The Alternates #4: For how complicated this series was, the ending is pretty direct.
It turns out the Alternates - the ones we've been following through this series - are duplicates of the original team of heroes who entered the Ledge. Ledgerstone used the ur-Alternates "thoughts and fears" to create the worlds the duplicates inhabited, as we've previously seen in flashbacks. When the Continuum came into the Ledge to rescue the Alternates, they brought back the duplicates instead. But ur-Tripper explains that the Alternates' departure weakened Ledgerstone, allowing the ur-Alternates to escape.
At first, I thought Kid Curious would find a way to merge them, but it turns out the originals are the bad guys: they released Pre into the city to give everyone a chance to live with, "No fear. No pain. No gods and no lesser people. No alternates." When Tripper points out it's too dangerous ("I've seen some people turn into furniture on this shit!"), ur-Tripper says that it's worth it for, "every other driver who makes it to their destination."
Crab Louie has enough and attacks ur-Crab Louie, though the Alternates eventually figure out they should switch opponents and use the weaknesses they learned about each other in therapy against the ur-Alternates. (Man, I hate doppelgänger stories.) In a desperate move, ur-Tripper crashes the ship into the city; Crab Louie saves the Alternates by convincing barnacles to cover them. The Pre gas begins to spread, but Kid Curious absorbs it and disappears, "someplace else."
The story ends with the Searcher joining the group ("I am afraid of what I might become") and Mary Marie rejecting Tripper's romantic interest in order to keep the group together.
I wasn't a huge fan of this series, but it was a pretty solid ending, which makes me glad, given how much I loved "Minor Threats."
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #41: Sacks has to hit a lot of steps to get us from where we are at the start of the issue to its end in a believable way, and I'm glad to say that he does so perfectly.
Haydenn tracks down Losha (somehow) at Kirkeide Station and gives her a backup of Valance's cerebral processor, which contains his memories from right before they met. Losha notes that Valance won't remember her, and, though obviously upset, Haydenn replies that she'll remember, which is enough for her. Huh. (I guess you weren't kidding Haydenn.) She departs, and Losha and Vulkorah head to Epikonia after Losha gets T'onga's distress message.
On Epikonia, the Scourge has "Valance" preparing T'onga and Zuckuss, along with other organics, for processing, but T'onga swipes the key to her shackles from "Valance" and frees herself and Zuckuss. (At one point, she exposits the Scourge didn't consider them enough of a threat to blaster-proof the shackles. It verges on pet peeve #3, but I'll allow it.) T'onga prepares to take out "Valance," as he'd want, but thankfully can't do it as Vulkorah's tooka cats arrive bearing thermal nuclear detonators (in the most adorable way possible).
T'onga manages to insert the backup and reboot Valance's memories, and everyone marvels that Losha is working with Vulkorah, whose transition to comic relief is welcome but still weird. (She keeps insisting they're a crew, which they all keep denying they are, though clearly they're becoming one.) Valance takes out the Scourge's robots, and, at some point, "Star Wars: Dark Droids" #5 bring us to a conclusion, because suddenly the Scourge's threat fades.
Valance is taken aback when everyone hugs him, and Zuckuss gives him the drawings he made when he thought he was losing his memory. Happily, he seems to have some memory of Haydenn. T'onga announces the dissolution of the crew, since Khel has all their credits and they don't have any bounties or a ship. Zuckuss says he's going to find For-elloem, but Valance asks them to help with one last job: saving Han.
Sacks has really reinvigorated this series, just in time for it to end. I'm sad it's ending, but I'm glad we're ending on such a strong note, Vulkorah's new personality be damned.
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