Last week or so I read an interview with Tony Bedard on Newsarama’s site that really got my curiosity working about this series. I’ve heard a ton of great things about this book but, up until now, have always told myself I didn’t want to mess with an “Elseworlds” or “What If...” type of book. With as many books as I read each month, sometimes it’s tough to keep the “real” continuity straight!
Alas, after discovering that one of my favorite former CrossGen scribes was now writing the book, I caved. I’ll tell you what – I’m glad I did, too! I scrounged around the back issue bin of my local comics shop and found a run starting with issue #46. I kinda like this book! Did you like that Sci-fi series on TV called “Sliders”? If so, you’ll probably really like this book too. It’s a lot like Sliders meets X-Men.
Blink and five other mutants from all different “planes of existence” or “alternate realities” basically hop around from one reality to the next with a distinct mission in each one that they need to put aright before they proceed to hop onto the next reality.
Although I can’t really recommend this particular issue as a good starting point for new readers, it actually does give the reader a solid understanding of what the book is all about in the end. In this particular issue, one member of the Exiles team – Mimic - is confronted with an alternate reality version of himself. This particular Mimic was asked by Charles Xavier to join his school, just as “our” Mimic was. This Mimic, however, said ‘no’. This singular decision in his life had repercussions that eventually led to his being imprisoned. Once the “evil Mimic” realizes that the only real difference between his life and this “good Mimic’s” was that one moment, he has no one to blame for his predicament beside himself.
The art on this book is very good. I’ve never seen Sakakibara’s art until now, but it’s a very simple and clean style that fits the book very well. I recommend giving this book a looksee, if you haven’t already. Bedard’s a fantastic writer when it comes to taking the reader in unexpected directions and the premise of this title seems ripe for that sort of thing.
