Exiles #1

I never read any of the previous Exiles series, so perhaps the concept was more of a novelty to me than it will be for others, but I like the setup for this series as established by this first issue. The opening pages find Beast, Panther, Forge, Polaris, and (Scarlet) Witch on a variety of parallel earths at the moments leading up to their apparently inevitable deaths. Suddenly they all find themselves together with Blink as Morph, serving in the Kobayashi role, explains why our heroes have been collected together and the general nature of their missions. This issue is heavy on setup but light on action, but it totally works, as it has set up an intriguing concept while telling its story clearly and and with a lot of humor (the Hitler-equivalents on alternate Earths might surprise you). The story concludes with an stirring image that sets up an interesting first arc. I'm definitely going to come back next month.