With the July, 1989 issue of Excalibur (#10), the world was introduced to the 'Cross Time Caper'. A pac-man shaped robot that was an inter-dimensional gate along with a time traveling train took England's answer to the X-Men through time and space. The first alternate world the mutants visited was one in which the Nazis won World War II.
Over the course of 12 issues, Excalibur's ranks grew by one when they visited King Arthur's court and added the tiny purple dragon Lockheed. They then took on some Silver Age members of the Marvel Universe, discover a UK inhabited by Cowboys and Indians, participate in a madcap grand prix and revert to alternate versions of the X-Men; all the while narrowly avoiding a group of extra-dimensional bounty hunters called Technet.
With the conclusion of issue #24, the caper was over. Or was it?
In 1990, Excalibur would return to the world that started it all, Earth-597. The world where the Axis powers win the war! Hitler is now confined to a wheelchair with the Red Skull by his loyal side. Not confined is Charles Xavier. In the role of Goebbels and Hauptmann, this Charles Xavier is making a play to overthrow the Fuhrer by experimenting on mutants and turning their life-force into unlimited psychic power.
During the 'Cross Time Caper', Excalibur battled their evil selves. In Weird War III, the heroes have melded into one with their evil halves. Earth 616 and 597 have synced together, possibly as a residue aftermath of said Caper. Thus, as reality bleeds together, the two worlds become a bit of a chaotic mess.
I am a big fan of the 1988-98 regular series version of Excalibur. It was wacky fun by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis. With writer Michael Higgins' (The Infinity War) take on the 'Cross Time Caper', the story is incredibly dark and serious. I understand that Nazis aren't funny. But Weird War III felt more like a continuation of X-Men's 'Days of Future Past' than anything in the Excalibur repertoire. The same goes with the artwork by Tom Morgan. It's gritty and gangly. Very similar to Morgan's work on West Coast Avengers and Punisher 2099.
Overall, this story just doesn't feel like Excalibur. This is more like a Marvel MAX tale. And for fans, the results can be rather jarring. While the regular series relishes in the weird, Weird War III is not the right type of weird. Nor is it a proper spin-off.
Rating: 5 out of 10 stars.
Completing this review completes Task #21 (Graphic Novel Under 100 Pages Long) of the 2022 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.
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