EXILES #37 REVIEW

[Jim Lemoine]

<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/exiles37.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/exiles37t.jpg" align=left alt="Exiles #37"></a>Reviewer: Jim Lemoine, jimlemoine@comixfan.cjb.net
Quick Rating: Poor
Story Title: Fantastic Voyage - Part 3 of 3

An Exile falls in the battle against a Brood-infected Mimic!

Written by: Judd Winick
Pencilled by: Clayton Henry
Inked by: Mark Morales
Colored by: Transparency Digital
Lettered by: Dave Sharpe
Cover by: Mizuki Sakakibara
Assistant Editor: Cory Sedlmeier
Edited by: Mike Marts & Mike Raicht
Editor-in-Chief: Joe Quesada
President: Bill Jemas

Exiles #37 is a textbook case of a comic's script and art being unable to communicate the vision behind the writer's plot. The issue falls flat, and feels more like a lost opportunity for greatness than anything else. This could have been another Exiles #10, the acclaimed finale to A World Apart... it could have been, but it wasn't.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: an Exile dies in this issue. Where Magnus died with meaning, Thunderbird left with drama and majesty, and Blink disappeared with mystery and emotion... Sunfire dies with little more than a teammate's anger. The former departures from the team have been compelling, emotional, and heart-wrenching; the death of Sunfire, on the other hand, completely fails to engage the reader. It's a cold scene, without all that much meaning, and one that lacks quite a bit of closure.

The overall plot of the Fantastic Voyage arc is a great one, one with real potential. However, the scripting of that plot has been very weak over the course of the storyline, and the art has struggled. Clayton Henry's return for the final chapter of the arc is welcome, and the penciller provides us with some truly fantastic panels. Unfortunately, all in all one gets the feeling that, like the scripting, the art doesn't quite convey some of the emotion that it could have.

This issue in particular would have been a lot easier to swallow if not for the unanswered questions, unexplained behavior, and seeming inconsistencies. Perhaps the issue's biggest fallacy is the apparent lunacy of the Exiles' behavior in dealing with the Mimic. At one point in the issue, Sasquatch figures out that as long as Calvin stays active and "gives himself a beating," the Brood embryo will remain safe. Logically, you'd think the Exiles would attempt to contain the Mimic non-violently, in order to boost his healing factor, right? But whether it be due to a lack of leadership, lack of communication, or complete lack of sense, the remainder of the issue features the Exiles violently attacking their former leader... and thus, playing right into his hands. In fact, the team's "brains," Sasquatch, later tries to "beat" the egg out of Mimic, in clear disregard for how much this conflicts with what she said earlier. It makes no sense.

But wait, there's more... At one point, Nocturne gets thrown at least 90 feet up into the air by Mimic (judging by the building behind her). How does she survive? We're never told. Why do we see a chalk-white-skinned bald man (just like Morph) wearing something that looks very much like Clayton Henry's rendition of the Tallus, running away when Sunfire is burning the falling debris? It looks just like a back-shot of Morph, and it's definitely colored to resemble him; why? How does Reed Richards have time to make himself a "Four" costume amidst the chaos? And finally... I still don't understand why Mimic suddenly turned green. That's generally a sign of gamma radiation, but I've never seen it used as a symptom of Brood infection.

Sure, any superhero comics reader has to suspend disbelief to make it through a comic story... but this issue asks too much of the reader. The plot barrels on to its conclusion, not taking time to stop and make sure that it's making sense or properly building up along the way. The base idea for the story is a great one, and the death could be a highly dramatic addition. Sadly, it seems the emotion, drama, and root meaning of the story get shunted to the side in favor of meaningless super-combat. That makes for a significantly weaker issue.

There are some great moments in the book, don't get me wrong; Sunfire's exhausted heroism, Morph's pithy, determined comments, the reaction of a certain teammate to the issue's death, and the fantastic surprise ending among them. These moments only remind you how great the whole issue could and should be, though, and leave you disappointed as you move on to the next sequence. Like last issue, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of time here for Winick's trademark strong characterization, and the book suffers because of it.

I'm coming to enjoy Clayton Henry's art more and more, and I think that's, in part, due to the fact that I've taken to ignoring the panels' backgrounds and scenery. I've complained in almost every review of a Henry-drawn issue that the backgrounds are virtually nonexistent, and that complaint remains. However, I'm trying to focus on Henry's strengths: good body language, neat action scenes, dramatic graphic storytelling, and great facial expressions. Those are all well-displayed in this issue as Henry continues to become more and more comfortable with the book’s protagonists. His Magik and Morph, in Exiles #37, tended to be particularly good. Henry's rendition of the outraged Morph holding the body of Sunfire on the issue's third-to-last page is perfect: I can't imagine that scene possibly being captured more effectively.

However, Henry's not completely off the hook for the lack of emotion in this story... several moments don't quite have the impact that they should. The Thing's brutal attack on the Mimic near the book's end (which, excepting a healing factor, would no doubt leave Calvin blinded and in enormous pain), is rendered as just another punch. The scene of Sasquatch and Morph theorizing on Mimic's transformed state is similarly bland.

I love the Exiles series, and I always hate to have to write a negative review of an issue. Sadly, as important and status-changing as this issue is, it doesn't honestly deserve a good review. The plot behind the story is great, but the script and events of the book don't live up to the potential of the plot. The art is very good, but often limited by the story and sometimes failing to capture the emotion of the moment.

Sunfire quickly became one of my very favorite Exiles, and after the outstanding departures of Magnus, Thunderbird, and Blink, I feel cheated by this issue. This heroic Exile deserved a better death than what she got here.

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ART:
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STORY:
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OVERALL:
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Buy this issue online now from X-World Comics (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=52&cat=EXILES) and save!

[Airhead]

...........well i thought it was good..........:(
I loved the artwork but I also think the persons death seemed a bit rushed.
....maybe if they spent another page on it or something....
But I loved the last page!:D
I give the artwork a 4 and the writing a 3.5!

[Magus10]

One Word...Argh

[Gat0r-ManX]

Originally posted by Airhead
...........well i thought it was good..........:(
I loved the artwork but I also think the persons death seemed a bit rushed.
....maybe if they spent another page on it or something....
But I loved the last page!:D
I give the artwork a 4 and the writing a 3.5!

Yea i thought so too. I like the book. It could have been moredramatic. but i guess i felt really bad when i c the death and the anger of morph.

[Dragon]

I have to say Worst Issue Ever in Exiles, and Mimic should be dead not Sunfire, she didn't deserive to die after all she been through,and defently not like that

[rubberbandmnager]

why oh why can't i look away.....my finger just automatically highlights it and now i know....the bad thing is i will have to wait two weeks until my shipment comes in before i can read it for myself :mad: ....i like the fluidity in exiles and the fact that they can kill off characters without batting a eye...the fact that they are outside continuity makes it easy to accept these deaths because no one else was going to use them anyway (probably) but i don't want them to kill off characters for the sake of killing someone off....i was afraid we were going to lose sasquatch a couple of issues back and yes it would have been much more dramatic to kill heather in that issue but it wasn't needed and was still a great issue, (i'm glad they didn't kill her)....from this review it doesnt sound like i will be glad about the death in this issue....oh well, i guess i will just have to wait and see
((maybe by the time i get the issue i will learn capitalization and proper sentence structure)

[UMichWolverine]

I don't know. I enjoyed this issue. It had its faults, but still. As for the death...I dunno, not the send-off I would have hoped for but as far as I'm concerned Calvin should not have been the one to die and I'm glad he didn't.

I stated during the last thread how I felt that that character, if anyone deserved happiness and their home world.

As for the ending:

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.? Over. I mean, wasn't she supposed to appear in Uncanny?

In my opinion, this completely cheapens the first time she left. It reeks so much of the Phoenix its gagging me.

Oh well.

Is the next arc another Weapon X arc? Let's hope thats better than the last one.

[mikey g]

Who is the new member to replace the fallen one?

[Tomaniac]

To me, this issue was intentionally rushed; it was frantic. I thought that was a tremendously effective device, though I think I decyphered the healing factor contradiction. As long as Mimic was running around actively, his healing power couldn't work; if the heroes were able to attack him and force his healing factor rather than his other powers to kick into overdrive, that would be great, though.

[UMichWolverine]

Originally posted by mikey g
Who is the new member to replace the fallen one?

Blink. Yes. Blink. The same Blink who just left the team.

[spinarakboi]

Well on the note of it being rather cold and unmeaningful... I think it's good to have that happen once in awhile. They are fighting for their lives every day (which could be said for any comicbook) and it's logical that people will die quickly and without some noble farewell. Not everyone gets to go like that. Hopefully that helps somewhat... if it made sense.

[Patrick James]

I must say that when it happened, I did not even realize that that Exile was dead. As right as began to take that one on as my new favorite, he/she had to go and bite the big one. Well, color me upset, but I guess that's just the way of Exiles.

Clayton Henry still rocks! Though i understand the complaints expressed in this review and found myself feeling similarly. I'm not so blinded by my fanaticism to miss something like a lack of proper emotional build-up on a page or two, or the clearness of what's going on in a given panel. Still, I'm glad Clayton was back. I miss him whenever he's gone and I wish he could stay forever.:nocturne:

[Jon Hancock]

with vi-lock? she's still infected i mean. and did she have the tallus? that's not really that surprising at all. I'd have thought they'd have saved that for a couple of deaths time. :(

[Telepath]

this had to be my favourite issue of exiles i thought marikos death was extremely heroic she/he died saving the lives of innocent people and even if his/her death wasnt moving the reaction of his/her teammates were. morphs out cry at mimics poor leader ship skills t.js tears as she held morph aswell as mimics tears of regret. claytons art was amazing this issue he drew mimics transformation and the brood extremely well and had me amazed. t.js unique physiology allows her to survive great falls it was shown in the first issue of exiles jim and i thought mimics armor turning green had to do with the transformation of him turning into a GREEN brood and as such you would think his metal skin would turn green. did any of you notice that mariko died the same way that alternate reality version of her died in that arc done by austen.

[Kizmet]

Originally posted by Dragon
I have to say Worst Issue Ever in Exiles, and Mimic should be dead not Sunfire, she didn't deserive to die after all she been through,and defently not like that

I think that's the point. Sunfire didn't deserve to die and the story managed to draw you in enough that you're reacting just like one of the characters... so something must have been done a little bit right.

Have you ever seen Highlander: The Series? The best death scene of the entire show is Tessa. After being rescued from an uber-villian she's walking back to her car and gets killed in a mugging for her pocket change. Her death is utterly, completely meaningless and that why it had such an impact.

[salvador]

Originally posted by telepath
did any of you notice that mariko died the same way that alternate reality version of her died in that arc done by austen.

Aaargh! Telepath! You didn't close the spoiler tag and I read who's the dead! Please, correct!

[spinarakboi]

@ Kizmet: Yeah that's exactly what I was trying to say... only you said it a lot better. ^_^ Also Anya from Buffy comes to mind. Very sudden it was.

[Brian Wilkinson]

what annoyed me the most was Morph's anger at Calvin for not having told them. When, exactly, did he have time for that? They were together for all of a minute or two before shunted into this reality in the middle of a crisis. There was NO TIME for it at all.

I was VERY disappointed and I agree with Jim on all counts. Still, the new member should be interesting to read in future issues.

Still.... bah.

[Eric Travis]

Except while they were gathering again in #35, Calvin told them he'd only been there for six months. Whether or not he wanted to protect them, or whether or not he thought he could handle the egg on his own, he had a responsibility to let the others know the truth. If they were headed for a month's vacation, it wouldn't matter perhaps, but they've been jumping from combat-zone to combat-zone nearly non-stop for a while.

[magiklover]

Originally posted by Kizmet


I think that's the point. Sunfire didn't deserve to die and the story managed to draw you in enough that you're reacting just like one of the characters... so something must have been done a little bit right.

Have you ever seen Highlander: The Series? The best death scene of the entire show is Tessa. After being rescued from an uber-villian she's walking back to her car and gets killed in a mugging for her pocket change. Her death is utterly, completely meaningless and that why it had such an impact.

I agree completely.. I liked this ish.. the ending was great and i was into the whole ish, unlike some of the crap i have to read lately where i can barely read the whole ish without throwing my comic into the trash.

[darkelf63]

Well i ahve not got this issue yet but I'm looking forward to it..however I'm very sad that Susnfire was the one to die, I really liked her. Also kind of sad that there is one less non-"straight" character in the X-cosmos and one less Asian mutant as well..

I do look forward to why Clarice is back..why the same Blink as well? and who is going to teleport the mutants now?

[John Gleason]

Originally posted by Airhead
...........well i thought it was good..........:(
I loved the artwork but I also think the persons death seemed a bit rushed.
....maybe if they spent another page on it or something....
But I loved the last page!:D
I give the artwork a 4 and the writing a 3.5!

Have to agree with this 100% this issue came up short.

[Harold the Wonder Dog]

Originally posted by Brian E. Wilkinson
what annoyed me the most was Morph's anger at Calvin for not having told them. When, exactly, did he have time for that?

Hrm. I just read the issue finally, and with it fresh in my mind, I don't think Morph ever expressed that Calvin should have told the other Exiles about the Brood egg. He just voiced that Calvin should have been the one dead, and that Calvin should have killed himself with the forethought that if he reunited with them while impregnated with an egg, he would have been a threat to the other team members' safety.

Originally posted by telepath
did any of you notice that mariko died the same way that alternate reality version of her died in that arc done by austen.

I didn't notice that until you mentioned it, and I find it much too similar to be a coincidence. It makes me wonder if Austen had some knowledge of the future scripts (probably so whatever he wrote wouldn't conflict with the future issues already written) and inserted that in there as a 'joke'. It'd be one thing if it had been written in as a prophetic irony of sorts, but for now it seems like a throwaway scene. Although unhappy with the info that he's writing a couple more storyarcs, if Austen can intelligently have the surviving characters reference this coincidence, perhaps I'll feel better. But if it's done crappily or not even brought up at all, I will completely feel that what he did was a total FU to the readers.

[Telepath]

Originally posted by salvador


Aaargh! Telepath! You didn't close the spoiler tag and I read who's the dead! Please, correct!


i'm terribly sorry i could have sworn i blocked it.:(

[John Q.T. Nguyen]

Originally posted by Harold the Wonder Dog


Hrm. I just read the issue finally, and with it fresh in my mind, I don't think Morph ever expressed that Calvin should have told the other Exiles about the Brood egg. He just voiced that Calvin should have been the one dead, and that Calvin should have killed himself with the forethought that if he reunited with them while impregnated with an egg, he would have been a threat to the other team members' safety.
[/spoiler]

"She died fighting you, Calvin. You monster! You're supposed to know better. You're supposed to be the great hero! Well, great hero, how could you come back to us with a monster living inside you? Look what you did!"


Originally posted by Harold the Wonder Dog

I didn't notice that until you mentioned it, and I find it much too similar to be a coincidence. It makes me wonder if Austen had some knowledge of the future scripts (probably so whatever he wrote wouldn't conflict with the future issues already written) and inserted that in there as a 'joke'. It'd be one thing if it had been written in as a prophetic irony of sorts, but for now it seems like a throwaway scene. Although unhappy with the info that he's writing a couple more storyarcs, if Austen can intelligently have the surviving characters reference this coincidence, perhaps I'll feel better. But if it's done crappily or not even brought up at all, I will completely feel that what he did was a total FU to the readers.

After reading through the remainder of Winick's arcs, I have even less respect for Austen's previous fill-in run, if such a thing is even possible... So much of it is just regurgitation. It's like he read through the rest of Winick's work and tried to incorporate or fit all of the same things into his Half-@$$ed Stories: Morph putting himself back together from being dismembered, the mis-interpretation of Morph's flight, how Nocturne attempts to stop 'Bad Alex,' and twice at that, the same way she tries to stop Cal, with the Fastball Special being the preferred method of delivery, not to mention the above Repeated Death Syndrome. Anyhow...

[Telepath]

yeah you can tell austen ran out of ideas so he skimmed through winiks script and shoved them in his two issue arc on exiles.

[Mesran]

Don't agree with the review at all...

I thought it was great!

From Mimic's battle with the FF and the Exiles, to Sunfire's death, to Morph's emotional reaction to even Blink's return.

Great read, go get it.

[Telepath]

couldnt agree more.:)

[Stormy]

I thought this issue rocked too. I didn't notice most of the little art quibbles brought up in the review. I absolutely love Henry's work, and don't really mind the sparse backgrounds. Mariko was my second-fave Exile, and I'm really upset by the death, but I thought it was all very well done. It was a different sort of death scene and aftermath, which makes for some nice variety. I wonder whether people's negative critiques of the issue are a response to their disappointment by who was killed and the oblique way it was handled, rather than dissatisfaction with the intrinsic quality of the work.

I'm dropping Exiles now that Austen's back on <shudder> but I'll probably check back with it when that upcoming Nocturne story comes out.

[Gat0r-ManX]

the weapon x team always interests me.. so i'ma pick it up.. c how it is.

[Telepath]

you mean weapon-x is back again?!?:( when will we see more of blink?

[CmX]

I'm just glad Austen wasn't the one who killed the character that dies in this issue. Otherwise I would have been much more mad. Oh well s/he was my favorite character and I'm very saddened by this. :'(

[DeadmanWade]

i thought this issue was good the only thing i didnt like was the person who died wasnt in it much.

[brownfirex]

Hey Im glad that Calvin/Rankin surivived the brood.[/spoler]
I also beleived that Winnick & the other writers have given a chance to produce some great heorics out of the Mimic. He's the kind of guy I would bring into battle! Yeah we all [mourn mariko's death but hey it was an hounarable way to go. Besides I think there's not enough tough-guy male characters in the X-Men. and in an odd way the Mimic is what you get when you combine cyclops,wolverine,angel, and collusus in one person- I dont just mean powers.

Other than that I liked the issue, my only gripe is that the Marvel editors-writers should try to get the Mimic in the 616 universe to join the teams: Uncanny,Xtreme, New X, or WeaponX. I think the Mimic is the most under-rated and yet to be hyper-marketed characters at Marvel. :?

[Douglas Cuckler]

Originally posted by Brian E. Wilkinson
what annoyed me the most was Morph's anger at Calvin for not having told them. When, exactly, did he have time for that? They were together for all of a minute or two before shunted into this reality in the middle of a crisis. There was NO TIME for it at all.
.


In #35 he told his teammates " I... I don't know...maybe six months."

Not the four years which actaually took place.

[anthony_lynch15]

Thought it was OK,
fighting him wasn't the best way to get the healing factor active..............pretty stupid.
They really shouldn't have brought blink back so quickly
Still it'll be interesting to see if mimic stays leader, or if this issue kills that completly
Art was a million times better than last issue.
Somebody said that the things finishing blow could have been done better.................I completly agree. although its possible it had to be toned down. It could be made to look pretty grousome.
Overall better than most comics, but not quite exiles usual standard

[DeadXman]

This issue in particular would have been a lot easier to swallow if not for the unanswered questions

Here is some of mine answers to the question: [list=1]
I think mimic got to TJ and the other before the message was sent
that not 90 ft. I say more like 45 plus have you heard of a thing call tirjectory? If any thing she lands in one off the windows
I say a mis-color
I think it is part of reed's plan
[/list=1]

and I'm willing to forgive the FF suit

[Patrick Star]

i'mstill in shock. i'll miss him/her.

[Jordan T. Maxwell]

i totally agree with this review. I'm a huge fan of this book and have been from the start and i had to flip back to the front at the end because i wasn't sure if this was another Austen penned issue.

So many inconsistencies it made my head hurt, and the pacing was just off. A few good moments, but nothing incredibly redeeming. And i'm still not a fan of Clayton Henry's work on this title. I think it would work better for me elsewhere maybe, but here it just doesn't fit that well.

All in all, a p!ss poor ending to a barely adequate story arc.

oh yeah, and i'm gonna miss Mariko sooooo very much...:(

[ursabearX]

I Was soo FOR CLEPT with this issue not yoriko, and I love clarice but they sould have left her out.

[ursabearX]

oops I meant mariko

[Telepath]

uh you might wanna cover up that spoiler and trust me you dont wanna double post mods get mad when you do that.

[DCUnited]

I dropped this book right around when Austen did the Uncanny thing. It doesn't look like I've missed anything since. Although Blink has always been one of my favorites, but I'm just not sure that's enough to bring me back to this book.

[clancynut]

Why is it whenever there is a major character change in this book they do a weapon X arc? Its not that I don't like weapon X, but they cut off whatever reaction to Blink's departure there was earlier this year and now they're cutting off the reactions to what happened in this book its just kind of annoying me.

and can someone tell me how to spoiler tag I can't figure it out

[loganalpha30x3]

To do a spoiler type in this [ spoiler ] at the beginning but without the spaces and then at the end type [ /spoiler ] again but without the spaces. I'll go now..........................

[Telepath]

Originally posted by DCUnited
I dropped this book right around when Austen did the Uncanny thing. It doesn't look like I've missed anything since. Although Blink has always been one of my favorites, but I'm just not sure that's enough to bring me back to this book.




you shouldnt condem exiles for the travesty chuck did on it.