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Alan Davis is back!  That's all you need know!  Well, that, and to check out Not Blog X, where G Kendall will clue you in on all your favorite and not-so-favorite X-Books from the 90s.

Excalibur #61

Truth And Consequence  
Credits: Alan Davis (Script), Alan Davis (Pencils), Mark Farmer (Inks), Glynis Oliver (Colors), Chris Eliopoulos (Letters).

Summary
Deep in space, the Phoenix (and Rachel) stirs from her healing slumber and runs smack dab into Galactus, who has begun to feed on an inhabited world.  Phoenix will have none of it, and the two begin an intense battle, slinging huge amounts of cosmic energy at one another.  Meanwhile, back on Earth, at Braddock Manor Captain Britian and Nightcrawler train (with Cerise creating armor for Nightcrawler so he doesn't get hurt).  Cap is unfocused, angry about Sat-Yr-9's escape and raving about wanting revenge for Courtney, which upsets Meggan so much she storms off.  At the same time, in London, Micromax is kidnapped by a supposed agent from a competing radio station.  

A little later, we catch up with Brian and Meggan in the Caribbean, and after talking about his feelings and how he has been treating her, Brian proposes marriage.  While that is going on, in the caverns below the Manor, Kitty tries to make heads or tails of the changes, which Feron refuses to help with.  Out of nowhere, Widget pops in again, once more disappearing before Kitty can figure out his message.  Out in space, the battle having raged for some time, Galactus shows Phoenix the damage -- the inhabitants of the planet have become collateral damage of their battle, and her supposed desire to save them has been forgotten in Phoenix's lust for power.  Galactus tells her that he serves a purpose -- reclaiming the energy of worlds which have lived their lives, but the Phoenix simply sucks up energy from those who have yet to live -- the unborn.  Back on Earth, Kitty is contacted by Alistaire Stuart, claiming to have found out who blackmailed his sister, before he too is kidnapped.

Continuity Notes
Micromax is working as a DJ even though I am pretty sure he became a British agent in an earlier story.  Brian and Meggan's marriage wouldn't happen until more than fifty issues later, in the series finale at #125.

Review
It's so good to have Alan Davis back!  Immediately, the older plotlines are reintroduced (a welcome return after basically being ignored for four months), and the plots for the remaining stories in his run are planted, with the kidnappings as well as Widget's continued re-appearance.  There's a lot of little stories here, which makes the summary pretty confusing, but it's handled well in the comic, with a full page of Phoenix and Galactus in-between each other subplot to remind us that, yes, they are still fighting.  Also, I was happy to see Brian's rage about Courtney being addressed; obviously, it didn't get much attention at first, but his response here fits the character -- and his proposal to Meggan is a good step in the larger personal arc for Cap.  The art is typical Davis, which suits this series much better than Kollins, and runs the gamut from cutesy (Kitty and Feron) to nearly Ditko-esque (the fight between Phoenix and Galactus).  Overall a substantial improvement from the fill-in issues, even if it doesn't do all that much beyond offer an epilogie of sorts to the Phoenix issue from a few months earlier.