The Family That Flees Together — Reviewing ‘Imperial War: Exiles’ #1

Empires are crumbling and regime changes are being enacted across the universe as the blows of the Imperial event continue. The Shi’ar Empire and coups are old friends at this point, and the latest move sends the current ruler and family into exile.

It’s a family reunion of dire proportions in Imperial War: Exiles #1 from Steve Foxe, Jonathan Hickman, Francesco Manna, Davide Tinto, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles.

Remember when there was that whole X-Manhunt event where Charles Xavier broke out of prison to save his daughter and instead went on a sight-seeing trip around the X-Men line of books? Well don’t worry, this Imperial event really doesn’t either. About the only parts that line up are Lilandra being reborn and Charles leaving Earth to come to their daughter Xandra’s aid. In pure modern Marvel style, the hands are all doing different things that the head also isn’t acknowledging.

What a smart way to run a shared publishing universe. By smart, I of course mean nonsensical.

Anyway, back to this actual comic.

Much like the Imperial War: Planet She-Hulk and Imperial War: Black Panther issues, this one is mostly all set up. Very little else is happening beyond explanation and skipping of steps to allow the spinoff ongoing, the upcoming Exiles, to hit the ground mostly running. If not running, at least moderately jogging along.

Overall, it’s fine.

Manna and Tinto do a fine job of rendering the world and all these various aliens who make up the empire. Most of the action flows pretty smoothly and energetically, with some good depth and detail to be found. There are some spaces where things are a little extra rough in textures or faces are wonky, but it’s mostly doing what it needs to be done. Xavier’s uncovered, seemingly stuck in an about to be Joker-esque smiling face will stick with me for days.

Colors are very well suited for the moment and the theme. They skew towards heavier and mostly darker tones, with flashes of vibrancy. This is about a coup and attempted murder/execution, after all. Where Arciniega turns up the dial are in the more spandex-clad figure-filled and those more hopeful moments. He still delivers a very smooth and somewhat slick style that blends well with any art style that it’s applied to.

Cowles does that thing that he does, keeping the lettering really fun and light, changing the visuals to keep it all lively and visually appealing. He bounces it around the pages to make sure all the dense dialogue lands on some of the pages, keeping us from reaching that word overload or burnout.

Foxe and Hickman steamroll past anything that the aforementioned X-Manhunt did. They jump into the different version of the coup that the Imperial main book went with. Xavier shows up here with nary a worry or indication that he also just had major tumor removing brain surgery or anything is amiss with how he left the Earth. Lilandra is back, they’re whistling happily, and their family is together with them (cornily) calling forth for some Exiles to aid them.

The chosen field of characters is kind of a wild one. While they make sense with the location and history, it’s still odd. Rocket Raccoon needs a place since the Guardians aren’t a thing (and some members are acting like strangers in this event). Corsair brings a ship and his pirate connections. Danger being out here feels wild, and no clue how she feels about her former captor Xavier these days.

Then there is Kid Gladiator, who hasn’t been seen in some time but was quite a fan favorite during the Wolverine is running a school era of things. Why and how Lilandra landed on these people, despite her not having mind powers to reach out like Xavier seems to imply, is the real question.

Not that this book worries about answering questions. There’s (maybe) time for that later, probably. Maybe not. Who can really say with how things are going at this publisher?

Imperial War: Exiles #1 is now available from Marvel Comics.