Minor Threats II: The Fastest Way Down #2: OK, I was kind of down on this enterprise after I didn't like "The Alternates," but, holy shit, we go interesting places fast here.
The issue starts with us meeting Snakestalker's partner, the Reptilian, which I wasn't expecting. I thought Insomniac killed him (motivating Snakestalker's participation in the first series' events), but it turns out he "simply" put the Reptilian in traction. The Reptilian recalls that day, watching from his hospital bed as Snakestalker told him that he was going to go kill Stickman (and not the Insomniac, which we'll address below). It turns out it was the last time the Reptilian saw him.
Anyway, the Action are making their way through roughing up the crowd at the super-villain bar where the Reptilian is drinking. He interrupts the melee by telling them he'll help them. It turns out the Reptilian is carrying a grudge against Frankie because no one mentioned Snakestalker's name after the event of "Minor Threats" #4. The Reptilian couldn't find out any information about him, and the Action's leader, Bite Boy, tells him that they couldn't get Brain Tease to confess anything, either. Bite Boy exposits that several of the Action's members trained under the Insomniac, which is how they know Brain Tease couldn't have killed him.
The Reptilian tells Bite Boy that he had Brain Tease tailed in prison. The tail managed to record Frankie's conversation with Brain Tease (as we saw last issue), which the Reptilian passes onto the Action. Bite Boy acknowledges the Reptilian is right when he says that Frankie is untouchable, but the Reptilian suggests they fuck up her business and drag her into the light.
It's clear that the Reptilian's plan will work as we shift to a furious Frankie standing at Brain Tease's bedside. Scalpel wants to kill him, but Frankie refuses, saying they live by the Code and she promised Brain Tease she'd protect him. (Also he clearly didn't squeal given his condition.) Later, Frankie confesses to her ex-husband that she feels like she's losing herself after she "went through a thing a while ago" (i.e., killing the Insomniac). He suggests that she keeps herself focused on their daughter and him, using them as her compass. (The comment is flirty and amps up the tension given the hint from last issue that he's interested in rekindling their relationship.)
Meanwhile, the Reptilian tells us that he and Snakestalker fell in love while they were both Stickboys (i.e., Stickman's henchmen). It's why Snakestalker decided to go kill Stickman instead of the Insomniac as he blamed him not only for the abuse they suffered under him but also for pushing the Insomniac to the point where he was so violent that he hurt the Reptilian.
Eventually, the Action bust up one of Frankie's operations, and Bite Boy has one of her minions call Frankie to tell her. Frankie takes the bait, but thankfully for her Scalpel battles her across Redport trying to convince her not to be a fucking idiot. Frankie insists the Action knows the truth, which Scalpel correctly notes is obviously not true given they're baiting her. Honestly, Frankie is so nuts that I'm like, Scalpel, girl, you deserve better. But Scalpel eventually calms down Frankie by professing her true love for her.
At the docks, the Action is furious Frankie isn't coming. The Reptilian recalls the night Snakestalker told him that he wanted to start a family, that they'd be better fathers than their own fathers. The Reptilian reflects on how he didn't just lose Snakestalker that night: he lost a family that never got to be. Blum and Oswald make his pain so palpable that you're really almost rooting for him. He decides the next move is for the kids to go after Frankie's mom, which they think will be easy because she's an old woman. Of course, as they arrive, we see the Jack-in-the-Box gun-wielding Loretta waiting for them. Ha. Go, Loretta.
Space Ghost #1: I loved Space Ghost as a kid, and I was thrilled when I saw that this series got great reviews. I'm happy to report, I totally agree with them.
The intro page establishes the larger setting, that we're dealing with a Galactic Federation where scientists mostly occupy the colonies in the galaxy's outer reaches and pirates prey upon them. This status quo is evident in the issue's first few pages, as pirates overrun Space Colony Omicron. Sexy AF Dr. Jarrod Kepler calls the Galactic Patrol for help but tells his children, Jace and Jana (!), that he doesn't think the Patrol is coming to help. After expositing that Jace takes engineering classes and Jana blaster training, Kepler erases the lab's mainframe. Before opening the door, he tells the kids that they need to protect Blip as he's extremely important and that he loves them. Once he opens the door, the pirates immediately shoot him and enter the lab
Jace and Jana hide with Blip as Brago, Lurker, One-eye, and Tansut enter to collect a bounty, which is apparently 50,000 credits for a prototype of some sort. Suddenly, someone sets Brago on fire and freezes Lurker. Space Ghost emerges from the shadows and beats up One-Eye and isn't surprised to see that they're working for Robo Corp. Space Ghost notices the kids, and they run in panic. Jace sends some drones after a pursuing Space Ghost and Jana manages to shoot him as Jace opens up a locked door.
Entering the hangar, they encounter two people wearing huge "Daft Punk" helmets. Realizing the kids mistake them for Galactic Patrol, the pair get Jace to tell them that he's pretty sure the pirates are after Blip, or Binary Language Integrated Prototype, as he "could revolutionize brain medicine or even artificial intelligence!" The pair then take off their helmets, revealing old school Space Ghost villain (Captain) Brak and his brother, Captain Sisto.
Before the pair can off the kids, Space Ghost crashes through the ceiling. Brak stays to handle Space Ghost and sends Sisto after Jace, who Jan sent running with Blip. Seeing a jet, Jace has Blip lure Sisto behind the engines and then alights them, frying Sisto. (I'm surprised Jace has the siblings' first kill.) Meanwhile, Brak figures out Space Ghost's condensed particle shield will amplify a subsonic grenade, knocking Space Ghost off his feet. But Jan manages to grab one of the blasters Space Ghost lost in the melee and freezes the grenade, allowing Space Ghost to beat up Brak.
Reunited, the kids are in tears in their grief. They note that they've lost everyone but, putting back on his bracelet, Space Ghost says, "Not everyone." Dun-dun-DUN!
The Whisper Queen: A Blacksands Tale #1: This issue picks up immediately after "White Trees" #2, with Krylos having just murdered the king.
The man who took charge of the council after the king's death approaches Javro, the king's former assassin, in her cell and tells her that the council is trying to figure out its next steps given the king left no heirs. He informs her that Krylos killed the king and Dahvlan and Scotiar were his accomplices. The man says that he can't free her from her life imprisonment, because the "king's wishes transcend his death," but he's hoping her allegiance to the kingdom means she'll give them a hint about the enemies the king created in his lifetime. Unfortunately, she reminds him of his own words —that the king's wishes "extend past his life" — so her secrecy does as well. The man seems to accept that, grudgingly, though tells her that he's sending "The Dark Whisper" after them, "among others."
In a flashback, the king tells his wife, who's holding a baby, that he needs to do one more thing before bed. In the hallway, Javro appears from the shadows to meet him. The king begins to ask if her latest mission was easy but, seeing the blood splattered all over her, realizes it wasn't. He tells her that the mission was necessary, though, because — and the camera flashes to his wife holding the baby — "there are enemies all around." Given the man in the first scene said the king died without heirs, it's pretty clear something happens to the baby.
Later, Javro's partner , Jerohn, arrives to visit and is surprised that the guards are scurinizing what he brings with him — he tells him that he's bringing an applewood muffin and a nightberry muffin, as always. Jehron surmises that something is happening, noting both the guards' thoroughness and that Mak-ko, their son, was "called away." Jehron is surprised when Javro is shocked at that news, noting that she knows that he was following in her footsteps. Realizing the Dark Whisper will harm Mak-ko if he gets in its way, Javro tells Jerohn that it's time for the applewood muffin. We then fast-forward to Jehron on the ground foaming at the mouth and Javro calling the guards for help. She then makes quick work of the guards and feeds Tehran the nightberry muffin, the cure to his applewood allergy. (Very clever.) She leaves immediately but tells Jehron to make it to their place in Windholding.
Before she enters a bakery, Javro recalls assassinating someone. When she eventually enters, the person behind the counter, Allou, recognizes her. Allou's partner, Telkwa, then emerges from the kitchen. Javro simply tells Telkwa that "it's happening," and Telkwa agrees to leave with Javro.
Before they leave, Telkwa brings them to find Waltax, her daughter and Mako's best friend. (Javro is less than pleased by this development.) Telkwa thinks it's cute that their children are friends, though Javro crankily asserts that they bring out the worst in each other. Telkwa claims they were just like the kids at their age, and Javro disagrees, nothing they were drafted into a war.
At the doorstep of a bar, Telkwa tells Javro that she's a liberal mother but Javro should enter alone. I think we all know where we're going: orgy time! Before she enters, Javro uses some sort of Jedi Mind Trick on the guard and then it's all boobs and cocks. Waltax is an enormous woman, like Allou, and she's telling the end of a story as she holds a naked man and woman on either arm. Waltax shouts in excitement when she sees "Auntie Ro," but Javro gets right to the point and asks where Mak-ko is. Waltax says he's on a bounty somewhere and is a pro so wouldn't want his mommy helping. Javro says he isn't a pro but a child, and Waltax isn't buying it, affirming that he's a pro and, for good measure, reminding Javro that she wouldn't know what a pro is because she wasn't "pro enough." Heh. Love Waltax.
When Javro tells Waltax the Dark Whisper is on the same case, Waltax calls bullshit, saying the Whisper isn't real, but follows Javro from the club. Of course, she's immediately embarrassed that her mother is waiting outside, particularly when Telkwa tells her that she hopes she "played safe" in there and then waxes poetic about how much she loved such places when she was young.
The trio gets on the road, and Waltax is impressed when Javro's old badge gets them past a checkpoint. Javro once again rambles like an insufferable Boomer about how the badge represents "a responsibility earned" and Waltax is like, Fuck you, I'll go "scout ahead" in Wildtown. Telkwa reminds Javro once again that they were that way once, and this time Javro agrees but notes that the time was fleeting because the world "crashed down around us." Telkwa reminds Javro they fought that war so their children could live their lives so she should let them actually enjoy said lives or their suffering had no point.
In a flashback, a younger Javro and Telkwa are at a festival, and Mak-ko asks if he and Telkwa can follow a parade to Talahan. Javro tells them just to wait in Talahan when they arrive, and Telkwa marvels at the five years of peace. As Javro joins in the marveling, she catches site of three figures in robes and mutters to Telkwa that, "Something's wrong..."
In the present, the pair arrive in Wildtown and find Waltax hitting on a girl in an alley. (Notably, they find Waltax after Telkwa apparently takes a risk in casting a minor spell. "A tiny spell, so a tiny cost," she says. Also of note, Waltax is using the same pick-up line she used at the club.) Waltax tells Javro that she wasn't just hitting on people but did what Javro told her to do: she's staking out the business of the cobbler, the man Mak-ko was supposed to see.
Javro immediately mutters, "Delvane," and she and Telkwa enter the store only for a bouncing frogman (i.e., Delvane) to attack them. Telkwa eventually gets him wrapped around a chair, and Javro expresses surprise because she thought he died at Orchid Falls. Javro demands to know where Mak-ko is and observes Delvane likely also helped Dahvlan and Scotiar. Telkwa tells Delvane that she'll end him if he doesn't help, since Mak-ko is like a son to her, warning him that she's still Telkwa the Wild. From the corner of her eye, Javro catches the site of a red light and looks to see someone that looks like a female Grey Gargoyle wearing a broken face mask. (The part that doesn't cover her face has the glowing red eyes that caught Javro's attention.) Javro then mutters, "The Dark Whisper." Uh-oh!
After reading this issue, I re-read "White Trees," which I recommend everyone does since it's so wonderful. I'll note the only reference to that series here — other than the king's murder — is that Krylos' wife died in the "slaughter of Orchid Falls" (mentioned in issue #1), where Javro thought Delvane died as well. It also took me a minute to connect the title of the series to the Dark Whisper, so it seems clear that the king's wife somehow became the Whisper. I don't think this story is a happy one.
