When Claremont and Alan Davis unveiled Excalibur years ago, I was immediately taken by the irreverent, unpredictable style of the storytelling, and I was never an X-Men or Claremont fan to begin with. Claremont mirrors some of the same storytelling with this relaunch, appropriately enough, but tying it into the "Decimation" event strikes me as something of a mistake. This new title is fairly accessible, save for one respect: the inclusion of Pete Wisdom. Michael Ryan's art is capable and clear, but his work continues to fail to really grab me and stand out. His style is his own, at least, and it's easy to spot his work now, but despite all of its detail, it just never strikes me as being anything more than standard super-hero fare.
Millions of mutants around the world have lost their powers, and a team of X-Men travel to England to see how Captain Britain and the country he's sworn to protect is holding up. Meanwhile, Alison Blaire has taken her Dazzler rock act on the road and is touring London nightclubs, but she attracts the attention of a quintet of powerful foes... foes who bear an uncanny resemblance to five mutant heroes who serve to inspire mutants everywhere: the original X-Men.
Ryan certainly captures the colorful world of wonder of super-heroes. He handles the variety of characters nicely, though I must admit he doesn't convey Kitty Pryde's youth or Psylocke's Asian heritage all that well. He does present a great vision of the iconic, patriotic hero in Captain Britain, though. The designs for the evil X-Men are a bit disappointing as well. They just look like superhumans from the BDSM scene. The colors are vibrant but still manage to maintain a dark, tense mood.
I question the wisdom of introducing five new mutant villains (albeit alternate reality ones, I'm betting) in a story that's steeped in a larger plotline about the near-eradication of the mutant species. Bringing new mutants into the mix when one is trying to emphasize the devastating effect of losing so many mutants is counterproductive. Pete Wisdom's presence makes sense given his connection to the previous incarnation of the title team, but in the grand scheme of things, he's a fairly obscure character that will probably knock new readers for a loop.
There's an almost random quality to the assembly of characters here and an especially arbitrary reason to bring them together. It seems odd that so many X-Men would be dispatched to England to "look in" on Brian Braddock. I do, however, like the common trait that's to be found among the members of the new Excalbur lineup (as depicted on the cover). Each hero is lost and is in need of finding a new place and purpose in the world. 5/10
