Eleven-Month-Old Comics!: The April 12 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Black Cloak #4:  Well, we're definitely getting somewhere here.

Phaedra and Pax's encounter with the mermaids goes poorly, as the mermaids' ability to speak directly into their minds leaves them disoriented (as if they're really high).  McClaren is great here, switching to watercolors to show how Phaedra and Pax interpret the mermaids' language.  Sash asks Sabri to protect Phaedra and Pax as he once asked the mermaids to protect him, and Sabri responds that he is a friend while they aren't.  Hilariously, a mermaid behind Sabri simply says, "Eat." 

Sabri is enraged when Sash says that they're there for justice for Yanha, and her scream sends the three of them flying.  Pax figures out a way to block out the noise (pushing "it" to the base of his skull), quipping that he finally found the benefit of having a screaming baby at home.  Sash wants them to leave, but Phaedra makes a direct appeal to Sabri.  She agrees to show them an image of the person who dumped the body if they open their minds.  When they see who it was, they both comment, "Oh, fuck off."  Phaedra tells Sabri that she's sorry for her loss, and Sabri devastatingly simply replies, "Yanha was love."

It seems likely the Queen's henchman from last issue dumped the body.  Phaedra and Pax discuss how to proceed, with Pax noting that Sabri's information isn't actionable at court but might be enough to convince one of the elves to confess.  He also checks his phone-ish device and learns that the Court refused to let them have access to Freyal's quarters.

As they return to the station, they discuss the crime.  They're stuck on the fact that someone poisoned Freyal and someone else stabbed him with a dracona dagger.  Pax suggests that Freyal took the poison because he knew his mother and her henchmen were coming to kill him and Phaedra would find two murder "weapons," so to speak, which would make her suspicious.  But they realize they're missing something because the poison also killed Dace, and the Queen and her men likely didn't know she injected the poison because they wouldn't have fed her to the mermaids if they did.

Before they can do anything, though, they hear an All Points Flash (APF) seeking them for questioning in Freyal's murder.  (Interestingly, Pax is dubbed, "Theron II of Pax."  Are all Black Cloaks royals?)  They go their separate ways and agree to meet in two hours.

Phaedra goes home and has sex with Nida, who convinces her to tell her the full story of her exile.  It's devastatingly sad.

Seventeen-year-old Phaedra is trying on wedding dresses with her mother and seemingly intentionally asks not to see backless ones, purposefully provoking the conversation about her parentage with her mother.  Her mother confesses that she had an affair with a dracona after Phaedra's father returned from the war a shell of a man.  She had hoped Phaedra's was her father's but confesses that Phaedra is so like her biological father that she's always known the truth.

Something about the conversation makes Phaedra realize that she really can't marry Freyal, which I have to wonder why she didn't realize that earlier, since she clearly suspected that her father was dracona.  Either way, the revelation that she's half-dracona "would be a death sentence" for her mother, possibly for her, and "maybe for the entire Essex line."  After making Mister Starlight promise to take care of Freyal (a reminder that we're dealing with a 17-year-old girl), Phaedra tells Freyal that she's always loved him:  "It was always real for me.  You will always be my best friend, no matter where we are."  She then goes to the Queen and breaks off the engagement, knowing that it'll lead to her exile.

In the present, Phaedra explains that her exile is why her brother Hadrian hates her, since House Essex fell in status.  However, the revelation that she was part dracona could've led to its destruction, since Phaedra's father was already dead (and couldn't bear more children).  Nida sadly notes that Phaedra was the only one who lost anything, but Phaedra beautifully looks at Nida and comments about what she's found.

She later meets Pax at the Seventh Sign in the Narrows.  (I thought it was where they found Freyal's body, but, upon re-reading it, I'm not so sure.)  Phaedra reveals that the toxicology screen Nida sent her shows that Freyal could've died before he was stabbed.  She suggests that Dace took the poison with Freyal because she loved him and didn't want to live without him.  Pax agrees it's possible but messy, and they realize they really need something more than Sabri's word.  So Phaedra brings Pax to the house of Phinneas II of Thane, the "highest-raking dracona in all of Kiros"...and, of course, Phaedra's biological father.

Know Your Station #5:  Well, it's an ending, I guess.  Unsurprisingly, it turns out St. Brigid is the murderer.  Her motive is at least interesting, as she did it because she's an artist.  Ten percent of her server capacity is dedicated to image analysis, but the wealthy residents were making her steal other people's art.  We cut to St. Brigid's memories of the residents wanting to create collages with their images, like putting their face on the "Reagan volcano."  The issue ends with Elise and Marin using the residents' funds to create an oasis for the employees while the residents are forced into serving as St. Brigid's art.  It's like Gailey got one too many commissions and imagined how she'd get revenge.  I can't say I enjoyed this series, but it's different, I'll give it that.

Red Zone #2:  This issue is as great as I hoped this series would be, as Bunn brings out a "Red"-like cast of characters jumping at the chance to take on their old enemy Randall Crane.  Crane's only accomplishment other than staying alive is getting in touch with Deidre, his (now deceased) escort team's woman in the chair, who starts working on a plan to extract him and Nika from Russia.  But they have to escape from his now-robotic former enemy, Nikita Vasiliev, and, unbeknownst to Crane, a sniper with him in her sights.  Does she happen to be yet another former lover?  Of course she does.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #33:  Surprising no one, the team isn't doing particularly well.  Zuckuss barely got the Edgehawk to land at the Depatar spaceport in one piece, and Bossk and Valance threaten to break it entirely with their fighting.  After getting For-Elloem to break up the fight, T'onga announces that she's taking For-Elloem with her to pick up a hyperdrive while they all repair the ship.  But Inferno Squad is waiting and take out the pair quickly.  Commander Versio dresses herself as T'onga to infiltrate the ship, so next issue should go...well, even worse for the team.  Meanwhile, IG-88 arrives to take out Vulkorah and her associates just as she resigned as the Unbroken Clan's chief since she apparently knew her subordinates were going to kill her.  As such, he kills everyone else, since his job was to take out the Clan's leadership.  Heh.  Honestly, I'm kind of hoping Vulkorah joins the team.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The March 8 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Know Your Station #4:  It's definitely time to wrap up this story.  More people die, Elise doesn't have a clue, more people die.  At this point, it seems completely unbelievable that the station's residents - including the staff - aren't in a total panic over the situation.  Instead, the staff hosts a happy hour, and the resident who runs the station's servers is wandering the halls with an oversized sword she got from the "urchins" on her floor.  I don't even know.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #32:  Sacks delivers a surprisingly poignant issue here, though it involves spoiling the outcome of "Star Wars:  Hidden Empire."

The crew is fleeing Inferno Squad when it flies past the zone where the Fermata Cage was apparently destroyed in "Star Wars:  Hidden Empire" #5.  Zuckuss uses his Findsman skills to navigate the ship through the Lost Souls Asteroid Field.  However, he must enter a trance to do so and the Cage's destruction is creating interference, causing Zuckuss to lose himself in memories of his Findsman ritual.

It's here where the emotions spill from Zuckuss.  His younger self is reluctant to enter the ritual, since either way it means he will have to leave his mother.  She utters a series of clicks that she claims are an ancient ritual to instill courage, and Zuckuss asks for a last moment together.  It's really one of the most poignant moments I've seen in comics.  

Zuckuss is a runt but manages to "rid the valley of the terror of the charon," which is the monster that guards the t'karra flower that Findsman aspirants have to return to the clan.  Unfortunately, in killing the monster and saving his fellow aspirants, Zuckuss drops the flower.  The clan - including his mother - turns their backs on him.  Zuckuss swears to find his own way.

Meanwhile, For-Elloem recalls the story and mimics the ritual's sound.  Zuckuss awakens in time to navigate the team through the asteroid field, remarking to Valance that the secret is, "You just have to be always open to taking a different path."  Unfortunately, though they successfully lost Inferno Squad, Iden Versio correctly guesses the crew will head to a nearby smuggler port for repairs.

Whereas the emotional punches of the last few issues haven't really landed with me, this one does.  It'll be hard to forget - thanks to Prianto's wonderful color - Zuckuss cuddling with his mother at the issue's start only for her to turn her back on him at the end.  It's a reminder how cruel this galaxy far, far away can be.

Twelve-Month-Old Comics!: The February 8 Edition - Part 1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #19:  The only problem with this issue is that it makes me pine for Kelly and Dodson to take over this title.  

Unlike Wells, Kelly manages to mix comedy with action and drama in an organic way throughout the issue.  Deciding to take their relationship to the next level, Felicia and Peter unexpected find Mary Jane and Paul at the same upstate spa.  (Hilariously, Felicia and Paul have a sotte voce conversation about using a Snapshot groupon.)  

Kelly milks the tension for all its worth, from Peter clutching shut his robe (and Felicia, to Paul's discomfort, reminding Peter that both she and Mary Jane has seen him naked) to Peter finally opening his robe to reveal "Here, Kitty, Kitty" boxer shorts.  Ha!  The comedic awkwardness also advances the plot as Felicia tells Peter that he needs to be honest with her (and himself) about his feelings for Mary Jane.  It's always fun when Felicia is the responsible adult.

Moreover, this tension isn't just the issue's point, as it so often is in Wells' stories.  Instead, it's the backdrop of Peter and Felicia discovering that White Rabbit has stolen gear that mimics the Sinister Six's powers.  She's dating a genius, Mychal, who installed safeties on the gear so they can rent it to rich tech bros to play "The Greatest Game," super-villain style.  Honestly?  I'm surprised this scenario hasn't played out yet in the real world.  Kelly's gift for comedy remains on full display throughout the action as Peter gets into a genius pissing contest as the bros trying to figure out how his Web-Shooters work, resulting in Felicia telling him to stop Spideysplaining to "entitled felons."

But it isn't all giggles and laughs as Mychal winds up dead and the bro seem to want to kill Spider and Felicia as they take off the safeties.

[Sigh.]  If only we got such a multifaceted story every moth...I guess I'll have to enjoy it while I can.

Batman #132:  Zdarsky throws us right into the mystery here as the issue begins with Bruce shadowing Jewel as she tries to save people from getting sent to Arkham.  

As they patrol the streets, Bruce learns that Judge Dent sent Jewel's father to Arkham due to his grief over her mother's death from cancer.  Jewel recognizes Bruce is having a hallucination (he's staring at Jimbo from last issue) and tells him that they aren't from "multiversal travel" (as Bruce thought) but from "Crane Brain," a drug the authorities pump into the air to find more victims for Arkham.  She gives Bruce pills that block the drug's effect and tells Bruce that Halliday Industries produces the pills at Athena Tower.  Bruce realizes that Halliday might have taken over the role that Wayne Enterprises played in his Gotham so heads there.

In an interlude, Red Mask visits Dent, who's stewing about the possibility that Bruce is out there.  In a show of power, Red Mask de-Venomizes Dent, shrinking him into a skeletal version of himself.  Red Mask demands Dent find Bruce, treating to take away his "gift" more permanently.

Bruce begins to show uncharacteristic signs of emotional trauma as he talks to Jewel.  He makes her eggs, and she's amazed at how good they are.  He comments on how his sons were always hungry, and an old friend taught him how to make them.  Later, Jewel works with Bruce to develop a persona so he can attend Halliday's upcoming fundraiser where, of course, Bruce encounters Selina.  She exposits for us that this world's Bruce Wayne gave up his billions to become a social worker before his presumed death.  She points out Halliday in the crowd...and it's the Joker.  Man, I did *not* see that coming.  Before Bruce (or we) can process that, Punchline arrives, and she and Selina attack.  Killer Croc joins the fun, and Bruce realizes he's in trouble.  He takes out Croc and marvels how the wealthy Athena Tower residents don't even flinch at the violence.

Then he sees Alfred.  At the issue's start, we saw that this world's Alfred is in a relationship with Leslie Thompkins, and it's clear that he used the money Bruce left him to buy their safety in the Tower.  Bruce shakes off the idea that it's *his* Alfred or *his* Selina, but he's distracted enough for a cop to shoot him, propelling him out the building.  Bruce falls through a warehouse skylight and, lying on the floor, confesses to himself that he misses his "sons" and "his" Selina.  It's a heartbreaking moment, but he tells himself that any Gotham is his Gotham.  Stumbling through the streets, Bruce tries to help someone fight off one of Judge Dent's cops but gets his ass handed to him.  In one of Zdarksy's most brilliant moments, as Bruce lays bleeding in the alley, he sees a bat and decides, "I shall become a bat."  Damn, this series is on fire.

The back-up story is just as good.  We learn that Toyman went on a rampage before he died, and the gun he used - the one Failsafe used on Batman - either turned people into toy versions of themselves or dissipated them.  Tim examines one of the toys and realizes that it's producing multiversal energy.  Correctly realizing that Toyman didn't kill himself but instead sent himself and the disappeared and toy people to another reality, Tim calls Mister Terrific.  

Mister Terrific provides Tim with a new invention, an outfit that creates a tether and discs so the user can travel multiversally.  Tim is surprised when he arrives in a suburban area but quickly tracks down the victims...only for Toyman and his army of toy-ified victims to find him.

In other words, it's great stuff.  If I have one complaint it's that Zdarsky feels like he's rushing a bit.  He probably could've found a way to delay the confrontation at Athena Tower to next issue.  I'm just greedy, though.  I don't want any of it to end.

Blade Runner 2039 #3:  As usual, Johnson does a great job of slowly unspooling the mystery at this series' core.  We don't know everything yet, but we know enough that Ash should be worried.

Ash visits Wojciech in a retirement home; it seems lovely so it's nice to see someone in this series might have a happy ending (hopefully).  Wojciech confirms that she heard rumors about a Replicant Blade Runner but doesn't have any more information about it.  She encourages Ash to leave it be, which we (including Wojciech) know she won't do.

Ash stops by a noodle place before heading to the sticks, and Cleo finds her there because Ash took her there once.  Ash is enraged that Cleo is there, but Cleo tells her that Isobel is missing.  Cleo takes Ash to her penthouse, explaining that they're not rich on Arcadia but money goes further on Earth.  She explains that she's a schoolteacher and married with a son.  She wants to know more about Ash, but Ash is worried about her safety so tells her to stay in the apartment.

At a bar later, Ash is worried about all these "coincidences:"  a Replicant Blade Runner, Cleo on Earth, Isobel in the wind.  Underscoring Ash's senes, Hythe arrives and tells Ash that she met the Replicant Blade Runner.  She hands Ash the data Wallace wants, figuring they'll be safer with her, and Ash saves her right before she's assassinated.  Ash and Hythe then take out two Wallace employees who originally picked up Luv at the issue's start.  

The issue ends with Luv arriving at Cleo's apartment, though I don't know how she realized "Mrs. Calhoun" was Cleo.  She had been reviewing traffic files (as part of her punishment), so maybe a traffic camera identified her?  We'll see.

Captain America:  Symbol of Truth #10:  Silva is spectacular here, as he walks us through Cap and Nomad trying to take out Falcon in a battle in the sky.  Thankfully, Onyebuchi more or less manages not to get in the way.  

That said, it was incredibly disingenuous to lead us to believe Joaquín killed his grandmother only to reveal that he only fed on the horses.  Moreover, White Wolf goes all pet peeve #3 here as he tells his general that he just wanted to take Joaquín off the board but got lucky when the "chemical" turned him into a vampire.  Does he explain what the chemical is or why he used a chemical instead of just killing Joaquín?  No, no, he doesn't.  

But given how awful the previous issues have been I'm glad I didn't hate this one.  That's where I am with this series.

Know Your Station #3:  I'm still not entirely convinced Marin or St. Brigid isn't behind the murders, but Elise and Marin do establish some baseline criteria for the killer that makes sense.

First thing first, they're called to Vesper Norton's suite where they find his body.  Like the Raulssons, the killer has...arranged it.  Whereas the killer strung up the Raulssons artistically, the killer has drained Norton's blood into hundreds of tiny vials and replaced the blood with Blue.  It's...a lot.  

But it also makes Elise and Marin realize that the killer has pretty advanced medical skills.  They feel like it all points to a staff member, but, as staff members, they don't feel like one of their colleagues did it.  Presumably their motive would be vengeance against an asshole billionaire, but, as Elise says, all the staff know the score so it seems weird one of them would go rogue.  But, given the "celebratory" nature of the killings, it also doesn't feel like a Board member offing other Board members for power.  In other words, they have no idea.

The issue has other strange revelations, like the fact St. Brigid deactivates *all* suite cameras when Elise is on Blue, not just hers.  Also, Elise confesses to Marin that she was a dishwasher with no background in security.  For some reason, though, Raulsson liked her energy when she onboarded and gave her the security job.

The issue ends with all the residents getting a message saying that they're next.  Gailey doesn't have Elise tell Marin that St. Brigid keeps telling her that she was the only person to access the rooms of the previous victims, which is ostensibly the reason why she isn't calling the police.  Marin doesn't trust the police to solve the problem anyway, so he isn't asking.  But at this point it's hard to believe that Elise is going to retain control over this situation much longer.

Six-Month-Old Comics: The January 11 Edition - Part 1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Amazing Spider-Man #17:  OMG, this issue is awful.

On the plus side, the art is great:  McGuiness should draw Limbo demons full-time.  

Unfortunately, the issue also has words.

Ben decides to get Peter to eat the apple by casting him, JJJ, Jr., and Robbie in a work-place comedy set at The Bugle with the demons as the other employees.  I'm not kidding.  I'm not saying it isn't funny, but it goes to this event's  - and series' - main problem, the fact Wells can't decide if it's funny or serious.  

In a great example of that problem and pet peeve #3, Madelyne expresses concern that Ben isn't taking their plans seriously enough.  If he really wants Peter to eat the apple, why not just threaten all his loved ones with death?  But I'm not giving Wells credit for Madelyne pointing out his flaws.

In other words, Wells doesn't really explain why Ben is playing with his food here, and the story suffers for it.

Black Cloak #1:  Holy fucking shit, this issue is the best issue of a comic I've read in a really long time.  

McClaren and Thompson employ restraint to create a totally immersive experience.  McClaren's limited line strokes creates a fully realized reality, and Thompson's equally sparse script underscores the tension between the characters as they're reluctant to say what they feel.

You need to buy this comic now.

The issue's opening text informs us that Kiros is the known world's last city due to a cataclysmic war that happened hundreds of years ago.  The heroes defeated the great evil, but something is rotten in the state of Kiros.  As the unnamed narrator says, it "turns out beings get along better when there's a great evil to be vanquished."

The action begins when a mermaid crawls onto the beach at the Lagoon, spits up some black-looking liquid, and then collapses on the beach.  A group of screeching mermaids stare at her from the water and then throw a dead body next to her before departing.

On Merchant Row, a satyr named Vaissac attacks a black-cloaked elf.  She punches him, as she apparently does every week.  She tells him that they could either get along or ignore each other.  He tells her that he'll never be "good neighbors" with a "fucking Black Cloak." As the elf enters Coffee, Curios & Curiosities, demonic-looking rats attack Vaissac, and the elf uses her...magic gun? to scare them into fleeing.

The elf is Detective Phaedra Essex.  The store's proprietor, Laurel, shows her the prototype of a robotic taka (a cat-like creature) that she bought.  Phaedra is appalled because she was raised with a real taka before they went extinct.  Phaedra then gets a call and heads to the Salty Crow in the Narrows.

A the Crow, a (sexy as fuck) elf with a gold-flecked chest wound is lying naked on a bed.  A pair of cops are on the scene with a detective, and one of the cops, Clem, tells the detective, Pax, that the elf's tattoos use royal ink.  Pax asks Clem if he "netted" the room, and Clem responds that someone named Nina had done so.  Nina apparently didn't have her "soulprint" on her, though so she wasn't able to identify the elf.  Pax has his soulprint on him, but before he can scan the body a photographer appears in the doorway.  Pax tells the other cop, Benny, to control the crime scene and "get that capture."  Pax puts a set of goggles (I assume the soulprint) on the body, but they don't work.

Phaedra enters and identifies the elf as Freyal III of Sidra, the heir to the throne and Phaedra's fiancé at some point.  Pax suddenly yells, "The capture!" and manifests wings before leaping out the window.  Phaedra sends Clem after Pax and spends a moment with Freyal's body, showing a matching tattoo and telling him quietly how much she missed him.

Pax returns and tells Phaedra that Clem has "the capture" and is taking him to the station, though I still don't know what "the capture" is or how or why it escaped.  Pax and Phaedra then discuss how the murderer clearly used a dracona dagger due to the gold-flecked wound.  Phaedra tells Pax that she and Freyal were raised together and were best friends though she hadn't seen him in years.

They discuss how the Crow is a "glorified flophouse above a bar known for prostitution."  They go to the bar to interrogate the bartender, and this scene is a marvelous fantasy version of the Mos Eisley cantina.  Apparently an elf girl named Dace rented the room for the last three cycles, and the bartender confirmed she was with Freyal when he first rented the room to her.  Upon leaving the bar, Phaedra calls someone and asks them to pull out the mermaid the Crow was keeping in a tank.  (She mentions she saw tail rot.  Oof.)

At HQ, the captain exposits that Phaedra is exiled from the elven realms.  The conversation is interrupted when she and Pax are sent to the Lagoon because Nida has identified the dead woman as Dace.  Disturbingly, Phaedra asks why the mermaids didn't eat her, cueing up the enormous chunk of flesh missing from her back.  

Nida (who's a bat-like humanoid) opens the mouth of the dead mermaid next to Dace, causing Pax to panic.  Nida notes the mermaid is dead, but Pax's panic at Nida even touching the body makes you realize we're not dealing with Ariel here.  Nida notes a bit of flesh in the dead mermaid's teeth and the nearby bile, and Phaedra realizes that someone used a strong enough poison on Dace that it can kill a mermaid in one bite.  Based on their interactions, Nida and Phaedra are in a relationship, and they're adorable.

Before Phaedra leaves, Nida tells Phaedra that she's worried about Phaedra seeing her family because of the "old laws."  Phaedra stresses that the Black Cloak "should" protect her, and Nida notes that "should" is a "fucked-up word."  Pax and Phaedra discuss how you usually dump bodies in the Lagoon hoping the mermaids eat them, but the murderer may not have known that someone had already poisoned Dace.  So we may have two people trying to murder her?  

Pax interviews a nearby guard, Jakel, who tells Pax that he wasn't working the previous night.  (Throughout the issue, we see the security surrounding the Lagoon to keep out trespassers.)  Pax asks Jakel to turn down his music, which Jakel suggests is a bad idea.  When Pax insists, he does, and the mermaids immediately start screeching.  Pax allows Jakel to turn on the music again, and, on my second reading, I realized everyone near the water is wearing headphones.  

Jakel tells Pax that someone named Edgar was working the previous night.  He exposits that the guards are under constant surveillance so Edgar wouldn't likely have let someone into the Lagoon for fear of getting fired.  Jakel says that they only way to enter is through a gap where the cliff meets the wall, though it's usually sealed.

On Lookout Point, Phaedra notes that anyone up there could see the whole Lagoon.  She interviews four hooligans and tells them that someone killed a mermaid.  One of the hooligans quips that mermaids kill people, and Phaedra responds that it matters when they all kill each other.  She tells the hooligan who seemed the most cooperative that she might have something to pay in exchange for information, but one of the other hooligans tells her that they're not "wraiths" and don't work with Black Cloaks.  HQ calls Phaedra and tells her that she's clear to go to Castle Kiros.  She leaves while Pax stays at the Lagoon to investigate.

At the castle gates, Phaedra remembers playing with Freyal and the taka, Mister Starlight.  They're using a dracona dagger to cut a "very powerful tree," and we learn dracona daggers have dragon blood in them.  Before she can enter the castle grounds, someone knocks Phaedra unconscious.

In the Queen's private chambers, the Queen apolgizes for the "misunderstanding," and Phaedra comments that someone people have trouble letting go of the old rules.  The Queen notes that Phaedra's black cloak likely precipitated the attack, again making it clear that Black Cloaks aren't welcome.  Phaedra disagrees, saying she believes that it was her brother Hadrian.  

The Queen tells Phaedra she's called for a healer and asks how Freyal died.  Phaedra says that they don't yet know but she asked to see her in the hope that she'd hear about Freyal's death from her and not a stranger.  The Queen archly asks if Phaedra isn't a stranger, because she hasn't seen her in 20 years, and Phaedra parries that her exile wasn't her choice.

The healer, Valorie, enters.  Before the Queen can leave, she asks Phaedra if it occurred to her that Freyal would be alive if Phaedra hadn't been exiled.  (It's an interesting use of the passive voice, there, since the Queen presumably exiled her.  Guilt, your majesty?)  Freyal and Phaedra would've been married, and she'd perhaps have a grandchild "instead of...nothing."  Phaedra tells that it weights heavily on her that three lives were lost, and the Queen is surprised to hear about Dace and the mermaid.  (I'm guessing Phaedra was fishing to see if the Queen recognized Dace's name.)  

The Queen leaves, and Phaedra and Valorie enthusiastically greet each other.  Valorie suggests removing Phaedra's cloak to heal the wound, but Phaedra panics, making it clear the cloak isn't just a cloak.  Valorie heals Phaedra, who says that she feels 20 years younger.  A guard then arrives to escort Phaedra to the Silver Gate.  In the halls, Phaedra sees her mother, but her brother arrives to drag her mother from that "traitorous trash."  Phaedra tells that guard that she knows how to leave, and the guard threatens that her cloak doesn't protect her as much as she thinks it does.

Pax meets her at the gate, and they take an elevator down to the Heights. Pax marvels at the view, and Phaedra tells him that it's a lie curated for royalty.  She notes the elevator doesn't go below the Heights, which means the royals don't even see half of Kiros.  She comments darkly on the forces that don't want the nobility to see the reality that exists in that other half.  

The captain calls them back to HQ, where they encounter more demonic rats, which are apparently called wraiths (explaining the hooligan's comment, since wraith are this world's rats).  At the Department, it's chaos because all sorts of people have arrived to confess to killing Freyal, to carrying his lovechild, to being his lovechild, or to witnessing the murder.

Before Pax and Phaedra can start interviewing them, a kid with a glowing knife murmurs, "For Kiros," and stabs Phaedra before cutting his throat.  We end the issue with Pax holding Phaedra's bloody body.

Beyond the murder mystery itself, we're also in the dark about a lot of dynamics at play here.  Why does everyone hate the Black Cloaks?  It seems the only thing that unifies everyone is that hatred.  Why are the mermaids cannibals?  Did they follow the Great Evil or were they victims of it?  What's a "capture?"

Again, this triple-sized issue is spectacular.  It's worth every moment spent with it.  The art is unbelievable.  Thompson's story is unbelievable.  I'm all fucking in.

Blade Runner 2039 #2:  Ho boy, the chickens are coming home to roost!

Ash takes Lexi, the replicant from last issue, to a desolate place populated with only a trailer.  Ash enters expecting Freysa but sees an unknown man.  She draws a gun before she realizes Freysa is with him.  Ash tells Freysa that she should've told her that they were going to have visitors, and Freysa introduces him as "an old friend from the trenches" named Sapper.  Freysa notes that Ash herself has brought a stranger, and Ash introduces Lexi.  It's clear through their interactions that their relationship is tense.

At LAPD HQ, a bodiless voice coming from the device on Luv's desk is chastising her for her treatment of the officer last issue.  The voice tells her she's confined to HQ but she tells the voice that she's going to Santa Barbara on Niander Wallace, Jr.'s orders and the voice relents.  

At the former Selwyn estate in Santa Barbara, "Ms. Penelope" greets Luv, who marvels at the fresh water coming from the fountain.  Luv notes that Penelope's butler is a Nexus-8 Replicant, and Penelope tells her that she has dispensation from the police to own one.  When Luv tells Penelope that she can sense Nexus-8s, Penelope marvels at the "poetic" nature of Wallace making Replicants to catch Replicants.  

At the trailer, Ash installs one of the eyes in Freysa, and Freysa installs the other one in Ash, since her eye was apparently looking "diseased" like her spine and, lately, her lungs.  Freysa encourages Ash to stay, but Ash tells Freysa that Lexi told her about the Replicant Blade Runner.

At Selwyn's estate, Luv tells Penelope that Wallace thinks Selwyn may have left 

"sensitive material" hidden there.  Penelope knows that Wallace wants Luv to turn the estate upside down looking for what Selwyn knew, but Penelope refuses.  Luv tells Penelope that she doesn't need Penelope's cooperation, and Penelope and her butler kick Luv's ass.  Apparently Luv's ability to detect older Replican models isn't so great, because Penelope reveals herself as Hythe.  

To make matters more interesting, Cleo arrives on Earth!  

This series is playing for keeps, y'all.

Captain America:  Symbol of Truth #9:  This issue is better than the previous ones but still not good.

The kid who magically knows everything happening in Mohannda tells the adults that the government has bombed the hospital.  Nomad knows that it's a trap, but Cap insists that they go, so they all go.  What, you wouldn't take all the resistance forces to one place where the enemy could easily annihilate them?  Coward.

As the team helps survivors at the hospital, one of them tells Cap that someone evacuated many of the doctors before the attack, but apparently no one thinks it's significant.  Instead, they just rescue the doctors so they can get to work helping the other survivors.  Everyone is surprised when militarized Phrox from Dimension Z appear, no one more than Ian, who notes that they helped Steve raise him.

Sam realizes that they're in trouble since he puts together that the White Wolf has access to Zola tech.  Nightshade suggest that the White Wolf has "some sort of technology conduit" or "maybe a signal transmitter," though I don't get why summoning portals to Dimension Z would require a transmitter.  Anyway, she's confident she can understand Zola's technology.  

Sam leads the Phrox from the hospital but then decides the White Wolf must be keeping the transmitter in the sky because anyone could reach it on the ground.  (Look, I'm just trying to hang in here.)

On said ground, Nightshade declares a strong signal is coming from the Parliament, which is impressive since she's holding a gun and not some sort of signal detector.  But they all decide to head to Parliament.  Sam destroys the sky-based transmitter, but it only disables the portals.  (I'm not sure why they thought the Phrox would disappear simply because the portals were no longer working, but they did.)  

Suddenly, Falcon arrives in full vampire mode and declares that he's going to kill Sam for abandoning him.  I mean, what the fuck?  Last time we saw him, he was asking his grandmother for help and now he's a vampire intent on murdering Sam in Mohannda   What's next?  Is D-Man going to arrive as a zombie mad at Sam for missing poker night?

God, I hate this series.

Know Your Station #2:  We end this issue where we ended the last one:  Elise finds a body (well, two bodies this time), and she's the only person who accessed the room where they were killed, according to St. Brigid.  

It seems pretty clear that St. Brigid is, knowingly or not, assisting the killer in covering their tracks.  Given Elise is detoxing from the Blue, she isn't as sharp as she normally is, making it easier for the killer.  

Beyond the killer's identity, this issue's biggest mystery is where Pritchard's body went, given it disappeared from Elise's tub, where St. Brigid initially stashed it.  

If I had to guess, Marin - who whispers something to Elise that she won't remember since she's detoxing - is in love with Elise and killing her enemies, given Raulsson and his wife are the bodies Elise finds here.  We'll see.

Five-Month-Old Comics: The December 7 Non-Marvel Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman #130:  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  Zdarsky is playing for keeps here.

The issue opens with a spectacular seven-page spread focused on Bruce finding a way to survive falling from the Moon to Earth.  He swipes a booster and oxygen canister from one of the Justice League ships that Failsafe destroyed last issue, initiates nine-g bursts of propulsion every three to four seconds for an hour, spends eight hours and 31 minutes in free fall, and uses his trunks as a face shield after his oxygen mask burns in reentry.  It's something else.

Of course, Bruce doesn't just randomly land on Earth:  he lands at the Fortress of Solitude.  (He used the compressed air in his grappling hook to direct the booster's position because of course he did.)  Failsafe almost immediately arrives after him, and an awakened Superman goes to fight it as Bruce and Tim plan.  Bruce realizes their only option is to use the hole he created in Failsafe's armor last issue to inject him with virus-enabled nanobots.  Since Failsafe's programming would reject an attack, Bruce has the bots introduce a new program:  compassion.

Failsafe is rattled, but his definition of compassion entails him disintegrating Bruce.  Of course, the story ends with Bruce somehow lying unconscious in a Gotham City alley, so we'll see what he did to survive next issue.  Meanwhile, Failsafe announces his mission complete and departs for parts unknown.

As action packed as this issue is, Zdarsky doesn't skimp on the emotions.  Bruce reflects on how Tim always relished teamwork more than Dick or Jason, which is how he's able to get close enough to Failsafe to inject the nanobots.  Shortly before Failsafe shoots him, Bruce looks mournfully at Tim and tells him that it'lll be OK.  It's a reach, though, given the last scene in the North Pole is Tim crying next to the hole where Bruce was with Superman lying unconscious behind him.

In the "Zur en Arrh:  Year One" back-up story, Bruce summons his mother to remind him that her son and his father's son isn't a murderer.  As Zur en Arrh stands in the corner watching them, she pulls back his cowl to reveal he has no eyes:  just a face with a smile, an embodiment of "hollow anger."  Emboldened, Bruce takes over the body in time to save the Joker from falling to his death after Zur en Arrh threw him out the window.  The story ends with Bruce realizing that he is the most dangerous man alive and installing the same "failsafes and barriers" that he has in real life into Zur en Arrh.

I can't wait to see where we go from here.

Blade Runner 2039 #1:  Every time you think this series of mini-series is at its bleakest, Johnson proves you wrong.

Unlike the two previous mini-series, Ash isn't the focus at the start of this one.  Instead, we're introduced to Luv, the first Replicant Blade Runner (and obviously a precursor to "Blade Runner 2049's" handsome, handsome K).  The issue begins with Luv taking out a Replicant named Tabitha but not realizing that Tabitha's unnamed friend is also a Replicant.  Back at HQ, we witness the same hostility towards Luv that K experienced, though she seems more frustrated by it than K was.

Elsewhere, Tabitha's friend is trying to buy two eyes from a creepy flesh dealer.  He tells her that she can't afford them until she makes it clear they're for "payment" and the flesh dealer correctly guesses that she's trying to see "the Ferryman."  Knowing the Ferryman will make sure he gets paid, the flesh dealer gives the eyes to Tabitha's friend, telling her that no one returns from the Ferryman, "least, not how they were before they left."  At Hermosa Beach, Tabitha's friend finds the Ferryman who tells her that the eyes aren't for him (he's blind, with a rag around his eyes) but for the "monster at the end of the Labyrinth."

In an alleyway, a cop shakes down a man who's fallen on hard times, as we can tell by the photo that he clutches of him dressed in a suit with his family.  The officer informs him that "you people aren't supposed to go past the shoreline encampment anymore," and the man complains that he used to live there.  The officer is ready to beat him when Luv intervenes.  She forces the officer to beg her to spare him in progressively pathetic ways because she knows that he was patrolling outside his beat (for reasons that aren't made clear).  Before she can get him to grovel further, Niander Wallace, Jr. directly gives her a new job:  track down the Replicant based on Alexander Selwyn's late wife, who's gone missing.  Dun-dun-DUN!

Twenty miles off the California coast, the Ferryman arrives at Catalina Island, and Tabitha's friend panics, noting that it's poisoned.  She departs the boat to find Ash, wearing dark glasses, asking for the eyes.

These series are so effing good.  Johnson somehow makes real the further decline in the quality of life for Angelenos, as it seems like the middle class doesn't even exist anymore.  His ability to use small moments - a few panels, really - to get across this message is amazing.  I'm excited to find myself in Ash's world again.

Know Your Station #1:  I enjoyed this issue, but I wouldn't keep reading it if I didn't know it was only five issues long.

The premise is great:  someone has flayed Alberto Fairmilk, the chief financial officer of First Resort, an Avulsion Corporation space station for the ultrarich escaping Earth's climate chaos.  As the station's security liaison, Elise greets Detective Sergeant Leona Pritchard from Avulsion's "Soilside Carceral Operations."  A few hours later, Elise finds Pritchard murdered.  Troublingly, St. Brigid, the station's AI, informs Elise that she was the only person who accessed the airlock where she found Pritchard's body.  Since Elise is a frequent user of the Blue, it's possible she killed Pritchard without knowing it, though it seems unlikely.

Sounds great, right?  It is.  But something about the presentation was so stiff that I found it hard to connect with the characters.  Hopefully it'lll improve now that Kangas has set the stage.

Undiscovered Country #22:  As usual with this series' arcs, we're speeding up now as we approach the conclusion.

Charlotte figures out Aurora is sending Valentina and she to wars and correctly predicts that they'll respawn in 1812 once the Civil War soldiers kill them.  But they're both fading at this point:  Charlotte is struggling to remember the other wars, and Valentina notes their wounds are no longer healing.  But they figure out what Aurora wants them to know:  every place they've been, America defeats a foreign invader.  They throw themselves into the burning White House and reappear in the Monitorium, a space where the historians monitor Zone History.  They meet a head connected to a robot body who identifies himself as Henri Lavant.  He's lonely, so he proposes keeping them for a while since, after all, he controls time.

Meanwhile, Chang and Janet learn that Ace, Charlotte, and Daniel died during whatever they did to conquer America.  They're running an authoritarian regime with a personality cult dedicated to them.  But Ace exists in this reality and was separated from them when they respawned.  He heads to a library to get more information, but, when he searches for "America," the librarian tells him that she'll call the police if he isn't more careful about his searches.  He uses the computer to look up an elderly Valentina, who tells him that Chang and Janet got started on their road to victory by killing him, Charlotte, and Daniel.

Yup, it's pretty grim.