Title: World Tour – House of M, Part 1
Published by: Marvel Comics
Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Paul Pelletier
Inks: Rick Magyar
Colors: Wil Quintana
Letters: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Mike Marts
Cover Art: Paul Pelletier
Editor: Dan Buckley
Marvel 616 is a popular universe. Why? Just because, I think. I understand that some of the other dimensions are kind of boring. How long could a series of comics survive where the world was ruled by Doombots, or full of nothing but zombies, or even where the superheroes were all vicious murderers. They could sustain a title, that given the right writer, could be quite fun, but no way would we be able to enjoy the hundreds of titles that Marvel has given us in a world that was ruled by sentient pastries.
Exiles was nice enough to stop us from having a need for a book from every single one of the other infinite dimensions. For the last 69 issues (you go ahead and make the easy joke.. I’ll wait) Exiles has shown us glimpses of these other worlds. That was until the last story arc where their entire world when topsy turvy and they lost their way.
Having dissolved the secrets behind their origin, they are now a team without purpose with no motivation go forward. This could be the Exiles’ last mission.
STORY!
The most useless Exile of all, the Morrison created ‘Beak’ wants to go home. He’s through with the world jumping, the dying friends, and missing his new kids. He wants to go home, back to the 616, and that’s that.
Right now, the 616 is a bit busy with a little thing you might have heard of called ‘The House of M’ (NOTE: Go check out my killer House of M #6 review also available on this website!) After quite a few problems getting to the modified, changed up, and snafu’d Marvel U, Beak comes to find that his darling wife Angel is a diva of the highest order. She never met Beak, she never had kids, and her beefy bodyguard isn’t going to let some ugly mutant near her.
So once again, our poor useless friend Barnell is stuck in a place he just doesn’t want to be. The rest of the issue seemingly introduces our new villain to Exiles. Currently unnamed, he has the ability to leap person to person, killing them as he leaves.
Bedard is starting to truly make these characters his own. I originally had a hard time grasping onto his storytelling in Exiles, but as each issue passes, he isn’t trying to recapture Judd Winick’s thunder, but instead create his own. Taking the Exiles from their life-jumping roots and now moving them into more of a team with an internal purpose than external one is just the change up this book needs to keep it fresh.
ART!
Paul Pelletier is HERE! What does that mean? It means we’ll see Calafiore in a few months… and it’s Jim’s work on this book that I set as the watermark. How does Paul stack up?
Not bad. It’s subtly different here and there, and has a much more classic book feel. The other throw in I always pay attention with artists is Morph, if only because Morph is so non-uniform. He’s got it.
So, artwise, Exiles continues to hold as one of the easiest on the eyes. The new art team isn’t changing status quo, and that’s fine by me. It’ll be interesting to see the new takes on the different worlds that they visit.. as apparently they are going to be heading off to NEW UNIVERSE and 2099 amongst others.
OVERALL!
Hey, look, I’m not a fan of Beak – ok. This was a Beak-centric issue, but they are getting him out of the way (supposedly). I understand him as a character point, but not exactly where he could go from here. Ah well, not for me to worry about. Exiles as a title is on it’s way into another golden age I think, and I might even stop trying to compare it to where it came from.. because it’s not where it’s going.
