Pornokitsch

Marvel's take on Superman, Thor is the quintessential epic superhero. Even discounting the baggage of pre-comic book incarnations (that is, ignoring thousands of years of cultural history), Thor is an overpowering presence.

Physically, Thor is a Charles Atlas wet dream, the perfect inverted-triangle. His spindly legs seem incapable of holding the great weight of his tremendous torso. But that mighty torso has lifted worlds. Those meaty arms have fought countless cosmic bad-guys; those ham-sized fists have pummeled a thousand galaxy-destroying terrors.

Of all the bizarre Jack Kirby monsters to have resonated with the modern comic reader, Fin Fang Foom is perhaps the most surreal.

I have never awaited a figure as impatiently as I waited for the Cephalyx Slaver.

As a loyal fan of Privateer Press’ Iron Kingdoms game world, there’s nothing I like more than a good old fashioned Cephalyx attack. These floating, black-clad mysterious villains are some of the most compelling figures in the role-playing world, and are the source of incessant speculation (in both the RPG and in real life).

Their release as part of the Warmachine line was a double blessing. Not only do I get to menace players in my campaign with these finely-crafted figures, but I also get to watch them take the field (or table) in the miniatures game. The pre-release photographs were beautiful – matching the sinister illustration of the Cephalyx. My only concern (thus the impatience) – would the figure manage to meet my ridiculously inflated expectations?

(Full review on Arcane Miniatures)

I appreciate the effort that went into producing this epic series. As a general statement, I support making science fiction epics.

You can see where this is going, right?

The premise of Exiles is simple - a rag-tag group of superheroes hops around various alternate realities 'fixing' them. The correction of these realities often occurs in unexpected ways - from eating a donut to defending Galactus.

I'm generally not a supporter of alternate reality concepts - it just feels like a writer's desperate arrogance to tamper with someone else's work. Also, in today's commercial atmosphere, each alternate reality storyline seems to spawn infinite spinoffs (Marvel Zombies, 1602, etc).

Exiles, however, is written with such surprising depth that the adventures are less about the clever world construction than they are about the team.

Actually, as a rule of thumb, it seems the more elaborate worlds generally come paired with the weakest stories - the best are simply when the Exiles are forced to confront some of the simplest, most classic, Marvel moments (for example, the origins of the Fantastic Four or the Dark Pheonix saga).