Ex-Mutants is a comic book series that had a very convoluted publishing history, bouncing from one publisher to the next - and, sadly, during all those transitions, the stories themselves were affected, and ultimately, the entire premise of the series was laid to waste (sort of like the entire Earth was in the original stories). I can remember back in the mid-1980s picking up the first few issues of this series published by Amazing Comics, as I was just starting to dive deeper into independent comics at the time. I found the story interesting, but apparently not a lot of comic readers in my area did, as the comic store I frequented stopped carrying it, so I never picked up any more past those first few issues. Flash-forward to present day, and after picking up a few issue from the fifty-cent bins at local conventions, I continued to scour those cheap comic boxes until I was able to put together an entire collection of the series (which was no easy feat due to its constant shifting of publishers and numbering), and finally had the opportunity to read the entire series. Looking back, I think I would have been better off hanging on to my memory of those first few issues and never knowing what happened to this series after that...
The first issue of
Ex-Mutants was published back in 1986 by a small company called Eternity. Created by David Lawrence (writer) and Ron Lim (artist), the comic told the story of a post-apocalyptic Earth where the survivors were all mutated. Once scientist was determined to restart humanity, and he began by changing five mutants back into their human forms - one male (Belushi) and four females (Angela, Erin, Lorelei, and Vikki). For reasons unknown to me, another publisher, Amazing Comics, reprinted that first issue the same year with some expanded story pages (this is the first issue I bought), and continued the series with issues two through five. The next year, issues six through eight were published by a company called Pied Piper Comics, along with a one-shot titled
Ex-Mutants Micro-Series: Erin. Based on some online research, it appears there was some kind of legal struggle, following which the series returned to Eternity Comics, which re-published issues six and seven and collected some of the issues into trades.
Ex-Mutants then saw a new series begin in 1988 under the Eternity imprint, titled
Ex-Mutants: The Shattered Earth Chronicles. This series lasted fifteen issues and also had an Annual, a Winter Special, as well as a
Solo Ex-Mutants six-issue mini-series. During this time, Eternity tried to expand the universe with spin-off titles,
The New Humans,
Wild Knights, and
Shattered Earth. (I did not collect any of the spin-off titles, so I have no idea as to the quality or stories in those titles.) This series ended in 1990, only to come back in 1992 under the new Malibu imprint (who, by the way, owned Eternity). This new series was full color (all previous series had been black-and-white) and was a complete re-boot of the comic. Malibu's
Ex-Mutants featured six ex-mutants - three males and three females. Shortly into this rebooted series, the company did a cross-over with its other titles (
Protectors and
Dinosaurs for Hire), which completely changed the dynamic of the comic, even going so far as to give some of the characters super-powers and codenames! The Malibu series only lasted eighteen issues, and in 1994, the story of the Ex-Mutants was put to rest.
The series started off back in 1986 pretty strong. Lawrence's writing was fairly strong, and Lim's art was beautiful. A mutant scientist, Dr. Cugat, is working to restore humanity to the human race. He selects one male mutant and four female mutants and manages to degenerate them back to their human forms. He sends them out into the mutated Earth to not only locate more power cells for his research facility (in the hopes that he can restore more mutants to their human form), but also to inspire the mutants out there, giving them hope of restoration. The Ex-Mutants befriend a group of bikers known as the Wild Knights, and they defeat the villainous mutant who is in control of the population. Even though the stories are definitely post-apocalyptic and deal with a lot of fighting and deaths, there is still a light-hearted tone. Lawrence does a pretty good job of characterization with his five Ex-Mutants, and I actually grew to care about the characters over the course of those first eight issues.
When the series re-started as "The Shattered Earth Chronicles," a new creative team took over the chores. Paul O'Connor was the new writer, and Marc Matos (with occasional help from others) was the new penciller and Jimmy Palmiotti (yeah, I know, right!) was the new inker. It is here where the series starts to take its downward turn, as it deviates from the original concept. At the end of the first series, Dr. Cugat sets off what he believes to be an atomic bomb, thinking he will just destroy everything - but, instead, he detonated a dimensional bomb that sends he and his Ex-Mutants to different dimensions. Dr. Cugat ends up in a dark dimension where he becomes more evil and sets about to find a way to find a portal to the dimension where his Ex-Mutants were thrown. Meanwhile, Lorelei has been separated from her teammates and is learning some form of mystical arts that allows her to control matter; the rest of the Ex-Mutants are in a different part of the Shattered Earth, where they are constantly facing one battle or another from various mutant tyrants. Of course, it all eventually leads to a reuniting of the team and a showdown with their former mentor and creator, who has now evolved into a horrifically evil mutant monster. The last issue of this series barely featured the Ex-Mutants, but rather, featured an annoying gnat of a mutant who gave the team nothing but trouble throughout this run basically just giving an overview of the final fate of the Ex-Mutants.
The
Ex-Mutants Winter Special was one of the few good stories that came out of this second series. Set at Christmas time (before Dr. Cugat went over to the dark side), it finds the Ex-Mutants off searching for a Christmas gift for the doctor, and they inadvertently discover a mall that has been untouched by the ravages of the shattered Earth. It provides an opportunity for writer Tom O'Connor to delve into the characters a bit more, giving readers a chance to see a more personal side to each of them. Sure, there are fights with mutants in the story, but there are also simple moments that reminded me of the film, Dawn of the Dead, when the surviving humans lock themselves in an empty mall to evade the zombies, and they spend some time going through the various stores. I think this story is probably closest to the original concept that Lawrence and Lim had created for the book.
The Solo Ex-Mutants series, which ran for six-issues, was hit or miss. This provided an opportunity for writers/artists to spotlight different members of the Ex-Mutants in stories of their own. None of the stories stood out for me, and it felt more like a way to cash in on the short-lived success of the Ex-Mutants rather than any actual purposeful stories.
After a two year break, the
Ex-Mutants returned under the new Malibu logo of comics - and while some of the elements mirrored the original series, this was definitely a re-imagining of the concept updated for the craziness that was the 1990s. New writers and a new artist (Paul Pelletier - some of his earliest work) gave the series an entirely different feel, and the full-color comic also changed the tone of the stories, with the bright flashy colors. The series went from four women and one man to three women and three men (equal representation, I suppose), and the characters became nothing more than stereotypes. Ackroyd (hmmm, a companion to the original male, Belushi, from the first series, perhaps?) is the super-strong jock that isn't necessarily so bright; Tanya is the skilled, fighting female; Bud is the young buck, always acting before he thinks; Shannon is the woman looking for love; Dillon is the leader, focused solely on the job at hand; and Piper is the innocent girl, always fending off Bud's amorous advances. Dr. Cugat is exchanged for Professor Jonathan Kildare, a mutant cyborg. After just three issues, the writers change, and after the tenth issue, the series becomes a part of the "Genesis" crossover that tied into Protectors and Dinosaurs for Hire. This crossover drastically changes the title in a number of ways - new creative team (yet again!), new characters (two members of the Protectors super-hero team joins the Ex-Mutants, while other members of the team leave), and a new premise (as the Ex-Mutants find they have super powers), all of which turn the title into just another big-battle, super-hero comic book. The final issue of the series (number 18) does not even feature any of its title characters on the cover, but rather, features the group of villains the Ex-Mutants are battling in the story.
It's a shame such a great concept was so horribly handled - but, I suppose as with many independent titles, once the original creators leave the title, it will never be the same. And that definitely holds true for the Ex-Mutants. Lawrence and Lim created something unique and fun for the time, and it's a shame whatever legal battle was going on took the title and characters away from them. I can only imagine what might have been if the two of them had been able to stay with the characters they created - I wonder what stories might have been told!
Nearly fifty issues of story (not counting the duplicate issues by the various publishers), and yet, for me, only the first eight issues actually tell the REAL story of the Ex-Mutants. As they say, you never know until you try something, and I gave this one a shot. I guess I am grateful I did not pay full price for any of the issues, as I would have probably been more disappointed than I was.
RATING: 5 samurai sword wielding humans out of 10 for the original five ex-mutants who actually stood out in a time of super-hero filled comic books as unique and interesting characters!
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