Exiles #70
Writer: Tony Bedard
Penciler: Paul Pelletier
Inkers: Rick Magyar 2/ Hennessy & Meikis
Colorist: Wil Quintana
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Mike Marts
Publisher: Dan Buckley
The Exiles get themselves into trouble all the time. I mean, they’ve dealt with huge monsters, vampires, and now what do they have to deal with… Utopia.
With Beak looking for his girlfriend, his kids, and a place for him to settle down and continue his life. He seems to be the only problem with this world. Which doesn’t shock, given that I can’t come up with a world where Beak really isn’t a problem.
STORY!
Let me address first, the excellent writing here by Bedard. All it takes is one really impressive understanding of a character for me to change my tune. He starts this issue off with a bit of a solo speech done by Blink. She sees this world, the House of M, and can’t see a problem with it.
Magneto is king, but he’s obviously good at it. The mutants seem to be happy, and the humans are a lower segregated class, but they don’t seem to be heavily persecuted. What is wrong with that? From a girl who came from the Age of Apocalypse, this is like a dream come true. It’s just a bit of text, but it nails Blink’s MO.
The rest of the story is just as good. With a reintroduction of Moira MacTaggart (who is dead in the standard 616) – she informs us that there is a problem with her son, the mutant Proteus. Not only can he change the world to his whim, but he can possess whomever is near him and suck out their life energies. Proteus is our Mutant X, and it looks like the Exiles are going to be dealing with him for a long time coming.
Currently though, they have to deal with him while he is within the body of Beak’s beloved. The Star Jones-turned-J. Lo, Angel.
ART!
Now that Paul Pelletier has had some time to feel his way through the new book, it seems he’s really got a grasp on what the Exiles is supposed to feel like. The coloring is exceptionally vibrant, and aside from the book looking a tad muddled in panels that possess more than 3 characters, everything fits.
There is quite a bit of high action in this issue as well, and Pelletier handles that like a champ. His look for the Sentinels follows right in line with what’s going on in mainline House of M, and his own minor touches to the characters (ie: seeing Morph’s mid-pose change) are excellent.
OVERALL!
Exiles is climbing back up my favorite book list. It took a nosedive for awhile, and has been on the climb ever since. Now that we have a set path that we are going to follow, and a very uncertain ending to this storyline, next issue should be a hoot!
Hell, it will be a hoot and a half. Oh, and if I’m lucky, Beak will die.
