by Randy Lander

THE EXILES #7 "A Chance to Dream..." Recommended (8/10) Marvel Comics Writer: Judd Winick Pencils: Mike McKone Inks: Mark McKenna Colors: Transparency Digital Letters: Sharpefont Editor: Mike Marts Price: $2.25 US/$3.50 CAN Marvel has already taken a fair bit of criticism for it's "'Nuff Said" silent month, but the early offerings are actually pretty promising. This issue features some terrific artwork by McKone, and Winick uses the gimmick of dreams (which often use different storytelling rules) to deal with the silence, using the story to give us a fair bit of insight into the various characters. And as always, the gimmick behind The Exiles isn't the reason to read the book; the strength of the characters is. Don't get me wrong... while I think the creative team adapted nicely, the "silent month" gimmick did feel a bit intrusive. While I enjoyed the issue, I think that the standout element of this book is Winick's dialogue and character interaction, and it seems a crying shame that an issue devoted entirely to downtime and not super-heroics is missing that dialogue. That said, I do think that even without dialogue, Winick does a terrific job of conveying the dreams, hopes and fears of these characters. Thunderbird's desire for normalcy is nothing new, but it actually comes across clearer in visuals than it would have in text, with his "dream day" a variety of very average and familiar tasks. We also get some insight that is fairly new, from Sunfire's strict parents to a dark core hiding in Morph's funny facade to a new relationship for two of the team members. By far the most effective of the dreams, though, is the one that shows us Blink's fears, highlighting the trauma in her past and how important this team is to her, perhaps more than anyone else. Silent storytelling is the true test of an artist's storytelling ability, and McKone passes with flying colors. The emotions evident in the various characters' dreams serves to counteract the lack of dialogue and maintain the characterization I've come to expect. There are a couple stumbling blocks, as it took a few reads before I figured out that Nocturne was dreaming about Thunderbird, but in general the storytelling is solid and the artwork is beautiful as usual. I won't lie, I definitely missed the snappy dialogue that comes with Winick's usual writing on The Exiles. However, seeing one of his scripts was a nice treat, and it's nice that Marvel has seen fit to post the entire scripts on their website. Anyway, the creative team definitely rose to the challenge of the silent month, creating a story that develops these characters further and entertains as much as always. Email Randy Lander comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.