Exiles Vol. 7: A Blink in Time (X-Men) [Paperback]

Chuck Austen (Author), Jeff Youngquist (Author), James Califiore (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (June 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785112359
• ISBN-13: 978-0785112358
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What if Superman was bloodthirsty?, January 17, 2006

By 

Steve Fuson "comics geek" (Beaverton, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Exiles Vol. 7: A Blink in Time (X-Men) (Paperback)

The Basics: The Exiles are a team of mutants from different realities. They travel randomly from reality to reality, fixing things in each that went wrong, or preventing them from going wrong. Weapon X is another reality hopping team, a dark counterpart to the Exiles. Weapon X is given the "wetwork" jobs, the Killing-Hitler-as-a-Child scenario.

This book collects issues 38-45 of the monthly comic, consisting of three story arcs. In the first "King Hyperion," written by Chuck Austen, and illustrated by Jim Califiore, Hyperion, a mock Superman character Marvel uses, joins Weapon X. The world they land on is almost devoid of superheroes and Hyperion wonders what would happen if they disregard their assignment and take over the world instead. He defeats and/or kills the remaining local mutants as well as memebers of the Weapon X team. Ultimatley things end very very badly for this reality's Earth. It's a very violent story, and very different from what we've come to expect from the Exiles book, and from comics in general. I assume that was the point. Shock and horror.

The second story written and illustrated by Jim Califiore (his first written work for Marvel) is about Nocturne, one of the first members of the Exiles. Instead of an adventure in fixing a world, this is a story of her past, her relation ship with her father, and her life before the Exiles. I've been a fan of Jim Califiore's art since his run on Peter David's Aquaman. His writing seems to be equally as goog. The story is well told. The alternate history of the world is well thought out, and you can really get a feel for the main characters.

The third story "A Blink in Time" written by Chuck Austen and illustrated by Jim Califiore, continues where the first story arc left off, and also where the previous Exiles collection left off. Blink has rejoined the Exiles, after the death of Sunfire. Sunfire had been killed by Mimic, who was infected with a brood egg. Morph, who was in love with Sunfire, is pissed at Mimic. In this state they land on a world occupied by Weapon X. Hyperion has again taken out the world's heroes, and is currently occupying New York, threatening to kill hostages unless the President turns over control of the country. The mission this time has nothing to do with fixing the world. The Timebroker, the etherial representative of the Omniverse, isn't happy with Hyperion so this new mission is housecleaning. Of the twelve reality hopping mutants of the Exiles and Weapon X, only six move on two the next world. The rest need to be eliminated.

This collection is very violent, and not at all in keeping with the overall tone of the Exiles book before or after this. Even when Judd Winick, the creator of the Exiles, did a darker story starring Weapon X, he would tell the history of the world they were on, and how, though they didn't know it, their actions benefitted the world. The two Weapon X stories in this collection are just intensely violent, with no redeeming qualities.

Chuck Austen has gotten a lot of negative press. I have liked some of his work quite a bit. But his stories here have no real sense of structure, and mediocre characterization.

This set of stories does come before new regular writer Tony Beddard joins the team, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was meant to be a cleaning exercise, tying up some loose plot threads before handing the book over. If that's the case, then I can understand the point of the Hyperion stories, but I still feel they could have been executed better (no pun intended).

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Exiles with some shaky issues..., July 6, 2007

By 

Troy Hunter "T.H." (Louisville, Ky United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exiles Vol. 7: A Blink in Time (X-Men) (Paperback)

this was a goodTPB. The battle with Hyperion was great and it was fitting for Magik to go out the way she did. Looking back at this book after reading the whole "no time broker, just time breakers" stuff, it doesn't really make sense for the bugs to have the heroes fight each other to the death since they could simply have had the time broker appear and tell them that they have completed their last mission and sent them home. If they wanted Hyperion to die they could have scoured the multiverse to find the biggest, baddest fighters to handle him. But forgetting all of that, it was still very enjoyable. Hyperion makes a great foil.

5.0 out of 5 stars Some of the best issues of this series..., October 31, 2006

By 

Jenny Sparks "Avoid Gateway at all costs" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exiles Vol. 7: A Blink in Time (X-Men) (Paperback)

Along with the "With an Iron Fist" arc, the story arc here involving Hyperion is by far the best of this above average series. Sure, the Hyperion arc is violent, and while there is shock and horror, the violence is not done for shock and horror's sake. In comics, I prefer violence to be more or less realistically depicted, rather than 10 city blocks being destroyed and only a few people barely hurt scenarios we see so much in the mediocre comics.

The advantage that the Exiles has over most other comics series is that here, you could actually see your favorite heroes (or alternate reality versions of them) sacrifice themselves in combat. Or, at the very least, know that there is the potential for them dying. Likewise, in this series you could see what actually happens when our heroes fail and the earth dies, what Spiderman would be like were he psychotic, what Sabretooth would be like as a good guy, etc. And this series has maximized the potential of peripheral and largely forgotten characters like Hyperion.

The action and pacing here is top-notch. The art, especially in the first Hyperion arc, is exceptional. But the main highlight of this TPB is the non-gratuituous shock, horror and pathos you feel watching heroes and worlds die.