Ten-Month-Old Comics! The June 21 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Red Zone #4:  This series is one of the few I've read where the tension just never wanes.  Every page is as propulsive as the previous one.

We begin with Volkov sending another assassin after Crane, this time a cowboy-obsessed one named Maxim.  Meanwhile, Deidre is trying to find a way to extract Crane and Nika.  Abramov promises to keep them safe, and he and Randall take a walk through the deserted town surrounding Abramov's dacha, remembering the old times.  Surprising no one, though, Abramov alerted Volkov to Crane's presence, and Deidre warns Crane just in time.  Abramov asks Crane to forgive him as they are in "new days" but dies after drinking wine Belov poisoned.  (This part is a little unbelievable, given that Belov had to plan for Crane arriving at Abramov's and Abramov serving exactly that wine to Crane at some point.)

Crane and Nika escape to the nearby town with Maxim in pursuit.  Maxim is poised to kill Crane when, surprising me (and Crane), Vasiliev the cyborg and Milena the sniper stop him so they can kill Crane.  Vasiliev kills Maxim, Milena shoots Vasiliev, and Nika kills Milena (quipping that she "didn't even need a special bullet," an allusion to Milena's rocket-powered bullets).  A dying Vasiliev puts Milena's body in his lap and confesses that he loved her, wishing he had told her or she had noticed.  He dies, and Nika confesses that she feels badly for them.  

As the reader, I do, too.  Abramov made it clear that they've all suffered under this new Russia, their years of "expense accounts" and "fancy suits" ended.  Crane might've missed the old days but clearly built a new life for himself.  Volkov, Vasiliev, Milena, and Abramov were all still living in the past, given how much better it was then the present.  It's an example of Bunn's excellent writing where the "villains" aren't just revenge-motivated communists.

Speaking of Volkov, he arrives and engages in a fist fight with Crane.  They both delight in the battle, to the point where Crane lets him live because he hasn't felt so alive in years.  He pledges to return once he gets Nika out safely.  The issue ends with Deidre and Nika watching Crane teach his class back in New York.  Deidre asks Nika if she's going to tell Crane the truth, that he's her father, but Nika demurs.  Deidre tells her that she's going to give him the last known location of Belov, signaling that they all know his days of "laying low" are over.  Deidre is also Nika's handler now, so we're moving into "Alias" territory here, which I fully support.

Again, it was really a fantastic mini-series and I'm thrilled we're getting another installment.  I can't recommend it highly enough.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #35:  This issue is great, a return to everything I want this series to be.  

T'onga sells the Edgehawk to pay her crew and hire her former boss, Khel Tanna of "Star Wars:  Han Solo and Chewbacca" fame.  She needs to find Boba Fett, whom she thinks can help restore Valance's memory.  Tanna's associate, a Clawdite named Catak, starts a bar fight in the Bounty Hungers Guild Social Club, and Tanna hires the last two bounty hunters standing, Deathstick and a Gen'Dai named Surge.

On the Enigma Catalyst, Valance is trying to draw the faces he remembers, and Bossk snaps at a Clawdite who makes fun of Valance, warning him to let Valance grieve his loss.  It's an interesting turn of events given these two guys were ready to kill each other last issue.  

The raid on Boba Fett's hideout goes as poorly as expect, though T'onga gets over her fear of him and disarms him.  (He is *smoking* hot here thanks to Medina and Prianto.)  He agrees to help so long as they do a favor for him first, which I'm sure won't be complicated or dangerous at all.

Again, this series has been struggling for a while so I'm thrilled to see it find its footing.

Star Wars:  Darth Vader - Black, White, and Red #3:  This issue is probably the best of all these "Black, White, and Red," series.  

Aaron's Vader story wraps up as expected, with Vader using his powers to take out Cyn and his allies.  But it's Johnson's story of Vader using a transport full of Rebel soldiers' family members to destroy their base and Bernadin's of Vader forcing a Rebel spy to become a double agent to save her family (even if she could never speak to them again) that underscore how far Anakin fell.  

I often struggle with depictions of Vader, because it's hard to see Anakin in there.  But in both these stories you can see where Anakin's overconfidence - which we saw in "Star Wars:  Yoda" #8 - leads him to play with his food, as he so often does, in his pursuit of order.  It's unusual to get one story to push that point so elegantly, so it's a treat to get two doing so here.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The May 17 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

No/One #3:  As someone who's read each issue at least twice and listened to the first podcast, even I'm pretty confused about the plot at this stage.  It feels like Higgins & Buccellato are throwing way too many characters and mysteries at us.  I'm going to group this recap into sub-plots since I think it's an easier way to discuss the story, but I'm still grasping at straws at trying to make sense of it all.

• Kenny Chobsky:  
• The issue focuses mostly on a guy named Kenny Chobsky who killed a guy named Chris O'Neil.  The incident occurred after Chobsky stalked O'Neil due to "online threats" O'Neil made against Chobsky.  As far as I can tell, we never learn why O'Neil was threatening Chobsky; we just learn that O'Neil threatened to SWAT Chobsky's house.  We get this information through some talking heads on a Fox News program that Teddy is watching in his office when Julia enters.  Of note, the show's host is Julia's mother.
• Later, Chobsky calls Juila (interrupting her call with Alejandro, see below), and he's totally unhinged.  Julia discourages him from using her private number in the future, but he's obsessed with getting on her show so that he can defend himself from the "bad shit" people are saying about him.  Julia ends the call.
• After Singh leaves the bar where he meets Julia (see below), Kenny arrives and berates her, telling her that he's a "goddman warrior for our constitutional rights."  Julia tells him that she isn't interested, and he threatens her violently, forcing the bouncer to eject him.  Julia refuses the manager's repeated offers to walk her to her car, which winds up being a bad call when Kenny meets her at her car with a gun and demands they conduct an interview.  No/One arrives and saves Julia, firing the gun next to Kenny's ear and knocking him unconscious.  No/One then tells Julia that he helped her to "account for what I've opened up in Pittsburgh."

• No/One and the Copycats:  
• While Teddy and Julia were talking in his office, J.R. (the podcast's producer) enters and pushes them to do an episode on No/One's identity, noting the PPD has a theory that No/One is the Copycat #3.  He also wants the podcast to cover the Chobsky case, though, again, no one (heh) actually says why they're linked, other than they both involve doxxing.  

• At this point, I'll note that it's really hard to keep the Copycats straight, since we haven't ever met two of them.  It's only through reading the "Knowpedia" article at the end of the issue that I realized Copycat #1 is someone named Oliver Simpson who killed Superintendent Taylor Crushing and Copycat #2 is someone named Luke Cavanaugh who murdered venture capitalist Stewart Duane.  
• It's Copycat #3 who killed Louis Capel, shot Ben Kern, and murdered Michael Kern.  I'm assuming Copycat #3 also killed Coach Cade.  Notably, he claims that he (and not Aaron) is Richard Roe.  If true, it means he also killed Julian Colon and shot Senator Kemp.

• Meanwhile, Singh is frustrated about the attention on No/One, since it's Copycat #3 who killed three people whereas No/One just induced one cop into tasering another one.  Singh later meets with Julia (at the aforementioned bar) and says that he doesn't believe that No/One and Copycat #3 are the same person, despite what J.R. said.  Singh says Lt. McGarrity of Major Crimes might be the only one to believe that; in fact, Singh claims McGarrity has an obsession with connecting No/One with Copycat #3.
• No/One has access to cameras in PPD HQ as he watches McGarrity speak with Chief Nixon.

• Michael Kern:  
• Meanwhile, McGarrity is focused on Michael's murder, because he doesn't understand why Copycat #3 targeted him.  McGarrity seems to think Aaron and Michael were working together, but he doesn't have any evidence of it.  In fact, the issue begins with Sgt. Aaron Harmon conducting an exit interview with Ben and McGarrity interrupting it to demand more information from Ben.  Harmon - who "everyone trusts" - convinces McGarrity to give Michael's file to Ben to see if he can find something that they can't see.

• Chuck Tate:  
• Julia calls a (smoking hot and shirtless) Alejandro about Tate.  Alejandro tells Julia that Tate went dark once Copycat #3 killed Coach Cade.  Julia asks Alejandro to put her in touch with Tate, hoping to learn who would want Cade dead and about the "clarity" note in exchange for putting Alejandro on the podcast.  Alejandro notes that Tate is obsessed with his past, still hanging around college bars.  
• The issue ends with Tate walking into one of those bars, with Ben sitting in the corner and holding the folder McGarrity gave him at the issue's start.

• The Podcast:
• I listened to the second podcast.  Rachel Leigh Cook's inflection drives me crazy, but the podcast is pretty essential listening if you're following the series closely.  Just like the last installment, this one doesn't so much reveal new information as it makes some new connections between information we already know.
• The most significant connection is that Aaron confessed to the Richard Roe murders (at one point quipping to the cops, "Think I'm killing people for fun?") though Copycat #3 claims that *he's* the original Richard Roe.  Julia and Teddy review the three dominant theories behind this discrepancy:  1) Copycat #3 *is* the real Richard Roe and is furious at Aaron for taking the credit (which may explain why he went after Ben and Michael); 2) Copycat #3 is working on Aaron's orders, so Aaron's confession is accurate, in a way; or 3) someone is using the discrepancy to obfuscate something for unclear reasons.
• The podcast also reminds us that the PPD wasn't just hiding Aaron's identity when it booked him as Richard Roe:  he was originally booked under that name when a cop arrested him for a misdemeanor possession charge when he was 16 years old.  When he was booked this time, the fingerprints brought up that name.  Knowing what we do about Aaron, I'm surprised he was into drugs, which makes me wonder if he wasn't covering for Michael somehow.
• On Michael, we get a location name that could be significant, as we learn that his troubles really got going when a cop found him drunk on a park bench in the Enrich Parklet in East Liberty.  Continuing on names that feel like Chekhov's Gun, Naomi Kern worked for Kieling Williams and Mandelbaum (sp?) and died of a "lupus-like disease" that the doctors could never identify.  If Richard Roe kills a pharmaceutical executive or medical researcher I wouldn't be surprised.

My only guess at No/One's identity at this point is that he's Sgt. Harmon, given McGarrity's comment that "everyone trusts" him.  But the problem remains that we have way too many subplots that aren't even remotely connected.  We have no clear link between Chobsky and No/One or Copycat #3 and No/One.  Clearly we're getting there, but it's already difficult enough trying to keep the Copycats straight, particularly when you add the confusing overlaps between their actions and Aaron's, No/One's, and Richard Roe's.  In other words, we could be dealing with six separate people or one person, it seems.

Red Zone #3:  Man, I love this series, and I'm bummed it's ending next issue.

I feel like the central question here is whether Randall knows why he's under attack.  He ostensibly thinks that he was in Russia to extricate Nika and her mother but unexpectedly found himself the subject of a bounty that brought out his old enemies (and, in one case, the sons of his old enemies).  But Deidre discovers that someone is trying to classify Randall's file so even she can't see it, which implies that someone within the U.S. government (or whomever her employer is) might have set up Randall.

Meanwhile, the issue revolves around Randall and Nika escaping the legions of people coming after them.  It also brings Nika more into focus, as she begins asking Randall why exactly so many people are willing to kill him, seeming to believe (like me) that it can't just be all about the past.  We end the issue at the dacha of Novel Abramov, who Randall describes as the most dangerous person he's ever met.  That'll go well.

I'd like to flag here how perfect Deodata is for this series.  Honestly, I could read 100 issues of this series and still want more.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #34:  I can't say I've been particularly interested in Vukorah's story, given that her characters seem to change to fit the arc, but I love her tricking IG-88 into killing the men attempting a coup d'état against her so she can get a fresh start.  From all we've seen, Vukorah deserves that.

Conversely, Valance's story just gets more heartbreaking.  We start the issue with a flashback to his childhood on Chorin, with his mother fixing his toy spaceship and telling him not to forget her when he's a famous pilot.  In the present, Iden Versio and her men make their way on board the Edgehawk.  Versio neutralizes Bossk and informs Valance that Lieutenant Haydenn sent them to wipe his memory.  A defeated Valance agrees.

Versio and her team depart the Edgehawk and inform Haydenn that they've done the job, leaving Haydenn in tears.  (Of note, Haydenn informs Versio that she and her men weren't allowed to kill anyone on T'onga's crew.)  Meanwhile, T'onga arrives on board the Edgehawk to find Valance as the memory of his mother that started the issue fades.  Apparently, all his memories will disappear in two days.

As T'onga informs the crew that they're heading to a fixer who can help Valance, Tasu announces that he's leaving to be among his people.  Losha is outraged, but T'onga gasses Losha and asks Tasu to take her to Syphacc's palace, where she'll be safe.  With that, she gives him her blessing to leave.

Before I go, I will say that I continue to enjoy Villanelli's portrayal of Valance not as a freak but as a force.  Sure, he looks like he could do cyborg porn on the side, which I don't mind, but he also looks like the commanding figure that he was before he became a cyborg, which helps underscore how far he's fallen.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The April 12 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #4:  Well, we're definitely getting somewhere here.

Phaedra and Pax's encounter with the mermaids goes poorly, as the mermaids' ability to speak directly into their minds leaves them disoriented (as if they're really high).  McClaren is great here, switching to watercolors to show how Phaedra and Pax interpret the mermaids' language.  Sash asks Sabri to protect Phaedra and Pax as he once asked the mermaids to protect him, and Sabri responds that he is a friend while they aren't.  Hilariously, a mermaid behind Sabri simply says, "Eat." 

Sabri is enraged when Sash says that they're there for justice for Yanha, and her scream sends the three of them flying.  Pax figures out a way to block out the noise (pushing "it" to the base of his skull), quipping that he finally found the benefit of having a screaming baby at home.  Sash wants them to leave, but Phaedra makes a direct appeal to Sabri.  She agrees to show them an image of the person who dumped the body if they open their minds.  When they see who it was, they both comment, "Oh, fuck off."  Phaedra tells Sabri that she's sorry for her loss, and Sabri devastatingly simply replies, "Yanha was love."

It seems likely the Queen's henchman from last issue dumped the body.  Phaedra and Pax discuss how to proceed, with Pax noting that Sabri's information isn't actionable at court but might be enough to convince one of the elves to confess.  He also checks his phone-ish device and learns that the Court refused to let them have access to Freyal's quarters.

As they return to the station, they discuss the crime.  They're stuck on the fact that someone poisoned Freyal and someone else stabbed him with a dracona dagger.  Pax suggests that Freyal took the poison because he knew his mother and her henchmen were coming to kill him and Phaedra would find two murder "weapons," so to speak, which would make her suspicious.  But they realize they're missing something because the poison also killed Dace, and the Queen and her men likely didn't know she injected the poison because they wouldn't have fed her to the mermaids if they did.

Before they can do anything, though, they hear an All Points Flash (APF) seeking them for questioning in Freyal's murder.  (Interestingly, Pax is dubbed, "Theron II of Pax."  Are all Black Cloaks royals?)  They go their separate ways and agree to meet in two hours.

Phaedra goes home and has sex with Nida, who convinces her to tell her the full story of her exile.  It's devastatingly sad.

Seventeen-year-old Phaedra is trying on wedding dresses with her mother and seemingly intentionally asks not to see backless ones, purposefully provoking the conversation about her parentage with her mother.  Her mother confesses that she had an affair with a dracona after Phaedra's father returned from the war a shell of a man.  She had hoped Phaedra's was her father's but confesses that Phaedra is so like her biological father that she's always known the truth.

Something about the conversation makes Phaedra realize that she really can't marry Freyal, which I have to wonder why she didn't realize that earlier, since she clearly suspected that her father was dracona.  Either way, the revelation that she's half-dracona "would be a death sentence" for her mother, possibly for her, and "maybe for the entire Essex line."  After making Mister Starlight promise to take care of Freyal (a reminder that we're dealing with a 17-year-old girl), Phaedra tells Freyal that she's always loved him:  "It was always real for me.  You will always be my best friend, no matter where we are."  She then goes to the Queen and breaks off the engagement, knowing that it'll lead to her exile.

In the present, Phaedra explains that her exile is why her brother Hadrian hates her, since House Essex fell in status.  However, the revelation that she was part dracona could've led to its destruction, since Phaedra's father was already dead (and couldn't bear more children).  Nida sadly notes that Phaedra was the only one who lost anything, but Phaedra beautifully looks at Nida and comments about what she's found.

She later meets Pax at the Seventh Sign in the Narrows.  (I thought it was where they found Freyal's body, but, upon re-reading it, I'm not so sure.)  Phaedra reveals that the toxicology screen Nida sent her shows that Freyal could've died before he was stabbed.  She suggests that Dace took the poison with Freyal because she loved him and didn't want to live without him.  Pax agrees it's possible but messy, and they realize they really need something more than Sabri's word.  So Phaedra brings Pax to the house of Phinneas II of Thane, the "highest-raking dracona in all of Kiros"...and, of course, Phaedra's biological father.

Know Your Station #5:  Well, it's an ending, I guess.  Unsurprisingly, it turns out St. Brigid is the murderer.  Her motive is at least interesting, as she did it because she's an artist.  Ten percent of her server capacity is dedicated to image analysis, but the wealthy residents were making her steal other people's art.  We cut to St. Brigid's memories of the residents wanting to create collages with their images, like putting their face on the "Reagan volcano."  The issue ends with Elise and Marin using the residents' funds to create an oasis for the employees while the residents are forced into serving as St. Brigid's art.  It's like Gailey got one too many commissions and imagined how she'd get revenge.  I can't say I enjoyed this series, but it's different, I'll give it that.

Red Zone #2:  This issue is as great as I hoped this series would be, as Bunn brings out a "Red"-like cast of characters jumping at the chance to take on their old enemy Randall Crane.  Crane's only accomplishment other than staying alive is getting in touch with Deidre, his (now deceased) escort team's woman in the chair, who starts working on a plan to extract him and Nika from Russia.  But they have to escape from his now-robotic former enemy, Nikita Vasiliev, and, unbeknownst to Crane, a sniper with him in her sights.  Does she happen to be yet another former lover?  Of course she does.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #33:  Surprising no one, the team isn't doing particularly well.  Zuckuss barely got the Edgehawk to land at the Depatar spaceport in one piece, and Bossk and Valance threaten to break it entirely with their fighting.  After getting For-Elloem to break up the fight, T'onga announces that she's taking For-Elloem with her to pick up a hyperdrive while they all repair the ship.  But Inferno Squad is waiting and take out the pair quickly.  Commander Versio dresses herself as T'onga to infiltrate the ship, so next issue should go...well, even worse for the team.  Meanwhile, IG-88 arrives to take out Vulkorah and her associates just as she resigned as the Unbroken Clan's chief since she apparently knew her subordinates were going to kill her.  As such, he kills everyone else, since his job was to take out the Clan's leadership.  Heh.  Honestly, I'm kind of hoping Vulkorah joins the team.

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!