Comics:Excalibur Vol 1 5

Appearing in "Send in the clowns!"

Featured Characters:

• Excalibur
  • Shadowcat
  • Phoenix
  • Nightcrawler
  • Meggan
  • Captain Britain
  • Lockheed
• Courtney Ross
  

Supporting Characters:

• 
  

Villains:

• Arcade
• Miss Locke
• Crazy Gang
  • Red Queen
  • Jester
  • Tweedledope
  • Knave
  • Executioner

Other Characters:

• Saturnyne

Locations:

• Strangeways
  

Items:

• Mind Swap Device
  

Vehicles:

• 
  

Synopsis for "Send in the clowns!"

In Arcade's new Murderworld version, Strangeways, Courtney Ross falls through a trap door and is automatically dressed like Alice in Wonderland. In a strange, surreal surrounding, she meets Excalibur and the Crazy Gang, unaware of the fact that their minds were switched by some kind of mind swap device. Captain Britain, trapped in the body of Tweedledope, tries to tell her, but she doesn't understand his guttural babbling. Rachel Summers, who is possessed by the Executioner, wants to kill Courtney with her axe, while Nightcrawler (in Jester's body) fights off Tweedledope (in Captain Britain's body).

Arcade and Ms. Locke are watching the battle from the control rule. Suddenly, the monitors go blank and Kitty Pryde phases through the control panel, thus disrupting the electronics. She grabs Arcade and forces him to follow her into the "play area" while Lockheed guards Arcade's assistants.

Courtney flees from Rachel into a house and locks the door, but Arcade - now followed by the Executioner himself - breaks through the wall and panics. In the meanwhile, Kitty Pryde phases into the control tunnels and tries to install a program by Doug Ramsey, once written in order to sabotage Murderworld.

Arcade grabs a weapon and dresses in Roman armor, trying to defend himself from the dangers of Strangeways. He is spooked by Kitty Pryde and tries to shoot her, but the bullets cannot harm her phased body. Courtney is caught by Jester, enjoying himself in Nightcrawler's body, and strapped onto a conveyor belt, directly leading to a giant saw blade. While she slowly moves towards the saw, Jester and Nightcrawler duel with swords. In the nick of time, Courtney is saved by Arcade, but she knocks him down and escapes on a rocket which moved directly into the "Space Wars" section of Strangeways.

Ms. Locke and an assistant shoot at Lockheed with a fire extinguisher and then escape from the control room, while Excalibur and Crazy Gang, still trapped in their opponent's bodies, are fighting each other on various playgrounds. After a rough space ride, Courtney lands in a concert hall, filled with an audience consisting of creamy pies. While the band "Cat's Laughing" plays, all heroes and villains land in the audience. Still fighting, the entire hall changes into a very creamy mess. Finally, Captain Britain manages to reverse the mind swap device - due to the enhanced mechanical abilities of Tweedledope's body - and gives it to Courtney. Shadowcat explains her how to use it and so Courtney uses the device to swap all bodies again. Eventually, she attaches the device to Rachel Summer's back, but nothing happens. Rachel still swings her axe at her, but Kitty phases Rachel and then slips into her body entirely in order to free her from the Executioner's influence.

After Rachel broke free, Excalibur summons the police who arrests the Crazy Gang and Arcade. Meggan is confused when Captain Britain comforts Courtney - a fact which is also registered by Nightcrawler who just started to develop feelings for Meggan.

In the evening, Courtney is alone in her apartment and surprised by Saturnyne who zaps her and takes her identity. Nightcrawler, heavily disguised, and Captain Britain visit the pub "Flying Fish". While drinking beer, Nightcrawler asks his companion about his relationship with Meggan. Brian is reluctant, but then tells Kurt about his frustration and about his feelings towards Courtney. After leaving the pub, Brian flies away, buys some flowers and visits "Courtney" in her apartment - unaware of the fact that Saturnyne replaced her - where they kiss.

Notes

• Reprinted in Excalibur Classic Vol 1 in 2005

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• Discuss Excalibur Vol 1 5 on the forums
• Cover gallery for the Excalibur series

Recommended Reading

• None.

Links and References

• None.