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Excalibur #64

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

Summary
In deep space, Rachel Summers goes on a tour of her memory thanks to the Phoenix Force, which is starting to come to grips with what it is and what it has done.  Taking the form of Jean Grey, the Phoenix Force appears to Rachel, and says that she is now free, and that Rachel must learn to use her powers without drawing upon the life force of the rest of the universe.  The Phoenix deposits Rachel in orbit of Earth, and disappears.

Back on Earth, Captain Britian and Meggan are attacked by the Seraphim during their beach getaway.  They manage to hold off their attackers until Cap is blinded by a hallucination caused by one of the Warpies and he knocks Meggan unconscious with one shot.  The two are collected and taken to Cloud 9 to be studied.

At the Braddock Estate, Feron bemoans to Lockheed that while Kitty Pryde was very thorough on the list of chores he is expected to perform, she did not leave him much in the way of food.  His complaining is interuppted by the sudden appearance of Widget, who is still unable to communicate his message.  Feron and Lockheed quickly vacate the building to the relative safety of outside.

Meanwhile at Cloud 9, Nightcrawler is proving to be very popular with the young Warpies, who are enamored with the adventurer's skills and exploits.  Kitty Pryde manages to slip away from her Warpie guard and takes a sneak peak in on Peter and his plans -- to create a Warpie army so that the RCX can combat any new threat which arises in Great Britian.  Kitty is discoverd by a Warpie sentinel and taken to the lab of Peter's top scientist, where the other members of Excalibur seem to be held in containment tubes.  Then, a different, oddly pro-RCX Kitty Pryde informs Nightcrawler that their intentions are completely on the up and up.

Continuity Notes
In Rachel's flashback at the beginning of the issue, we see many different events in the character's life, from her birth through her stint as an X-Man, serving Ahab as a Hound, joining Excalibur, and finally fighting Necrom, which took place in Excalibur #50.

We get cameo appearances (on RCX viewscreens) by most of the Marvel UK characters, including Killpower, Motormouth, Dark Angel, and the Knights of Pendragon, representing the "new threats" to the UK.

The cover title is "Fatal Attraction!" most likely a pun on the upcoming "Fatal Attractions" crossover.

Review
Another issue with a lot going on, this Warpie storyline has probably lasted one issue too many at this point.  The build up is interesting, and we get lots of crazy Davis-designed Warpies and insight into the characters, but this feels more like a comic written today (from a pacing standpoint) than one written 15 years ago.  The Cap and Meggan stuff is great, though, as is the whole sequence with Rachel and the Phoenix, so it is hard to find fault with the issue overall.  It's not the most exciting comic book in the world but it definitely fits right in with what Davis had been doing with the book for some time.  All in all a good, but not great installment.