Victor LaValle blew us away with his first foray into comics with Sabretooth, but the miniseries seemed to end too soon. Enter Sabretooth & the Exiles #1, a direct continuation of the very same story, and the evilest Sabretooth is at the center of it. Now with an electric cast of characters, most of which were imprisoned wrongfully by Xavier and the Quiet Council, they’ve escaped Krakoa only to fall prey to a far more villainous group.
And that villainous group is Orchis, with Dr. Barrington at the center of their latest disturbing plot to wipe out mutants. The last story arc ends with Sabretooth being fished out of the ocean only to be imprisoned by Orchis, and at the start of this issue, we see he’s precisely what Barrington is after. She’s running tests on mutants and treating them like scrap to create some super humanoid. In an early full-page splash, we see a poor mutant with tubes going into its mouth and its green blood caked on Barrington’s lab coat. She’s not a good person and a formidable foe because she lacks empathy for mutants.
Smash cut to the mutants seeking out Sabretooth. They have a rough estimate of where to go and soon find a mutant dumping ground. It’s horrific and shows Orchis goes to great lengths to treat mutants as sub-human at best. Lavalle and artist Leonard Kirk make a strong case for the threat in this latest miniseries to be far more nefarious and disturbed.
In a vital data page, LaValle details Burrington’s point of view on mutants and, while bringing up the horrific things the very real Dr. Marion Sims did to slaves, makes the distinction that Burrington saw that as terrible, but it’s just fine when it comes to mutants since they are “more like ants or bees than people.” LaValle continues to connect the comics narrative to real-life acts, helping inform readers of actual horrific human history and relating the superhero narrative to something grounded and real.
All that awfulness makes Sabretooth getting unleashed all the more delicious. His bread and butter is tearing people apart, and all the established evil of Orchis makes his letting loose fun and enjoyable. Given he screwed over the other mutants in this narrative, it’s nice to see he turned over a new leaf, even if it’s tied to revenge. That says something about his character growth, although it’s a bit early to know how much growth he may go through. Sabretooth has been a homicidal murderer for so long it’s hard to know how much change he can go through.
Characters like Nanny and Orphan-Maker, however, lighten the mood substantially. Their comedic relationship has carried over from Hellions, which breathes a bit of levity and lightness into the narrative. The group of mutants banded together is good, with plenty of opportunities to explore varying dynamics and colorful personalities.
The art by Kirk with colors by Rain Beredo is strong with an ever so slight cartoony look. It’s not hyper-detailed, but detailed enough. Dr. Barrington’s lab and the awfulness she enacts are visualized well. Melter might steal the entire issue, though as they can change into different objects. Starting off as a boat–with a funny caption to remind us of this–they get to show off just how big they can get in a form that’ll scratch a nostalgic itch for fans of Transformers. Kirk pulls off some intense battle scenes with multiple characters on the page.
If you had any doubts, Sabretooth & the Exiles is an excellent issue that improves upon what came before it. Not only does it set up Orchis–one of the main mutant villains right now–in an impressive way so that you genuinely hate everything about them, but it gets the team dynamic written for the motley crew of mutant rejects. Sabretooth & the Exiles validates the villains to rise up and fight, which is a pleasure to read.
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