Die #8: The problem with such a dense issue is that it's easy to get lost in one particular narrative and lose track -- or, at least, your emotional connection -- to the other ones.
Do you follow the story of Ash and her struggle with Sol? She's trying to get Sol to explain what the Eternal Prussians are building in Glass Town in the hope that the Angrians will in turn help him find Chuck and Isabelle. To do so, Ash almost immediately ditched her vow not to use the Voice on Sol, revealing yet again that Ash is a lot less principled than she hoped that she is. For obvious reasons, Angria apparently keeps Dictators on a short leash, so they distrust Ash; she's assigned a minder. But, Sol is obstinate as ever, forcing Angela to sneak into Glass Town to get the information. Matt exposits for us that they've learned that Sol escaped the Grandmaster five years ago and rallied an alliance that overthrew him two years ago, but then he turned on his allies. But, Ash still can't get Sol to answer the most important question: how did he create Die?
Or do you follow the story of Ash and her son, Augustus? We know from last issue that Isabelle had an unconsummated love affair with Zamorna, and we now learn Zamorna is the father of Ash's child, explaining all the implications of tension between Ash and Isabelle. We learn that Isabelle transferred the child to the Mourner to carry Augustus to term before they left Die last time. As the son of a paragon and vampire with a god as a surrogate mother, Augustus is some form of a demi-god, and the Ruling Party of Angria sees him as a threat, particularly since they exiled his father. (You can't really blame them, I'd have to say.)
Instead, do you follow the story of Matt? Ash has been trying to convince the Knightly Orders to help discover what's happening in Glass Town, but they've so far refused. But, a group of Joy Knights gets a message to Matt to meet them in the Eightfold Temple. We learn that original eight knights "stood beside the genie-touched ones" and founded Angria. We also learn that Matt initially came close to choosing anger instead of grief, and we watch him reconsider his choice here, enraging his sword. Earlier Matt told the sword that he was happy for 20 years, and the sword tells him that grief is the price of joy. He explains that Matt is grieving his family because he knows that he can never return to the way that it was with them. Matt has enough and makes quick work of the Joy Knights, since grief is something that you'd give anything to lose (giving Matt an edge) whereas joy is something that you're frightened to lose (making the Knights hold back a little). (That makes a weird amount of sense.) Matt later admits that he always feels cleansed after a fight.
In the end, the stories converge as Angela returns from Glass Town and reveals that the Prussians are building a Forge that asks the question, in binary, "What am I for?" Ash asks the Angrian Queen to help find Chuck and Isabelle, but she demurs. It doesn't matter, though, because Isabelle arrives, saying that they all destroyed Glass Town and should all be punished for it. OK, then!
House of X #6: This issue spends most of its time covering ground that we've already covered, but in more detail.
We now see the entirety of Xavier's speech about mutant emancipation that he projected to the world, about how humans killed his dream of peaceful coexistence so he's killing their dream that they would forever control the world.
We then move into the first meeting of the Quiet Council as it considers Krakoa's first laws. Professor X, Magneto, and Apocalypse form Autumn; Mister Sinister, Exodus, and Mystique form Winter; Sebastian Shaw (Black King), Emma Frost (White Queen), and an absent chair (Red King) form Spring; Storm, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler form Summer; and Cypher represents Krakoa. We also learn the four "great [war] captains" are Cyclops, Gorgon, Bishop, and Magik.
This section is tedious in the way that governing is. Exodus threatens Sinister when he speaks to him, and Sinister jokingly suggests that killing a mutant should be against the law. But, Apocalypse notes that it isn't a challenge to kill someone who isn't unkillable, and Jean sort of agrees; she argues that it should be against the law to kill a human since they can't return. Everyone else agrees, even Apocalypse since, as he notes, it's a point that means nothing to him, like humanity. (So, he's going to break that one soon, right?). Shaw then wants to discuss basics about the economy, and Cypher warns them on the property-rights issue, reminding them that Krakoa is a living being. Exodus agrees, nothing that the land is sacrosanct. Mystique thinks that she's getting to Nightcrawler when she asks what his God's wisdom is, but he then quotes "And God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and then subdue it..." as justification for creating more mutants. As such, this conversation yields the three initial laws: 1) make more mutants; 2) murder no man; and 3) respect this sacred land.
With the laws formed, they turn to judging Sabretooth for defying Magneto's orders not to kill human security guards in a previous issue. They all find him guilty, since Magneto specifically ordered him not to kill. This next part is chilling: since they won't submit a mutant to human authorities and, for some reason, they "tolerate no prisons" on Krakoa, he's put into conscious stasis deep inside Krakoa. Larraz is spectacular here, watching even Sabretooth panic as he realizes what they're doing to him. It's brutal.
That said, the issue ends on a happy note. Larraz does a great job showing the independence celebrations as Xavier and the Council leave their meeting and join them. Xavier notes that they carry a heavy burden now, like a parent with a child; they will lose sleep so their children can sleep. But, the most spectacular sequence happens as Logan hands Cyclops a six pack. Logan takes a beer to Gorgon, and Scott hands two beers to Jean, who sits down next to Emma. Jean passes one wordlessly over her shoulder to Emma, who accepts it, equally without looking at her. It's two small panels, but it's a spectacular moment that made me grin ear to ear. We then watch Havoc hug Scott, and you realize exactly what Hickman has done here. It's like he took the best parts of every other storyline -- Revolution, Utopia, Necrosha, Second Coming -- and perfected it. It's in these last wordless moments that you realize the magnitude of this accomplishment, how perfectly he's weaved this story to tweak what needed tweaking and ret-con what needed ret-conning. It didn't require a deal with the Devil, like in Spider-Man. Hickman did the hard work of identifying the problems and fixing them. You can imagine him standing next to Charles and Magneto in the last panel as they look upon Dazzler's Siryn-amplified fireworks display and nodding to Magneto's words: "Just look at what we have made."
Star Wars #72: Han's suspicions about Dar are proven correct here, though not necessarily for the right reasons. Dar has Boss Carpo's thugs grab Han as he leads Leia from the dance floor, explaining his plan to convince Carpo to use his floating military fortress (or "panop") to attack the Empire. Since Han will conveniently be on said panop, he kills two birds with one stone, quite literally: getting rid of Boss Carpo and his rival for Leia's affections. Meanwhile, the most meaningful sequence in the issue is when Threepio manages to inform Chewie that Vader is on K43. Chewie contemplates sacrificing the planet to take out Vader, but a young rock creature approaches him quizzically. Chewie pats him on the head and disables the detonators. Awww, Chewie. Vader then decides to use Chewie as his own trap for Luke, turning the tables on the Rebels. Oh, Darth. Always with the traps.
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