Welcome to the world of the EXE/men: EXE/scape!
In the not too distant future, there's no such thing as mutants. At least not in the way you
would think of a traditional Marvel mutant. Instead in this tech driven Utopia in which
people upload their consciousness into the internet, some users have developed special
abilities. Able to hack into people's bank accounts, create firewalls and literally kill users
in real life without even touching them, these renegades have become enemies of the state.
Enter Erik Lehnsherr. Instead of being the powerful Master of Magnetism, he's an influential
computer developer and the leading advocate for EXE/men rights. But an equally powerful
computer virus is about to be uploaded that will neutralize these 'cyber-mutants.’ And it's
about to be uploaded into the brain of a kidnapped Lehnsherr. Thus it's up to the combined
efforts of Charles Xavier, Cable and Domino to save not only Erik but the fate of the
EXE/men as well.
If this premise sounds confusing, then I feel like I did my job as a reviewer quite well.
When I read the story synopsis for this one-shot, I didn't know what the hell Marvel was
talking about. After about 3 tries, I gave up. But I didn't pass up on this book and I am glad
I persevered!
When you actually read the book, it's actually pretty good. I think that the cyberpunk
premise is just so out there that only a fan of William Gibson could truly understand it
without reading it. There's such a thin line between the real world and the online one that
a 200 word description just will not be able to do the actual story by Bryan Edward Hill
(American Carnage) justice.
The artwork by Neil Edwards (Fantastic Four) was pretty cool. There's a definite change
in style between the two world's. That really helps to understand what is going on. I also
loved the cover by Luke Cage's Rahzzah. I couldn't tell if Domino was developed from a
real image or computer generated. Except for Cable's face. That was 100% not realistic
at all!
There was one part of this book that I was a little confused about. At the end are two
appendices. They look like entries in an issue of The Official Handbook of the Marvel
Universe. They're about the EXE/men Jubilee and Rogue. If you'll notice, I didn't mention
either in the synopsis. That's because neither appear in this book except in one panel.
Several normally mutant characters appear in cameo here. So I'm wondering if other
copies of this What If? have features of those other guest stars in them.
This one-shot was a lot better than the advertised teaser. If you can overlook it, you're in
for a treat with this book. And if anyone has read this comic and can attest if there's
different character appendices in the back, I'd appreciate the info. (It might raise my
rating somewhat.)
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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