Exiles #84

Exiles #84
After last issue's coda to Tony Bedard's overall excellent run, we get to the first issue in the new writer's arc. This new writer who happens to be the same person as the first writer, Tony Bedard. Due to Claremont's illness, Bedard exhausted all of his preplanned issues, and now he's working on fresh material. Except that it seems that this so-called "fresh" material is really just a return to the status quo of the Timebroker. Perhaps Bedard had no new ideas for the title and that's why he was leaving? We'll see.
The starting sequence gets back to the Morph hilarity that we've missed for a while (poor Morph), so that's very satisfying.
This issue would be helped out a LOT by caption boxes identifying the supers from Heather's alternate reality, namely her Alpha Flight and Soviet Super-Soldier teams. Since we've never had a superhero battle story in this reality, it would be nice to get a clear ID on all the players.
As one who collected the entire 2099 run from start to awful finish, I feel that Bedard is really missing the boat when it comes to his characterization of Miguel O'Hara. At least he could search the bargain bins for some of Peter David's excellent work on Spider-Man 2099. And his 2099 slang is completely off. Some of the terms used have never been used before, and well, yeah. Still, it's good to see Gabe again.
Still pissed off about what the powers that be did to the Age of Apocalypse. It's stupid, insipid, uninspired, ridiculous, and completely ruins the perfect ending to that storyline. And it throws plausibility to the winds. That said, Tony Bedard had nothing to do with it, so I guess he has to make do with what he's been given to work with.
And how much do I hate the Lovecraft stuff? A lot.
That said, it's an OKAY issue. Bedard has definitely had stronger issues and I'll keep reading and waiting for them, but this issue had too many problems (not all of Bedard's making) to ignore. Just OKAY.
Who else wants to see a Blink spin-off? Maybe a tales of this alternate reality's X-Men with her as a team leader? At least as a miniseries? Anybody?
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