Geiger: Ground Zero (2023) #1: This issue isn't particularly easy to follow, as it involves a number of flashbacks, but it sets up the pivotal meeting between Dr. Molotov and Geiger.
Six months after the bomb, Dr. Molotov is traveling with "Salt's mob," a group of former Walmart employees led by a man named, well, Salt. They apparently survived the blast because they were in the store when it happened. They're hunting down Geiger, because he killed Salt's brother.
For his part, Molotov is seeking to reunite with his wife. He was at an energy conference in Nevada where his wife was to join him but the blast waylaid her in Denver. As a pediatric surgeon, she helped where she could, and they had sporadic contact during that time. But the U.S. Army took over Denver, so she and her colleagues fled. (You have to wonder why the Army wasn't like, "A surgeon! Stay!") At some point, Molotov encountered Salt, who told him that he'd help him get to Colorado if Molotov helped him kill Geiger.
Along the way, we don't learn much about Molotov. He claims that he had a role in starting the Unknown War but also notes that he was never affiliated with the Russian government. If he worked for someone making nuclear weapons, it apparently wasn't the Russians.
In a flashback to a Fourth of July party at Tariq's, the asshole neighbors we saw in "Geiger" #1 are still assholes. As the neighbors contemplate the fallout shelter Tariq built, we learn that Russia has invaded the Baltics and a paramilitary group named "the Sons of Liberty" is active back East. The asshole husband, Kyle, asks how long someone could live in Geiger's shelter, and Tariq describes its amenities (if you will), saying his father drilled preparation into him since he (his father) was a survivor. Kyle asks, "In the old country?" and Tariq quips, "Yeah. Detroit." Everyone laughs, other than a furious Kyle.
That night, Tariq reads a book to his children, and you can tell that he's dying and they all know it, upping the irony (and tragedy) of the fact that he's the one who survives. Tariq and Tracy's conversation in bed about his chances is interrupted when they learn of the nuclear detonation in Washington, D.C.
After the events of "Geiger" #1, Tariq wandered around the area for days until he ran into Salt's brother at a Junkyard Joe-themed amusement park, which is apparently what prompted him to remember his past. (Salt's brother panics and opens fire on him, which is how he winds up killing him.)
In this issue's present, Geiger has returned home and is remembering more when Salt and company attack. Geiger unleashes his energy, killing everyone but Dr. Molotov, who finds him naked at the shelter's door.
Geiger: Ground Zero (2023) #2: Holy shit, this issue!
The issue begins with Molotov telling us his life story, about how he was four years old when the Chernobyl accident infected his father, who worked at the plant, and his mother, who went to look for his father. His father died six years later and his mother nine years later. As Molotov says, he betrayed his country because he wanted a family again.
Molotov realizes that Tariq also wants to see his family (given he controlled his form at the shelter's door) and searches around Salt's truck to find a boron rod, which he jams in Tariq's shoulder. Tariq is furious, but Molotov explains that the boron dissipates the radiation that Tariq's cells are collecting. Molotov notes that Tariq was able to delay his explosion given his emotional connection to his family on the other side of the shelter's door, which means he may be able to control his flares psychologically.
We then get an answer to a question I've had since "Geiger" #1 when Molotov tells Tariq that he cannot open the door for years until the ambient radiation levels have reduced. (I still think that's weird. Like, if Tariq's family had survived the initial blast, couldn't he have just opened the door and thrown in some suits? Like, even seconds would cause cancer? We've certainly seen some people outside without shielding for moments, though I guess we don't know how bad it'll be for them later.)
Tariq approaches the shelter, but Roy - an asshole follower of Salt's who kept threatening to kill Molotov last issue given he thought the Russians were responsible for the Unknown War - shoots him. Molotov then kills Roy. Molotov offers to find a way for Geiger to control his powers if he helps him get to Lena at the Colorado border. He informs Geiger that the others like Salt and Roy are living alone in the Walmart and won't follow them. We then see the sequence that we've previously seen, of Molotov creating Geiger vest and rods.
In a truck on the way to Colorado, Geiger explains that he was 40 pounds lighter before the explosion, and Molotov says his cells have clearly repaired themselves. Geiger asked why Molotov had previously said the war was his fault, and Molotov explains that he worked for an outfit called Scientific Research Institute 1101 that developed a way to amplify a nuclear explosion's impact. The bomb's fallout is spreading so continuously and far because of his work: "The particles neutron-activate by standing atoms like an infection." Geiger absolves Molotov of this guilt (given he didn't launch the bomb), but their conversation is interrupted when a scavenger crashes his truck into their truck.
The dude is enormous and grabs Molotov as Geiger looks for a rod that the crash knocked from his vest. Molotov overpowers the guy, who's spooked by Geiger's glow, and asks for the keys to his truck. But Molotov is devastated when he sees the guy is wearing Lena's badge among a number of trophies hanging around his (the scavenger's) neck. Molotov kills the scavenger and finds Geiger's rod, and they enter Colorado. They find nothing left at Lena's campsite, so they bury the bodies. Of note, we learn the "Dr. Molotov" in Geiger's compound outside Boulder City is Lena, not our Dr. Molotov.
Molotov stays with Tariq for a few months. They try to figure out ways to free his family, though Tariq wonders into what world he'd be freeing them. They scavenge old lead aprons to create his cloak, which is a detail I don't think we've seen before.
It goes sour when Geiger murders someone trying to break into the shelter and Molotov tells Geiger that'll he'll be no better than the scavenger they (he) killed if he kills everyone who goes near the shelter. Not unreasonably, Geiger calls Molotov a hypocrite for all he's done. It's hard to argue with that — after all, beyond his work making nuclear bombs more deadly, Molotov shot two people in this issue alone — to the point where it almost seems like a plot hole that Johns couldn't resolve.
Molotov leaves, and we discover he's narrating this story from 20 years later, i.e., Geiger's present in "Geiger" #1-#6. Our only hint to Molotov's status quo is that he prays Geiger never finds him because it would destroy the life he built if the "townspeople" learned his secrets. (Is he in Melody Hills...?)
Meanwhile, the epilogue is perhaps an even bigger deal. After the events of "Geiger" #6, Junkyard Joe reboots. We see him remembering Vietnam and Melody Hills but also a mission with Geiger, the Northerner, and Redcoat in Washington, DC. Joe awakens fully after some soldiers remove the rod Geiger stuck in him, and we see an unspecified memory of Geiger frantically saying to him, "The Unknown War. I know who started it." Joe takes out the soldiers and then decides to find Geiger.
Final Thoughts: Boy and howdy. Every issue Johns has put out so far under "The Unnamed" banner has been a banger, channeling the creativity and thought that he put into "Doomsday Clock" but now into a story with a character in whom he's clearly invested.
These issues really tie together the events of "Geiger," the "Geiger: 80-Page Giant," and "Junkyard Joe," setting the stage for the new "Geiger" series to leap off the page. Developments in this issue — like Joe regaining consciousness and the Dr. Moltov grave fake-out —make it clear that Johns has really mapped out this story in careful detail, as is his wont.
I'm so stoked, and I highly recommend the Ghost Machine launch to everyone!
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