Exiles #86

Background

With no immediate threats on the horizon, the Exiles attempted to enjoy some down-time on their home worlds much against the wishes of the Timebreakers. However, that peace is short-lived when a threat grips Heather Hudson's reality and calls both the Exiles and Alpha Flight to deal with it. The threat, however, seems minimal when it's over until the Exiles learn the true scheme: the Timebreakers have just fired them and stranded them in that reality! To face a new threat of an all-powerful mutant that is a combination of Magneto, Scarlet Warlock, Quicksilver, Mesmero and Wolverine called Brother Mutant, the Timebreakers discovered the answer was a team of Wolverines. However, every team they have sent in has fallen into Brother Mutant's thrall and attacked the latest grouping. Only two from the latest managed to escape the same fate, and got the Timebreakers to bring the Exiles back into the game.

CURRENT EXILES:

FUTURE LOGAN: Claws, healing factor, animal senses.

PATCH (Logan): Claws, healing factor, animal senses.

ZOMBIE WOLVERINE (Logan): Claws, animal senses.

JAMES HOWLETT: Claws, healing factor, animal senses.

WEAPON X (Logan): Claws, healing factor, animal senses.

ALBERT: Cyborg Wolverine.

ELSIE-DEE: Cyborg bomb.

Story Details

Albert and Elsie-Dee regroup and find Zombie Wolverine finishing up what remains of 6 alternate Wolverines. Patch soon joins them, lulling the heroes into a false sense of security long enough to slice Zombie's head off. Realizing he's under Brother Mutant's control, Albert engages him but is no match for the mutant. Elsie-Dee, now separated from Albert, grabs Zombie's head and takes off.

The Exiles, back on the job, gather on the world and try to figure out how to take on the psychotic Brother Mutant and his army of Wolverines before they take their little show on tour and start a national massacre of all humans. Nearby, Elsie-Dee and Zombie try to figure out how to stop him in their own way, only to be interrupted by Patch who had tracked them. Zombie encourages Elise to follow her prime directive and blow him up, but Sabretooth intervenes saving them the trouble. With Zarda's help, Sabretooth takes Patch down and recruits Elsie for their plan.

The Exiles launch an attack, and immediately realize Brother Mutant is out of their league. But, they distract him long enough for Sabretooth to launch Elsie into a fastball special and explode herself to weaken him. Next came a one-two shot by Logan and Albert. With Logan's sacrifice, James is sent into a berserker rage and continues the assault, allowing the other Wolverines to come out of their trance and join the fight.

17 Logans died, and the Exiles hope that won't throw more realities out of whack. It's back to business as usual for the team with the Timebreakers promising no more betrayals, and Heather announcing the next reality they need to save is one where Earth has already been destroyed.

General Comments

A pretty good second part, however the ending battle seemed to end a bit too quickly for all the set-up that was given. It left you wanting a little more than what was given. There were more funny moments, however, and a few more funny incarnations of Wolverine thrown in. Zombie Wolverine was thankfully kept to the dark humor standards established for him in the Marvel Zombies books. Despite the rough end, this was yet another enjoyable issue of the series, and already leads you into the next adventure to come.

Overall Rating

4 Webs. A bit of a let-down in the ending, but otherwise a good read.

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: Bug spray