Newburn #8: To save Emily, Newburn has Sumire's boyfriend (i.e, the Yakuza head's actual murderer) take the fall for the Albano nephew's murder and turns over Sydney (i.e., Emily's academy classmate involved in the death of said nephew) to the Albanos to satisfy their need for revenge.
To be honest, I'm not sure I buy either outcome. The Yakuza head's (i.e., Sumire's husband's) murder remains unsolved, and it seems weird the Yakuza would be OK with the other criminal elements believing that they just let their head's murder go unavenged. Moreover, the Albano head seemed pretty bound and determined in both this issue and last issue to get both Sydney and Emily. The Albano family even sent guys to kill Emily outside the police station, which, as I said last issue, was reckless at best (and ridiculous at worst). Newburn watches the Albanos torture and presumably murder Sydney, so maybe he struck some sort of a deal with them. But we're never told why they would accept it. For that matter, we're never actually told how Emily and Sydney were involved in the nephew's death. Emily claims that it was an accident, but we have no further details. [Update: I eventually realized that I somehow missed issue #6, which shows us how Emily accidentally kills the Albano nephew to protect Syd.]
Along the way, Newburn loses his shit on McGinty when she balks at the deal he strikes with Sumire's boyfriend. With Newburn telling her that he runs the town, Zdarksy definitely seems to imply that Newburn may have officially gotten too big for his britches. I don't see the upcoming next volume as going well for Newburn.
New Mutants #26: Now this issue I love.
Following Rahne as she hears combat sounds, the team (such as they are) comes across an aged Illyana wielding a Warlock arm. As the team watches, she takes out a horde of demons infected with the techno-organic virus and then invites the team into her fortress.
Inside, aged Illyana reveals that she's from a future where S'ym breaking the Soulsword left her and her teammates indefinitely trapped in Limbo. Her versions of Dani, Madelyne, and Rahne have all died, though she's survived because Warlock arrived from Earth after Krakoa fell. She discovered that Warlock's essence wounded the demons who attack her fortress every few weeks, so she crafted a spell around that. Both she and Warlock are weakening, though. She hopes to take out the horde's mysterious leader and return to Earth, but she doubts she can do that given the current state of their powers.
Our Illyana sees the flaw in her plan. She has aged Illyana challenge S'ym (the horde's "mysterious" leader) and use Warlock to take control of his techno-organic virus when he touches her. She destroys S'ym and de-viruses the horde. Our Illyana uses S'ym's core to create a Soulsword temporarily, and she and the team decimate the de-virused horde.
In the epilogue, aged Illyana declines to go with the team so she can address her own losses. The team goes to find a way to fix what's preventing Illyana from summoning the Soulsword permanently.
In addition to the excellent plot, which finally does something with Illyana as a person for the first time in a long time, the art is excellent. This arc is really righting this series' footing after it's spent so much time adrift lately.
Star Wars: Crimson Reign #5: Soule is smart enough to make clear that Qi'ra didn't think that she was going to defeat the Emperor in a fair fight.
As Qi'ra knew he eventually would, the Emperor puts two and two together and realizes that Crimson Dawn is responsible for his and Vader's recent setbacks: the Hutt Council's attack on Vader's flagship, the Syndicate War, Zahra's failure to take out the Rebel Fleet (a stretch), his Royal Guards' assassination. The Emperor brings in Director Barsha, the head of the Imperial Security Bureau division focused on the criminal gangs, to confirm that Crimson Dawn is behind these moves. (It's clear Barsha will play an important role in the next event because his face is covered in shadows.) The Emperor then launches his counterattack.
Knowing said attack was coming, Qi'ra puts into action her next plan. She sends the Knights of Ren with the Archivist to use the Screaming Key they took from Vader's citadel to activate some sort of creature, which I'm guessing will provide Qi'ra with a connection to the Force, either directly or indirectly. (Based on the Emperor and Vader's conversation, Maul told Qi'ra about the creature. The Archivist herself didn't believe it was real.) Qi'ra then activates her network to create chaos for the Empire, announcing it as her Hidden Empire.
I'll be honest, I'm not sure this story need a third arc. Sure, it was interesting to see what Qi'ra had planned after "Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters." It seems difficult to believe, though, that she's going to accomplish anything more than annoying the Emperor with guerrilla-war tactics now that he's focused on her. I guess we'll see.
X-Men #12: This issue is pretty great.
I love the possibility that Dr. Stasis isn't Mr. Sinister but Nathaniel Essex, who despises Mr. Sinister for taking Thunderbird's DNA and polluting himself with mutant genes. (Did we know that he took Thunderbird's DNA?) Of course, as Cyclops says, I use "the possibility" here because it's anyone guess whether this guy really is Essex. That said, it doesn't really matter; he thinks that he is. To be fair, he does seem significantly less crazy than Sinister. He apparently also has a secret mission to save a boy, but he'll get to that after he destroys the X-Men, natch.
Later, Cyclops and Synch meet with Ben Ulrich to give him back his notebook and confirm that mutants are immortal. As Scott said, if the X-Men don't stand for the truth, they're just another Council "and the world has enough of those." Heh. Cyclops is anticipating his actions may cost him a spot on the roster, which prompts a discussion about who'll stand for re-election at the upcoming Gala. At this point, it's Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Synch, and maybe Wolverine. Meanwhile, Essex has his own plans for the "fall of the mutants" at the Gala, which involves a woman.
Oh, also, the ladies defeated Cordyceps Jones and saved trillions of lives in the process. Lorna may have found a handsome man to kiss and/or slap. You should really read the issue to see why that line is so fucking funny.
Man, it's a good time to be a X-Men fan.
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