Tony Bedard's run on Exiles is nearly complete, with Chris Claremont set to take over in July.  I'm not entirely sure what to make of that decision. 

On the one hand, it certainly frees Claremont from the problem of having to co-operate with the other X-books and allows him to plough his own furrow, which is really what his fanbase is looking for from him.  Exiles also lends itself to the sort of high adventure stories he seems to want to write these days.  On the other hand, even back in the eighties, the Cross-Time Caper long outstayed its welcome on Excalibur and I'm not immediately enthused by the prospect of reading it again in 2006.

Anyhow, Bedard's "World Tour" storyline is still in progress, as the Exiles bound around pre-existing alternate universes and chase Proteus.  This time round it's the Squadron Supreme, and unlike the earlier segments in this arc, we're joining them in their present day continuity.  That means the Squadron is in exile and the world is being run by the Global Directorate, which had probably escaped your notice unless you picked up the 1998 Squadron Supreme: New World Order graphic novel.

Proteus isn't actually in this issue.  The story is that he tricked the Squadon into fighting the Exiles last issue, and he's already moved on to the next world.  Since that's the "Future Imperfect" world from Incredible Hulk, it makes passable sense that he'd show up there in the body of Hulk 2099.  It does, however, leave me wondering quite what the point of this interlude was, other than to disentangle the Squadron's continuity and get their world back to its normal status quo.  Although surely it can't have been that urgent, given that nobody's used the Squadron (or this version, at least) in eight years.

Having captured the Exiles last issue, the Squadron put them on trial for interfering with the multiverse, with their best arrogant Silver Age DC routine.  This really doesn't work, for reasons that the story unintentionally points out.  As the Exiles patiently explain, the Squadron have meddled with their world on a ludicrous scale, and can hardly turn around and accuse the Exiles of the same thing.  This is supposed to be the moment of blinding realisation where the Squadron all go "Wow, you've got a point there."  But it really just makes you wonder why this trial was happening in the first place, other than to create an artificial story.  Ultimately, the Squadron come off looking like a bunch of dullard hypocrites, which surely can't have been the idea.  Oh, and then they liberate the world in three pages as an afterthought.

Way below par for this title.

Rating: C

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