Exiles #55 is the book at its most formulaic.  Take the Exiles, dump them in an issue of What If?, and then play around merrily with the alternate universe while not doing very much with the Exiles themselves.

This time round, it's a timeline where Manhattan was permanently transmuted into a fantasy world by Kulan Gath after Uncanny X-Men #190-191, back in 1985.  But it's not the local X-Men who are leading the resistance - it's Spider-Man, on the rather obscure basis that he once fought Kulan Gath in an issue of Marvel Team-Up.  You get the distinct impression that Tony Bedard really likes those old storylines, and is enthralled by the prospect of revisiting them.

Bedard also uses the concept as a springboard to bring together loads of mystical or pseudo-mystical characters, like the Werewolf by Night or Morbius, to round out the government thugs.  In short, it's a fairly shameless exercise in playing in the sandbox.  The Exiles aren't so much the focus of the plot, as an excuse to get here.

Of course, one of the strengths of the Exiles as a concept is that they're always the fish out of water.  That's central to the set-up, and it means that you can take them almost anywhere without it seeming alien to the story.  They'll still be fish out of water, wherever they go.  Even so, the Kulan Gath concept isn't that great - and at three issues, this arc is actually longer than the original story.  It's all very well to send the Exiles to an oddball universe from time to time, but when it's a world based specifically around one minor storyline, and the Exiles get shoved to the margins of the plot, it starts to become an exercise in telling us how great Uncanny X-Men #190-191 were, rather than a compelling story in its own right.

Yes, the original storyline is quite good, but I've read it already - besides which, I'm not particularly keen on fantasy stories.  This is okay at what it does, and if the idea of messing about in medieval New York appeals, then you'll be perfectly happy with it.  But it's setting its sights a bit low, isn't it?

Rating: B-

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