Exiles #91

[history79]

Comments

[scelestus]

God, I loved this series. Then they brought on Claremont.

[lordultimus]

Chris Claremont is really one of the writers past his prime. Granted, he can still sometimes turn out a Nightcrawler solo book or X-Men Forever, but he never really stopped writing as if it's still the eighties.

"What the devil?"

[scelestus]

What broke me was the reunion between Nocturne and T-Bird. She was pregnant, he ended up close to dying fighting Galactus, and Claremont deigned to write a "Hey girl" exclamation when they reunited. I actually posted something about that on CBS, and Claremont himself responded, saying their reunion should be private. The hell?????

[scelestus]

(CBR)

[thatnickguy]

I loved this series so much for the longest time. Then, and I don't remember which order, Claremont and Chuck Austen happened. I think Austen first, because I remember jumping ship after Winick left the title.

I checked back on it from time to time, then I saw they made the Timebroker some weird alien bug things. And also people who died were just cocooned or something, making everything before it totally meaningless. Ugh.

[thatnickguy]

Reading the Wikipedia page, I was close. It was a TRIPLE whammy of Chuck Austen, then Tony Bedard, and then Claremont. The series really went to shit after Winick left.

[informationgeek]

I dunno. Linkara recently did an retrospective on this series and it seemed like Austen and Bedard weren't too bad overall.

Now Claremont on the other hand....

[thatnickguy]

So after you mentioned, I've spent the afternoon watching Linkara's entire retrospective on the series. And wow. I stopped paying attention to it long before, but I had no idea how off the rails the series went once Claremont came on. Even the stuff with Austin or Bedard look great in comparison.

[informationgeek]

It certainly says something when Chuck Austen has more respect for the comic he's writing than Claremont.

But hey, you watched the retrospective! Wasn't expecting that. Hoped you enjoyed it.

[thatnickguy]

I did! I'm not generally one for Linkara. His videos run too long for my taste (I prefer videos that sum up more than going almost page-for-page), some jokes fall flat for me, and I'm not really a fan of the ongoing narrative stuff that gets in the way of reviews. BUT I enjoy his well-thought out perspectives sometimes.

And I quite enjoyed this, since I was once a fan of the series. Thanks for name dropping it. :)

[panelsarewindows]

Yeah I don't generally watch Linkara's reviews anymore (also because I have far less free time nowadays), but I really enjoy his Comics History Lessons/Retrospective stuff. Even History of Power Rangers, while I really don't care about the show, is very fascinating to me.

[q99]

Austin and Bedard were the ones who did King Hyperion, to good effect. Bedard lost steam with time- losing Mimic was a mistake- but it was still quite readable and started well.

Claremont... didn't click with what made it EXiles. He introduced 616 characters (most of his team was from just 2 dimensions), and some of his alt characters/universes seemed to be just random.

[lordultimus]

Actually, the people who died were still dead, they just put the bodies in the crystal palace for... some reason.

[thatnickguy]

Weren't some of them freed or break out during the series? I swear that happened a few times. But then, I was only barely paying attention to the series, skimming latest issues at the comic shop.

It seemed like the series really went to crap once they basically got a "base of operations." That seemed to kill half the fun of being a Sliders-inspired series.

[dr_archeville]

I think only Mimic came back, and that only b/c he had someone's (Deadpool's?) healing factor.

[q99]

T-Bird, I believe. He wasn't really an active team member post-return but he was alive and such.

Plus King Hyperion came out of there.

[q99]

-
It seemed like the series really went to crap once they basically got a "base of operations." That seemed to kill half the fun of being a Sliders-inspired series.-

Yea, not immediately, but it didn't help. It made things too safe- since it *also* meant the removal of the Timebroker as a 'boss'.

[thatnickguy]

Yeah, after watching Linkara's retrospective, there are things about the base that I liked, like that it's basically made from M'Kron crystals.

I think the original idea of why they jumped around was messy to begin with. Like with the Timebroker being kind of unexplainable. Then the whole base thing kinda killed it for me, especially with the random bugs.

If I were writing it, actually, you know what I might've done? Had Multiple Man in charge. In fact, MULTIPLE Multiple Men, from different realities. That could've been fun.

[q99]

I'd do something like had it be an AI embedded in space-time or something, made by a dead timeline, and have it break apart at times depending on how damaged reality was... still not a real person, you know?

[thatnickguy]

That's pretty good, too. I figured using Multiple Man would continue the overall X-Men theme the book had, you know?

[q99]

The problem with him is, well, he's a human boss and can thus be reasoned with. Or, they- one from different universes at cross purposes..?

In the Timebroker era, they had to deal with stuff like teammember choices that clashed with them, valued team members leaving at unfortunate times, missions that involved letting the 'villain' win, and the existence of their more ruthless counterpart Weapon X. The bugs kinda worked with that, because they were inhuman and wouldn't get all the interpersonal stuff, but my view is the farther from a human behind it, the better (while still having something behind it).

MM would certainly be better than them being in charge- Heather got to run the base! (and what happened to all the really unpleasant missions once they had control? Largely vanished, really) Heather running the base means teammates they liked, mission parameters that'd take much more roundabout methods to suit their morals, etc..

[informationgeek]

Oh good lord that cover!!!!! D:

[scorntx]

Oh, Claremont's run.
As a Youth, Exiles was one of the things that got me into Marvel. But Claremont's work on it...
He wasn't really doing anything different from usual, and therein lies part of the problem.
Like, right within the first issue, half the team is captured and given the Brainwashed Into Eeeeevil treatment by a Claremont Sultry Villainess.
(And to digress a moment: Why is Sue leading Hydra and the Hand? How did this happen? They never explain that.)

It's Claremont being Claremont. The problem is, his style and attitudes just... aren't a fit for the book.
There were interesting concepts and ideas, just... they got sidelined in favour of the incredibly dull Slaymaster plot, or Sage's issues (because fans were totes into Sage.) or the whole Kitty plot, which... meh.


Also, the page says Cap's uniform is a different colour, and yet as we see it... it's the usual Cap colours.
Oops?

[sarahnewlin]

Psylocke!

I am so torn. I have all trade paperbacks of New Exiles and I hate myself for it. But...it's Psylocke, its like I just HAVE to have everything she's in because she is my favorite. But still...

[mastermahan]

Can we all agree that Jeff Parker's Exiles was cut short far too early?

[zechs80]

YES!

[zachbeacon]

Yep

[zachbeacon]

So early issues of Exiles establish that there's only one Mojoverse. Does that mean this is "our" Longshot brainwashed by some other world's Hand or is Mojo mass producing Longshots?

(Yes, I read the Longshot origin at the end of Youknowwho's X-Factor run. I'm still confused)

[scorntx]

Nah, there's only one Longshot.
Mojo had caught him and wiped his mind, then handed him over to the Exiles, who asked very nicely for him so they could fight House of M's Proteus, since Longshot's luck powers cancelled out Proty's reality warping.