangled with CB (story in Captain Britain paperback where Psylocke loses her eyes);
It doesn't matter who she was there to bust out. They're unimportant to the story, only there to get things into place or moving. A Macguffin. Did not read the other story that you're asking after the plastic surgery through.
>The ages of Alistaire and Alysande are *definitely* wrong;
Why?
>Exactly how the Nazi-Meggan was defeated;
She was defeated off panel. How is this an unresolved plot? When Prometheus shows up and tosses Batman's unconscious body in front of Kyle and Wally, it doesn't matter what exact Kung Fu he used, it only matters that he took down Batman. Same thing here.
>What's the little lump was that Kitty was carrying. It's wasn't Widget, whom Alistaire brought along next issue;
Please cite issues. I don't remember this that well. Are we still on the Nazi story?
>Galactus being a cross-time being;
Why is this an unresolved plot thread? Please don't cite What-Ifs. We know Rachel is a cross-time being, and she turns up in What-Ifs.
>How Meggan just "became" Captain Britain. Brian is the Captain, after all, because his father is from Otherworld;
She took up the mantle after Brian died on that world. Modified her costume to suit.
>Whatever happened to Doc Croc after #15?
He was a tiny croc in Thug's bathtub. Much like Vixen, there is no reason to believe he ever recovered from Jamie's reality whammy. Nor is there any reason to believe that Technet assigned any import to him. He's in the ocean, sewers, or a pile of waste left behind by China Doll.
>The connection between Nightcrawler and Kymri's people;
This is a neat detail. It is not an unresolved plot thread.
>The Captain Britain in #21 having tracking ability;
Captain Britains have many abilities. Ours used to have a staff, now he doesn't. They aren't 100% identical from world to world.
>Why Meggan is hurt when Alistaire uses the gizmo on Galactus;
Didn't read the issue.
>Why Kitty was permanently tangible while at St. Searle's; and
I would love to know this. However, I consider it to be a plot weakness/contrivance and not an unresolved thread.
>Why Alysande Stuart is immune to Mesmero's powers
Because she is a Claremont woman.