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.
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