Exiled #1 – Review

By: Kieron Gillen, Dan Abnett, & Andy Lanning (writers), Carmine di Giandomenico (art), Andy Troy (colors), and Clayton Cowles (letters)

The Story:  After a mysterious hero from ages past dons his suit of armour, the Disir break loose from their enslavement in hell.

The Review:  I confess that I’m not at all a New Mutants reader and, as such, wasn’t particularly thrilled at the announcement of this crossover.  However, as a huge Journey into Mystery fan, I’m happy to say that a lot of the charm of that series remains in this issue.  In fact, you could argue that this is more a JIM storyline than a New Mutants one, as Thor and the Asgardians run amok, the Disir are the baddies, and Hela arrives on Earth.  Really, it actually made the New Mutants more palatable to me.  They felt somewhat disoriented and confused, suddenly thrown into a high fantasy, Journey into Mystery story, having to play outside their usual realm/genre.  Their presence is so dissonant, that it actually ends up being kind of cool.

As he had throughout JIM, Loki continues to light up every page on which he appears.  Even in this issue, which has much less Loki than your average issue of JIM, Gillen’s wit nonetheless crackles.  Loki’s playing a telephone game of sorts in relaying the bad news regarding the Disir was entertainingly scripted and Gillen continues to amuse with Loki’s eager adoption of contemporary slang.

New Mutants #17 – Review

by, Zeb Wells (writer) Leonard Kirk (penciller)

The Story: Just as Cannonball and Moonstar share an intimate moment, Magik shows up with a call to arms, dragging the team to Limbo to rescue kidnapped X-Man, Pixie.  Then they get their asses kicked.

What’s Good: Wells has done a superb job keeping this title engaging and entertaining, and the reason he’s so successful is because he puts character first.  Not only do each of the cast members make realistic and believable decisions, but their personalities completely jibe with what has come before in previous stories by other creators.  Any other title would suffer from starring not one but three ‘back from the dead’ characters (Warlock, Magik & Cypher, in case you’re lacking a scorecard), mainly in the likelihood of annoying long-time fans with their presence.  But just as the likes of Ed Brubaker or Joss Whedon have done with characters like Bucky and Colossus, Wells has silenced most if not all of those naysayers by writing them with respect for who they are and how they’ve acted in the past.  As a result, this series feels like a natural extension of the New Mutants’ lives and not just a retread of older stories (or an affront to them).  This issue continues with that feeling, especially concerning the scene with Dani and Sam kissing.  Some might disagree, but this feels like an organic direction that their relationship would travel in, and I’m curious where it might take them and how it will affect the team dynamic.  There are plenty of other great moments in this issue that reiterate the strength of the script, from Warlock’s continued self-doubt to Illyana’s no-nonsense demeanor to the confrontation with the grown-up Inferno babies at the climax.  Wells is delivering solid issue after solid issue and is quietly making this the most dependable X-Title on the stands every month.

X-Force #27 – Review

by Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (writers), Mike Choi (artist), Sonia Oback (colorist)

The Story: Bastion begins instituting his final plan as he unleashes the first wave of his Nimrod army upon the X-Men, causing several members to suffer devastating losses.  When the mutants discover that the villain has actually opened a portal to a future where humanity has won and is preparing to unleash more than 170,000 of the mutant-hunting robots, they get desperate.  The plan?  Send Cable, Cypher and X-Force into the future to cut off the threat at the source.  The catch? It’s a one way trip, whether they win or lose.

What’s Good: Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief, shall we?  Okay, done?  Good.  This issue of X-Force (along with last week’s X-Men Legacy) signals the return of breakneck awesomeness to the Second Coming crossover, and just in time.  After the saggy beginning to the second act of the storyline, the back-half has kicked us back into high gear as we head into the third and final act.  From the beat-down the X-Men receive at the hands of the Nimrods in the opening pages of the issue to Prodigy’s near-mental collapse at the realization of the odds stacked against them all to X-23’s gentle “hand” gesture to Cable’s farewell to Hope, this chapter returned  the drama,  action and feeling of desperation to the proceedings like nobody’s business!  It’s always a pleasure, as well, to see Kyle and Yost get to bring a small amount of the spotlight back onto their characters from the aborted New X-Men title.  A little Prodigy, Hellion, Surge, and X-23 goes a long way under their pen, and it’s always a joy.  Anyone who might have missed their run on that title should definitely pick it up.  (It’s actually the genesis of the Bastion part of Second Coming, so now you have two reasons.)