No/One #6: Honestly, if No/One hadn't saved Julia last episode, I'd think she was No/One at this point.
After all, we learn here that No/One isn't any of the three suspects The Drop named last issue, because Copycat #3 shoots Harmon, kills Kemp, and attacks Alejandro.
In other words, it's a lot.
The issue begins at PPD HQ, where Ben is trying to convince McGarrity to give him a couple of men to surveil Aaron because he can't keep him under 24/7 watch by himself. McGarrity declines because it's too political, which seems bullshit to me, particularly for a guy who was so eager to nail Aaron to the wall. Frustrated, Ben talks to Harper and Singh, who tell him they have no evidence connecting Aaron to his lawyer's murder. Suddenly, a cop interrupts, and we learn Copycat #3 shot Harmon.
At the Ledger, Teddy finds Julia trying to get in touch with Donovan Kemp and Alejandro, though Teddy assures her that he's already spoken with people about getting them protection. Ben arrives and asks why they named Vince a suspect, and Teddy is a dick to him, saying that he doesn't have time to hold his hand. Ben insists Aaron could've been the shooter, revealing that he's tailed Aaron for weeks but lost him the previous day.
At Noah Kemp's office, his staff are trying to convince him to pull his proposed legislation authorizing "preemptive" self-defense. One of the staffers, though, shows everyone a clip from Alaina Page's show. (Her show starts with this introduction: "Welcome back to the Wall. Reporting from the parapets, I'm Alaina Page." Amazing.) Page comes out swinging for Kemp's bill and then crucifies Kenneth Chbosky, whom FOC hired as a contributor. (The live reenactment of their fight on the podcast is worth a listen.) Suddenly, someone interrupts Kemp's meeting to inform him what we learn on the next page, that someone killed Donovan.
With two suspects dead, fucking JC arrives to "touch base" with Julia. She asks where Alejandro is, and JC admits they can't find him. She loses her shit on Teddy and JC, who has the audacity to tell her to relax. She quits.
At Alejandro's gym, Copycat #3 is ready to kill Alejandro when No/One arrives. No/One tells Alejandro to run, which he does, but he then returns. He finds the gym in shambles and a wounded No/One. Alejandro brings No/One to No/One's car and drives from the scene as cops arrive. No/One loses consciousness, and Alejandro may, or may not, have gotten a look under the helmet. No/One tells Alejandro to leave, which he does.
On the podcast, the only new revelation is that Harmon survived the shooting and confirmed the assailant used a .38 Special, which means it's Richard Roe and, as such, not Aaron Kern (allegedly). Of note, Alejandro doesn't admit to the press that No/One got shot. To me, the most important part is Noah Kemp's tear-filled rant about how the vultures in the press - i.e., Julia and Teddy - are responsible for his little brother's murder. It's important, because it reminds us that we're dealing with (in this world) real people and the body count is pretty insane right now. In addition, Patton Oswalt does a great job of walking through Teddy's grief over how his failure to say no to the Ledger's Powers That Be resulted in Julia getting blamed for Copycat #3's attacks on Harmon, Donovan Kemp, and Alejandro.
Honestly, I have no idea where we go from here, which is awesome.
The Sacrificers #4: This issue is more linear than Remender's usual ones.
Pigeon's grief-stricken parents are sitting quietly as the village - including their other children - celebrates around them. Pigeon's sister asks her father why he's sad, which makes sense given he always told her Pigeon was going to a better place. The father later gets drunk and rants at his fellow villagers, asking why they celebrate the loss of a child and demanding to know what the gods sacrifice. It's devastating.
Meanwhile, in Rokos' palace, the Foreman tells Rokos that the blue liquid is his finest work, brewed from a new recipe. (Uh-oh.) Rokos ignores him and asserts that it's the same recipe it's also been when he addresses the "Lords of Harlos." Notably, he claims he made the liquid and invites the other Lords to partake of it, delivering the same pablum that they've earned it for keeping the world "perfect." He invites a toast to Luna who "lives apart from [them] to balance [his] light with night." Luna refuses the liquid, decrying the Lords as parasites feasting on innocents' blood and smashing her glass to the floor. (Team Luna, obviously.)
After Luna leaves, Rokos ridicules her for "crumbling in her gray land of pious dust." He and the rest of the Lords drink the liquid, instantly becoming younger, to Soluna's horror. Fueling the implication the Foreman did something to the liquid, he departs in a rush, and Soluna follows him on Rokos' flying carpet, taking Rokos' sword with her. Again, uh-oh.
The Space Between #1: Bechko and Luckert present an interesting premise here, as we meet the inhabitants of the Dodona, an asteroid-cum-starship taking Earth's remaining humans (and some animals) to a new planet after Earth's destruction.
We begin with Revla, a pilot, saving another pilot from crashing into the Dodona despite her commander's order not to do so. Revla exposits that it doesn't matter if the Dodona's brass court-martial her, since they're set to "pair" her soon and she doesn't think they'll let her fly pregnant.
For her actions, "they" put her in confinement, but she escapes below the "starline," which refers to line on the Dodona below which you can no longer see the stars. Now below decks, Revla meets Les, one of the workers who maintain the algae the Dodona uses for food and oxygen. Like Rose in "Titanic," Revla is stunned to see the number of people living below the line, making it clear the two sides of the line don't mix.
Also like "Titanic," the glimpses we see of the inhabitants above the line (i.e., the pilot class) show a brutal society of competitors whereas the workers below the line (i.e., the maintenance class) live in a communist Utopia. For example, Revla is worried Les is going to turn her into the authorities for a reward, and he breaks it to her that they don't have credits below the line.
Les introduces Revla to his "purposive" June and her partner Neve who asks whether it's really true that the inhabitants above the line are nothing but breeding pairs. Revla makes a half-hearted attempt to defend her culture as fighting for the future, and Neve asks why everyone is sacrificing for a future on a round rock instead of the present on an oblong one? Fair enough, Neve.
Les figures out a way to get Revla topside, and she brings him with her to see the stars, which he admits his parents and grandparents likely never saw. (Ah, inequality. It's baked into us.) The pair kiss, but suddenly guards appear and seize them. As a crowd "'casts" (i.e., broadcasts) their arrest, someone comments how they didn't even know the workers were real.
Revla now realizes the Dodona's leadership has put in place restrictions well beyond the original "Edicts" establishing, "To every passenger, a duty." She 'casts a message to this effect, which starts an uprising below the line. Les helps when a reporter interviews him and talks about saving the most beautiful woman alive when she fell from the stars.
We then move briskly through four years, as the ongoing uprising forces the Council to listen. After four years, they release Les from prison. He brings June and Neve with their new baby, which they can now have, to see the stars with Revla flying amongst them.
As I said, it's an interesting premise. The execution is also pretty solid, so I'm intrigued to see where it goes.
Star Wars #40: Oof. This issue is excessively talky.
We go on deep dives into Lando's psyche, but the issue is really just about him returning to Home One to convince Leia to send a small strike force (him, her, Chewie, and Luke) to Epikonia to free Lobot. (Lando knows Lobot is on Epikonia because he has a tracker on him.) Lando doesn't mention the fact that he has the Talky to Leia, so I wonder where he stashed him? Is he stupid enough to bring him on the Falcon with him? Probably.
The only real action, though, is a strange sequence where Lando turns off the Falcon's navicomputer because a droid core runs it and crashes into a cluster of communications arrays to slow down the Falcon enough to land. Can he really not control the Falcon without the navicomputer?
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