Amazing Spider-Man #17: OMG, this issue is awful.
On the plus side, the art is great: McGuiness should draw Limbo demons full-time.
Unfortunately, the issue also has words.
Ben decides to get Peter to eat the apple by casting him, JJJ, Jr., and Robbie in a work-place comedy set at The Bugle with the demons as the other employees. I'm not kidding. I'm not saying it isn't funny, but it goes to this event's - and series' - main problem, the fact Wells can't decide if it's funny or serious.
In a great example of that problem and pet peeve #3, Madelyne expresses concern that Ben isn't taking their plans seriously enough. If he really wants Peter to eat the apple, why not just threaten all his loved ones with death? But I'm not giving Wells credit for Madelyne pointing out his flaws.
In other words, Wells doesn't really explain why Ben is playing with his food here, and the story suffers for it.
Black Cloak #1: Holy fucking shit, this issue is the best issue of a comic I've read in a really long time.
McClaren and Thompson employ restraint to create a totally immersive experience. McClaren's limited line strokes creates a fully realized reality, and Thompson's equally sparse script underscores the tension between the characters as they're reluctant to say what they feel.
You need to buy this comic now.
The issue's opening text informs us that Kiros is the known world's last city due to a cataclysmic war that happened hundreds of years ago. The heroes defeated the great evil, but something is rotten in the state of Kiros. As the unnamed narrator says, it "turns out beings get along better when there's a great evil to be vanquished."
The action begins when a mermaid crawls onto the beach at the Lagoon, spits up some black-looking liquid, and then collapses on the beach. A group of screeching mermaids stare at her from the water and then throw a dead body next to her before departing.
On Merchant Row, a satyr named Vaissac attacks a black-cloaked elf. She punches him, as she apparently does every week. She tells him that they could either get along or ignore each other. He tells her that he'll never be "good neighbors" with a "fucking Black Cloak." As the elf enters Coffee, Curios & Curiosities, demonic-looking rats attack Vaissac, and the elf uses her...magic gun? to scare them into fleeing.
The elf is Detective Phaedra Essex. The store's proprietor, Laurel, shows her the prototype of a robotic taka (a cat-like creature) that she bought. Phaedra is appalled because she was raised with a real taka before they went extinct. Phaedra then gets a call and heads to the Salty Crow in the Narrows.
A the Crow, a (sexy as fuck) elf with a gold-flecked chest wound is lying naked on a bed. A pair of cops are on the scene with a detective, and one of the cops, Clem, tells the detective, Pax, that the elf's tattoos use royal ink. Pax asks Clem if he "netted" the room, and Clem responds that someone named Nina had done so. Nina apparently didn't have her "soulprint" on her, though so she wasn't able to identify the elf. Pax has his soulprint on him, but before he can scan the body a photographer appears in the doorway. Pax tells the other cop, Benny, to control the crime scene and "get that capture." Pax puts a set of goggles (I assume the soulprint) on the body, but they don't work.
Phaedra enters and identifies the elf as Freyal III of Sidra, the heir to the throne and Phaedra's fiancé at some point. Pax suddenly yells, "The capture!" and manifests wings before leaping out the window. Phaedra sends Clem after Pax and spends a moment with Freyal's body, showing a matching tattoo and telling him quietly how much she missed him.
Pax returns and tells Phaedra that Clem has "the capture" and is taking him to the station, though I still don't know what "the capture" is or how or why it escaped. Pax and Phaedra then discuss how the murderer clearly used a dracona dagger due to the gold-flecked wound. Phaedra tells Pax that she and Freyal were raised together and were best friends though she hadn't seen him in years.
They discuss how the Crow is a "glorified flophouse above a bar known for prostitution." They go to the bar to interrogate the bartender, and this scene is a marvelous fantasy version of the Mos Eisley cantina. Apparently an elf girl named Dace rented the room for the last three cycles, and the bartender confirmed she was with Freyal when he first rented the room to her. Upon leaving the bar, Phaedra calls someone and asks them to pull out the mermaid the Crow was keeping in a tank. (She mentions she saw tail rot. Oof.)
At HQ, the captain exposits that Phaedra is exiled from the elven realms. The conversation is interrupted when she and Pax are sent to the Lagoon because Nida has identified the dead woman as Dace. Disturbingly, Phaedra asks why the mermaids didn't eat her, cueing up the enormous chunk of flesh missing from her back.
Nida (who's a bat-like humanoid) opens the mouth of the dead mermaid next to Dace, causing Pax to panic. Nida notes the mermaid is dead, but Pax's panic at Nida even touching the body makes you realize we're not dealing with Ariel here. Nida notes a bit of flesh in the dead mermaid's teeth and the nearby bile, and Phaedra realizes that someone used a strong enough poison on Dace that it can kill a mermaid in one bite. Based on their interactions, Nida and Phaedra are in a relationship, and they're adorable.
Before Phaedra leaves, Nida tells Phaedra that she's worried about Phaedra seeing her family because of the "old laws." Phaedra stresses that the Black Cloak "should" protect her, and Nida notes that "should" is a "fucked-up word." Pax and Phaedra discuss how you usually dump bodies in the Lagoon hoping the mermaids eat them, but the murderer may not have known that someone had already poisoned Dace. So we may have two people trying to murder her?
Pax interviews a nearby guard, Jakel, who tells Pax that he wasn't working the previous night. (Throughout the issue, we see the security surrounding the Lagoon to keep out trespassers.) Pax asks Jakel to turn down his music, which Jakel suggests is a bad idea. When Pax insists, he does, and the mermaids immediately start screeching. Pax allows Jakel to turn on the music again, and, on my second reading, I realized everyone near the water is wearing headphones.
Jakel tells Pax that someone named Edgar was working the previous night. He exposits that the guards are under constant surveillance so Edgar wouldn't likely have let someone into the Lagoon for fear of getting fired. Jakel says that they only way to enter is through a gap where the cliff meets the wall, though it's usually sealed.
On Lookout Point, Phaedra notes that anyone up there could see the whole Lagoon. She interviews four hooligans and tells them that someone killed a mermaid. One of the hooligans quips that mermaids kill people, and Phaedra responds that it matters when they all kill each other. She tells the hooligan who seemed the most cooperative that she might have something to pay in exchange for information, but one of the other hooligans tells her that they're not "wraiths" and don't work with Black Cloaks. HQ calls Phaedra and tells her that she's clear to go to Castle Kiros. She leaves while Pax stays at the Lagoon to investigate.
At the castle gates, Phaedra remembers playing with Freyal and the taka, Mister Starlight. They're using a dracona dagger to cut a "very powerful tree," and we learn dracona daggers have dragon blood in them. Before she can enter the castle grounds, someone knocks Phaedra unconscious.
In the Queen's private chambers, the Queen apolgizes for the "misunderstanding," and Phaedra comments that someone people have trouble letting go of the old rules. The Queen notes that Phaedra's black cloak likely precipitated the attack, again making it clear that Black Cloaks aren't welcome. Phaedra disagrees, saying she believes that it was her brother Hadrian.
The Queen tells Phaedra she's called for a healer and asks how Freyal died. Phaedra says that they don't yet know but she asked to see her in the hope that she'd hear about Freyal's death from her and not a stranger. The Queen archly asks if Phaedra isn't a stranger, because she hasn't seen her in 20 years, and Phaedra parries that her exile wasn't her choice.
The healer, Valorie, enters. Before the Queen can leave, she asks Phaedra if it occurred to her that Freyal would be alive if Phaedra hadn't been exiled. (It's an interesting use of the passive voice, there, since the Queen presumably exiled her. Guilt, your majesty?) Freyal and Phaedra would've been married, and she'd perhaps have a grandchild "instead of...nothing." Phaedra tells that it weights heavily on her that three lives were lost, and the Queen is surprised to hear about Dace and the mermaid. (I'm guessing Phaedra was fishing to see if the Queen recognized Dace's name.)
The Queen leaves, and Phaedra and Valorie enthusiastically greet each other. Valorie suggests removing Phaedra's cloak to heal the wound, but Phaedra panics, making it clear the cloak isn't just a cloak. Valorie heals Phaedra, who says that she feels 20 years younger. A guard then arrives to escort Phaedra to the Silver Gate. In the halls, Phaedra sees her mother, but her brother arrives to drag her mother from that "traitorous trash." Phaedra tells that guard that she knows how to leave, and the guard threatens that her cloak doesn't protect her as much as she thinks it does.
Pax meets her at the gate, and they take an elevator down to the Heights. Pax marvels at the view, and Phaedra tells him that it's a lie curated for royalty. She notes the elevator doesn't go below the Heights, which means the royals don't even see half of Kiros. She comments darkly on the forces that don't want the nobility to see the reality that exists in that other half.
The captain calls them back to HQ, where they encounter more demonic rats, which are apparently called wraiths (explaining the hooligan's comment, since wraith are this world's rats). At the Department, it's chaos because all sorts of people have arrived to confess to killing Freyal, to carrying his lovechild, to being his lovechild, or to witnessing the murder.
Before Pax and Phaedra can start interviewing them, a kid with a glowing knife murmurs, "For Kiros," and stabs Phaedra before cutting his throat. We end the issue with Pax holding Phaedra's bloody body.
Beyond the murder mystery itself, we're also in the dark about a lot of dynamics at play here. Why does everyone hate the Black Cloaks? It seems the only thing that unifies everyone is that hatred. Why are the mermaids cannibals? Did they follow the Great Evil or were they victims of it? What's a "capture?"
Again, this triple-sized issue is spectacular. It's worth every moment spent with it. The art is unbelievable. Thompson's story is unbelievable. I'm all fucking in.
Blade Runner 2039 #2: Ho boy, the chickens are coming home to roost!
Ash takes Lexi, the replicant from last issue, to a desolate place populated with only a trailer. Ash enters expecting Freysa but sees an unknown man. She draws a gun before she realizes Freysa is with him. Ash tells Freysa that she should've told her that they were going to have visitors, and Freysa introduces him as "an old friend from the trenches" named Sapper. Freysa notes that Ash herself has brought a stranger, and Ash introduces Lexi. It's clear through their interactions that their relationship is tense.
At LAPD HQ, a bodiless voice coming from the device on Luv's desk is chastising her for her treatment of the officer last issue. The voice tells her she's confined to HQ but she tells the voice that she's going to Santa Barbara on Niander Wallace, Jr.'s orders and the voice relents.
At the former Selwyn estate in Santa Barbara, "Ms. Penelope" greets Luv, who marvels at the fresh water coming from the fountain. Luv notes that Penelope's butler is a Nexus-8 Replicant, and Penelope tells her that she has dispensation from the police to own one. When Luv tells Penelope that she can sense Nexus-8s, Penelope marvels at the "poetic" nature of Wallace making Replicants to catch Replicants.
At the trailer, Ash installs one of the eyes in Freysa, and Freysa installs the other one in Ash, since her eye was apparently looking "diseased" like her spine and, lately, her lungs. Freysa encourages Ash to stay, but Ash tells Freysa that Lexi told her about the Replicant Blade Runner.
At Selwyn's estate, Luv tells Penelope that Wallace thinks Selwyn may have left
"sensitive material" hidden there. Penelope knows that Wallace wants Luv to turn the estate upside down looking for what Selwyn knew, but Penelope refuses. Luv tells Penelope that she doesn't need Penelope's cooperation, and Penelope and her butler kick Luv's ass. Apparently Luv's ability to detect older Replican models isn't so great, because Penelope reveals herself as Hythe.
To make matters more interesting, Cleo arrives on Earth!
This series is playing for keeps, y'all.
Captain America: Symbol of Truth #9: This issue is better than the previous ones but still not good.
The kid who magically knows everything happening in Mohannda tells the adults that the government has bombed the hospital. Nomad knows that it's a trap, but Cap insists that they go, so they all go. What, you wouldn't take all the resistance forces to one place where the enemy could easily annihilate them? Coward.
As the team helps survivors at the hospital, one of them tells Cap that someone evacuated many of the doctors before the attack, but apparently no one thinks it's significant. Instead, they just rescue the doctors so they can get to work helping the other survivors. Everyone is surprised when militarized Phrox from Dimension Z appear, no one more than Ian, who notes that they helped Steve raise him.
Sam realizes that they're in trouble since he puts together that the White Wolf has access to Zola tech. Nightshade suggest that the White Wolf has "some sort of technology conduit" or "maybe a signal transmitter," though I don't get why summoning portals to Dimension Z would require a transmitter. Anyway, she's confident she can understand Zola's technology.
Sam leads the Phrox from the hospital but then decides the White Wolf must be keeping the transmitter in the sky because anyone could reach it on the ground. (Look, I'm just trying to hang in here.)
On said ground, Nightshade declares a strong signal is coming from the Parliament, which is impressive since she's holding a gun and not some sort of signal detector. But they all decide to head to Parliament. Sam destroys the sky-based transmitter, but it only disables the portals. (I'm not sure why they thought the Phrox would disappear simply because the portals were no longer working, but they did.)
Suddenly, Falcon arrives in full vampire mode and declares that he's going to kill Sam for abandoning him. I mean, what the fuck? Last time we saw him, he was asking his grandmother for help and now he's a vampire intent on murdering Sam in Mohannda What's next? Is D-Man going to arrive as a zombie mad at Sam for missing poker night?
God, I hate this series.
Know Your Station #2: We end this issue where we ended the last one: Elise finds a body (well, two bodies this time), and she's the only person who accessed the room where they were killed, according to St. Brigid.
It seems pretty clear that St. Brigid is, knowingly or not, assisting the killer in covering their tracks. Given Elise is detoxing from the Blue, she isn't as sharp as she normally is, making it easier for the killer.
Beyond the killer's identity, this issue's biggest mystery is where Pritchard's body went, given it disappeared from Elise's tub, where St. Brigid initially stashed it.
If I had to guess, Marin - who whispers something to Elise that she won't remember since she's detoxing - is in love with Elise and killing her enemies, given Raulsson and his wife are the bodies Elise finds here. We'll see.
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