Excellence Volume 2: The Present Tense

Excellence #7-12

by Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph (Contributor), Emilio López (Contributor)

Spencer Dales was born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of black magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others--of higher potential--but never themselves.

Now, Spencer Dales has one purpose: tear down the Aegis and free everyone under their "protection". However, with his closest ally in prison and The Tenth looking to put Spence in an adjoining cell, creating a better future won't easy. But it needs to happen NOW.

Khary Randolph and Brandon Thomas ignite a generational war in this action-fantasy series, made entirely by creators of color, and committed to one truth above all others--Excellence is Real.

Collects EXCELLENCE #7-12.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2021

About the author

Brandon Thomas is the writer and co-creator of critically-acclaimed comics series EXCELLENCE (Skybound/Image), HORIZON (Skybound/Image) and THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY. Previous work includes the comics series NOBLE (Lion Forge), VOLTRON (Dynamite), and FANTASTIC FOUR TALES (Marvel).

NOBLE #1 was awarded the Fist Award for Best International Comic by the 2017 Lagos Comic-Con, in recognition of best usage of characters/stories based on persons of African descent. NOBLE was also nominated for 2019 Glyph Comics Awards in six categories: Story Of The Year; Best Cover (winner); Best Writer; Best Artist (winner); Best Male Character (winner); and Best Female Character.

Since 2003, Brandon has written comics for several publishers, including Marvel, Lion Forge, Arcade, Dynamite, and DC Entertainment, and has published over 300 original columns as part of the Ambidextrous series. His first creator-owned project THE MANY ADVENTURES OF MIRANDA MERCURY shipped from Archaia Entertainment to widespread critical success, leading to his biggest comics projects to date — the sci-fi conspiracy thriller HORIZON (co-created with artist Juan Gedeon), and the action fantasy series EXCELLENCE (co-created with artist Khary Randolph) — both published by Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.

Brandon also hosts The Two Brandons podcast with Eisner-Nominated writer Brandon Easton (Transformers: War For Cybertron, Star Trek: Year Five, Vampire Hunter D: The Series).

He lives and writes in Southern California with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Paul Allard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up on this. I couldn’t follow what was going on. It jumps about too much resulting in a lack of clarity. I don’t remember Volume 1 well enough for this to make sense. Not for me. I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

[D.T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

"History is written by the victors [...] They changed our stories to protect themselves, so in time... we would never know that it had been any different."

Back with volume 2! It's been a while since I read the first one, but I still remembered enough though I had a rocky ride. Despite the smallest of recaps, I still felt confused with what was going on, Spencer's splitting his consciousness(es), and future sight.

The artwork is still excellent. Volume two tries to include more social commentary on the state of injustice and the powers that be trying to enforce the status quo for Black people. Some of the commentaries were very on the nose while some were subtle. I honestly hate to make comparisons, but a similar series like Quincredible weaves social and racial commentary seamlessly well. I think with more time Excellence can improve in this area.

There are great ideas, futuristic magic themes, and snazzy art, but it suffers majorly from a discombobulated, unstructured story. Not saying you can't go Everything Everywhere All at Once, but in a written format it takes careful planning to not lose readers in the midst of the twists and turns. Volume 1 was better, so this was an unfortunate letdown. I will still look forward to volume 3.

Excellence Volume 1 Review

[M.i. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an ambitious undertaking of which sometimes I think it’s missing out on certain expository elements that would ease the reader into the world it plays in.

With that said, the central theme of revolution and the bonds that define us is certainly worth exploring. I look forward to the next volume.