It's the first X-Axis of 2005, and boy, it's a dull week.  This is the batch of comics which came out between Christmas and New Year, when nobody in their right mind releases anything interesting, because nobody's paying any attention.  Well, except me.

So we've got two of the minor ongoing titles, a miniseries that's running hopelessly late and should have been finished by now, and one of this week's phenomenally pointless What If? one-shots.  It's a desultory collection, to put it politely.

Exiles #57 is the concluding part of "Bump in the Night", the three-part Kulan Gath sequel which ran through December.  Finally, some sort of point emerges beyond simply paying homage to the original story.  Sasquatch, who's been hanging around in the background saying how ill she is, gets a belated origin flashback establishing a "deal with the devil" routine involving Tanaraq, one of the mythological Great Beasts from Alpha Flight.  Since they're in a world where magical things are drawn out, Tanaraq finally takes over and replaces Heather.  Of course, he's a dangerous maniac, although still at least vaguely concerned to complete the Exiles' missions and get home.

It's not a bad idea, but I'm a little underwhelmed by the issue.  Sasquatch never struck me as a very well-rounded character.  Judd Winick seemed to introduce her primarily as an in-joke (she's a recycled version of one of his other characters), and nobody's ever done much with her.  Consequently, I wasn't that attached to her to start with.  And although saddling the Exiles with a non-compliant team member is somewhat interesting, we've only recently been through it with Magik and Hyperion. 

From a storytelling standpoint, it's hard to see the benefit in delaying Sasquatch's origin flashback until this issue.  Presumably the idea was to play up the mystery cause of her illness, but that never really came across.  The idea of Heather surrendering her identity would have worked far more effectively if they'd just done the flashback and the Tanaraq explanation two issues ago and played it for suspense.  It would also have made the arc feel more like an Exiles story, as opposed to an extended homage.

Still, the idea has potential, and while we've been through the same idea twice in recent issues, we did it with Chuck Austen, so the full potential wasn't exactly brought out.  But this story still doesn't much excite me.  Again, if you find the Kulan Gath story and a bunch of Marvel mystical characters thrilling, then you'll be right at home here.  Otherwise, it's more interesting for the future storylines it sets up than for anything that actually takes place here.

Rating: B-

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