Exiles #88

Background

Norrin Radd volunteered to become the herald of Galactus the restorer to help him find worlds becoming victimized by a cosmic blight. His true intentions were to trick Galactus into restoring his own world which he accidentally destroyed. But, as it was not done by cosmic means, there was nothing Galactus could do. Enraged, the Silver Surfer turned on his master to steal his power for himself. All the stands between him are the shattered forces of the Imperial Guard and now the Exiles.

CURRENT EXILES:

SABRETOOTH (Victor Creed): Enhanced senses and healing.

BLINK (Clarice Ferguson): Teleportation

MORPH: Shape-shifting.

DR. HEATHER HUDSON: Scientist.

LONGSHOT: Agility and luck powers.

SPIDER-MAN 2099 (Miguel O'Hara): Spider-like powers and talons.

POWER PRINCESS (Zarda): Super strength and flight.

Story Details

The Exiles are given the flight rings of the fallen members of the Imperial Guards, which allow them to exist and communicate via thought in space. They, and the rest of the warriors assemble, all fly into space to await the Surfer. Sabretooth has reservations about the plan, causing the other warriors to taunt him and his useless claws. Sabretooth admits they're right, and flies back inside, leaving his teammates confused. Inside, Sabretooth explains to Heather he couldn't think to the Tallus, and asks her to give him a lift to Galactus.

The Surfer arrives and easily plows through the line. The Exiles do their best against him, but prove no match for the power cosmic. During a moment of respite, Surfer grabs Blink and demands to know about her abilities, seeing the same teleportation effect that was used to cast him away to Saturn before he could kill Galactus. But, his interrogation is interrupted by...the Silver Sabretooth!

Indeed, Sabretooth, in an effort to prevent this from becoming a suicide mission, demanded Galactus fill him with the power cosmic to make the battle more even. Despite the Surfer's experience with the power, Sabretooth is a born scrapper and easily subdues him. With Longshot's luck powers while riding the board, it was slammed into the Surfer's back when he called for it. It was Manta who delivered the final blow, using it to slice him in half as he had done with her husband, Gladiator.

With the battle over, Galactus had thought he found himself a new, more worthy herald, but Sabretooth returned the power because of the responsibilities he already had. This impressed Galactus further, increasing his gratitude. Back at the Crystal Palace, the Exiles are told of Galactus' reversal of his policy on worlds destroyed by artificial means with his restoration of Zenn-La, and at his new herald Manta's request, Earth.

General Comments

Once again, a short final battle but a kick-ass way to do it. Tony Bedard gives these characters great personalities and motivations. We get to see the lengths Sabretooth will go to in protecting Blink, and how dedicated to being a hero he is. This gives us a nice contrast to the Sabretooth in the main universe that is all about killing. Another great story overall, from art to script.

Overall Rating

4.5 Webs. A quick ending, but a nice twist to take us there. Bedard is on fire!

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: Alien, Space Ghost, nerd