According to the indicia, it's now January 2004.  Happy new year!

Exiles #37 is the end of "Fantastic Voyage".  Moreover, to judge from the upcoming solicitations, it also marks the last of the accumulated Judd Winick scripts that he left behind before signing his DC exclusive deal.  Since that deal's been renewed for another year, Winick won't be returning to Exiles. 

But never mind - next issue, Chuck Austen's back!  Oh goody.

Anyway.  Judd Winick was the original writer on Exiles, and it would be nice to say that this issue capped his run off neatly.  Unfortunately it does nothing of the sort.  Ending with a major roster change, the book gives the distinct impression that Winick planned to return to the series after his year with DC and was intending to pick up from where he left off.  Since he won't be doing that, the result is a story that's cut off in mid stream.

Well, of course, it won't be entirely cut off in mid-stream.  Chuck Austen will be writing the next few issues.  Which is every bit as good, isn't it?  Oh yes.

To be honest, though, Exiles has not been one of Winick's best pieces of work, nor have the backed-up scripts been among his best work on the title.  From the word go, it's been obvious that the strengths of this title lay in Winick's flair for punchy, entertaining dialogue.  But equally obvious was the big flaw in the concept - the format rapidly becomes hugely formulaic, as the Exiles turn up on a new world, are given an arbitrary mission, and proceed to perform it.  It's turned into Quantum Leap with superheroes, and the restrictions of that formula have proved a straitjacket.

"Fantastic Voyage" has been a particularly dodgy arc.  It takes two completely unrelated concepts - the novice Fantastic Four and the Brood - and welds them together for no apparent reason into a mix and match storyline that never coalesces.  Both ideas, in principle, are a decent starting point; but neither one develops far enough to realise that promise.

That's not to say that Winick's final few issues haven't been entertaining - the dialogue is still decent, and Clayton Henry does a perfectly good job with bright, primary-coloured superheroes punching one another.  But when you scratch the surface, there's nothing there beneath it.  Irritatingly, the final few pages set up what would potentially be some much more interesting character dynamics.  But it's hard to get that worked up about it when the writer's about to be replaced and nobody seems to be lined up to take over.  (Future solicitations have a Weapon X arc by Chuck Austen followed by a story written, somewhat incongruously, by Jim Calafiore.)

There are many worse comics than this; the problem with Exiles is more a frustrating sense that it could so easily be much better.  And that's the story here.

Rating: B-

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