Exiles (Malibu Comics) - Exiles (Malibu, 1993 Series)

Exiles (Malibu, 1993 Series)

The first Exiles comic was written by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Paul Pelletier, with plot contributions from Tom Mason, Dave Olbrich and Chris Ulm (who came up with the concept and handed it to Gerber to expand upon when they got too busy to execute it). It is known for the creators' deliberate decision (as explained in the afterword to the last issue) to flout the accepted comic-book trope that a group of random people, who were plucked from their ordinary lives and told that they must join together to fight evil and prevent disaster, would become an effective team. Instead, key strategic mistakes led to the team's newest recruit, Amber Hunt, triggering a catastrophic explosion that killed or maimed everyone else on the team and destroyed their headquarters. This occurred at the end of issue #4, although issue #5 had been falsely solicited months in advance in order to preserve the shock value of the team's unexpected death and the comic's abrupt cancellation; retailers who had been misled into ordering Exiles #5 were subsequently reimbursed.

The four issues of Exiles covered a time period of only 18 hours. Published by Malibu Comics, the series was part of the Ultraverse, although not originally intended to be so, and served as the prelude to Break-Thru, the first crossover of that Universe.

This group was founded and led by Dr. Rachel Deming, and introduced Ghoul (one of Ultraforce's main members) and Amber Hunt to the Ultraverse. Much of the plot revolved around a fatal "Theta Virus", the treatment of which gave the characters their superhuman powers. Unfortunately, Dr. Deming assumed that people with powers are automatically superheroes, and their lack of training, cohesion, and leadership led to disaster. Aside from Deming (who suffered many fractures), Ghoul (who was already more or less a zombie, and thus later rose from his grave), Deadeye (that survived the tidal wave, later leaving the team) and Hunt, the other members of the team were Catapult, Mustang, Tinsel, and Trax. Mastodon was introduced in the series, but never joined the team, and eventually appeared in the pages of Foxfire.

Gerber had proposed to DC Comics a Vertigo series revamping The Inferior Five as a "dark 'n' gritty" comic, but was refused. He was offered this project around that time.

The Exiles concept was the oldest created by Malibu Comics. It was conceived in 1992, before the whole Ultraverse, when Malibu was still part of Image Comics. The first issue, written by Mason-Olbrich-Ulm and penciled by Paul Pelletier, had been almost completed, then the writers gave up, being busy with other projects. A crossover with Youngblood of Rob Liefeld had been announced, with both groups bent on destroying Visionary Productions' headquarters. During this crossover the Exiles were expected to face a number of setbacks including severe damage on their base and a few deaths, elements later recycled by Gerber. Other original storylines conceived by Mason, Olbrich and Ulm and later discarded should have featured the alien nature of Tinsel, Bloodbath's ruthless and treacherous nature and a growing rivalry between him and Mustang, Heather Faraday's attraction to Trax, and Bruut's defeat at the hands of Youngblood's member Badrock. Two members of the Exiles would have then joined the ranks of Youngblood. The roster of the Exiles should have used a rotating lineup (with ranks changing due to deaths and departures) similar to the one used by the eponymous group of Marvel Comics that debuted almost a decade later.