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Exiles #7: Review

Aug 2018
Saladin Ahmed, Rod Reis

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Exiles #7 Review by (September 14, 2018)
This week's misleading cover prize goes to this issue. Not only don't Morph and Nocturne appear in costume within, but Sabretooth isn't even *in* the issue. And Iron Lad only appears at the end.

Rod Reis continues to channel Bill Sienkiewicz.

The 3 page epilogue in the saloon is pencilled and inked by Lee Ferguson.

Nocturne (Talia Josephine 'TJ' Wagner) is the alternate-timeline daughter of Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch. (This isn't mentioned this issue even though there is a Wanda Maximoff here.) She refers to her energy blasts as hex bolts even though they are nothing like her mother's probability-altering hexes. Unlike Morph who has only ever appeared with the Exiles, Nocturne has spent time in Earth-616's X-Men and New Excalibur.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Exiles #7 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
The Exiles are helping their leader Blink track down some of her ex-Exiles pals, and the Tallus seems willing to help too. It has deposited them in a Wild West town in an alternate reality where they heard tell of a pair who sound like Morph and Nocturne being captured by the Magnus gang - and analogue of Magneto and his original Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants. They've fought the Gang, who beat them and took Iron Lad. Now they've met T'Challa (ie Black Panther), hereabouts known as King, who is also after the Gang.

Blink introduces Valkyrie and Wolvie. King says the frightened townsfolk won't join him in a posse to tackle the Gang. Our 3 immediately volunteer. Guileless Wolvie comments that he likes their new friend's smell. T'Challa says it is the heart-shaped herbs that gives him his abilities.

He plans to head for the crossroads and track the Gang from there. Blink offers to teleport them to the 1st stage, but King demurs because Magnus & Co seem to detect the use of such powers. He advises them to get some sleep before they leave at dawn, and ready their horses. Valkyrie of course *does* have her (flying) horse Elendil. But their recently-found other friend Moira MacTaggert, the local doctor, has rounded up another 1 for Blink. (Little Wolvie will ride with Val.)

Next day they ride to the crossroads, and Wolvie and King concur that the bad guys went thataway. As Wolvie's sense of smell tells him that they are nearing their goal they see a green blur approaching. It's Pete Maximoff, this reality's Quicksilver, and he fires his guns at them as he gets nearer. (So he's obviously not running faster than a speeding bullet.) T'Challa's cloak protects him, and Asgardian Val shrugs the bullets off. Blink ports to their foe and downs him with her energy javelins.

But the 3 other members of the Brotherhood are already here disguised as rocks by Maestro Wyngarde's illusion casting. Dropping the guise Toad's tongue grabs Wolvie and Wanda Maximoff's hex sends Valkyrie to sleep. Wyngarde 'conjures' 4 copies of himself, but King shoots the 1 who's talking. Wanda threatens them and says they now belong to the Pastor.

Suddenly a voice tells them all to stop. Blink turns to find her friends Morph and Nocturne in local garb. Clarice tells T'Challa the odds have turned in their favour. But then Morph knocks Blink out and Nocturne KO's King with an energy blast.

When the duo come to they find themselves tied up in the Gang's village with Morph and Nocturne for company. Morph says that Val and Wolvie are being 'taught' elsewhere, but if Blink and King try anything then their friends will be killed. Clarice tells T'Challa that Morph and TJ must be under someone's mental control ...

... and then the Pastor arrives - it's a version of Prof X in a wooden wheelchair pushed by Wanda. He says he's doing God's work gathering lambs (mutants?) into his flock, and since God (or the disruption of the multiverse by the Time-Eater in #1-5) made a hole between worlds he's getting some new blood. Soon our 2 will be anointed, but for now he mentally compels them to sleep.

Blink awakes again in a tent, this time with Magnus who wants to form an alliance to free *his* people from Pastor Xavier's control. PX mentally blocks all their powers, even when he's asleep. But Magnus intends to make a move at the anointment ceremony, and he wants Blink to be ready to back him up.

Magus, Pete, Wanda, Morph and Nocturne take Blink, T'Challa and Valkyrie (with Elendil) to the Pastor. Val says Toad and Wyngarde (who has miraculously recovered from being shot) have Iron Lad and Wolvie as hostages to ensure their cooperation. Clarice tries again to persuade Morph and TJ they've been brainwashed. Charles Xavier is incensed at that, but says a blood sacrifice is necessary to seal their anointing. And he kills Elendil with a mental blast.

Now it's Valkyrie's turn to be incensed.  She rushes forward, breaking through Wanda's hastily-erected defence. PX has to use all his mental strength to hold her at bay. This breaks his control over the others. Morph and TJ come to their senses and watch with Blink as Val still tries to reach Xavier.

Magnus tells Peter and Wanda it's time for them to escape (with their associates). The Maximoff's do run off but T'Challa stops Erik Magnus and accuses him of killing his father T'Chaka. Magnus remembers the event. The 2 square up for a gun duel which Magnus expects to win with his magnetic control of bullets. But he's defeated by Wakandan technology - a bulletproof shirt and non-magnetic vibranium bullets.

Val and the Pastor are still at a standoff when Nocturne intervenes with an energy blast. Xavier responds with a mental blast of his own but TJ defends herself (and Blink and Morph) with a psychic shield. (It seems she's figured out how to combine her energy power with her telepathy.) Morph leaves the shield to distract X further by turning himself into a chain of paper Morph dolls. And Blink ports behind Xavier and stabs him with energy javelins (held like claws).

But Pastor X's dying act is to unleash 1 last mental blast ... which kills Morph.

Wolvie and an injured Iron Lad appear to say Toad and Wyngarde have run away too, only to find their friends mourning Morph and Elendil.

Later back in town Iron Lad and Wolvie find Val drowning her sorrows in the (empty) saloon. The Asgardian loses her patience with Wolvie's naive optimism. Blink tries to get through to her but she stalks out to find some peace and quiet. TJ joins Blink and says she's going to quit the Exiles business just like Clarice did. They reminisce about how they 2 and Morph were the 1st Exiles (back in 2001, not counting the earlier Malibu team with that name). TJ and Morph carried on after Blink left (at the end of the last Exiles series in 2009) in a team which included the Age Of Apocalypse Sabretooth. We met him and Morph separately in #3 and #5 where they were looking for each other and TJ.

While Blink is trying to talk TJ out of quitting they are interrupted by the materialisation of 3 Watchers who accuse the Exiles of conspiring with the Unseen (#1-5) to intervene in the natural course of events. This is the prime sin for Watchers and the punishment is 'everlasting death'.



Rod Reis
Rod Reis
Mike McKone (Cover Penciler)
Mike McKone (Cover Inker)
Mike McKone (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Joe Caramagna.
Editor: Sarah Brunstad. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.


Blink (of Age of Apocalypse), Exiles, Iron Lad (of Exiles), Morph, Nocturne, Valkyrie (of Exiles), Watchers, Wolvie.

> Exiles: Book info and issue index

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