Don't worry, I'll wake you when the Age of Apocalypse is over.  Two issues this week.  Still to come, another three issues of the miniseries plus a special issue of the Official Handbook.  I'm sure you just can't wait.

In the meantime, here's Exiles, gamely skirting the edge of the story while trying to get on with its own plot.  Holocaust has come up with the bright idea of using the M'Kraan Crystal to get at the Timebroker.  Basically it's a story that could have been done on more or less any world, as long as the Exiles found a nice convenient plot device to get the job done.  The Age of Apocalypse happens to be convenient for these purposes because it has a M'Kraan Crystal lying around - it was a major plot device in the original story.

Admittedly, it also means that the story never really goes anywhere with the fact that Blink and Sabretooth have returned to their home world.  And it also means that we get saddled with Holocaust.  Calafiore does a great rendition of the character, who is admittedly a decent visual.  But he's still a dreary non-personality (if anything, he's slightly more rounded than usual in this story), and I can think of tons of characters who'd be more interesting in this role. 

The X-Men also pop in for a cameo, and fight the Exiles for a few pages.  It doesn't add very much to the story, and it feels like it's been shoehorned in to justify the Age of Apocalypse tie-in.

Credit to the creators for bypassing the Age of Apocalypse premise as much as reasonably possible, and continuing to pursue the far more interesting ongoing storyline.  But practicality doesn't allow the Age of Apocalypse to be bypassed altogether, and saddling the book with a variety of unwanted guest stars - while simultaneously never really doing anything much with Blink and Sabretooth's return home - means that the story doesn't quite come off.

Rating: B-

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