Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The May 10 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #5:  Holy fucking crap.  I did *not* see that coming.

I'll start by saying that McClaren is on fire throughout this issue.  I don't know how long it took her to get the floating staircase right in Phinneas II's apartment, but I want her to know that I see her and it's amazing.

The issue begins with Phinneas and his son, Devaki, on one couch and Phaedra and Nix on the facing one.  Phinneas apparently didn't know Phaedra knew he was her biological father, so they don't have the warm relationship I hoped they had when they met at the end of last issue.

Phaedra informs Phinneas that the Kiros Three are plotting against him, though Phinneas isn't particularly concerned as they've been plotting against him for years.  He respects humans, calling them some of the "brightest, most clever and most surprising of any beings living in Kiros," but frets that their short lifespans make them "ruthless, short-sighted, and desperate."  (Fair.)  To his mind, a human-ruled Kiros would be a disaster.  He expresses relief the elves are in charge, though Phaedra bursts that bubble when she reveals the Queen murdered Freyal.

Phinneas is appalled, since he knows the Queen loved Freyal "more than almost anything."  Phaedra points out the "almost" is the operative word there, though she agrees that the Queen loved Freyal.  She starts by saying that she doesn't think the Kiros Three are involved in the plot but merely taking advantage of a good hand.  Phaedra asks Phinneas what secret he thinks Freyal was hiding that the Queen would kill him to keep secret.  Phinneas responds that he doesn't have that kind of power, because - and, oof, this one had to hit Phaedra between the eyes - if he did, nothing in Kiros would've kept him from her.  Leaving that statement hanging, he announces that he'll fetch someone who might know the answer.  

While he's gone, Devaki brings Phaedra to a beautiful painting that isn't, as Phaedra says, "a print."  Devaki confirms that it's an original and tells her what he's going to do will be awkward but worth it.  He places her hand on the painting, informing her that only four prints in the world can activate it.  He encourages her to guess the passcode, which she does:  Phaedra.  (Again, oof.)  Suddenly, Phaedra experiences a flood of memories, some of which I think involve her.  Phinneas returns and tells Devaki that he shouldn't have shown Phaedra the painting as a grief-stricken Phaedra just stares at him.

Before Phinneas can explain, Phaedra and Nix pull their guns since Ividor, one of the elven wizards from previous issues, is standing next to him.  Ividor refuses to put up his hands, and Phinneas tells him to show them what he's holding because they all have the same problem.  He warns them that they might not like what they're going to see and opens his hands:  he's holding a baby taka.  OMG.  

Ividor reveals that he found the taka in the bowels of the castle, in an area "long closed off" but where people are now working in secret.  Phaedra asks, "On what?", to which Ividor responds, "I'd say that's our million-credit question, detective."  Indeed.  Phaedra tells the group that she has a plan that'll get them all killed if not court-martialed, and they're all game.  (Devaki smiles eagerly, so we totally love him.)  Ividor then departs.

In a literal example of Chekhov's gun, Phaedra inquires about the gun Devaki is holding, which is emphemeral.  Devaki explains that he and his father crafted it:  it made of magic and is as powerful as the magic channeled through it.  Phaedra and Nix leave (via Nix flying and carrying Phaedra), and Nix tells her that he likes her brother and father.  She confesses that she likes them, too.  

Nix asks if they're going straight to the North Tower, and Phaedra says no.  Since the seers and lookouts guarding the castle would easily notice people entering via the abandoned North Tower, she instead has them mingle into the crowd at a party in front of the West Tower.  The party is spectacular (Nix is appalled at some people wearing mechanical wings), and Phaedra directs Nix to a blind spot.  They enter an abandoned room in the Tower, move a stone, and follow a secret passage to a closet, where Phaedra finds clothes for them so they can blend more easily.  They look...ridiculous, in the best possible way.  It's like cyberpunk meets fantasy?  It's hilarious, and I hope McClaren had as much fun drawing it as I did looking at it.

The pair make their way to an elevator and, in another beautifully drawn sequence, through a series of passages to stairs under the North Tower (which, for reasons Thompson still hasn't told us, Phaedra says has been abandoned since she was a child).  They enter a cavern that almost looks like a Death Star inside, with a large mechanical object that resembles a heart hooked to a variety of pipes and tubes, all hanging over a blood-stained altar.  Nix expresses surprise that it wasn't more securely locked, but Phaedra says the people up there likely don't come down here since they don't want to know it exists.

Of course, they run into Hadrian, Phaedra's brother, who McClaren makes look like an '80s movie bully.  Phaedra dismisses his attempts to engage her, and they eventually handcuff him.  They find what Phaedra describes as a broom closet, where she hopes to drop Hadrian so they can investigate.  Suddenly the taka leaps from her cloak and gets all excited.  They find a door, prompting Nix to comment, "Door in a 'closet.'  Not a good sign."  They open the door to find a lab full of takas and large crystals.  

Holy fucking shit, are the elves sacrificing takas?!?

Dragon Age:  The Missing #4:  I don't know what I want to say about this one.  I generally have a low bar for these mini-series, and this one gets over it almost solely due to Varric's presence.  But the plot is thin at best.  

It turns out the Venatori were trailing Varric and Harding because Solas freed some of their slaves and attacked some of their sites, stealing artifacts from them.  The main goal of this issue is clearly the introduction of Neve Gallus, an "investigator" who works with a group called the Shadow Dragons, who are seemingly Tevinter do-gooders.  Neve leads Varric and Harding to one of the slaves who Solas freed, who informs them that the slaves aren't working for Solas anymore since he's leaving town.  When the slave mentions off-hand that the rest of the freed slaves are meeting that night to discuss what they should do next, Varric and Harding realize the Venatori probably think the elves are working for Solas just like they did.  They decide to let Solas slip through their fingers in order to protect the slaves from what the Venatoria, who they expect will try to recapture them.  

Varric and Harding realize at the end that Solas knew they'd help the elves instead of chasing him.  As a result, he realizes all his goals:  the elves are safe, the Venatori aren't on his tail, and he escaped Varric and Harding.  They realize that they need to chase Solas who he doesn't know as well as them, cueing up "Dragon Age:  Dreadwolf."

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #34:  I'm not really sure what happened here, to be honest.  

Vader seemingly kills Sabé after she refuses to hate and, thus, refuses to chose between power and suffering.  But Pak doesn't really explain why Vader is so focused on Sabé choosing one at this point in time.  In fact, he's really facing more pressing problems.  Before her "death," Sabé has a vision that, to her mind, confirms Anakin still has good in him, though Pak doesn't explain how Sabé is suddenly having visions.  

The issue ends with Vader taking out a Rebel party who stumbles upon him and takes their shot to kill him.  Vader seemed to know the Rebels were coming, though I don't know how he did as it feels totally random when it happens.  I thought Sabé brought him to a deserted planet so he couldn't hurt anyone?  Whatever.

Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The March 29 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILER!)

Dragon Age:  The Missing #3:  Mann moves way too quickly here, as he's done in other issues, though the pace renders this one almost incomprehensible.  

Varric and Harding yet again meet a group that can conveniently help them with their specific task, this time moving through the weirded Arlathan Forest to get to the Crucious Stone before the Venatori do.  Like the two previous issues, this issue could be a mini-series in and of itself, given the trials and tribulations the temporary team faces in its journey.  

Arriving at the temple they sought, Varric discovers a note from Solas, affirming that he's going to do what he intends but pledging to limit the damage.  One of Varric's teammates observes that the Dread Wolf's possession of the Crucious Stone likely caused the weirding of the forest, making it clear that Solas' definition of "limiting the damage" might not be the same as everyone else's.  

I wish Mann had more time to explore this story, because it's a good one, but it's clear management is forcing him to hit his marks more quickly than advisable.

Dungeons & Dragons:  Saturday Morning Adventures #1:  I'll admit that I had a really high level of excitement for this issue.  It doesn't quite clear that bar, given that it's 19 pages long and reads like it's half that number.  Booher and Maggs throw in enough interesting developments to keep me going, though, such as the revelation that the kids are in the Realms and Dungeon Master's nod to Otik's spiced potatoes.  Would I mind seeing them in Krynn after Waterdeep?  No, I would not.  But I also wouldn't mind Booher and Maggs trying to tell a more serious story than the one they tell here.

Local Man #2:  Fleecs and Seeley do a great job moving us confidently and quickly through this issue to get us going on the larger story they're telling.

The cops arrest Jack on suspicion of murdering Hodag, and Jack reveals to the chief that Inga (i.e., the chief's wife) is his alibi.  After the chief releases him, Jack quips (like an asshole) that it's interesting Inga didn't mention they met, and he gets his just desserts when the chief quips that Inga never mentions him at all.  (I can see what Inga sees in him.)

Jack gets in trouble when the Third Gen drone trailing him suspects he's getting involved in the investigation, so he takes Pepper for a walk to visit Hodag's mother.  She's a lovely and sharp woman.  She utters a code that temporarily disables the drone, telling Jack that Hodag had one for years and she learned to invoke her right to "non-target privacy."  As such, they have a private conversation inside her trailer.

She recalls how Hodag chose Crossjack as his enemy because Crossjack understood that it was all a show.  She reveals that the Camo Crusader bashed in Hodag's brains, rendering him seriously brain damaged, and thanks Jack for "fucking that fascist prick's wife, hard and long for years."  (Aha!)  She rues on how they could send a billion-dollar robot to monitor Hodag but couldn't use the money to fix his implants or his pain.

Before Jack leaves, she gives him the drawings that Hodag used to do in crayon.  Going through them later that night, Jack sees the word "Aphek," which reminds him of the Aphek Engine, a previous mission's subject.  Dressed in a mask and wielding a bow and arrow, he takes out the drone and promises its remains that he'll mind his own business.

Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi - Jabba's Palace #1:  At this point, you'd figure we've heard the story of every droid, gangster, and scoundrel in Jabba's palace in "Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi."  Guggenheim shows us not only were we wrong but how wonderfully wrong we were.  

We're treated to the story of Eightyem, Threepio's predecessor as Jabba's protocol droid, who we last saw hanging on the wall in Jabba's droid torture chamber.  It turns out poor Eightyem was dragged into a conspiracy that a fast talking Twi'lek named Silvan Kaan put together to take out Jabba.  It ends the way you'd expect (and, frankly, Eightyem should've expected), with an equally fast talking bounty hunter named Bane Malar (hi, Toril!) spoiling their plans as a way to curry Jabba's favor.  Kaan ends in the sarlaac pit, and Eightyem finds himself on the aforementioned wall.

Honestly, this story was so great that I'd love to see where Guggenheim could take Bane Malar.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The February 22 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #2:  This series is, bar none, the best on the market and everyone should read it now!

We begin with Phaedra on a slab in the morgue.  She isn't dead, though.  Nida enters as Phaedra awakens and informs her that the assailant stabbed her with a dracona dagger and informs *us* that only draconas are likely to survive assaults from dracona daggers.  Dun-dun-DUN!  Phaedra mentions off-handedly that someone attacked her at the castle, and Nida interrupts her, shocked, since Phaedra hadn't told her about the attack yet.  Phaedra dismisses the castle attack as "honor bullshit" but notes that the dracona attack was definitely not that.

To explain how she isn't dead, Phaedra recalls that the elves magically healed her after the castle attack, so they could argue the magic persisted and saved her.  Nida points out the small pair of wings Phaedra grew suggests she tell everyone the truth.  Phaedra refuses, saying people will kill her mother and possibly her father.  Nida is enraged that Phaedra has to live her life in exile, fearing "honor killings and retribution at any moment," thus directly tying Phaedra's exile to her heritage.  It sounds like she had to leave to keep the secret, but I wonder what the cover story for leaving was.  Phaedra tells Nida that she likes her life, but Nida isn't buying it.

After Nida leaves, Phaedra realizes that she's next to Freyal's body.  Upon inspection, she finds a scar in his tattoo, which the computer diagnoses as probably self-inflected.  A tearful Phaedra asks his body why he would do that and laments that he's cold, noting that he always hated the cold.

In a flashback, Phaedra's mother recalls when the tattoos were a solemn rite, which she hated, because she felt bound by it.  But she says all the kids think they're cool so they love them.  Phaedra replies that she loves Freyal and the tattoo is just a bonus.  She realizes though that her mother was saying that she didn't love her father, and her mother slyly tells her that she loved her father more than anything.  Phaedra realizes that the stories don't align, but Freyal arrives in time to distract her.  They have a lovely moment but, as they kiss, Phaedra feels an itch, not realizing that her nascent wings cause it.

Leaving the morgue, Phaedra encounters Pax as he reviews the "lookie-loos" he's had to interview (and accuses Phaedra of almost getting killed just to avoid the interviews.)  

After interviewing a few lunatics together, they come to Romu and Iona, who I think are two of the hooligans who were at the Lookout last issue.  Iona tells Phaedra that they're there because mermaids get a bad rap.  Romu tells Phaedra and Pax that he and Iona stayed after the other two hooligans (Jessup and Tomig) left.  Apparently if the wind is right you can hear the mermaids, which Romu describes as a test of wills.  As they watched (Romu says they "do really cool stuff"), a figure in a "long, dark hooded cloak" floated to the beach carrying a body.  Romu then saw a flash of light, and the body was gone and the figure was already at the wall leaving.  Iona tells Phaedra that she saw the "big flash of gold light," but Romu had the spyglass so she can't confirm everything else other than that she saw a figure.

Suddenly, a noise signaling "ten ticks until the Brownout" happens, and Iona and Romu panic, telling the detectives that they have to get home before their parents get mad.  After the kids leave, Pax notes that their figure didn't have wings so he assumes it used magic to float.

At home, Phaedra realizes that she isn't alone, and three very well dressed humans reveal themselves.  The woman is surprised Phaedra senses them since they were "well cloaked."  Phaedra tells them that she knows who they are:  the woman is Elea Veris, and the men are Galal III of Veris and Aldric II of Solas.  Phaedra describes them as the three most powerful humans in Kiros.  

Galal is apparently the next in life for the throne now that Freyal is dead, which is an interesting political arrangement.  Phaedra notes that it would shift power from the elves to humans for the first time.  Galal tells Phaedra that they want their names cleared so they don't ascend the throne under a scandal, and Phaedra notes that the Queen is still alive and will outlive them all.  Galal responds with a muted, "Of course," instantly putting our suspicion on them (particularly given that they're magic users).  

When Phaedra asks what they want, Galal responds that they don't want anything from her:  they want to give her a "nice juicy lead."  Next, Phaedra is exiting her apartment and calling Pax to meet her at the Trees, where he apparently already is.  She passes through a beautiful gate warning non-fliers to proceed with caution and takes a ferris wheel-like elevator into the Trees.  Cryptically, the issue ends with Phaedra saying to the camera (if you will), "Let's see what you can tell me yourself, Freyal."

As I mentioned last issue, the world-building here is spectacular.  Thompson has created a world so full of detail that it feels impossible that we'd ever come to grasp its full historical, political, and social realities, even in 100 issues.  Moreover, we get most of this information not through expository monologuing but through character development.  Moreover, McLaren's love of the story is clear in each line she draws and color she paints.

 Again, I can't recommend it enough.

Dragon Age:  The Missing #2:  I don't particularly remember Solas as turning people to stone, but I might've glossed over that detail after learning that he was the elven god responsible for creating the Fade.  But it's a relevant piece of data, since Varric and Harding arrive at Lady Crysanthus' estate in Vyrantium to discover her petrified (and the Antaam sieging Vyrantium).  After shaking down Crysanthus' valet, Varric and Harding discover a secret room showing her efforts to help the Venatori make a strike against the Imperium.  (I'm assuming she'd benefit from a Venatori-led Imperium.)  She and the Venatori sought the Crucious Stone, some sort of elven magical artifact in the Arlathan forest, where only a few Dalish tribes reside.  It seems clear now that the invitation we saw at the end of last issue is one Crysanthus sent the Venatori and Solas intercepted.  To Arlathan we go!

Local Man #1:  I picked up this series because I loved Seeley's work on "Grayson" and "Nightwing," and I'm thrilled I did.  Like Seely, I was a 15 year old (well, 16 year old) kid when "Youngblood" hit the stands, and I couldn't have been more excited.  I didn't totally understand it, and the focus on sex made me nervous.  (Shaft made me feel...things second only to the way Spartan from "WildC.A.T.s" made me feel...things.)  Like Seeley says here, it felt freeing to see Liefeld tell the story that he wanted to tell, one of the first times that comics seemed to depict superheroes the way that they'd likely exist in reality.

I'm thrilled to say Seeley and Fleecs capture that feeling in a bottle here.  First, they ramps up my excitement when Jack's mother asks him if he's tried getting Brigade or Cyberforce to hire him.  The authors doesn't just get the vibe of that Imageverse (which they totally get) but make it clear we're actually in that universe.  I enjoyed Chad Bowers' reboot of "Youngblood," as it was filled with the same bold-faced narrative and brightly colored action as the original series were.  But Seeley and Fleecs are taking the vibe of that era and infusing it with...well, a plot.  The art drives home this point, as the issue's color palette is subdued when portraying Jack's present and bold when portraying Third Gen.

Getting to the basics, the aforementioned "Jack" is Jack Xaver, formerly Crossjack of Third Gen.  Third Gen enterprises fired Jack for reasons that aren't clear.  It *is* clear that he's a disgrace, something his mother actually calls him when he arrives home.  (Also driving home that point is when a guy recognizes him sitting at the bus stop and yells out, "Fuck Crossjack.")  Jack escapes home for a bar where a guy named Hodag busts past the bouncer.  Jack thinks he wants to fight him and doesn't give Hodag a chance to reveal that he's there to tell him about a "place" he went.

After Jack gets thrown from the bar, his high-school sweetheart Inga takes him to her diner.  You get the sense that Inga isn't as happy as her Facebook page implies she is, but their conversation is interrupted when Third Gen appears to serve Jack papers for using a shield in his fight, contrary to his agreement.  Jack declines Inga's offer of a ride home (possibly because he knows something might develop) and is surprised to find to his parents' elderly dog, Pepper, in a field.  Pepper is more than she appears:  Jack swears she was 14 years old when he left home, and she evades the projectile he throws at her in the field despite his later insistence that he never misses.

But Pepper isn't the only mystery, as someone kills Hodag in his cell as he's yet again talking about how he's hoping to tell Jack about the place that can make the pain disappear.

All in all, it's a wonderful start.  I'm here for where Seeley and Fleece are taking us.

Star Wars:  Yoda #4:  This series is taking the vignette approach of similar series, though the recent "Star Wars:  Obi-Wan Kenobi" series felt more coherent than this one.  

Starting off this arc, Yoda invites Count Dooku to spend time with the recent class of Padawans.  Dooku becomes the confidante of a Wookiee Padawan who had a vision that the Trandoshians were going to massacre his people.  It's notable because one of the Wookiee's friends is a Trandoshian, which Yoda sees as evidence of what Jedi training can achieve by removing Padawans from their people's prejudices.  When the Wookiee tells Dooku about his vision, Dooku suggests the young Wookiee tell no one of his vision, alluding to the fate of Sifo-Dyas, his old yet seemingly estranged friend.

It's all fine, but it feels more like AI-generated fan-fiction right now than anything else.  Like the first arc, I don't particularly feel like I've gotten any insight into Yoda himself.  It's mostly Yoda being Yoda.

Undiscovered County #23:  Snyder and Soule are vamping here, as we don't really learn anything new.  

Future Chang and future Janet bring Present Chang and Present Janet to a movie theater to reveal the world's greatest secret, whatever it was that they saw in America that made them decide to kill Ace, Charlotte, and Daniel.  However, Ace arrives with a souped up Buzz and ruins the party before we can learn more.

In the flashback (flash forward?), Future Chang and Future Janet reveal that they only need to stop Charlotte and Daniel from reaching the center of the Spiral (and not necessarily to prevent them from leaving America with the Sky cure).  Future Ace has Future Valentina flee, which she does, but Future Valentina doesn't reveal why Future Chang and Future Janet let her live out her days in the Empire.  She tells Present Ace that she doesn't know why they decided to act agains their colleagues, so I guess she wasn't a risk.

In the past, Charlotte and Valentina swipe Lavant's tablet, which controls time, and escape through a variety of timelines until Lavant attacks them at Gettysburg.  I don't really get the physics here, to be honest.  Lavant told Charlotte and Valentina that Aurora was able to create all these timelines, but he actually becomes Abraham Lincoln, implying a higher level of manipulation than I thought.  I guess that makes sense, since the whole point of Zone History is to manipulate events to see how they create different outcomes.

This arc still remains intriguing, as it feels like the "greatest secret" will change what we understand about how Aurora works and where the team fits into her plans.  But it's time to get there.

Six-Month-Old Comics: The January 25 Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #18:  OMG, this issue is really one of the worst comics I've ever read.  I just don't know what I can say at this point.  

Instead of Madelyne suggesting to Jean that she facilitate Peter sharing his memories with Ben in a way that won't compromise said memories (like Jean did for Madelyne in "Dark Web:  X-Men" #3), Madelyne just cuts Ben loose and sides with the X-Men.  Oof.

Of course, that said, I *think* Peter's objection to sharing his memories with Ben was that it would cause him to loose said memories, but I don't actually know at this point.  

It all just sucks.  Honestly, I can't believe I'm going to say what I'm going to say, but I'm considering not reading this series anymore.

Dragon Age:  The Missing #1:  This series finally puts aside the increasingly confusing Wraith-related stories and brings back Varic as he and Harding search for Solas.  

Following rumors that Solas is hiding in the Deep Roads, Varic and Harding bump into a pair of Grey Wardens investigating disappearances that started after excavations broke into the Roads.

After helping the Wardens take out the Darkspawn behind the abductions, Varic and Harding find Solas' lair and an invitation to "call upon the Lady Crysanthus" in Vyrantium, where they head next.

I don't have much else to say at this point, other than I'm interested to see where we go.

Justice Society of America #2:  This series isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, and given all the time travel I'd normally put myself in that camp.  But something about Helena leaving the infirmary and walking into the spectacular hotness (and chest hair) of the assembled Society is thrilling to me.  Of course, as I said, it involves time travel, so it's hard to follow at the best of times.

Helena awakens in 1940 and tells the Society that she's from a future where someone murders her Society.  Helena exposits that she recognized the someone as "a man I've seen on the edges of my perisperhal visions since I was ten."  Dr. Fate attempts to peer into her timeline to share her experiences with the group but the same "someone" transports his consciousness into his future 1941 where he and his protégée, Salem the Witch Girl, are trying to find Mister Miracle to free her from her curse.  Instead, they find him fighting Solomon Grundy, though Fate's consciousness is snapped back to 1940 again.

In the present, Catwoman fights the "someone" whom she recognizes as "Degaton," who Wikipedia tells me is an old-school Society enemy.  He refers to "Snow Globe" turning Helena into a "blind spot," which makes no particular sense now but likely will later.  He also exposits that he needs to kill all the Society members for "the ritual" to work, so he clearly needs to track down Helena.  

Anyway, he kills Selina, which Helena can somehow see.  But she's again somehow transfered through time again (with Dr. Fate's symbols in her eyes) and awakens in another alley, this time at Khalid's feet though he doesn't recognize her.  He's joined by Deadman and Detective Chimp.

In other words, it's a lot.  But I'm down with seeing where we go from here if we get more shots of Jay Garrick's eyes.

Sins of Sinister #1:  I stopped reading "Immortal X-Men" with issue #6, but this issue recaps the relevant developments that I assume happened in issues #7-#10:  namely, Sinister compromises the Krakoan DNA database so that every resurrected mutant is secretly subservient to him.  He begins with Charles, Emma, Exodus, and Hope.  

Sinister isn't an idiot, though, so he has the Council put him in the Pit while his pawns carry out his plan:  namely, Krakoa offers humans an X-Gene to get them in the resurrection queue.  Of course, it's a Trojan Horse that will enable Sinister to take over the planet.  Clever, that Sinister.

Thanks to an interstitial page, we learn his ultimate plan is to use Earth's population and the Moira Engine to achieve Dominion status before "hyper-A.I.s" take over the planet.

As he takes over the mutants, he has Sinister-Forge launch an attack from space that fries Krakoa's brain, allowing the mutants to claim to the public that all non-mutant backups were lost.  It therefore encourages more humans to get the X-Gene, accelerating Sinister's takeover.  

We then get a series of splash pages that details the next ten years of Sinister taking out his enemies, like corrupting the Avengers through the X-Gene.  Storm is the only person who eludes capture after she guess something was amiss in the Council and worked out a deal with Lactuca to make sure Sinister couldn't control her.

But it all goes to hell when Sinister discovers someone has stolen his lab and his Moiras.  Ruh-roh.

Over all, it's a solid introduction to this event.  Gillen expertly weaves his story through the X-Men recent status quo, making for a story that feels like it was Hickman's intent from the start.  We'll see where we go from here.

Star Wars:  Yoda #3:  My issue with Yoda has always been that he's so wise yet missed the fact that he was sitting next to Darth Sidious for years.  He also oversaw a system that treated young children as little more than soldiers for present and future wars.  This issue underscores that he didn't just treat Force-sensitive children that way.  Equal opportunity assholery!

Although Bree's murder of Riak last issue ensures the Scalvi's safety for years, Yoda's abrupt departure leaves Bree a broken shell of a person.  As an adult, Bree has never gotten over Yoda's abandonment despite the Scalvi treating him as a hero.  Yoda returns just in time for Bree's nephew to kidnap the Crulkon leader's daughter.  Bree listens to the girl as she informs him that Turrak's oceans are devoid of life, and he realizes that the Crulkon are, and always have been, starving.  He opens the Scalvis' gates to the Crulkon, which is obviously the outcome Yoda wanted.

But you have to wonder if it had to happen this way.  Yoda admits that he allowed the Crulkon to kidnap him to test Bree, and Bree of course failed when he killed Riak.  But Yoda simply abandoned him to his failure.  It seems possible that Bree could've become the sort of man to see the Crulkon's suffering without taking a life or spending years wondering why he failed Yoda.

A hero, I'm not sure Yoda is.

Also Read:  X-Terminators #5