EXILES 48: “Earn Your Wings,” part 3 of 3
PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics
WRITER: Tony Bedard
ARTIST: Mizuki Sakakibara

The cover of this issue has Nocturne by herself, which is usually a harbinger of nasty things in store for the character who is featured. This being said, in this case it foreshadows something, but fortunately not a gruesome end for Nocturne. The issue opens with a fight scene continued from the previous issue, with the Exiles on one side and the mainstream Marvel Universe’s Fantastic Four (along with Namor) on the other. Beak is trying to stop everyone from fighting with little effect. Once the fighting stops, and Reed Richards examines all of the facts, he finally reaches the conclusion (the same one that I did) that Nocturne would have to be left behind, thus the “Lose your possessions” portion of the mission; the second part, “Earn your wings” revolves around Beak suddenly being unhinged from his timeline and becoming the next Exile, completely against his will. So Beak is now a member of the Exiles, while Nocturne is left behind to find her fortunes in the Mainstream Marvel U. I don’t understand how this is possible, though, as this completely changes the established rules of the book. Doesn’t she have to return to her native reality / continuum? And who is the mysterious stranger who approached her and escorted her away from the Xavier Institute?

Next issue brings the new penciller Jim Calafiore on board. I think there are definitely some things that will take some getting used to with the new creative team, but it should be an interesting ride no matter what happens. -TMC-