The Hunger and the Dusk #3: I am very happy to report that I was totally wrong about how this issue would go.
We begin in the aftermath of a battle between the orcs and the Vangol in the North, as Troth observes to his right-hand man, Karok, that they'll exhaust their warriors before the Vangol exhaust their ships. Faran calls to Troth and points out the dirt below a Vangol warrior's fingers. She tells him the old poems say the Vangol were a canny lot, though something happened to them when they went to the West that turned them into the monsters they are now. Karok interrupts the pair right before they kiss. Troth quips that he hopes his cousin fares better, and Faran hopes she fares well...while far from there.
In the South, Conwy brings a beer to Tara, who's devastated over Loris' death. She asks Conwy how they could just put her in the ground, implying the orcs have a different funerary custom. Conwy assures her that Loris' death wasn't her fault. Tara thanks him for how kind he's been, and Conwy tells her that, in his experience as a warrior, failure and grief play a much larger role than does hope, which often leads to mistakes. Tara is upset Cal isn't speaking to her, and Conwy tells her that it's because he's mourning a friend. On cue, Cal tells everyone to get moving.
At a campfire that night, Conwy tells Cal that he's got to talk to Tara, reminding him that she's far from home. He goes to her tent (bum-chick-a-bow-wow) and also tells her that Loris' death wasn't her fault. Tara rues that she couldn't heal Loris despite all her skill, and, striking a similar theme as Troth, Cal tells her that there are too many Vangols and too few of them. He suggestively lies back, hands behind his head. He tells Tara that their partnership won't fail, because they've both been sent from their families. It would've crushed most people, but they're survivors. Tara cuddles to him.
They awake in this position the next day when one of the Last Men's scouts finds a Vangol scout and the Last Men capture him. Tara recognizes that the Vandal is speaking a 500-year-old dialect, realizing they must've continued using their language after they left the continent. Pulling out the arrow with which Conwy shot him, Tara tells the Vangol she'll heal him if he helps them.
The Vangol reveals how the Vangol have been traveling where they shouldn't be: underground tunnels (recalling the dirt Faran found under the Vangol's fingertips). Before they went extinct, the dwarves apparently built tunnels to the sea in case they had to escape their underground fortresses. The entrances are only accessible during low tide, so you have to know where to look for them. Tara pleads for Cal to send someone to tell Troth, which he does.
In the North, Troth and Faran attend the funeral for the dead soldiers, showing the more formal ceremony that Tara mentioned. (Interestingly, the burial is at a peak with a view of two mountains, which they call the Two Twins, referring to their gods.) Faran takes Troth into a tent to get busy (maybe for the first time), though Karok interrupts them again, this time to announce the arrival of the Last Men's rider. (Karok hilariously apologizes when he sees a barely covered Faran in the doorway.)
Down South, the Last Men release the Vangol and Mikil goes to follow it.
Again, Willow is doing a great job here. The intercultural tension is present, but she isn't playing it up as much as other authors would. Instead, she keeps you focused on the tension that's actually driving everyone's actions, namely the Vangol threat. It feels more realistic in that way, and I can't wait to see where we keep going.
Star Wars: Dark Droids #3: Let's get right to it.
The issue opens with the Scourge recalling the memories of a droid who once witnessed diamond rain on a planet where he worked as a laborer. The Scourge gets lost in the beauty of it before realizing that he needs to inhabit Threepio fully, given the danger of his mission on Mustafar. It's the first hint the Scourge is straining to stay coherent with all the minds under his control.
On the Chelator, now Scourge 1, the Scourge inhabits a body that resembles the Witch-king of Angmar. (It's pretty great.) He realizes the Rebels also know of his presence, pitting him against two powerful enemies. He's still focused on controlling "the meat," though, and we're treated, if it's the right word, to a horror show of droids with organic limbs. (The droid with a skull for a head is terrifying.)
However, he can't control the bodies' consciousnesses yet. He observes that he was created to inhabit organics, commenting on the Spark Eternal inhabiting Miril and Aphra. (I don't know who Miril is, but I'm assuming they're a character from "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra.")
On Mustafar, a droid attacks Vader in the bacta tank where we left him at the end of "Star Wars: Darth Vader" #39, and it's chilling to see the droid and its fellow dragging a limbless Vader through the facility. Of course, Vader isn't powerless, and he uses the Force to control his lightsaber and destroy the droids.
But the Scourge is forced to turn his attention to Scourge 1, as Ajax and his compatriots arrive. The Scourge is worried the reprisals are happening faster than he expected, another sign that he's flailing. But Ajax is also flailing, as his unending stream of inspiring quotes from motivation posters ends when TIE fighters take out Gertee.
Meanwhile, the Scourge wonders if he didn't make a mistake in going after Vader when he did, as he struggles to fight off Ajax *and* find a way to take control of cyborgs. He realizes he has to decide between fighting off Ajax, taking out Vader, or hacking the cyborgs (cue the repulsive scene of a R2-series unit with arms and legs). Realizing he has to save himself first and foremost, he takes on Ajax and his followers, who self-destruct to protect their secrets.
He then figures out a way to take control of the cyborgs, by transmitting himself in waves, not all at once. With Ajax's invasion repelled and the cyborgs hacked, the Scourge goes for the trifecta: taking out Vader. However, Vader uses the Force to go after the spider droid coming toward his "helpless" body. Oh, well. Two out of three isn't bad.
Elsewhere, Ajax flees Scourge 1 alone, and the Scourge delights in suddenly taking on cyborgs, including Lobot, Valance, and someone else I don't recognize.
Like other issues, this issue requires a lot of concentration, mostly due to the fact that so much information comes from the Scourge's lengthy narration sequences. But we're getting enough action in the tie-in issues to make it a worthwhile read.
Undiscovered Country #26: This issue doesn't make a lot of sense, in part because it isn't supposed to make a lot of sense. Aurora - or America - is playing a game, and the rules aren't clear.
500 miles off the California coast, Admiral Nelson of the AEA and Admiral Liu of the PAPZ ponder the fate of the party they just sent over the wall, which we now know was only three days ago. Liu invites Nelson to dine with him and his officers that night, and Nelson is offering to return the favor when a PAPZ officer interrupts. The officer informs Liu they must escort all AEA officers off PAPZ ships and then head immediately to the Taiwan Strait. The officer makes it clear the Emperor issued the orders, and Nelson, revealing he speaks Mandarin, acknowledges that shit gets crazy sometimes. After Nelson departs, the officer reveals to Liu that a plane has crashed into Taipei, with a spectacular image from Camuncoli emphasizing the devastation.
At the Vajont Dam in the Alps, a man named Joshua tests positive for Sky. Annie tells Joshua she'll run him to one of the treatment centers down the coast, but Joshua refuses, figuring he'd rather die in the Alps than in a camp. Annie, with whom he seems to have a romantic relationship, refuses to let him. Annie asks if he wants to call his parents, and he says that he wouldn't want to bother them, as they're very busy people.
900 miles from Taiwan, Liu expresses disbelief in the PAPZ's assessment that the AEA intentionally shot down the passenger jet. Liu confirms to a suit in Beijing that the AEA's Pacific Fleet is following them to provide humanitarian aid, and the suit announces the PAPZ has just extended its maritime border 1,000 miles, just as the Pacific Fleet hits 950 miles. On the AEA ship, an officer points out this new border means they're in PAPZ territory, but Nelson notes leaving the area would acknowledge the PAPZ's claim. Another officer informs Nelson the PAPZ fleet is spinning up its missile cruiser, and Nelson orders him to do the same.
In Italy, Annie and Joshua have spent time clearing the road, implying some level of devastation in this area. Joshua begins coughing and confesses to Annie that he realizes they should've had a child. He was excited about it, though he never told her that, and he can't "think of a single reason that ever seemed like something to put off." It's funny how, as a parent, I think about that all the time, about how I wonder what exactly I needed to do before I became a parent.
On Nelson's ship, his officer confirms the missile the PAPZ fleet fired was an older model, possibly meaning they weren't trying to hurt them. Nelson orders the armory "kids" to return fire in the same vein and wonders why they're firing at all. (If it isn't clear, Liu and Nelson are great characters, the polar opposite of Chang and Janet's squabbling bureaucrats. They're professional soldiers who understand how the game works and not to take it personally.)
In Italy, Annie gets Joshua to a camp, but he's already crying blue. The triage officer says that it isn't protocol to treat someone this far gone, but Annie tells him to scan Joshua's ID chip. The guy opens his eyes wide and orders Joshua to get one of the few courses of "orgocet" left.
On Liu's ship, Liu informs a hologram of the Emperor that the action he's ordered him to take will result in a serious escalation of their conflict. But the Emperor is furious the AEA is denying responsibility for the million lives lost and orders him to attack. Liu says they'll fire the "hungry ghost" missiles at one of the AEA cruisers, and the officer exposits the AEA doesn't know about them so won't be able to deploy efficient countermeasures.
One second before the missile strikes, several lasers destroy them and an enormous helicarrier, for lack of a better term, decloaks over the ships. Uncle Sam announces that it's the United States of America, and they've prevented the two sides from going to war. Sam announces the negotiating team successfully convinced them to send out the Sky cure, and we see capsules full of odd robots deploying the cure with what looks like a fork.
Meanwhile, Nelson gets a message that he relays to Liu, who's responsible for communication with the negotiators: he's to inform Janet that her son, Joshua, died.
In Zone Plenty, a stunned Charlotte returns to the team. She informs them that America or Aurora (raising the possibility they're not the same entity) released the Sky cure to the world. She also confirms that the AEA and PAPZ believe they (the negotiators) were responsible. Janet notes they didn't even begin the negotiations, and Charlotte informs her that her son died of Sky. A furious Janet rants that America had the power to save her son at any time but didn't. (Fair.)
Suddenly, one of the Plenty-ers announces the "rider" is back, and they all turn to see Pavel riding a crazy looking horse. The issue ends with him asking, "You want to go see Aurora?" Fuck yeah, Pavel.
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