Exiles, Vol. 15: Enemy of the Stars

Exiles (2001) (Collected Editions)

by Chris Claremont, Paul Pelletier (Contributor)

A new era for Exiles begins here Legend Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men) starts a run that will have Exiles fans talking for years to come. And he's not the only one joining up, as X-Woman Psylocke joins the team, as well. What is she doing there? How will the team deal with her arrival? And what new villains plan on destroying every world in existence? Collects Exiles #90-94

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, X Men, Science Fiction, Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

Chris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.

Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.

Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the book where Chris Claremont takes over an otherwise enjoyable series and ruins it to the point where I actually can't bring myself to read the books I've already bought.

I realize this guy is one of the comic greats, but the art of storytelling in graphic novels has really moved on in the last 30 years. Some parts of the story are over-described (people narrating the fights they're in out loud: "I'm caught!") while other parts were confusingly under-described. People end up fighting all the time when a simple line of dialouge could prevent the bother, etc etc.

It's a sad end to a great series, in my opinion.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Claremont comes aboard as new scribe and, along with artist Paul Pelletier and co., knocks it out of the park with the best volume of the Exiles yet.

I loved it when he brought Psylocke onto the team and brought a bunch of old Captain Britain continuity with her. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to see Betsy face off against Slaymaster again.

I can’t wait to see where Claremont takes us next...

[Centauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

probably the worst one I have read

SPOILER ALERT

so many plot holes it was unnerving to complete. how the heck did Reed Richards bring back a dead dimension? why did sue storm go hydra? what was different about cap america's "colors"? when did psylocke learn to be invisible? did rachel ever find out her friends were okay? how did the mind control thing on morph break but not release proteus; furthermore, how did no one (ABSOLUTELY NO ONE) notice it had been destroyed? how did longshot break conditioning? why can the system not see psylocke? and who the heck is the female materializing within the palace, freaking out the bugs?
I asked all this, and absolutely nothing was answered. Nor were there any attempts to answer. maybe I should give 1 or 0 stars - the art was decent
... And the multitude of sporadic jumps between panels; I thought I was missing some pages or something

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this series but I've been avoiding the Chris Claremont run. My fears that it wouldn't feel like the same book were pretty well founded. Characters not reading the same, new terminology for established concepts, ect. Oh well, I'm committed now.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping that this series, which has had some serious ups and downs, would end with a bang. There's still one more volume, but this one is certainly a "down."

There are a lot of complaints: no one cares about Psylocke; she's a terrible pick for a new Exile, mostly because she has no defining characteristics other than permanence. And then we start bringing in her major villains (Slaymaster--really. Worst supervillain name ever.) So now, not only do I not care about the heroes, but they're facing two-bit villain with a sword.

And don't even get me started on how Psylocke uses her telekinesis to turn invisible! This causes sooooo many continuity and logic problems, and it contributes nothing to the plot, so why do it? This is one of my absolute pet peeves, because it completely destroys any conceivable suspension of disbelief. (This is a recurring theme when I read Claremont--people using their powers in nonsensical ways. "I'm going to use my super-strength to shoot fireballs." "I'm going to use my ability to control dogs to fly." "I'm going to use my X-Ray vision to make flowers grow out of my butt." and so on.)

Speaking of Claremont, I can't handle any more soliloquizing about how tough someone is. Yeah, I get it, you think character X is really tough, and since you're using him as a main character or villain, I need to ALSO think they're tough. But I don't, and no amount of speechifying will change that. We get at least 3 (that I can remember) long narrative discussions of how tough someone is. Geez.

Also, about 75% of the way through this book, Heather starts talking to a tiny hologram, by name. I don't recall ever seeing that character before or since, so I am extremely confused.

And why in the world is this volume called "Enemy of the Stars?" At this point, I think Claremont is just making up random names he thinks sound cool, and isn't even trying to make them related to what's going on.

But, anyway, overlooking all of that, the plot itself just isn't very interesting. We get Sue Storm as a villain, which has potential, but there's never any real drama--it just all feels flat. I can overlook a lot of silliness if the plot is engrossing, but this one just isn't. Since there's only one more volume, I'm sure I'll finish it up, but judging from this volume, I can see why there's only a few more issues. I think they're just trying to make it to 100 issues at this point.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was hurt badly by the ending. It was confusing and I have no idea how it came about. I re-read a bit to see what I'd missed, but that didn't clear anything up. Judging from some of the other reviews, I wasn't the only one confused. There were also other confusing plot holes, so many that at some point I just gave up and started to accept them. Once again, other reviews have pointed these out specifically.

I will say the Paul Pelletier art was great as always, and really I could overlooked lot, but it's hard to overlook the ending. This was a low point in an otherwise very good series.

[Tym · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Claremont’s writing style is dated and the Exiles seem to have lost some of their magic. I hope it gets better

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chris Claremont is all over this portion of my X-read, his Uncanny X-Men, his Excalibur, and then new Exaclibur (which has a character borrowed from the Exiles), and then this run. It's been fairly maddening, as someone who's not a fan of his 21st century work, but I found that I enjoyed this much more than I expected. It has his trademark over-narration, his favorite characters, which are rarely popular with the fanbase he writes for, and his habit of changing mutants' powers so that they he can write his way out of a situation. But I thought the plot was more interesting than the end of Bedard's run on the series, and I enjoyed Psylocke's presence in the book. I could have done without Slaymaster, but the use of Hydra Sue and Wolverine was fun, if not explored as well as it could be.

I felt this was a return to form for this book, as the team was finally back hopping into a doomed universe and trying to fix it, rather than trying to figure out the Time Broker dimension or dealing with all their fallen comrades.

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

What fresh hell was this hot garbage?

I thought narrating things happening in panel went out of style decades and decades ago. Now, granted I'm reading this a decade after publication, but it still should be well past that era.

Claremont wrote some seriously good stuff in the 80s as I recall them...but maybe this is a clue not to go back and revisit those stories?

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Continuing the great x-read of 2017/18...

So this is how a good x-series ends. Not with a bang but with a... wet fart sound?

Ugh. So Claremont takes over. And I am not a Claremont hater at all. I feel that he has his highs and lows. This, though... This is a whole new level of low. Wow. This is among the worst of the x-books that I have read.

Other reviewers here have gone over the numerous plot holes (seriously, they are littered everywhere and they are awful) but even worse for me is the complete lack of care at all about the characters. Psylocke is introduced to the team. Now, I am by no means a hater of Psylocke (she would be in the top 50% of x-characters for me, probably) but holy crap does Claremont try to shove her down our throats as the best thing since sliced bread. Honestly, if you could comb through *everyone* in the multiverse to search for a powerful ally, why would anyone pick Psylocke? But apparently she's the best there is at what she does and what she does is everything (even some odd powers she has never been capable of before). The book quickly becomes the Psylocke book and all of the characters that we have grown to love over multiple volumes are relegated to background status with little attention paid to their characterization so far in the series. Blink, in particular, is shelved quite early... You know, the lead character of the series? Yeah, it's ridiculous.

I could continue for paragraphs. I hated this book so much. It singlehandedly nearly ruined one of the best of the x-books long runs. I'll read the next volume only because I purchased them as a lot but I am for the first time not looking forward to an Exiles book.

[Lexie · Rating 1 out of 5]

We're unfortunately, back.

No fun times now. Its a true SLOG to get through these last two volumes. Not even T-bird & Nocturne's returns could fix it.

Ugh

Though if I'm being honest the loss of Mimic coupled with the ticking timebomb of Morph, makes the series less fun. Who knew I'd miss the days when Mimic was emo?

Also the more they show us of Sabertooth & Blink's relationship the more I'm like "weird weird weird"

And WE'RE BACK TO A STRANGE FASCINATION WITH MAKING SUE STORM SUPER COOL/DANGEROUS. Ughhhhhh

I don't even dislike her character, in the abstract, I just hate that for some reason the writers keep trying to make us take her as serious as Emma Frost or the Phoenix Force.

Blargh.

[Allan Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't like this one. I just found it pretty boring.
Too many characters, just got confusing

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that this one was a clear and consistent story. I also love Psylocke.

[Fizzgig76 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reprints Exiles #90-94. The Exiles are joined by Psylocke and work to free a world ruled by the Invisible Woman and Wolverine. Claremont takes over Exiles in this book and while the book isn't bad, it is very average. The art isn't bad, but the ties to Betsy Braddock's past in the battle with Slaymaster seem underdeveloped and out of place.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ye olde X-Men writer Chris Claremont takes over the Exiles duties, and hastens this book to its death. He sticks the group with his favorite character Psylocke, sticks us with a crappy Hydra story, and brings back Excalibur villain Slaymaster. Hurried writing, useless dialogue, and unexplained actions leave Exiles fans wondering where their team went.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

A new writer takes on the team and introduces Psylocke. It brings a new dynamic to the group, and Sue Storm as Madam Hydra is interesting. An ok read.