Blade Runner 2039 #5: Holy fucking shit, that's a helluva ending.
Niander Wallace, Jr. chews some scenery here, as he's want to do, as he introduces Rash to Luv and tells Luvthat Rash will obey her every word, except, like Luv, to kill a human. Meanwhile, at Ash and Freya's refuge, Freya tells Ash that giving reproductive technology to Replicants is obscene because it means the Replicants themselves would need to build more Replicants and Freya believes no one should make more Replicants.
The argument goes unresolved as Freya and Chloe head to San Francisco. Chloe notes that Luv knows Isobel was from San Francisco, but Ash reminds Chloe that the Bay Area is a dark zone and Luv doesn't likely have a contact, like they do, to get them into it. (Man, I'm excited to see the Bay Area.) Given the lack of electricity in the Bay Area, Ash and Chloe are taking an old, fuel-powered truck.
Problems occur when they get a flat tire and a group of cannibalistic yahoos who populate the Central Valley find them. The leader sends one of the yahoos to check the truck bed, and Lexi opens fire. Ash and she take out the rest of the gang, only to discover Chloe has a bullet wound above her heart! Fuck!
Pathfinder: Wake the Dead #2: This issue is a lot better than the first one; with the characters and premise established, we actually get something approaching a story.
We begin with the Pathfinder Chronicles entry about Ecanus informing us that all its citizens graduate from Skirmish School, ready to fight the undead at any notice. To this point, the authorities call the citizenry to action to capture the team for its "murder" of the two deathsealers.
Speaking of the team, Lem manages to send away last issue's threat with his flute, and Quinn grabs an "interesting blade." Seelah suggests they escape to the sewers., but Quinn notes the citizens train blindfolded in the sewers. He instead suggests they head to one of the city's "canvasariers," where the city makes all foreigners stay, figuring they can try to blend.
Thankfully, Quinn's blade is a screamsword and warns them of danger. It leads them a dark room in a nearby building, where a woman named Nyctessa silences the "crying blade" and introduces herself. Seelah realizes Nyctessa was controlling the sword, which she confirms; she informs the team that it responds to necrotic energy, which she has "in abundance." (I don't get this part. Was she controlling it or was it just responding to her?) The team learns Nyctessa was also trying to meet Gabsalia Venris but got trapped in Ecanus when they shut down the city.
Nyctessa informs the team that her divination spell showed her Gabsalia trapped at a refuge for escaped Gebbite "quicks" in the Spellscar desert or, as Harsk calls it, the Mana Wastes, "with the wild magic storms and the zombie dinosaurs." Harsh is ready to call it a day when Nyctessa reveals why everyone wants Gabsalia: she has a list of embedded quicks in all the organizations that hired them. That said, the quicks don't know they're spies: when they die, they'll be reborn as loyal to Geb.
Without much choice, the team accepts Nyctessa into its ranks and flees the oncoming skirmishers. Quinn reveals the Fleshforges on the city's border with the Wastes release their "unholy creations" into either the city or the Wastes. If they can make their way through a Fleshforge, they can "escape" into the Wastes. Sajan manages to save the team from a creature, and Lem uses his illusion skills to cover their escape. With little choice, Harsk decides to stick with the crew to head into the Wastes to find Gabsalia.
Again, this issue is much stronger than the last one, with surprise twists that still make sense. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story unfurls.
Star Wars: Darth Vader - Black, White, and Red #4: This issue is great. If last issue showed us where Anakin still exists inside Vader, this issue shows us where Vader is in complete control. In fact, the authors make you almost root for Vader here as he faces some arrogant opponents.
First, I thought Cyn's story ended last issue, but Aaron shows us Vader actually taking out Cyn and his crew. Vader first takes out Cyn's friends, who curse him as they die. He leaves Cyn for last, and Cyn gloats that he exploited Vader's weakness in a way Vader couldn't do to him. Somehow, though, Vader uses his powers to shut down Cyn's motor functions, allowing him to feel and watch as some local denizens eat him alive. Honestly, I don't really feel bad for ol' Cyn.
Steve Orlando wrote the second story and, while I'm not normally a huge fan of his work, I think this story is probably the best of the bunch. Vader conducts a reconnaissance mission on a seemingly uninhabited planet called Uokara in the Unknown Regions, declaring it ready for mining. Later, we see a limbless Vader in a bacta tank, itself a remarkable site. It reminds you that a man - Anakin - exists in that suit. The medical droid tells Vader that even he needs quarantine after contact with a Class IV planet. Suddenly, Vader finds himself in his mind, and we meet Ghymnon, the virus that inhabits the world. He informs Vader that he's destroyed many would-be conquerors, but, of course, as Vader says, "There is will...and there is me." Vader manages to expel the virus from his body, which the bacta sterilizes. We later see Vader supervising the beginning of the mining mission.
Finally, Vader returns to Hoth after an officer gets word that something has destroyed a leftover Imperial probe droid. Vader says he'll look into it, and the officer suggests it's too dangerous even for Vader. The officer is proven correct when a family of Wampas attack Vader. The battle sequence involves an overwhelmed Vader barely managing to hid in the remains of an AT-AT before calling for help. He collapses after taking out the Wampas, and the Empire collects him. When the officer notes that he warned Vader, Vader kills him. Ha! Seriously, only an idiot would do that and, as we know, Vader doesn't tolerate idiots.
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