Sure to be overlooked among this week's flurry of new releases and relaunches, Exiles rather bravely puts out an issue anyway.

This month's story is a series of flashbacks about Nocturne and Thunderbird's relationship, filling in some of the blanks in the subplot so far.  The upshot probably won't surprise anyone - Nocturne loved him, she's very sad that he's gone, and losing the baby was a bit of a downer too.

It's all very obvious, but then tragic love stories tend to be.  Winnick shows us a fairly convincing course for their relationship to take, and while it tugs at the heartstrings a little too blatantly at times, it does work if you're prepared to run with the sentimentality.

As with the previous arc, the Exiles' jumps from world to world seem to be relegated to a mere background detail.  What they actually do on any given world is beside the point, and the focus is shifting to the disruption of their nomadic lifestyle.  I can certainly understand the desire to spread out the formula and avoid becoming a Quantum Leap clone, but I'm not sure the book is quite hitting the balance.  There needs to be some point to the individual missions beyond the mere fact of providing a goal of the week, and the two sides of the book - the missions and the character arcs - seem to be drifting more and more out of touch with one another.

Jim Calafiore is on guest art this month.  Considering that he's been handed a script which consists largely of the same two characters talking, he keeps the visuals varied.  Thunderbird appears to have an amazing appearing and disappearing nose, mind you, but I'll let it slide as artistic licence to humanise the character for the good of the story.

Decent issue, although it's unlikely to show you anything significant that you hadn't already inferred from earlier issues. 

Rating: B+

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