Exiles #26

Background

In this world, Heroes For Hire, Inc. employs every super powered hero on Earth. The offices are head up by Danny Rand aka Iron Fist, Peter Rasputin aka Colossus, and Luke Cage aka Power Man. The Silver Samurai has just offered them 2 billion dollars for help in defeating Moses Magnum, who has threatened to sink Japan if they don't make him absolute ruler. Unfortunately, the hero package Samurai requested begins with a price of FIVE billion dollars, and so Danny refuses his request.

CURRENT EXILES:

MIMIC (Calvin Rankin): Mimics the powers of 5 mutants at a time.

NOCTURNE (TJ Wagner): Hex bolts and body possession.

MORPH: Shape-shifting.

SUNFIRE (Mariko Yashida): Flame control and flight.

SASQUATCH (Dr. Heather Hudson): Super strength and senses.

MAGIK (Illyana Rasputin): Teleportation and magic sword.

Story Details

The Exiles arrive in the middle of decimated Japan, and Sunfire begins to freak out over the devastation. The Exiles look to Mimic to tell them what the Tallus says to do, and he tells them to do nothing. Sunfire returns with a victim starting to bark out commands, and becomes confused as to why they're all just standing around.

Meanwhile, the Avengers are on their way to Japan, Danny realizing he's made a huge mistake that cost too many lives. The rest of his team, however, aren't so quick to share his sentiment. Back on the ground, Mimic tells Mariko the sordid history of this world and the inevitable fate of Japan, while Mimic questions if this isn't the kind of job Weapon X was created to take care of. Mariko takes a stand, trying to convince the Exiles that the ideas they want to go home to fight for are the same as the ones they'd embody here. Mimic realizes she's right, but Illyana isn't so quick to jump on the heroic bandwagon.

After being filled in by Morph on Moses Magnum, Mimic splits the team into teams. He, Sasquatch and Illyana will go after Magnum while TJ, Sunfire and Morph are assigned rescue duty. Illyana volunteers to meet the Avengers for the sake of teaming-up with them, and Mimic agrees. The Avengers circle around until they find Illyana waving them down on top of a building. They set in, unaware that she intended to blow their ship up with them inside. Scorpion hits the roof hard, missing most of his limbs and crying out in pain. Illyana informs him that he won't be needing them anyway.

Elsewhere, Mimic and Heather arrive at Magnum's lair. He armors up and she beasts-out, and they launch an assault to get inside, expecting heavy opposition. Back in Japan, Scorpion tries his best to fend Illyana off with his tail, but ultimately fails. Danny, Luke and Colossus confront her and both Rasputins realize they face their sibling. Back at the lair, Mimic and Sasquatch learn that Magnum has took most of his troops to Japan to stop the people he's learned about helping survivors there.

Said helpers are doing their work, Mariko finding a new respect for the unusually somber Morph. However, their day is about to get much worse as Magnum arrives with his army, ready to teach them a lesson about interrupting his machinations.

General Comments

First up, when compared to Calafiore's art, this issue was lacking in that department. The story had a pretty good premise; a world of heroes working for money and tough choices for the team to make. Also, it's pretty obvious that Illyana's inclusion on the team is going to cause some troublesome sparks. She's more suited for Weapon X than the Exiles. The most interesting thing about any of these issues is the different ways classic characters are represented, and that's no different here. What's different is the story just doesn't have the same kick as prior issues. It's interesting, and yet it's not. Perhaps it was just because this issue was set-up for the fight next issue. We'll have to see how it progresses as a whole.

Overall Rating

3 Webs. A decent start to the story with a slight drop in artwork quality.

Footnote

FOOTNOTE

In every issue, Morph takes on some familiar and unusual forms. Here, we'll try to chronicle as many as we can in a section we'll call: MORPH'S MORPHS!

Morph's morphs: Sherlock Holmes, doctor