REVIEW: Exiles #3

Lifelong super fans and readers of the X-men titles may be feeling a bit out of the popularity loop with Avengers films overshadowing X-men films and with much of the Marvel energy on TV and streaming services overshadowing FX“s wonderful take on Legion. In this environment ”“ reordering, re-launching, and rehashing ”“ the question of whether or not the universe needs another X-book is a legitimate query. Exiles presents an answer to this question ”“ sort of. We may not have needed another X-book, but Exiles, written by Saladin Ahmed and penciled by Javier Rodriguez, isn“t an X-book ”“ at least not like those that have been set in the original mold of mutant persecution and humanity“s penchant for discrimination.

Exiles #3 finds a ragtag team of mutants and others ”“ including a Valkyrie and an alternate Nate Richards version of Iron Man (Iron Lad) ”“ careening through the multiverse. They travel across time and space with little control because the Tallus was cracked in a battle with the Watchers and the Unseen ”“ an insane variation on Nick Fury. If all of this sounds confusing it really isn“t. Exiles #3 recaps it all for readers, and the adventure within issue #3 itself provides readers with a sense of the awesome scope and scale of Ahmed“s vision for this title.

Critics of the multiverse concept in comics often posit it as a way for creators circumvent the mortality of their characters. Kill a popular character and then somehow an alternate reality or alternate timeline appears and that version of our fair hero can be seamlessly interpolated into primary reality/timeline. This is a legit critique, but Exiles is a serious that seems committed to disabusing readers of this cynical interpretation of how the multiverse concept might work proactively in the world of comics.

For Ahmed and company, the multiverse is an opportunity. It presents limitless scenarios for heroes to save worlds or destroy them. In this issue it“s a WW2 world with Peggy Carter as Captain America, but the earths of many of the team“s heroes have been destroyed. Only a few issues in the creative behind Exiles is making clear their intentions to explore the possibilities that the multiverse offers. For them the multiverse is not some kind of deus ex machina; it is a vast ”“ infinite even ”“ terrain for these characters to chart and explore. And because it is a multiverse Ahmed gets to play with just about any of the heroes in the Marvel world without mucking up their storylines in the primary Marvel universe.

And here is where Ahmed“s work comes alive in Exiles. Wolverine is literally a cartoon caricature of himself, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) is a bitter, wizened variation of the optimistic teen we see in the primary, Namor (not on the team) is a 70“s style hipster in the age of Aquarius. There“s more, but suffice it to say that Saladin Ahmed, one of the most gifted writers in comics, is delivering something delightful for comics fans: innovative variation on old ideas. 4/5.

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(W) Saladin Ahmed (A) Javier Rodriguez (CA) David Marquez