I've gotta be honest, my interest in Exiles as a concept ran out even before creator Judd Winick left the title, so even though I've enjoyed some of Tony Bedard's Crossgen work, I didn't expect to be blown away by his first issue of Exiles. And I wasn't. Bedard has a good grasp of these characters' personalities, he writes some fun scenes, and he's joined by a stunning new artist, Mizuki Sakakibara, all of which makes this book very readable and probably a big step up for Exiles reader from the last creative team. However, the whole thing is saddled with a plot that seems unwise as a starting point for a new run, undercutting one of the major tenets of the concept, and the new character that Bedard introduces to fill out the team is one of the more dull members we've seen. There's enough likable style here that I can see checking back in later, but the plot doesn't grab me, and that's a pretty major stumbling block.
Given that the Exiles is based around the team jumping into and fixing alternate realities, and given that they've already visited "our" reality before, I'm a little puzzled that Bedard would choose to begin his run by once again bringing the team to the Marvel Universe once again. Not only does this stir up some really bad memories (seriously, I get a shudder when someone mentions Austen's "mutant werewolves" and realize that his run is in continuity and wasn't all just a bad dream), it seems to deliberately undercut the concept of the book, which is half What If? and half team book. Bedard had the opportunity to introduce a little more What If? and show off his ability to handle that side of the book with his new teammate, but unfortunately, that also goes by the wayside, as the new character is visually too similar to one that already exists and a half-hearted take on a Marvel icon whose differences can be summed up as basically "what if he were a girl?"
Fortunately, while Bedard's sense of alternate realities isn't really put to the test here, he does have some fun with the characters. The prologue with Beak and Angel serves little purpose in the story so far, but it does provide a nice glimpse of their life after Morrison's New X-Men run, and Bedard writes some fairly witty, off-beat humor about the unusual married with kids lifestyle these two unusual characters now share. As for the Exiles, Bedard tackles the easiest, Morph, with plenty of skill, making him funny and just the right kind of obnoxious. He's cut down on the angst for the rest of them, which is something I'm in favor of, although they all do have a sort of generic personality, at least so far. In addition, Bedard includes some political humor that, while pointed in the right direction for my politics, seems obvious and out-of-place in this story. I'm all for Republican-bashing, but when I can get clever commentary from The Daily Show, the same "the Terminator is the governor of California!" jokes just don't do it for me, especially when they seem forced into the script.
While Bedard's work is a bit of a mixed bag, the same cannot be said for Sakakibara's art. While Jim Calafiore had a lengthy run as fill-in and regular artist on this book, for my money, this was always Mike McKone's book, and so I'm glad to see someone jump in who brings the same lush attention to character design as McKone. Sakakibara looks at once like someone still finding his exact style and someone who has a polished look, because the art throughout is terrific, but I see images that remind me of Travis Charest, Adam Hughes and even aspects of Kia Asamiya's style, along with the similarity to McKone. The result is a smooth, beautiful style that has excellent action storytelling, strong character design and lovely background detail. No matter what the eventual fate of Exiles, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of Sakakibara in the future.
As for me, I'm mostly unimpressed, but also slightly intrigued, by Bedard's first issue of Exiles. The setup features several elements that seem out of place and worse, have characters commenting on how out of place they are, but that could just be Bedard starting to make his own mark on a series that someone else created. I'm not crazy about the notion of another storyline putting the Exiles into the mainstream Marvel Universe, but at the same time, I'm curious to see where Bedard is going with it and if he can show a compelling reason why the team is back again so soon.
