Marvel writer Jeff Parker has announced on his blog that while Agents of Atlas is safe for now, his other new series — Exiles — will be ending with Issue #6.
As for EXILES… well, as they say, you can’t save every patient. The best we did was a momentary blip with issue one of the relaunch, and sales went right back to where they were previously. In hindsight, maybe we should have waited a year or two before trying it. It was a blow to me, I was having a great time working with Salva Espin and Casey Jones, and felt I was getting into a good groove with issues that you’ll never see. At least Marvel did me a solid and gave me a double sized issue in 6 to wrap things up. Curious to see what you think of how it… choke… ends.
Parker also discusses in this blog post that the upcoming X-Men vs. Atlas is not a death knell for the series, but that Marvel is trying different ways to convert its critical acclaim into sales. “I can’t give too much away right now,” he wrote, “but you’ll see that you’re going to have quite a bit of Atlas action coming up.”
As a fan of the original Judd Winick run of the series, it’s a shame that this iteration of Exiles is ending. The series followed an ever-changing cast of characters from the Marvel multiverse, as they were guided from one parallel universe to the next, righting wrongs and generally having fun with “What If?” continuity — and you could tell Parker was having a lot of fun with it. What say you, Rama readers?
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 am
Wow, what the hell? That sucks, it truly was a fun read!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
I loved the first 70 or so issues of Exiles but was disenfranchised for a while. This latest run seemed to capture the fun and exciting feeling of the original. It’s a shame it didnt sell better.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:27 am
Strike three? Bummer…
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
That’s too bad, although i can’t say i’m very surprised. The book itself is decent and contained a couple mysteries from the previous books (what’s Blink’s deal? Why is Morph the Timebroker? etc). Hopefully those will get answered in the finale.
But the unfortunate thing is that it wasn’t very different from the original iteration (before New Exiles) and didn’t really grab me nearly as much as the other one did.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:30 am
Couldn’t Marvel have given it a chance? I mean, geez, I was only starting to hear good things about it.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:33 am
That stinks. I can’t speak for the relaunch as I clocked out a while ago, but part of the beauty of the series was taking those forgotten or b list characters and putting them in the drivers seat. There wasn’t the amount of continuity attached to them, so it seemed like the writers we’re really able to let loose. We got a glimpse of that again in the last annual that came out introducing a new cast.
Hopefully they can make a successful relaunch of it sometime down the line, because it really was a fun title.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
If they named it Dark Exiles it would sell like hotcakes. So sad. Good when it started but I stopped reading it years ago.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Sad to hear it. Parker’s take was much more in line with Winick’s original tone and mission statement for the series, and it was the better for it! A group of disparate characters (both X-related and not) traveling the Marvel Multiverse. Chuck Austen’s run was an embarrassment to say the least, and while Tony Bedard’s issues did begin to redeem the title (except for the inclusion of Beak, ugh!), Claremont completely sank the ship by turning Exiles (& New Exiles) into his own personal X-Men fan fiction. The concept REALLY needed to sit on the shelf for a year or so to give fans a chance to wash the bad taste in their mouths after New Exiles. I think that would have given Parker’s run a chance.
I’ve always thought Exiles should be much more like the old Heralds mini that came out years ago that was connected to that whole Earth X series. More Marvel characters and less X-characters. It just makes it more diverse and fun, and that seems like what Parker was at least starting to go for with the inclusion of Panther and Witch (kinda).
Glad to hear Agents of Atlas at least is going strong, at least for now. Hopefully this X-Men crossover mini will get some more readers to try out what is truly an enjoyable read. Also, I hope Jeff fills his empty slot with some new work. He’s too good to be wasted!
Now we can only hope Jeff is able to wrap up what exactly is going on with Blink and Morph and why they’re playing things so close to the vest. Here’s hoping for a a great finale!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Awwww man, that stinks! Exiles was such a fun read! Great art too!
Agents of Atlas DEFINITELY needs more Marvel Universe exposure! I actually thought it was an out of continuity series at first so I think having exposure via the X-Men is a great start to getting new readers to check them out.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Nooooo! I am a big fan of old-school Exiles (even staying with it through–shudder–Claremont) as well as Parker. While not loving the new issues yet (_too_ much with the funny, not enough of the pathos of the original 50 issues or so), it was a definite step up, and I was willing to stick with Parker for quite a while. I guess I agree that more of a time-lapse should have occurred before the relaunch. Parker is one of the few creators I’ll follow, so I hope he gets more work. The first Atlas trade is wonderful…
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
I know relaunches often do work for the short term, but I think the first strike against the book was the whole “New Exiles” relaunch and then this, its second. It’s a lot harder to cancel a book at #125 than it is to end it at #6.
Then again, “hiring Chris Claremont” may have been strike one.
The weird anime covers haven’t helped this new book, either.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:55 am
Clairmont ruined one of the best books out there!
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I think the concept definitely needed a break.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Man, just the other day I was consoling myself about what Warren Ellis has done to Forge (one of my favorite characters) in Astonishing X-Men, “because at least a different Forge is around in Exiles, so Marvel won’t forget him entirely…” and now this. I haven’t even been reading Exiles but I was thinking about starting, just so I could see a well-written Forge. Oh well.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:16 pm
As someone who grew up with Claremont’s X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, Wolverine, etc? I’ll be happy to go on record saying I quite enjoyed Claremont’s New Exiles.
However, I’d never read the Exiles book previously. So I came in with zero baggage.
Never gave this latest iteration a shot.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Ugh, this annoys me so much. It seems every time that I get into a new series from Marvel it promptly gets shot down a few issues later since it’s not a main Avengers, X-men, or insert current event umbrella title. I’ve long been a fan of Exiles and was glad to see the premise get another shot after Claremont’s awful take. The series was just getting its legs, yet it still had the old feel to it and such promise. I hope at least it gets a decent sendoff and hope this isnt the last we see of the characters.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Had Claremont’s run never happened, I feel like this title would still be going strong.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Well, this sucks. I’ve always enjoyed the original Exiles series. Clairemont’s left me a bit off, but the newest incarnation seemed to get back to what made the first so good. There was no apparent design to the Earths they’d land on. You have to figure out what they needed to do and they didn’t know what to expect because they didn’t have an “ops” feeding them intel.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Is that the book staring Temujin? I keep meaning to pick it up, but I keep forgetting. Big Iron Man fan. I’ve been curious what a book staring his top villain would be like, but I never seem to remember when I am actually in the store. Oh well.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I dropped this title when Claremont took hold of it, and I came back for the new run. I am definitely sad to see it go. I think one of the things they did wrong was relaunch it with a 3.99-number-one issue. I think that stopped A LOT of people from checking out this brand new series that had very little name recognition going for it.
Also, Craig, weird anime covers? What are you talking about, this book had some great covers, that were barely influenced by anime, if at all.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
While I like Claremont, I have to agree that he ultimately killed the series. I really hope that in a year or two someone goes back and gives this another go, as I would love to see Nocturne and Morph again.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Exiles had a great initial run, but once they lost the charm of the original storyline, I couldn’t read it anymore. You gotta put some horses out of their misery.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I love Judd Winnick’s run on the Exilles and I felt more eager to follow the series when they had the Mimic. But after they supposedly “killed” Calvin that was it for me.
But I love the Agents of Atlas, I just hope fanboy central doesn’t mess it up with overemphases on “bikini heores”.
I do not vicariously idenditify with super powered victoria secret models who run around the world regardless of temperature in bullet proof thongs.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:30 pm
oh, I was going to pick up the trade. I guess, when they say vote with your dollars, they really mean vote with your dollars, but only if you’re going to buy phamplets.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:33 pm
This book should have been cancelled at least a year ago. It hasn’t been worth the paper that it was printed for a long time.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This is easily one of Marvel’s best titles right now and I can’t believe it’s already gone after what, three issues? This is a travesty. There is room for 5,000 different pointless, ancillary Dark Reign titles, but there is no place for a very well-written and fun book. I’m just about done with Marvel
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:42 pm
This really sucks because another good book canceled. It really sucks that books like Captain Britian and MI:13 (The final issue had a page that made me almost jump out of my seat when looking through as long MIA UK Heroes poped up), Exiles, She-Hulk, Spider-Girl get canceled while they push Rhulk, Dark Avengers, New Avengers, and other crap including the West Coast X-Men.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Actually Dark Exiles sounds like it could be awesome, and that’s coming from someone whose not a fan of Dark Reign at all.
A team of baddies hopping around different universes conquering them, one by one. I’d buy it.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Does this mean we’ve seen the last of L-10, the Black Panther’s ill-fated robot lion? I liked him.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I think we’re going to start hearing a lot more lower and maybe even some middle-tier books being cancelled by Marvel as people begin to become more selective about what they buy (or can afford).
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I tried the first 3 issues then dropped it. It didn’t feel special or different. I am not surprised it got cancelled.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Clairemont DESTROYED this title. People learned that he was taking over and jumped ship left and right, myself included. Somebody at Marvel realized it was so bad that they started over with issue #1 without his influence, but then they don’t give it a chance to gain readership again. There’s only been 3 issues since he was sacked from the title.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I liked the new series, it’s ashame really never. New exiles was never given a chance! And i trully hope that they don’t cancel Agents of Atlas it’s a cracking read! I guess it will be replaced by other pointless dark regin title.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
They should have brought MiMiC back and Morph should have been part of the team.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Exiles should star in the What If’s specials Marvel does at the end of the year. Be a great fit.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
This is what happens when comics are at $3.99.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I agree with kjedi. when a book that you “HAVE” to buy as a collector jumps to $3.99, there will be casualties. Another thing is, the covers are there to sell a book. to catch your eye on the stands. The covers to this book made me not even give it a second glance. Yuck.
RG
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
I’ve been a fan of the book and the concept since the beginning. It’s a shame that the book couldn’t have lasted longer, but I suppose Marvel did what it could for the book. Hopefully it will return in the future!
Gotta say, gonna miss those gorgeous Dave Bullock covers!
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 pm
^
IIRC, only the first issue was $3.99 and really with the recap pages it’s easy enough to pick up most Marvel books mid-storyline.
I hope Parker’s star continues to rise. He’s probably my favorite writer in the game right now.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Exiles started to suck once they got pulled into House of M. Mimic should have never been killed and Claremont should have never been allowed near the book. I like the new direction and I’m bummed that it’s been canceled, although I’m not surprised. Here’s hoping Blink and Morph end up hopping to the 616.
July 24th, 2009 at 3:12 am
How much of this has to do with the overnight 33% price hike across all Marvel titles?
And which will be the next to go?
Seems to me, one of the side-effects of the price hike (did I mention it’s an unprecedented 33% overnight hike?) is downsizing everything from titles to staff.
Marvel can now afford to drop many of its titles and workers, and allow fewer books to carry the load that more of them used to carry.
That means a bigger slice of the pie for Bendis, Brubaker and Loeb (whose Hollywood connection is allowing him to continue to land the big Marvel gigs despite a recent-history track record no more impressive than Parker’s), while guys like Parker get slowly weeded out
You know, Marvel could just raise Avengers, Cap and Spidey to $15 an issue, cancel everything else, and just rent a 4 1/2 for their HQ (think of the money saved on rent).
/AS
July 24th, 2009 at 6:51 am
That didn’t take long, did it? It’s a shame because Exiles was a damn good read back in the Winick days and yeah, I even dug the Chuck Austen issues. It started to falter during that World Tour bit, and Claremont just killed it altogether. This run got started off on the right foot, but the art never grabbed me. I think Exiles needs to disappear for awhile. Bring Blink into the 616, build her up as a credible character again, and then revisit Exiles in a couple years with a stronger artist.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:51 am
That didn’t take long, did it? It’s a shame because Exiles was a damn good read back in the Winick days and yeah, I even dug the Chuck Austen issues. It started to falter during that World Tour bit, and Claremont just killed it altogether. This run got started off on the right foot, but the art never grabbed me. I think Exiles needs to disappear for awhile. Bring Blink into the 616, build her up as a credible character again, and then revisit Exiles in a couple years with a stronger artist.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I can’t really say for certain, as I stopped reading EXILES ages ago, but the impression I get is that once Chris Claremont came on board, that’s when the title lost any momentum it still had. And I hate to say that, because Claremont has always been one of my favorite writers. He just didn’t handle the book properly, that’s all. I’m basing my opinion on what I’ve heard from friends on the ‘net and at the comic book store. Again, this is just a guess on my part.
Anyways, what I care about most here is the news about AGENTS OF ATLAS. What I’m guessing is going on here is exactly like what’s happening currently with Iron Fist and Ghost Rider. Marvel believes the book and concept is good enough to keep going, but needs a serious boost in sales to keep it going. So, they stop the ongoing $2.99 series and then do a $3.99 mini to make that extra buck a month. For better or for worse, that’s what’s happening here. Whether they eventually bring back the $2.99 versions of those books or not is anybody’s guess.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am
U_no Says:
“IIRC, only the first issue was $3.99 and really with the recap pages it’s easy enough to pick up most Marvel books mid-storyline.”
I think the point that kjedi21 and Riding Ghost were making was that when the prices on supposedly “popular” books go up, people might have to make a decision to cut lower-teir and/or niche books because they can no longer afford them. Not only that, but people are less likely to start picking up a new series at $2.99 when, say, their three favorite titles all go up a dollar in price and they’re suddenly out the three dollars that they could have spent on the new book.
One of the claims for the price hike is that by charging more for the “popular” titles, Marvel can keep other books at $2.99 longer. The truth is that by charging more for any title without a corresponding increase in value for said price (at least DC is making the attempt with the back-ups, even if most of them feature characters that I could care less about), Marvel is increasing the likelihood that any new series–most especially the niche books–is going to fail, because the average comics consumer will have less money in their pocket to “take a chance” and try something different.
Oh, and note that I put quotes in the phrase “‘popular’ books” because honestly, I see little or nothing in the majority of comics’ top sellers that are in any way popular with myself or most people that I discuss comics with. A lot of flash, bang, gimmick, and soap opera, with minimal story quality and nothing that I would pay one dollar for, much less $3.99.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Tony Bedard’s run was my favorite. Paul P’s art was great and they really captured that ragtag band against all odds that made Negation so great, especially when they offed Mimic and developed the Creed-Blink connection. I agree, Claremont killed the joy for me.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Dark Reign killed this fun book.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Exiles cancelled? What a shocker. I dropped the book after Tony Bedard left, and the sleep-inducing Claremont run began. Great concept ruined. At least I’ve got my TPB’s of the good stuff!
July 24th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Ugh, who CARES?? This “different iterations of familiar characters!!”, “What If?”-rehash has needed to go for a loooong time running. Leave the alternate realities to DC, Marvel.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:31 am
So everyone pretty much hated Exiles as soon as Claremont jumped on, and has been afraid to sample it again since.
Why the hell did Claremont get almost 50 issues to bring sales up, and Parker only gets 6?
I completely respect Claremont’s history and old-time writing style, but give the guy only one book to work on, and stop letting him throw out whatever he feels like. I bet that toilet of a series ‘GeNext’ will go for a 100 issues just because he’s attached.
There’s no justice!
July 29th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
This is terrible news, but we can fight back! Start writing Joey Q. and tell him we don’t want Exiles to go away!
Come on guys, it worked for Spider-girl, it worked for Manhunter, it can work for Exiles! Parker’s take on the book was great and I for one don’t want to see it disappear!
SAVE BLINK, SAVE EXILES!
August 11th, 2009 at 4:20 am
@Electricv01
I’m glad your passionate for the book, but it didn’t work for Spider-girl because that book is canceled and no longer being published. Manhunter is no longer being published. It isn’t a proven way to get books to sell. Those titles have found new homes though, so maybe the same can be done for Exiles.