Exiles #1

 

Exiles #1 August 1993

Writer: Steve Gerber/Tom Mason/Dave Olberich/Chris Ulm

Pencils: Paul Pelletier

Inks: Ken Branch

Letters: Clem Robbins

Color Designer: Paul Mounts/Moose Baumann

Editor: Chris Ulm

Cover Art: Darick Robertson

Variants: Ultra 5000 (same cover art as standard issue), Silver hologram (different cover art than standard issue), Gold hologram (different cover art than standard issue)

My summary/review (Just as a note of warning, there are all kinds of spoilers in this review):

Title: None

Our story opens with two teenagers kissing in the hallway at school.  They run off to class, after the girl (Amber Hunt) complains about her jock boyfriend caring more about football than her.  The day is then promptly interrupted by the Supreme Soviet, who is out to get Amber.

To her rescue is Tinsel, Trax and Deadeye, members of the Exiles.  A fight ensues between the two groups, as the Supreme Soviet has a group of Cybernoids with him.

Trax is hurt in the fight and Deadeye takes the Supreme Soviet out by using bolos, causing him to fly off in an erratic pattern.

They take Amber Hunt and go back to their base.  All the while, Amber is spouting off about everything.  Not making her a likeable character at all.

When she is allowed to take her blindfold off by Dr. Rachel Deming, she is met by Ghoul (who has the appearance of a rotting corpse.)  More insults and threats are bandied about by Amber, who is then put in her place by Dr. Demming.

We check in on Trax (Judd Shepard) who is in the infirmary.  He is doing alright despite his injuries, and grabs the assistant’s rear end.

The Supreme Soviet has returned to the man that hired him and is ‘rewarded’ for his failure by being placed, quite involuntarily, into a M-RNA tank.  This tank infuses it’s patients with the Theta Virus, which causes those with potential to develop super powers.  This promptly kills him.

WE then check in on the Beta Team who has been dispatched to obtain Timothy Halloran, another potential.  Catapult and Mustang are met at Timothy’s home by Bloodbath and Bruut.  A vicious fight erupts and the end result is Timothy gone, his mother dead, and Bruut possibly dead (does not definitely say.)

This is an interesting book.  From what I can gather, this was a book that was initially set for Malibu proper, but adapted to fit in with some plans for the Ultraverse.  It shows…there is just a totally different vibe from this book than the others in the Ultraverse line.  Several of the characters are very Image(y) in style and substance.  None of the characters really come across as sympathetic, except maybe Timothy Halloran, who is only in the last few pages of the book.  Not much is really learned about any of the others in any personal way, just broad personalities and powers is about all that defines any of them.  Their background is given in little bits and pieces, at least the how/why of their powers.  The Exiles have obviously been operating for a while, but no timeline is given.  Exiles is probably my least favorite of the books so far…that being said, it’s not a terrible book, and better than most Image books put out at the same time.