Exiles #75

Background

The Exiles have met Kevin MacTaggert, aka the reality-bending mutant known as Proteus, which resulted in his possession of Mimic's body. Using his abilities, Proteus traveled to the alternate dimension known as the New Universe where he discarded Mimic's withered Husk for that of John Tensen, aka Justice. The Exiles were able to defeat him, however, before he was able to acquire his real target: Kenneth Connell, the wielder of the Star Brand. The tides were turned in their favor when Heather struck a deal with Mojo for the services of Longshot, whose luck powers allowed him to drive Proteus to another universe. Now the Exiles must follow him across worlds to stop him from acquiring a body with powers that will make Proteus all but unstoppable.

CURRENT EXILES:

SABRETOOTH (Victor Creed): Enchanced senses and healing.

BLINK (Clarice Ferguson): Teleportation

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

MORPH: Shape-shifting.

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

LONGSHOT: Agility and luck powers.

Story Details

2099.

At the Alchemax Labs, Dr. Boone is testing his latest invention: the virtual unreality project, a device that will allow him to tap into other dimensions and possibly even cross over into them. What he gets, however, is Proteus in the body of Justice! Sometime later, Miguel O'Hara and his boss, Tyler Stone, look over the lab where Boone and Proteus have disappeared leaving only the body of Boone's assistant that Proteus killed behind. Miguel fills in his boss with what little he knows, but leaves out the data search Boone did on the Hulk for Proteus before they left. Miguel sets out to do some more investigation, but in the guise of his alter ego: SPIDER-MAN.

Back at the Crystal Palace, Heather tries her best not to lose another teammate by surgically implanting steel plates in the Exile's heads so Proteus can't take them over, as metals are the only thing he has trouble against. The bugs detect Proteus' presence in the 2099 universe and the Exiles head out to try and stop him. Of course, they need to enlist the help of a guide, and Spider-Man is elected. After a brief explanation, Spidey points the Exiles towards his original destination: the Stark-Fujikawa building where the Hulk's alter ego, John Eisenhart, is having a dinner meeting.

At said meeting, Eiisenhart's dinner takes a turn for the worse when it turns out the real purpose of it was to acquire his employment with Stark- Fujikawa...by force, if necessary. His response: to Hulk out. As he disposes of the headhunters, Proteus slips inside the restaurant and into the Hulk. The Exiles arrive just in time to find out they're too late. Proteus easily trashes the Exiles, and then delivers a bit of reality altering terror to this universe.

General Comments

Giving the fans what they want, Exiles is returning to classic universes already seen in the pages of Marvel one at a time. An ambitious endeavor, for sure, but so far it's paying off. Bedard's writing mixed with Calafiore's pencils offer up a pleasing mix of goodness to give you a helluva comic read. Proteus is forming up to be the Exile's greatest challenge yet. After all, the real one was barley defeated by the X-Men themselves...there's no telling how these considerably b-level characters will fair, and that's where the true drama comes in especially when anyone, even original Exiles, are expendable. The only gripe is they gave Spidey's webs the classic sound effect, rather than the one established within the first few issues of his own series.

Overall Rating

4.5 Webs. An excellent story that will definitely keep you guessing on the outcome.

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: doctor, detective, battle armor