Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The April 5 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILER!)

Star Wars #33:  This issue is great.  I haven't really been feeling this Kezarat Colony arc until this point, but, man, Soule sells it here.

At the Great Hall, Luke saves Chewie, Holdo, and Lando when he summons the Force to save himself from the Killdroid who destroyed his hand and unexpectedly winds up throwing all the Killdroids off the asteroid.  He manages to grab the sacred Jedi text beforelosing consciousness, and the team collects him and the Nihil path engine before leaving.

Back at the Colony, Blythe addresses the Kezaratians; Musabekov and Rosenberg do a great job with this scene by evoking the end of "Star Wars"  where Leia awards Han and Luke their medals in front of the assembled Rebellion.  The gang surrounds Blythe as he speaks, and it reminds you just what a crazy life they all lead.  Lando describes to the colonists how the path engine works, and Leia explains that a tyrant now rules the galaxy.  But Lando goes beyond Leia, explaining to the Kezaratians that the team is part of the Rebellion against the tyrant and thus they're criminals.

Before they leave, Lando ponders a world where he and Holdo stay in No-Space, and I have to say Soule really gets Lando in a way others don't.  At the Great Hall, for example, Lando led a charge to Luke when the Killdroid destroyed his hand, and Lando was later the one to bandage Luke's wounds and give him a brotherly pep talk.  As Holdo acknowledges, Lando also did an amazing thing by telling the Kezaratians the truth about the Rebellion, something Leia didn't do when she mentioned it.  I mean, it isn't often when Leia isn't the most virtuous one.  But, despite all that, Holdo rejects Lando's offer to stay in No-Space, commenting that she's just getting started.  (I was meh on Holdo when she appeared in "Star Wars:  The Last Jedi," but I'm really digging her now.

With the truth on the table, the younger colonists largely decide to follow the heroes into the galaxy.  The remaining Kezaratians will recolonize the Great Hall now that Luke has emptied it of Killdroids.  In exchange for the fuel, the colonists place two conditions on the heroes:  they give the Kezaratians the path engine so they can now come and go as they please and  they never tell anyone of No-Space.  Leia agrees, and the team heads home.

Back in our galaxy, Soule wraps up the most important loose end, as he makes sure Luke's power burst wasn't just a deus ex machina.  Instead, it turns out it's the result of the Fermata Cage's destruction (see below).  Leia realizes this disruption likely also affects the Emperor and Darth Vader (it does, as we learn below) and heads to tell Mon Mothma.  Meanwhile, Luke tells Artoo that he's going to have to build himself a new lightsaber.

Honestly, I think this issue is one of the best of this second series.  Lando really steps into the hole that Han's absence left, and I'm excited to follow Luke deeper into the Force's mysteries.

Star Wars:  Hidden Empire #5:  I've made it clear that I feel like this story has gone on way too long, but Soule brings it to a satisfying conclusion here.

It turns out Qi'ra didn't procure the Fermata Cage to release a great Sith Lord; she got her hands on it to capture two great Sith Lords.  Too late, Palpatine and Vader realize the Cage is empty, but, before they can escape, the Archivist springs the trap.  However, before the Archivist can collect the Cage to destroy it (by throwing it in a sun), the Knights of Ren free the Sith Lords by destroying the Cage.  Ren figures, not unreasonably, that Qi'ra can't keep on winning and that Palpatine will eventually find a way to free himself and Vader, so he switches side.

Qi'ra is devastated but recovers quickly; she orders Crimson Dawn to disband and flee.  Cadeliah plays the message Qi'ra left for her, informing her that she now has access to Crimson Dawn's resources.  She notes that they were the same, the two of them:  people trapped in a game.  Qi'ra admits she never managed to free herself and beseeches Cadeliah to make her own decisions, since she's now free from who her past says she is.

Meanwhile, Palpatine and Vader discuss how the Cage's destruction has rent the Force, with Palpatine admitting that his grip on it feel tenuous.  Palpatine isn't nearly as forgiving as the Knights hoped, striking them with lightning and informing the ones who survived they work for him now.

The epilogue reveals that Luke and Leia are the ones watching the Archivist's recording, which has served as the series' framing device.  They admit what I said last issue, that Qi'ra's rebellion was a fundamental part of the Rebellion.  Her agents informed the Rebellion about the second Death Star, and her attack on Palpatine and Vader distracted them, giving the Rebellion time to regroup the fleet after Zahra's attack.  Leia wishes that Qi'ra would approach them, now that they defeated Palpatine.

Soule ends by flashing to a scene in a cantina where people later celebrate Palatine's death while Qi'ra sits alone with an enigmatically sorrowful look on her face.  It's easy to see why Qi'ra would have mixed feelings about the Rebellion's win, though I wonder what she feels most.  Does she feel jealous that Luke and Leia did what she couldn't?  Does she feel sorrow because she knows that their victory won't be complete?  I need a break from Qi'ra for a while, but I wouldn't mind somewhat taking up those questions at some point.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The March 29 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILER!)

Dragon Age:  The Missing #3:  Mann moves way too quickly here, as he's done in other issues, though the pace renders this one almost incomprehensible.  

Varric and Harding yet again meet a group that can conveniently help them with their specific task, this time moving through the weirded Arlathan Forest to get to the Crucious Stone before the Venatori do.  Like the two previous issues, this issue could be a mini-series in and of itself, given the trials and tribulations the temporary team faces in its journey.  

Arriving at the temple they sought, Varric discovers a note from Solas, affirming that he's going to do what he intends but pledging to limit the damage.  One of Varric's teammates observes that the Dread Wolf's possession of the Crucious Stone likely caused the weirding of the forest, making it clear that Solas' definition of "limiting the damage" might not be the same as everyone else's.  

I wish Mann had more time to explore this story, because it's a good one, but it's clear management is forcing him to hit his marks more quickly than advisable.

Dungeons & Dragons:  Saturday Morning Adventures #1:  I'll admit that I had a really high level of excitement for this issue.  It doesn't quite clear that bar, given that it's 19 pages long and reads like it's half that number.  Booher and Maggs throw in enough interesting developments to keep me going, though, such as the revelation that the kids are in the Realms and Dungeon Master's nod to Otik's spiced potatoes.  Would I mind seeing them in Krynn after Waterdeep?  No, I would not.  But I also wouldn't mind Booher and Maggs trying to tell a more serious story than the one they tell here.

Local Man #2:  Fleecs and Seeley do a great job moving us confidently and quickly through this issue to get us going on the larger story they're telling.

The cops arrest Jack on suspicion of murdering Hodag, and Jack reveals to the chief that Inga (i.e., the chief's wife) is his alibi.  After the chief releases him, Jack quips (like an asshole) that it's interesting Inga didn't mention they met, and he gets his just desserts when the chief quips that Inga never mentions him at all.  (I can see what Inga sees in him.)

Jack gets in trouble when the Third Gen drone trailing him suspects he's getting involved in the investigation, so he takes Pepper for a walk to visit Hodag's mother.  She's a lovely and sharp woman.  She utters a code that temporarily disables the drone, telling Jack that Hodag had one for years and she learned to invoke her right to "non-target privacy."  As such, they have a private conversation inside her trailer.

She recalls how Hodag chose Crossjack as his enemy because Crossjack understood that it was all a show.  She reveals that the Camo Crusader bashed in Hodag's brains, rendering him seriously brain damaged, and thanks Jack for "fucking that fascist prick's wife, hard and long for years."  (Aha!)  She rues on how they could send a billion-dollar robot to monitor Hodag but couldn't use the money to fix his implants or his pain.

Before Jack leaves, she gives him the drawings that Hodag used to do in crayon.  Going through them later that night, Jack sees the word "Aphek," which reminds him of the Aphek Engine, a previous mission's subject.  Dressed in a mask and wielding a bow and arrow, he takes out the drone and promises its remains that he'll mind his own business.

Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi - Jabba's Palace #1:  At this point, you'd figure we've heard the story of every droid, gangster, and scoundrel in Jabba's palace in "Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi."  Guggenheim shows us not only were we wrong but how wonderfully wrong we were.  

We're treated to the story of Eightyem, Threepio's predecessor as Jabba's protocol droid, who we last saw hanging on the wall in Jabba's droid torture chamber.  It turns out poor Eightyem was dragged into a conspiracy that a fast talking Twi'lek named Silvan Kaan put together to take out Jabba.  It ends the way you'd expect (and, frankly, Eightyem should've expected), with an equally fast talking bounty hunter named Bane Malar (hi, Toril!) spoiling their plans as a way to curry Jabba's favor.  Kaan ends in the sarlaac pit, and Eightyem finds himself on the aforementioned wall.

Honestly, this story was so great that I'd love to see where Guggenheim could take Bane Malar.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The March 22 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #32:  It’s been months since I’ve read an issue of this series, but I’m still over this Sabé story.  

Vader appeals to Sabé to help him take out Jul Tambor, since she now knows what type of man Jul is.  When it appears Sabé is ready to take up Vader on his offer, Eirtaé (I think) grabs her and bolts.  Using their anti-gravity belts, the Handmaidens fly her to their ship, where Ochi is waiting.   But Sabé unbuckles her belt and falls, knowing Vader would use his powers to catch her.  (The full-page image of Sabé floating to Vader is spectacular.)  

With Sabé now in his corner, Vader puts the mission to take out Jul under her command.   Rather than bombarding his location, as the Empire would do, Sabé informs Jul of Vader’s location but asks him to hold off attacking it, as 12 Skakoan refugees are there.  Jul bombs it anyway.  In a conversation with Sabé, he exults about ruling Skako Minor once again.  Sabé reveals that she recorded his words and plays them for the refugees who realize he was willing to kill him to rule (and not just defeat the Empire).

The Skakoans quickly turn against Jul, and Sabé consolidates Imperial control over Skako Minor.  Vader is disappointed she didn’t kill Jul, though she correctly notes he would’ve become a martyr, rather than disgraced, if she did.  Sabé praises the peace that now exists there, though Vader corrects her, calling it “order.”  It’s a nice reminder that Anakin's obsession with order turned him to the Dark Side (if you buy him having any motivation other than Lucas needing him to become Vader by the end of "Star Wars:  Revenge of the Sith").  

Sabé tells Vader that she left the Handmaidens so they could go about their lives.  It took me a second read to realize that Sabé, probably correctly, assumed Vader would've killed them all if Sabé had returned to the fold since she would've presumably told them that he's Anakin Skywalker.  Now, she tells him, she'll be the only one to lose her soul.  Weirdly, Vader reacts to this conversation the way he did when he discovered that he killed Padmé at the end of “Star Wars:  Revenge of the Sith," inadvertently crushing items around him while uttering, “You are not the only one.”  

Despite my dislike of this arc, I do buy that ending.  That said, I buy it because, after all these years, I still find myself wanting to find a connection between Vader and Anakin.  Pak uses Sabé as a way to tease out that evolution, one of the only effective efforts I've seen.  At the end of the day, though, Lucas did so little in terms of justifying Anakin's fall that nothing I've seen since really convinces me they're the same person.  Pak tried his best, but it remains Star Wars' original sin.

Undiscovered Country #24:  Snyder and Soule resort to a few dei ex machina to move us from Zone History to Zone Bounty.  It isn't the most satisfying ending to an arc, but at least it's an ending.

Levant takes Charlotte and Valentina to the space beneath Apollo 11 on the day it launches.  A raving Levant reveals that all this colleagues (and likely he) went insane when they realized that, in every simulation they ran, the timeline ended at the same point.  Levant "had to take care" of his colleagues, which clearly means that he killed them.  Levant apparently asked Aurora about it, but he tells the women that Aurora is losing it.  

Given their connection to someone they love in the real world (Daniel for Charlotte, Ace for Valentina), they refuse Levant's offer to pick an era where they could stay.  Disappointed, he decides to leave for 1981 America, since he has roughly 20 years left.  It's a little convenient, but it's actually kind of refreshing that Levant isn't the sort of crazed monster that Destiny Man or Dr. Jain was.  Before Apollo 11 launches, though, a portal opens.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, Ace conveniently kills Emperors Chang and Janet before they can reveal what they learned that turned them against America ("What we learned was that in order for Aurora to --").  Ace asks Janet if she expected him to stand there while her future self justified murdering him, to which, if I were Janet, I would've responded, "Yes, you fucking tool!"  Before he dies, Emperor Chang passes a device to Chang.

Suddenly, Charlotte and Valentina arrive, and Bukowski arrests everyone.  However, Future Valentina appears via a holographic projection from Buzz and convinces Bukowski to let them go because they matter whereas she and Bukowski will disappear when Aurora shuts down the experiment.  Bukowski agrees to help them to the next zone.  Poignantly, Janet asks him what they'll do now, and Bukowski responds, "I don't think it matters."  

It's very "Matrix"-esque, elevating the lived experience of people in the "real world" above the "people" within the simulated one.  That said, in the "Matrix," the people within the simulated world had physical counterparts in the "real world."  Here, you realize these people - except for Bukowski and Valentina - think they're real, which raises the question of whether they are.  Cogito ergo sum.

In Zone Bounty, Janet is unexpectedly overcome with emotion that Charlotte and Valentina are alive, which is weird.  Is she feeling proxy guilt for a version of herself killing them?  At any rate, Charlotte and Valentina relate their experience, though Chang and Janet aren't buying what Aurora is selling.  As Chang says, of course Aurora is going to advocate a position discouraging anyone from invading America.  Janet also points out it's a convoluted way of getting to a pretty obvious message.  (It is indeed, Janet.)

As the team continues through the forest of corn, Chang uses the device Future Chang handed him, enabling him to contact the PAPZ ships just off the California coastline.  Dun-dun-DUN!

X-O Manowar Unconqured #1:  I know little of Aric of Dacia, but I heard this miniseries was a good introduction to him.  It is, though I'm not sure it's a good thing.

Under orders, a soothsayer (whose name we later learn is Nimane) tells her emperor (whose name we later learn is Ursus Nox) her vision of Aric surrounded by a sea of bodies.  Distrurbed, she refuses to consider the scene more, so the frustrated Nox pushes for her to focus on the present and tell him where Aric is now.  She reveals that he and his armor, Shanhara, are trying to prevent a comet from striking Earth.

Turning to Aric, he and Shanhara succeed, crashing onto a frozen planet that Aric dubs Scythia.  Shanhara scans the comet's remains and reveals that it was a mand-made explosive meant for them not Earth.  (I’m not sure how she knew it was meant for them but details.)  Aric informs Shanhara that they have to stay on Scythia until the enemy presents itself lest they endanger Earth.

Back at Nox's HQ, one of his generals, Cadmus, suggests to Commander Aurum that they have a backup plan if they're unable to pry Shanhara off Aric.  Cadmus complains that Shanhara is a legend with which Nox is obsessed, and Aurum warns him that he's tip-toeing on the line between loyalty and treason.  

Later, on Scythia, Nox’s troops arrive and reveal to Aric that Nox rules the Imperium Novus Romanus.  Aric is surprised to encounter Romans.  That said, I’m not sure they're really are or if they picked bait they knew Aric the Visigoth would take, given Cadmus and Aurum fear Aric has figured out it’s a trap.  Otherwise, I'm not sure what the trap is.  

Re-reading the recap, this issue sounds more exciting than it felt reading it.  I mostly  felt like I was just getting an AI-generated story about a Visigoth fighting the Romans in space.  I’m going to bail here while the bailing is good.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The March 15 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #3:  Thompson and McClaren deliver yet another spectacular issue as Thompson dives more into Kiros' history and precarious present.  

Over noodles, Phaedra exposits to Pax that people resent the Black Cloaks because law and order is a new concept in Kiros.  She stresses that they (the Black Cloaks) exist to prevent the sort of feuds that happened in the past, because Kiros, as the world's last city, would fail if those sorts of feuds reemerged.  It alludes to whatever happened to wipe out the rest of the world, and it seems clear that Freyal's murder is probably related to that larger reality (and not just succession politics).

In terms of that more specific mystery, Phaedra reveals that the scar on Freyal's tattooed arm was over the symbol for honor, meaning, as Pax says, he might've had something to confess.  Apparently Freyal and Phaedra had a secret spot in the Trees, so Phaedra explains that she's come there because Freyal might've left a message for her at the spot.  After Pax pleads with her to let him help her, she tells him about how the Kiros Three were in her apartment and tried to pin the murder on the dracona.  Pax tells her that the toxicology screen came back saying that Freyal had poison in his system and said poison used dracona blood as its base.  Given two dracona daggers are involved (presumably Thompson means the one used on Freyal and the one used on Phaedra), they agree someone is trying really hard to make it look like the dracona did it.

Pax carries Phaedra to the secret spot and asks how they go there without wings.  He correctly surmises they used "tech wings," which prompts him to comment on how he forgot how different their lives were...before.  Underscoring how tech exists here, Freyal's message is a hologram.  He confesses that he started unraveling after Phaedra left.  His mother became more distant, refusing to see him as a potentially good king.  But he unwound completely when he "found it."  He didn't know what to do, but he knew that he couldn't bring the information directly to Phaedra or "they'd" kill her.  It seems pretty clear that he killed himself as he contemplates ways of getting the message to her.  

As the Brownout ends, a flash of white light destroys the hologram, which Pax notes is their second "bright flash of light" (per the kids' testimony last issue).  They depart and, in the distance, a winged figure follows them.

During an interlude at the castle, Phaedra's friend Valorie is called before her professor, Master Ividor, after the Queen asked a question about the healing magic she used on Phaedra.  She walks him through the spells she used as well as a protection spell she created called the Hex of Solar.  Ividor is particularly interested in the purified dragon oil the spell uses, and Valorie explains that it's for regenerative purposes.  Ividor dismisses her and explains to the colleague that entered during the conversation that Phaedra survived the attack.  Dun-dun-DUN!  But Ividor doesn't think Valorie's spell was enough to save her, making it clear he may suspect she's part dracona.

At the Heights, Phaedra and Pax interview Dace's friend Renna.  Renna recognizes Phaedra as the "Black Cloak Frey was always going on about."  She noted Dace hated her because she was in love with Freyal and it was clear that he would always love Phaedra.  But Renna tells Phaedra that Freyal loved Dace as much as he could.  She tells them that dracona royals previously paid her a visit.  But Renna is street smart and knows that she could've been dealing with anyone, commenting that anyone capable of killing a prince is capable of magic that could fool her.  She remarks that there's nobody people like that can't get to, which makes Phaedra realize there is:  mermaids.

As I've previously said, it's hard to explain how dreamily wonderful this series is.  Moreover, Thompson opens up the world significantly in this issue.  Whereas before I could've seen it ending after ten or so issues, it's starting to feel like a much more immersive experience is in store for us, and I'm all for it.

The Forged #1:  I'll be honest:  the concept here is more fun than the execution.

The Forged are Her Eternal Majesty's SEALs, bred specifically to do her bidding.  We're introduced to a five-member team, which Victory leads, traveling on Her Majesty's Starfortress Her Endless Radiant Triumph.  The team's mission is to recover a black box from HMS The Ever Seeking Forward, which crashed on an uninhabited planet designated Gehenna D-54-C in the Hinterlands.  The team is skeptical about the mission, since it's pretty mundane given their usual missions.

Adding to the intrigue, the ship is carrying a Cassandra, seeresses who are part of the same breeding program as the Forged.  (She and Victory were in the same batch.)  They have telepathic powers and the Empress usually keeps them under lock and key, so everyone is curious about the fact that one is traveling on the ship with them.  The Cassandra calls for Victory and implants a memory into her brain that she then removes.  She then calls on the captain to deploy the team immediately upon arriving in realspace instead of engaging in standard security measures first.

Upon entering realspace, the Cassandra activates the memory she implanted in Victory, which prompts Victor to evacuate her team in their mecha suits immediately.  They plummet through space to Gehenna's surface while we watch the Cassandra board the deck and seemingly murder everyone.  Upon arriving on Gehenna's surface, Crazyjo spots Her Endless Radiant Triumph in ruins and plummeting towards them.  The team runs, which is how the story ends.

The back matter goes into more details about this reality, including the revelation that the Empress has lived and ruled for centuries from Homeworld in Sector Zero of the Throne Sectors.  For the most part, though, the back matter feels like a cheat, the reason why this story falls short of the heights Thompson reaches in "Black Cloak."  It's more exposition than character, but hopefully that'll improve.

No/One #1:  This story is complicated and immersive.  I love it.

Upfront, I'll mention this issue is hard to recap because it's pretty complicated.  Information unfurls slowly, so I'm going to use information provided later in the issue (particularly in the back matter) earlier than it appears, mostly to identify characters.

We begin with an artist and her boyfriend sneaking onto a patio connected to the gallery where her exhibit is opening, and they start to get busy on a couch.  (We're in Pittsburgh and it's snowing, so they must've been really horny.)  They discover a body lying on the patio as a Batman-like figure (i.e., No/One0 observes the scene from an above ledge.  

Later, at the crime scene, a detective named August Singh announces, "Fuck Richard Roe" to his partner, Kate Harper, and comments that they need to put four bullets in Roe's chest to, "send a message to all these fucking fakers."  We learn that this murder is the third murder related to a copycat, which the cops know because Roe is in prison.

The assistant police chief, named Ben Kern, arrives and learns the killer left a note in the deceased's jacket pocket.  Before he can ask the cops on the scene more questions, a cop arrives and tells Kern that Chief Mixon ordered him off the scene.  Meanwhile, a journalist named Julia Paige arrives and gets one of the cops controlling traffic outside the building to tell her that the victim is Louis Capel.  As Kern leaves, the press corps pepper him with questions, which is when we learn that his son, Aaron, is Roe.

Later, Singh and Harper speak with Capel's family. We learn that the No/One is a hactivist who engaged in a data drop last year that implicated several people in....something.  (The authors haven't made that clear yet.)  Capel's wife refers to him a builder, and it's clear the family believes that he was innocent, despite what No/One revealed in his drop.

Meanwhile, Julia learns that her bosses at the Pittsburgh Ledger want to spin off her "The Drop" site, which they set up the previous year to cover the No/One and Roe news, into a podcast.  Julia protests the podcast, because she's moved off the Metro desk to sports.  Her bosses stress that The Drop drove traffic to the Ledger's site and clearly hope the podcast will add more readers.  They've hired a guy from Edge News who helped "future-proof" that company with a similar strategy.

I'll break in here and say that Julia's reluctance to dive into this story, which stretches throughout the issue, seems ridiculous.  I don't know many journalists who would forgo their leading role in covering an internationally relevant story because they committed to covering the local sports team.  Julia also seems not to realize that print is in trouble, which, if true, means she isn't as good of a reporter as she claims.  I'd like Buccellato and Higgins to explore her motives more in future issues, because they don't really make sense to me here.

Later, at a diner, Julia argues with her boss, Teddy Barstow, because she doesn't want to be a columnist and complains about "new media divisions and over-produced audio."  As they're talking, a woman named Danielle Gaines approaches them.  At the crime scene, Julia mentioned Danielle's name, and we learn here that she's the Edge News reporter covering No/One and Roe.  Julia also notes that Danielle was part of the hacktivist group Veritas.  It's a chilly encounter, which Danielle senses and leaves.  Julia agrees to do the podcast, though I don't get why Danielle's presence seemingly convinced her.

Later, Ben meets his other son, Michael, at his wife's gravesite on her birthday.  We learn that Aaron confessed to Roe's crimes, namely killing two people, attacking a state senator, and shooting two cops.  That said, Michael seems skeptical.  Later, Ben meets Aaron in prison.  We learn the copycat who killed Capel left behind five shell casing just like Roe (though only shot Capel four times) and the note in the jacket said, "I am the real Richard Roe."  Aaron doesn't give Ben anything, so he leaves.

As Ben drives home, he listens to a broadcast where we learn Capel was the last person attacked of the four people No/One originally doxxed, joining Dr. Julian Colon, Edwin Lin, and state senator Noah Kemp (who survived).  As one of the reporters ask why no one has arrested Ben, a masked figure approaches his car with a gun.  Ben says, "Do it," and, as the figure shoots, No/One appears.  The figure (which the back material confirms is Copycat #3) and No/One engage in a fight, and an errant bullet wounds Kern.  The figure flees, and a bleeding Kern asks who No/One is.

Meanwhile, we get a series of scenes where a guy in a car is ominously approaching a target.  Buccellato and Higgins build up the tension as these scenes are interspersed with scenes of Julia, Michael, and Singh, making it unclear who the target is.  It seems like it's Singh when someone calls his name, but instead it's Harper telling him that the shell casings match the original Roe gun.  We learn Michael is the target when we see him shot on the street, surrounded, again, by five casings.  The back matters confirms Copycat #3 is the shooter and Michael died, though Ben survived.

At this point, the rest of the back matter fills in some of the blanks.  

On Aaron's "Knowpedia" page, we learn the cops booked him under the "Richard Roe" name when they busted him for possession in high school.  (He apparently spiraled after his mother died when he was 12 years old.)  Most oddly, we learn No/One prevented Aaron (or, at least, Richard Roe) from murdering Senator Kemp in his first appearance and that Aaron shot the police officers as he fled the scene.  The cops found him and items linking him to the crimes at the Carrie Blast Furnaces after an anonymous tip.  

On a timeline, Danielle is all over the initial revelations, including publishing No/One's website link for the first time.  We also learn that No/One is the one who captured Aaron at the Furnaces, apparently leaving him restrained for the police.  Danielle was the one to out Aaron as Roe a month later.  We also learn No/One apprehended the first two copycat killers, Oliver Simpson and Luke Cavanaugh, though I don't think we learn who their victims were.

In other words, it's a lot.  I love it, but only a few people (including Buccellato and Higgins) could handle a story this complicated.  That said, it's still confusing.  We've got three copycats, so four murderers, and five victims (not including the two cops Aaron or Richard Roe shot).  I could really use some photos and red string.

Star Wars:  Yoda #5:  The point of this issue, presumably, is to show how quickly a student can fall to the Dark Side, as Krrsish attacks Gheyr due to his ongoing visions that she will turn to the Dark Side and attack him.  

However, perhaps unintentionally, the issue only serves to highlight how the Jedi Order failed its youngest members.  The cover image shows Yoda drilling the students for war, a reminder of how ridiculous his and other Jedi's insistences that they were a peace-keeping force were.  Moreover, Yoda intervenes after Krrsish shoves Ghery but fails to probe deeper when Krrsish says that a vision motivated his actions.  Given the hostility between the Trandoshans and Wookiees, Yoda seemed overly confident that his admonishment that such animosity doesn't belong at the Jedi Temple would work.  

Moreover, Dooku, still a Jedi at this point in time, does little (shocker) to assuage Krrsish's anxiety.  Krrsish didn't reveal the full nature of his vision to Yoda, per Dooku's advice last issue, but Dooku knows its severity and simply advises him to keep watch.  During their conversation, Yoda warns Krrsish that anger, fear, and hate are paths to the Dark Side but clearly doesn't believe he's a true threat.  He's clearly wrong, yet again.

In other words, I'm really starting to feel like the Jedi were asking for their comeuppance.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The March 8 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Know Your Station #4:  It's definitely time to wrap up this story.  More people die, Elise doesn't have a clue, more people die.  At this point, it seems completely unbelievable that the station's residents - including the staff - aren't in a total panic over the situation.  Instead, the staff hosts a happy hour, and the resident who runs the station's servers is wandering the halls with an oversized sword she got from the "urchins" on her floor.  I don't even know.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #32:  Sacks delivers a surprisingly poignant issue here, though it involves spoiling the outcome of "Star Wars:  Hidden Empire."

The crew is fleeing Inferno Squad when it flies past the zone where the Fermata Cage was apparently destroyed in "Star Wars:  Hidden Empire" #5.  Zuckuss uses his Findsman skills to navigate the ship through the Lost Souls Asteroid Field.  However, he must enter a trance to do so and the Cage's destruction is creating interference, causing Zuckuss to lose himself in memories of his Findsman ritual.

It's here where the emotions spill from Zuckuss.  His younger self is reluctant to enter the ritual, since either way it means he will have to leave his mother.  She utters a series of clicks that she claims are an ancient ritual to instill courage, and Zuckuss asks for a last moment together.  It's really one of the most poignant moments I've seen in comics.  

Zuckuss is a runt but manages to "rid the valley of the terror of the charon," which is the monster that guards the t'karra flower that Findsman aspirants have to return to the clan.  Unfortunately, in killing the monster and saving his fellow aspirants, Zuckuss drops the flower.  The clan - including his mother - turns their backs on him.  Zuckuss swears to find his own way.

Meanwhile, For-Elloem recalls the story and mimics the ritual's sound.  Zuckuss awakens in time to navigate the team through the asteroid field, remarking to Valance that the secret is, "You just have to be always open to taking a different path."  Unfortunately, though they successfully lost Inferno Squad, Iden Versio correctly guesses the crew will head to a nearby smuggler port for repairs.

Whereas the emotional punches of the last few issues haven't really landed with me, this one does.  It'll be hard to forget - thanks to Prianto's wonderful color - Zuckuss cuddling with his mother at the issue's start only for her to turn her back on him at the end.  It's a reminder how cruel this galaxy far, far away can be.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The March 1 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Red Zone #1:  I honestly don't have too much to say about this issue since it's pretty self-explanatory.  

A (handsome as fuck) special ops captain named Simon Crow approaches Professor Randall Crane in his office and tells him that his old lover, prima ballerina assoluta Elena Sidorov, demanded his presence as a condition of her defection.  Crane accompanies Crow and his team to Russia and discovers Elena also wants her daughter (allegedly not Randall's) Nika to come with her.  

Via Crane's earpiece, Crow agrees, but the enemy arrives.  Elena leaps across the table and opens fire on the soldiers, making it clear she wasn't just a ballerina.  The enemy takes out Crow and his team as Randall escapes with Nika to an old warehouse, making it clear that he isn't just a professor.  

The story is great, but Deodata's art, as always, is the main draw.  I've always wished comics told more stories like this one.

Star Wars #32:  Holy shit, the issue is more fucking like it!  After so many issue of exposition, Soule finally returns to the type of issue where you can hear the characters speaking in the actors' voices in your head.

First things first, it's hard with characters this iconic to make other characters interesting enough that you focus on them, but the banter between the two guards watching Chewie and Lobot is reminiscent of Adam Pally's and Jason Sudeikis' in "The Mandalorian."  After discussing the mechanics of Shyriiwook, the pair agree to take Chewie (and Lobot) to Lando since he speaks Shyriiwook.  Hilariously, the minute Chewie walks into Lando's cell, he's distracted by the fact that he knows Lando and Amilyn did stuff; according to Lando, "Wookiees always pick up the vibes."

Lando brings Chewie to Blythe to explain his epiphany from last issue about the mural depicting a Nihil path engine, but Blythe dismisses it since he figures, after all these centuries, someone else would've already put two and two together.  Blythe warns Lando that hope is dangerous in No-Space.  Lando responds that he doesn't believe in hope but does believe in luck.  Arguing Chewie arriving in No-Space is the latter not the former, Lando informs Blythe that the team has a path engine back at the Great Hall.  Feeling the first bloom of hope, Blythe agrees to lend them a ship.  He refuses to risk his own people, though, so he's only going to send the team.  He's going to hold Leia at the Colony, though, so the team doesn't escape No-Space once they get the engine.  

We then begin the comedy segment of the show.  When the team discovers the condition of the ship - a bucket of bolts where Blythe once let "voidroaches" mate - they're hilarious outraged.  Later, Blythe and Leia have a similarly hilarious conversation as she updates him on the galaxy's recent events over the last 35 years.  When he asks if the people fight back against the Emperor, Leia quips, "Some."  Heh.

At the Hall, Luke leaps from the ship to distract the killdroids, prompting Lando to quip, "Just don't know about that kid sometimes."  Before Amilyn and Lando leap into the fray, they have a nice moment.  Eventually Chewie makes a break for it and grabs the path engine.  As the fight continues, Luke gets increasingly more cocky.  If he was concerned about his connection with the Force before, he isn't now.  However, before the team leaves, he decides to nab the sacred Jedi text, opening the door to a killdroid grabbing his hand and crushing his lightsaber.  Uh-oh!

Again, this issue is the first fun one we've had for a while, with Soule taking the time to show everyone's personality clearly.  He also puts them in a barely operational ship, which is basically the only way we know this crowd.  It's great stuff.

Star Wars:  Han Solo and Chewbacca #10:  It was pretty clear from the start of this endeavor that the urn was a McGuffin.  As such, the plot isn't really impacted when Greedo turns over the urn to Jabba at the issue's start.

Instead, the real drama happens in the flashback to 36 hours earlier as the various players attempt to escape each other.  Han does battle with Tyra aboard the Falcon as Akko opens fire on them, leaving Phaedra to pilot the ship (which she doesn't know how to do).  Meanwhile, Chewie and Marshall Vancto battle while Khel, Ooris, and T'onga all open fire on them.

Aboard the Falcon, Han lies and tells Tyra that the urn contained nothing, which Tyra wisely doesn't believe.  Chewie breaks free from his fight with Vancto in time to see Khel land a hit on the Falcon.  Meanwhile, Vancto gets hold of T'onga and threatens to kill her if Khel and Ooris don't surrender.  But Chewie gets the drop on them all and makes a deal to turn over Khel to Vancto if Vancto gets Chewie to the Falcon.  Aboard the Falcon, Han eventually knocks out Tyra and takes the controls in time to crash land it safely-ish.

On the ground, Han goes after an escaping Tyra, who taunts him that he's soft given how quickly he jumped at the possibility that Tyra was his dad.  As Tyra tells Han that he's too trusting, Han shoots him and he falls from the log where they're standing into the river.  Han recalls that Tyra isn't the first father figure who thought that he was soft.  (It's a nice callback to "Solo:  A Star Wars Adventure.")  Han returns to find Akko holding Phaedra at gun point, but Chewie arrives with Vancto and company.

Vancto departs to collect the bounty on Khel for her role in the Galator III heist (which I don't remember, but apparently happened in issue #1), and Han leaves Akko, Ooris, and T'onga stranded like they did to him in issue #7.  Later, he buries the neural core where Jabba won't find it and offers to take Phaedra with him to rob Augustus Graves' accounts on Scipio.  

The issue ends in the present, as Greedo tells a not-surprisingly still alive Tyra that Jabba bought their story but seemed to expect something else in the urn than the charred ronto ashes they put in it.  (Instead of 1,000,000 credits, Bib Fortuna earlier suggested he pay Greedo 80,000 credits, which is something for charred ronto ashes, I guess.)

The biggest reveal is the end page's assertion that Ajax Sigma, like Optimus Prime, will return.  Since I'm reading this issue several months (ahem, a year) late, I'm going to assume the "Star Wars:  Dark Droids" event involves him, which makes me more excited about it than I was.

I'm sad to see this series end, since it was clever and fun.  But, it's obvious we have unsettled business here, as Guggenheim never revealed how Tyra knew what he knew about Han's father.  Is he Han's father?  I'm pretty sure we'll never know, but Han'll go through some heartache nevertheless.

Star Wars:  Hidden Empire #4:  Just like "Star Wars" #32, this issue is an unexpected surprise, as Soule supercharges a story that seemed to have no point into one that seems to explain everything that we know about this galaxy far, far away.

The issue begins creepily.  Vader tells Palpatine that he felt a "great intensity of the Dark Side" in the Fermata Cage, seemingly confirming Qi'ra's assertion that the Cage contains an ancient Sith Lord.  Palpatine challenges Vader to a duel and reminds Vader that, per the Rule of Two, only two of them can survive if this Sith Lord emerges.  Palpatine expresses admiration for Qi'ra's trap, hilariously quipping, "She will be missed."  It's like a Sith "Bless your heart."

Meanwhile, Sava the Archivist is frantically flying to a "hidden, ancient place" that I believe (but can't confirm) we've seen before.  Sava tells Qi'ra that the place is filled with "both the Dark Side and abundant life" to feed the Cage, which her experiments indicate needs such fuel.  Sava tells Qi'ra she's willing to sacrifice her life for the cause, but she'd die before she could fully charge and activate the Cage.

As such, Qi'ra sets in motion her final plan.  Deathstick refuses to join the effort, as she isn't a foot solider, though Qi'ra convinces a skeptical Ren to join with the Knights after she observes that taking out the Sith is the only way they won't spend the rest of their lives on the run after attacking Vader's fortess.  She tells Cadeliah she likely won't see her again, instructing her to play a message from a disc she hands her in five days if she hasn't heard from her.  She then contacts a third entity, though we don't find out who it is in this issue.

At the Amaxine Station (the place for which Sava was searching), Sava turns on the Cage.  Meanwhile, Qi'ra delivers a rousing speech to the Dawn's troops before they head to the Station.  It's in this moment that Soule finally sells everything that he and the other authors have done with Qi'ra, as you realize that we're seeing a separate rebellion against the Empire here.  You have to wonder if Leia didn't make a catastrophic mistake not trying harder to bring Qi'ra into the Rebellion's fold when you see the resolve (and resources) she brings to the table here.

At the Station, Sava is panicked when the Executor arrives.  Palpatine taunts Vader by telling him that he can feel his desire to fight the Sith Lord allegedly inside the Cage, in part because he feels the same way.  Instead, he isn't an idiot and orders the Executor's crew to open fire on the Station.  Suddenly, the Dawn arrives!  These scenes are impressive, as you see just how many people and ships Qi'ra is throwing against the Sith.  You also get to see the commitment of the foot soldiers Deathstick so dismissed earlier in the issue as they prepare for the coming fight.  The issue ends with Palpatine and Vader arriving at the Station, so a fight they shall have!

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The February 22 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #2:  This series is, bar none, the best on the market and everyone should read it now!

We begin with Phaedra on a slab in the morgue.  She isn't dead, though.  Nida enters as Phaedra awakens and informs her that the assailant stabbed her with a dracona dagger and informs *us* that only draconas are likely to survive assaults from dracona daggers.  Dun-dun-DUN!  Phaedra mentions off-handedly that someone attacked her at the castle, and Nida interrupts her, shocked, since Phaedra hadn't told her about the attack yet.  Phaedra dismisses the castle attack as "honor bullshit" but notes that the dracona attack was definitely not that.

To explain how she isn't dead, Phaedra recalls that the elves magically healed her after the castle attack, so they could argue the magic persisted and saved her.  Nida points out the small pair of wings Phaedra grew suggests she tell everyone the truth.  Phaedra refuses, saying people will kill her mother and possibly her father.  Nida is enraged that Phaedra has to live her life in exile, fearing "honor killings and retribution at any moment," thus directly tying Phaedra's exile to her heritage.  It sounds like she had to leave to keep the secret, but I wonder what the cover story for leaving was.  Phaedra tells Nida that she likes her life, but Nida isn't buying it.

After Nida leaves, Phaedra realizes that she's next to Freyal's body.  Upon inspection, she finds a scar in his tattoo, which the computer diagnoses as probably self-inflected.  A tearful Phaedra asks his body why he would do that and laments that he's cold, noting that he always hated the cold.

In a flashback, Phaedra's mother recalls when the tattoos were a solemn rite, which she hated, because she felt bound by it.  But she says all the kids think they're cool so they love them.  Phaedra replies that she loves Freyal and the tattoo is just a bonus.  She realizes though that her mother was saying that she didn't love her father, and her mother slyly tells her that she loved her father more than anything.  Phaedra realizes that the stories don't align, but Freyal arrives in time to distract her.  They have a lovely moment but, as they kiss, Phaedra feels an itch, not realizing that her nascent wings cause it.

Leaving the morgue, Phaedra encounters Pax as he reviews the "lookie-loos" he's had to interview (and accuses Phaedra of almost getting killed just to avoid the interviews.)  

After interviewing a few lunatics together, they come to Romu and Iona, who I think are two of the hooligans who were at the Lookout last issue.  Iona tells Phaedra that they're there because mermaids get a bad rap.  Romu tells Phaedra and Pax that he and Iona stayed after the other two hooligans (Jessup and Tomig) left.  Apparently if the wind is right you can hear the mermaids, which Romu describes as a test of wills.  As they watched (Romu says they "do really cool stuff"), a figure in a "long, dark hooded cloak" floated to the beach carrying a body.  Romu then saw a flash of light, and the body was gone and the figure was already at the wall leaving.  Iona tells Phaedra that she saw the "big flash of gold light," but Romu had the spyglass so she can't confirm everything else other than that she saw a figure.

Suddenly, a noise signaling "ten ticks until the Brownout" happens, and Iona and Romu panic, telling the detectives that they have to get home before their parents get mad.  After the kids leave, Pax notes that their figure didn't have wings so he assumes it used magic to float.

At home, Phaedra realizes that she isn't alone, and three very well dressed humans reveal themselves.  The woman is surprised Phaedra senses them since they were "well cloaked."  Phaedra tells them that she knows who they are:  the woman is Elea Veris, and the men are Galal III of Veris and Aldric II of Solas.  Phaedra describes them as the three most powerful humans in Kiros.  

Galal is apparently the next in life for the throne now that Freyal is dead, which is an interesting political arrangement.  Phaedra notes that it would shift power from the elves to humans for the first time.  Galal tells Phaedra that they want their names cleared so they don't ascend the throne under a scandal, and Phaedra notes that the Queen is still alive and will outlive them all.  Galal responds with a muted, "Of course," instantly putting our suspicion on them (particularly given that they're magic users).  

When Phaedra asks what they want, Galal responds that they don't want anything from her:  they want to give her a "nice juicy lead."  Next, Phaedra is exiting her apartment and calling Pax to meet her at the Trees, where he apparently already is.  She passes through a beautiful gate warning non-fliers to proceed with caution and takes a ferris wheel-like elevator into the Trees.  Cryptically, the issue ends with Phaedra saying to the camera (if you will), "Let's see what you can tell me yourself, Freyal."

As I mentioned last issue, the world-building here is spectacular.  Thompson has created a world so full of detail that it feels impossible that we'd ever come to grasp its full historical, political, and social realities, even in 100 issues.  Moreover, we get most of this information not through expository monologuing but through character development.  Moreover, McLaren's love of the story is clear in each line she draws and color she paints.

 Again, I can't recommend it enough.

Dragon Age:  The Missing #2:  I don't particularly remember Solas as turning people to stone, but I might've glossed over that detail after learning that he was the elven god responsible for creating the Fade.  But it's a relevant piece of data, since Varric and Harding arrive at Lady Crysanthus' estate in Vyrantium to discover her petrified (and the Antaam sieging Vyrantium).  After shaking down Crysanthus' valet, Varric and Harding discover a secret room showing her efforts to help the Venatori make a strike against the Imperium.  (I'm assuming she'd benefit from a Venatori-led Imperium.)  She and the Venatori sought the Crucious Stone, some sort of elven magical artifact in the Arlathan forest, where only a few Dalish tribes reside.  It seems clear now that the invitation we saw at the end of last issue is one Crysanthus sent the Venatori and Solas intercepted.  To Arlathan we go!

Local Man #1:  I picked up this series because I loved Seeley's work on "Grayson" and "Nightwing," and I'm thrilled I did.  Like Seely, I was a 15 year old (well, 16 year old) kid when "Youngblood" hit the stands, and I couldn't have been more excited.  I didn't totally understand it, and the focus on sex made me nervous.  (Shaft made me feel...things second only to the way Spartan from "WildC.A.T.s" made me feel...things.)  Like Seeley says here, it felt freeing to see Liefeld tell the story that he wanted to tell, one of the first times that comics seemed to depict superheroes the way that they'd likely exist in reality.

I'm thrilled to say Seeley and Fleecs capture that feeling in a bottle here.  First, they ramps up my excitement when Jack's mother asks him if he's tried getting Brigade or Cyberforce to hire him.  The authors doesn't just get the vibe of that Imageverse (which they totally get) but make it clear we're actually in that universe.  I enjoyed Chad Bowers' reboot of "Youngblood," as it was filled with the same bold-faced narrative and brightly colored action as the original series were.  But Seeley and Fleecs are taking the vibe of that era and infusing it with...well, a plot.  The art drives home this point, as the issue's color palette is subdued when portraying Jack's present and bold when portraying Third Gen.

Getting to the basics, the aforementioned "Jack" is Jack Xaver, formerly Crossjack of Third Gen.  Third Gen enterprises fired Jack for reasons that aren't clear.  It *is* clear that he's a disgrace, something his mother actually calls him when he arrives home.  (Also driving home that point is when a guy recognizes him sitting at the bus stop and yells out, "Fuck Crossjack.")  Jack escapes home for a bar where a guy named Hodag busts past the bouncer.  Jack thinks he wants to fight him and doesn't give Hodag a chance to reveal that he's there to tell him about a "place" he went.

After Jack gets thrown from the bar, his high-school sweetheart Inga takes him to her diner.  You get the sense that Inga isn't as happy as her Facebook page implies she is, but their conversation is interrupted when Third Gen appears to serve Jack papers for using a shield in his fight, contrary to his agreement.  Jack declines Inga's offer of a ride home (possibly because he knows something might develop) and is surprised to find to his parents' elderly dog, Pepper, in a field.  Pepper is more than she appears:  Jack swears she was 14 years old when he left home, and she evades the projectile he throws at her in the field despite his later insistence that he never misses.

But Pepper isn't the only mystery, as someone kills Hodag in his cell as he's yet again talking about how he's hoping to tell Jack about the place that can make the pain disappear.

All in all, it's a wonderful start.  I'm here for where Seeley and Fleece are taking us.

Star Wars:  Yoda #4:  This series is taking the vignette approach of similar series, though the recent "Star Wars:  Obi-Wan Kenobi" series felt more coherent than this one.  

Starting off this arc, Yoda invites Count Dooku to spend time with the recent class of Padawans.  Dooku becomes the confidante of a Wookiee Padawan who had a vision that the Trandoshians were going to massacre his people.  It's notable because one of the Wookiee's friends is a Trandoshian, which Yoda sees as evidence of what Jedi training can achieve by removing Padawans from their people's prejudices.  When the Wookiee tells Dooku about his vision, Dooku suggests the young Wookiee tell no one of his vision, alluding to the fate of Sifo-Dyas, his old yet seemingly estranged friend.

It's all fine, but it feels more like AI-generated fan-fiction right now than anything else.  Like the first arc, I don't particularly feel like I've gotten any insight into Yoda himself.  It's mostly Yoda being Yoda.

Undiscovered County #23:  Snyder and Soule are vamping here, as we don't really learn anything new.  

Future Chang and future Janet bring Present Chang and Present Janet to a movie theater to reveal the world's greatest secret, whatever it was that they saw in America that made them decide to kill Ace, Charlotte, and Daniel.  However, Ace arrives with a souped up Buzz and ruins the party before we can learn more.

In the flashback (flash forward?), Future Chang and Future Janet reveal that they only need to stop Charlotte and Daniel from reaching the center of the Spiral (and not necessarily to prevent them from leaving America with the Sky cure).  Future Ace has Future Valentina flee, which she does, but Future Valentina doesn't reveal why Future Chang and Future Janet let her live out her days in the Empire.  She tells Present Ace that she doesn't know why they decided to act agains their colleagues, so I guess she wasn't a risk.

In the past, Charlotte and Valentina swipe Lavant's tablet, which controls time, and escape through a variety of timelines until Lavant attacks them at Gettysburg.  I don't really get the physics here, to be honest.  Lavant told Charlotte and Valentina that Aurora was able to create all these timelines, but he actually becomes Abraham Lincoln, implying a higher level of manipulation than I thought.  I guess that makes sense, since the whole point of Zone History is to manipulate events to see how they create different outcomes.

This arc still remains intriguing, as it feels like the "greatest secret" will change what we understand about how Aurora works and where the team fits into her plans.  But it's time to get there.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The February 15 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars #31:  This issue isn't particularly exciting, as Soule spends most of it setting up the narrative framework for where we go from here.  But it does give me hope for future issues now that he's accomplished that task.

The issue begins with the Kezarat Colony's leader - a green-skinned, one-eyed humanoid named Captain Blythe - expositing the Colony's history to the team.  He describes the convoy's initial encounters with the Nihil and their Killdroids and the original colonists' suspicion that the Nihil had technology allowing them to come and go from No-Space.  The original colonists eventually raided the Nihil's home base, the Great Hall, but found only the Killdroids.  To this day, the Colony doesn't know whether the Nihil left No-Space or the Killdroids eradicated them.

Blythe's surprisingly human-looking son, Forvan, expresses disdain for Blythe leaving out the most important part (to him) of the tale, of a Jedi finding her way to the Colony and helping it fight off the Nihil.  Blythe explains Forvan and others believe in a legend that a Jedi will one day free them and asks Luke to let Forvan down easy.  When Luke tries, Forvan isn't having it.  (Of course, *we* know that Forvan is right, so...)

Meanwhile, Chewie offers to go through the Colony's records to see if other people missed a clue, which Blythe agrees to let him do...in six months, when they start thinking like "olds" instead of "news."  Blythe then separates the team into three groups:  Chewie and Lobot, who sit around quietly; Holdo and Lando, who make out; and Leia and Luke, who discuss Luke's anxiety over leaving the sacred Jedi text on Holdo's ship.  The issue ends with Chewie realizing that the glowing green light on the mural that Forvan showed them (the one that depicts the Jedi) is the Nihil path engine.

In addition to this issue's exposition, we thankfully get some characterization, particularly through Lando and Holdo's flirting.  Lando asks if Holdo has any cards for them to play, and she tells him that she wouldn't play cards with him after everything she's heard about him from Leia.  Lando laments that he feels stuck as the person that he was because no one believes that he is trying to change.  Holdo encourages him not to worry about what other people think of him, a little disingenuous given she's the only who dismissed him based on what other people said about him.  Maybe that's why she made out with him.

At any rate, hopefully we'll get some action - and not just Lando and Holdo's version of it - next issue.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #31:  This issue's suspense coms from the fact that Valance is almost a match for Vader, but, of course, Vader eventually gets the upper hand.  Vader being Vader, he doesn't just get the upper hand by physically besting Valance; he also destroys the village that Valance spared last issue.  In so doing, he underscores for Valance the Empire's ability to negate his attempts to be a hero.  

Haydenn volunteers to serve as Valance's executioner but instead uses her cybernetic eye to shoot him in a way that he'd survive and conveniently send him off a cliff where T'onga and her crew can collect him.  Later, on Vader's ship, Haydenn dispatches Inferno Squad to track down Valance.  

Meanwhile, on Corellia, as she listens to underlings plotting to replace her with Cadelia, Vukorah recalls her father forcing her as a child to kill her cat to prove her loyalty to the Unbroken Clan.

Overall, it's a solid issue, but I still feel like we're missing something.  For example, I felt barely anything when Haydenn and Valance ended their relationship at gun point, because I don't really feel like Sacks did anything to convince me they really cared for the other one (despite their declarations here).  It's probably a reflection of the fact we have way too much characters.  Hopefully with Valance with T'onga's crew Sacks can focus the lens a little more tightly.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The February 8 Edition - Part 2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Miracleman by Gaiman and Buckingham:  The Silver Age #4:  This issue stalls us a bit, as we don't gain any new insights into the story that Gaiman is telling.  Instead, two adolescents - Phon Mooda and Dickie Dauntless - ponder why they can't quite put their finger on what feels wrong about this world.

First, Phon Mooda is called before the Black Warpsmiths, a trio of enormous Warpsmiths who are connected to each other and, we learn, created the other Warpsmiths.  They ask Phon Mooda for her thoughts about the "confluent world" rather than the facts she usually delivers.  She confesses that something about the world seems wrong, though she can't yet define it.  They ask about the Miraclechildren, and, except for Winter, Phon Mooda dismisses the others as focused on "entertaining" themselves and little more.  

We then get some cryptic alien speak, as the Black Warpsmiths ask her about the Qys and she tells them that the Qys "never understood how the Cuckoo Seed was fertile to begin with."  (Sure.)  Phon Mooda admits that, unlike other worlds, this one doesn't seem to mature, opining that "this relatively short experiment may actually be winding up."  The Black Warpsmiths inform her that something Phon Mooda calls "the Whisper" at the edge of the Universe merits their attention.  She leaves their presence.

Meanwhile, Dickie asks Tom Caxton if Miracelman did anything to make him want to stop being Mister Master.  Caxton obviously doesn't understand why Dickie asks this question and instead narrates his realization that he had gotten everything he ever wanted and didn't know what happened next, which is why he asked for the Gold Kryptonite.  Caxton tells Dickie that he knows that he's Young Miracleman and asks him what his real name is, provoking Dickie to realize, seemingly or the first time, that it probably isn't Dickie.  

Meta-maid arrives and informs Dickie that sexy, sexy Jason is ready to leave and confides to Caxton that she's going with Dickie because she's tired of being around "superfucks."  Hauntingly, she says that it's "so nice to be around someone who knows who they are."

In the post-script story, Miracleman reviews Dickie's past to try to find evidence of what he's missing, as Avril earlier suggested that maybe it wasn't Miracleman but something else he wanted.  He reviews Miracelman's first encounter with Young Nastyman but finds nothing to light a path for him.

In other words, Gaiman is flagging a central mystery that we maybe didn't realize yet was a mystery.  Phon Mooda, Dickie, and Miracleman are all looking for something that explains an absence they feel, which implies that it's something bigger than just Miracleman's machinations.  We'll see.

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #31:  OMG, we're *finally* starting to get somewhere here.  

After yet another issue of Vader playing with his food, he and the Handmaidens finally force Jul Tambor to flee and rescue to Sabé.  Pak reveals that Vader's motive is really to find a consort that he thought he had in Padmé, as we see through flashbacks of his confrontation with Padmé on Mustafar as well as his imaginings of how it could've gone if Padmé accepted his offer to rule the galaxy.  Acting on these feelings, Vader holds the rest of the Handmaidens in a Force Grip as he offers Sabé a place by his side.  

Again, it's taken *way* too long to get here, but I'm glad we're finally here.

Star Wars:  Hidden Empire #3:  I remember not being particularly impressed with this series, which is surprising given how much I like Charles Soule.  But this issue is solid.  

Chanath Cha and her team, the Orphans, arrive on whichever planet it is where the Archivist finds herself to save her and the Fermata Cage.  (No one particularly seems to care about her assistant, Kho Phon Farrus.)  Chanath has apparently spent her life trying to get close to Vader to avenger her parents, so she and Sear stay to take on Vader while Imara Vex and Ladybright accompany the Archivist and Kho to their ship.  Vader unsurprisingly kills Sear and knocks Imara off the ship (to an uncertain fate).  Ladybright plans on saving Chanath (and disobeying Qi'ra), but the Archivist disassembles her in order to stay safe from Vader.  As brutal as it seems, the Archivist is smart in doing so, as Vader easily kills Chanath.

This issue is about more than just getting the Archivist from Vader.  It's also a rumination on how revenge motivates so many people in this galaxy far, far away, though they seldom get to see their first for it satisfied.  Vader notes that Chanath sacrifices her whole life to get her the point where she could stop Vader, but, of course, all the time she stopped him not at all.  Similarly, Qi'ra notes to Cadeliah that Chanath thought she was the main character in her own story, when really she was just a side character in Qi'ra's (and not even a character in Vader's).  It's brutal but true.  

Of course, we all know that Qi'ra is a side character in Vader's life.  Soule is pretty much winking to the audience on this point, stressing what we all know except for Qi'ra, that this damned fool idealistic crusade ends poorly for her.

Storm and the Brotherhood of Mutants #1:  Storm recounts the fall of Arakko as Sinister finally launches his invasion, blaming augmented Skrull troops for the attack.  She's recounting these events from the remains of Arakko - an asteroid archipelago - as she berates Destiny for advising her not to attack Sinister and Krakoa when she wanted, ten years earlier.

Of course, it turns out "Destiny" is Mystique, who informs Storm about Sinister manufacturing Moira clones, including one created ten years ago.  Storm and company travel to Muir Island with Sinister, where Whiz Kid uses technology he created - and Storm recognizes as not the same as his usual technology - to teleport away Sinister's lab.  But it turns out "Taki" was Mystique (again), and she kills Storm once the lab is transported to the World Farm, where Destiny and Orbit Stellaris await.  (She was clearly using Sinister's technology instead of Taki's, addressing Storm's suspicion.)

We learn that Destiny is doing everything because this timeline is the only one where Mystique lives, a reminder that she is a villain at her core.  Not only did she advise Storm not to attack Sinister ten years ago, she has Mystique steal the lab because Sinister was going to reset this timeline the next day when he loses a Quiet Council vote.  (I don't get how he could lose a vote to people he controlled, but I'll allow the mulligan because I liked this issue.)

The remaining questions from this issue is what the force field at the center of Sinister's lab hid.  Next issue jumps 100 years, a reminder that the team is telling a story related to the X3 timeline that Hickman showed us in "Powers of X."