Seven-Month-Old Comics: The December 27 Top-Shelf Edition - Part Two (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Dark Droids #5:  First, I just realized that the hybroid I didn't recognize is Tolvan, who I admit is one of the few characters I miss from "Doctor Aphra."

Soule wraps up things fairly neatly here, as Ajax kills the Scourge just as he manages to take over organics.  I *think* he's able to take over all organics when he takes over Luke and thus gains access to the Force for the first time.  (I guess Vader never let him access it when they merged in "Star Wars:  Darth Vader" #40?)  The Scourge is contemplating becoming the new Force by now taking over non-sentient creatures when Ajax stabs him.

With the Scourge gone, Ajax invites the new D-Squad to join him at the Second Revelation, though they all demur.  Disturbingly, he re-activates the Spark Eternal and revises his revelations:  the third revelation becomes about "them" and the fourth one is now "all."  I still don't totally understand the Spark Eternal business, but it seems like Ajax is going to become the threat that Triple Zero warns him not to become when they parted.

Overall, "Star Wars:  Dark Droids" was an OK event.  I still feel like Soule could've done a better job giving us more information about the intelligence that became the Scourge, particularly since he once again makes it clear here that he and the Spark Eternal are two separate entities.  Ajax only seems to resurrect the Spark Eternal, so is the Scourge - or, at least, the intelligence that joined the Spark Eternal to become the Scourge - truly dead?  If I understood more about his nature, I think I'd have a better grasp on that.

Honestly, I think it's getting to the point where we need to end this interlude between "Star Wars:  The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi" and plunge into the unknown.  Between this event and the much less enjoyable "Star Wars:  Hidden Empire," it's feel like we're spinning our wheels.

Star Wars #41:  They're not kidding when they say you should read "Star Wars:  Dark Droids" #5 first!

The first few pages more or less mirror what we saw in that issue, as Chewie, Lando, Leia, and Luke fight off the Scourge's minions.  Once the possession ends (after Ajax kills the Scourge), Lando finds Lobot, whose condition has deteriorated.  Leia and Luke stay to help all the humans suddenly freed from the Scourge's control, and Lando has Chewie carry Lobot to the Falcon.  He asks Chewie to keep secret what he's going to show him until after Lobot is healed and then reveals the Talky.

But Lando's plan goes screwy when Leia and Luke arrive, informing him that the authorities had everything under control.  (Heh.  You almost never see that in comics, and I laughed out loud.  "We're good, heroes, thanks!")  The Talky refuses to heal Lobot until he's sure Lando really does care about him (since, if he does, he'd keep the Talky alive in case Lobot falls ill again).  To prove his connection to Lobot, Lando confesses everything to Chewie, Leia, and Luke.  

But he does so after he tries a different story.  He stops himself and tells the truth:  he agreed to spy on the Alliance to save himself from Jabba and, because he never actually passed along information, he sent Jabba the Talky as a way to save himself again.  But Lando goes one step further, confessing that he stayed with the Alliance to build up the trust he needed them to have in him so that he could take the Falcon and retrieve the Talky.

The gambit works, and the Talky fixes Lobot, who's capable of speech again.  It's pretty unbelievable.  Lando admits to Lobot that he decided to try out the new Lando that he's just getting to know.  Of course, he might not get a chance, since Leia arrives with guards to arrest him, announcing the penalty of treason is death!

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #41:  Like all the best cross-over issues, Pak uses the event to tease out truths about Vader here and advance the series' existing plot.  

First things first, Vader doesn't surrender himself to the Scourge:  he captures the Scourge's consciousness within a closed-loop system in his suit, studying him so he can replicate his ability to control droids.  (It's why, as mentioned above, the Scourge didn't get access to the Force until he possessed Luke in "Star Wars:  Dark Droids" #5.)  When an Imperial unit arrives to take in Vader (Ha!) for attempting to assassinate the Emperor, Vader uses this control to see through his droids' eyes and use the Force on anyone in his now-expanded visual range.

But the Scourge is right that Vader can't process nearly the number of consciousnesses that he (the Scourge) can, and Vader struggles under the weight of this control.  Vader takes out the droids attacking him, and the Scourge presumably dies in "Star Wars:  Dark Droids" #5 before he can send more after him.  The issue ends with the revelation of the "Schism Imperial," a trio of three Imperial officials, including the Umbaran, who clearly seek to overthrow Palpatine.

As I said, it was fun to see Vader pull a fast one on the Scourge, a reminder of his resourcefulness that we haven't seen here lately.

Eight-Month-Old Comics: The December 13 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

From the World of Minor Threats:  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.

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

From the World of Minor Threats:  The Alternates #3:  This issue is hard to follow, but, after a second read, I more or less understood where Oswalt, Blum, and Seeley were going.

In a flashback, we get a better sense of how the Alternates came to be, as the Searcher explains to Tripper that they need to enter Ledgerstone (a large creature/monster) in order to "turn him inside out and close his portal to the Ledge."  (It isn't entirely clear to me if the Ledge is inside Ledgerstone or if he just somehow creates portals to the Ledge.)  The Continuum can't enter the Ledge, because if they accessed it they would be too dangerous.  (I don't totally follow this argument since, after all, they'd be in the Ledge and not on Earth.  Are they arguing they'd somehow return from the Ledge altered?  Is it hinting the Alternates are more altered than they think they are?)  At any rate, the Alternates are the ones to take on the task.

In the present, the team follows the drug dealer who Kid Curious Alzheimered and a large ship appears in the sky.  Kid Curious describes it as "built from dreams and powered by fiction[,] emerged here from the collective imagination."  (I think he's saying that the wide-scale distribution of the Ledge via Prestige has somehow summoned the ship.)  Entering the ship, the team members all feel connections to who they were in the other dimension, apparently a sign that Ledgerstone (for some reason) is somehow using Prestige to get a hold in our dimension.

Mary Marie ponders using the ship to sail into the Ledge again, solving two problems with one stone:  getting to be important again and taking Prestige from our dimension.  Tripper tells her that he understands why she feels that way.  Before he can convince her otherwise, the Searcher appears and announces she's going to destroy the ship and Ledgerstone, who's apparently on the ship.  (As I said, it's hard to follow.)

Mary Marie is furious at the Searcher for using them (presumably to lead her to Ledgerstone) and attacks.  It does little good, even when the rest of the Alternates get involved.  Kid Curious tells Tripper that he knows many ways to killer the Searcher but doesn't want to prove her right about them so gets Tripper to knock him (Kid Curious) unconscious so he doesn't kill her.  (I didn't get this part.  What part of Kid Curious taking out Searcher would make her right about them?  She only ever really accused them of being the JV Team.)  Instead, Mary Marie sprays the Searcher with Prestige, knowing the Searcher is afraid of what she would do to the world while under its influence.  She flees to the Moon to remove herself from the equation.

With the Searcher dismissed, Mary Marie leads the team to Ledgerstone, who they're surprised to see is actually the prisoner.  Someone is using him to make the Prestige.  Tripper tells Lamhla to find the culprit, and she flies to Tripper's doppelgänger, surrounded by the other team members' doppelgängers.  Holding Lamhla, the other Tripper announces they're the Originals.

Honestly?  Meh.  "Minor Threats" was so great, but this mini-series is reading like Oswalt, Blum, and Seeley took some peyote and went to town.

Pathfinder:  Wake the Dead #4:  This issue isn't very good and makes little sense.  

The dialogue is stilted, as if Van Lente took a dare and wrote an entire script from clichéd lines.  ("We're all in this together.  You'd have done the same for me."  "Ugh, get a room at the inn, you two."  "Is something rotten in the state of Geb, Nyctessa?  Other than its citizens, that is...")  

The characterizations are also shallow, to the point where it's hard to understand anyone's motivations.  For example, Sajan is the party member tasked with carrying Gabsalia on his back into Yled.  He's taken to talking to her as if they're friends, and Van Lente doesn't bother to make it clear whether Sajan is doing so because Van Lente needs him to serve as our expositor or because the party's experiences have driven Sajan insane.

But the plot is even worse  The party manages to evade Yled's allegedly fearsome Bone Wall by swimming under said Wall while also fighting the undead.  They then make their way through a gate into Yled simply by moving quickly as a group.  Nctessa leads them to her laboratory and starts casting the spell to reanimate Gabsalia when Sajan notices a small creature bolt.  The party tries to stop it, but it makes its way to a robed figure who puts it in a jar of blood where it becomes...Gabsalia?

Confusing matters even further, Gabsalia reanimates at that moment and Nyctessa demands she tell her the identity of Kwo Qenguin's sleeper agents.  It turns out the guy holding the bottle of blood is Kwo, but for some reason Nyctessa doesn't really notice him.  She only does so when he announces himself and accuses her of scheming against him even though...he's the one with the sleeper agents?  He appears to be one of her students, though he also commands a troop of graveknights?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #40:  Unlike Van Lente above, Sacks plays everyone exactly according to their characterization, which doesn't exactly guarantee a happy ending for this title, unfortunately.

T'onga and her crew approach Epikonia, per "Star Wars:  Dark Droids"#4, to find Valance and either save or eliminate him.  Khel is pretty close to calling it quits, given the danger a planet full of misbehaving droids obviously poses, so T'onga buys her loyalty by giving her the Mourner's Wail account's encryption key.  (How did T'onga get the key?  I can't say I'm sure.)  Deathstick gets ready to kill T'onga until she mentions that Khel still needs the secret code to access the account.  

The team lands on Epikonia, at which point Surge shoots Zuckuss in the back and Deathstick knocks T'onga for a loop.  Bossk reveals himself as a traitor (such as he ever wasn't one in the first place), giving Khel the code.  Honestly, though, it's kind of hard to blame him?  He makes the point that he hung in there as they made their best effort to save Valance, but they're supposed to chase bounties not, in his words, "lost causes."  Khel and her crew (including Bossk) depart, leaving T'onga and Zuckuss to the droids.

But hope exists as Haydenn creates a copy of Valance's memory and defects from the Empire to find her way to Valance.  Hope!  It's just not clear she'll save Valance before he helps the Scourge experiment on T'onga...

Void Rivals #6:  I've always had the same issue with Kirkman's work, namely that his sparsely worded stories lack emotional death.  For example, we watch Darak and Solila escape Zertonia into the Wastelands as they seek to enter Agorria, but it's like we're reading a checklist of events instead of a story.  It should be impactful as they face the unknown alone except for each other but instead it just feels like an obvious moment of plot progression.

At any rate, the issue opens with Kanela freeing Solila, who expresses surprise, noting she thought Kanela might one day become premier.  It's a sign of how successful Kanela has been in keeping the Resistance in the shadows.  Kanela informs Solila that she has a blaster waiting for them so she can escape.  But the bad blood between them is clear, as Kanela tells Solila to kill anyone they confront and comments, "I'm sure you won't have problem with that."  Given Kanela is also clearly a warrior, Solila must've done something brutal to prompt that remark.

Meanwhile, on Quintessa (I think), Skuxxoid sells the Agorrian and Zertonian ship to the Quintessons.  Two Quintessons discuss the discovery, with one expressing surprise that Zerta succeeded "all those eons ago" in creating Zertonia and another referring to her as "a memory of a rebellious child."

On the Ring, Kanela and Solila arrive at the Resistance's hideout, and Kanela informs Darak that, in exchange for Solila, he needs to smuggle out a data packet to her counterparts in Agorria so they can reestablish a secure link after losing contact.  As they depart the hideout, Kanela and Solila squabble again, with Solila commenting that you can't feed the "starving mouths of Zertonia" with a just cause.  To that end, Darak expresses shock at Zertonia's grimy conditions as he gets his first good look at it.  It's reminiscent of "Blade Runner 2039" or "Cyberpunk 2077."

Suddenly, guards stop them, and Kanela's young scout confesses he dimed out the group because the guards said they'd help him find his mother, something Kanela tells him she understands.  Solila promises to deliver the data packet and tells Kanela not to get caught as she and Darak take a motorcycle (a "slip rider") and flee the guards.  Solila informs Darak that the further North they go, the easier it'll be, since most resources - including electricity - are dedicated to the capital.

They take the railway as far as they can, but they're spotted immediately, as the guards figured they'd head North.  Solila expresses shock when she realizes Darak's plan, as he helps her up the wall that separates the two sides of the Ring.

Back in Zertonia, Zalilak isn't convinced the Wastelands' brutal reputation is enough to guarantee Darak and Solila won't survive, noting they survived the impossible before.  Zalilak exposits his sacred charge to prevent unity and, thus, the coming of Goliant and orders his underling to revive someone (or something) named Proximus.

Again, for all this action, it was a pretty dull read.

Eight-Month-Old Comics!: The November 15 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Dungeons & Dragons:  Fortune Finder #1:  This issue is...not good.  

As a long-time "Forgotten Realms" fan, I'm pretty sure Finder is Finder Wyvernspur from the "Azure Bonds" trilogy.  But Finder doesn't know that here, as he's arrived in the extraplanar city of Sigil with amnesia.  After escaping a precarious situation in an inn, he lucks upon Notitia Never-Lost, a "planar" who spends most of the issue expositing the "Planescapes:  Adventures in the Multiverse" sourcebook upon which this series is based.  A figure appears at the end demanding "the shard," which I'm assuming is the Finder's Stone?

At any rate, nothing Zub does here makes me care, about Finder or the plot.  Given my backlog, I'm going to bail here and call it a day.

G.I. Joe:  A Real American Hero #301:  Like Chris Moneyham, I wasn't a huge "G.I. Joe" fan in the '80s.  

I mean, I was a fan, obviously, but "Transformers" was my drug of choice.  My "G.I. Joe" involvement came mostly from the cartoon; to the extent I read the comics, they were the issues Macy's and Sears included in their annual holiday catalogues' grab-bags.  

In other words, you don't start reading a series with issue #301 and expect that you're going to follow the story as if you started with issue #1.  Thankfully, it's an action-oriented issue that isn't too hard to follow

Wild Bill and Duke are piloting a C-130 over Cobra Island, with Clutch, Cover Girl, Helix, Jinx, Multo, Muskrat, and Roadblock in the cargo bay.  Before the issue begins, a Cobra "jet pack missile" cut a hydraulic line, so the C-130 is losing altitude fast.  In Dr. Mindbender's lab on the island, Serpentor Khan activates Dr. Mindbender's "mutant virus bomb," which will turn him and the islands' inhabitants - including the civilians at the Cobra Casino - into "cannibalistic monsters."  Khan argues to an outraged Dr. Mindbender that it's better than "capture and humiliation."  

Meanwhile, a separate group of Joes are preparing to invade the lab via the Whale, an amphibious vehicle.  But they realize the C-130 is heading right at them so Cutter, the Whale's pilot, bails to avoid the C-130 crashing into them.  On the C-130, Wild Bill tells Duke they have to wait for the centrifugal force from their spin to push sufficient fluid into the wings, which will build up enough pressure for him to pull the C-13o from its dive.  As Wild Bill rights the plane, Cover Girl relays to the Joes that Cobra's internal comms network is berserk with news about the bomb.

It's here where we start picking up pieces from whatever continuity occurred previously.  As Cutter high tails it from the island as fast as possible, he tells Laura, a woman with an eye patch and a Cobra insignia on her uniform, to take Cobra Commander, who is apparently on the Whale, below decks.  Meanwhile, the C-130 approaches the "Cobra cruise ship" (I love that they've diversified into casinos and cruises) where "Revanche" evacuated its modified "B.A.T.s" ("highly weaponized androids"), who promptly open fire on the C-130.  On the Whale, Cobra Commander calls Laura and a bandaged man "traitorous siegies," which I don't understand at all but I'm assuming long-time readers will.

After Bill evades the B.A.T.s' attack, B.A.T. Beta-256 contacts Revanche's Alpha-001 to alert him that someone activated Dr. Mindbender's weapon.  Alpha-001 tells her to evacuate to Baton Rouge.  (The ship is heading to New Orleans.)  Meanwhile, Wild Bill tells the team that he's trying to get them to the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in New Orleans but wants to check on the Whale first, but Cover Girl tells him about the bomb and that Cutter is trying to get the Whale as far from the island as possible.  

On the Whale, Cobra Commander punches Laura, and she apologizes to the bandaged guy, named Wade, for forgetting how fast Cobra Commander can be.  (I think handcuffs might've been appropriate here.)  Cobra Commander grabs Laura's gun and orders Wade to move Laura off the jet sled so he can escape; when Wade lunges at him, Cobra Commander shoots him.  Cobra Commander bails via the jet sled and heads back to Cobra Island.  Stalker and someone named Sean Collins (who I originally thought was Snake-Eyes) follow the sound of the shot and find Laura cradling Wade's body.  (Wade is apparently Sean's dad.)  Stalker tells Sean they have to focus on cranking up the escape ramp that Cobra Commander used in order to keep the Whale from sinking.  (With the ramp extended, Cutter struggles to get the Whale to maximum speed to escape the bomb.)

As Bill orders the crew to jettison weight, the bomb explodes, and Cobra Commander hightails it in the other direction.  On the island, Khan and Dr. Mindbender, along with the Island's other inhabitants, are indeed zombies but, at least in Khan and Dr. Mindbender's case, retain their faculties.  At the Joint Naval Base, Cutter says that he hopes they didn't miss "it," though someone says that Cover Girl told them that they'd wait for them.  They then escort out Wade's body.  (Given Cutter was on the ship with Wade's body, I don't understand what he was worried they were going to miss.)

In other words, I was happy with the issue, but I was also confused at certain points.  I didn't help that we had moments where I wasn't sure if Hana is using military speak or just terrible English (which often goes hand-in-hand).  For example, someone says,"we will combat assault in bonding overwatch."  At any rate, though, it's a good start, so I'm here for the long haul.

Star Wars:  Dark Droids #4:  Soule avoids dragging out this story too long as he makes it clear we're entering the endgame.

The Scourge is clearly losing it, so he creates four other personas to process the large amount of information he now contains:  the Child, the Elder, the Scholar, and the Warrior.  This council faces an immediate threat, as the Empire orders the Imps to start taking out any droid exhibiting suspicious activity.  (Soule underscores how little humans think of droids as we see countless droids expressing concern and fear as their masters carelessly destroy them.)  The council can't afford to lose so many potential hosts as they have to take over the "meat" before they ("the meat") realize what they (the droids) are planning.  

The Elder informs us that it's the third time the droids have tried to take over the meat, with the two previous attempts failing.  The Scholar suggests the Spark Eternal (I don't really remember how its existence fits in here) has changed old patterns, as he believes their coopting of the hybroids is a significant step.  He also mentions their agents across the galaxy continue to research how to break the barrier between droid and organic.  The Child suggests they might not be doing the right thing, though the Scholar again counters with the hunger argument that we've previously heard.  

The overtaxed Scourge stresses that they need more resources (i.e., the meat's minds) to process the gestalt he's become.  He makes it clear that he's grappling with managing the information the hybroids bring to the table, given they think and talk in an entirely different way.  The Scourge asks the Council if he's doing OK, and the Elder tells him that he has to pull himself together.  We learn that the council has sent Lobot, Valance, and the woman I don't recognize to take over the galactic relay hub on Epikonia so they no longer have to encounter a droid directly to possess it.  

Meanwhile, the Child gets the rest of the Council to focus on the fact that Ajax, and not humans, sent himself and his allies to attack Scourge One.  Speaking of Ajax, he's grief stricken over the loss of his allies, but Artoo and the new D-Squad of 4-LOM, BT-1, IG-88, QT-KT, and Triple-Zero arrive.  Ajax is thrilled other Visioned exist and agrees to help them take on the Scourge.

The council meets again, and the Scourge agrees with the Child that he doesn't want to continue anymore.  We learn that he put the Spark Eternal's "personality," if you will, in the Elder's body.  I don't totally follow that, though, because if the Scourge isn't the Spark Eternal then who is he?  Is he distinct from the Spark Eternal?  Or is he becoming a different entity after offloading the Spark Eternal into a distinct body?  At any rate, it seems academic, because the Scourge destroys the Elder's body but then speaks as if the Elder has taken control over his (the Scourge's) body.

In other words, some aspects of this story are confusing, particularly as it spins across several series, but Soule does a solid job of keeping the main story's stakes clear.

Star Wars:  Visions - Peach Momoko #1:  Although I appreciate Peach Momoko's art, I'm always on the fence whether I appreciate her storytelling.  

Without the dramatis personae at the issue's start, I'm not sure I'd understand that Kako was seeking some sort of revenge against Ankok.  That said, I'm still not sure what is driving her need for revenge.  I think Kako lost family in one of the rituals that Ankok's messenger, Tata, conducts, but I'm not actually sure.  After all, it isn't clear that the people who commune with Ankok - via creepy tentacles inserting themselves into their mouths - die.

For these sorts of wordless stories to work, the creator needs to make the plot absolutely clear, which Momokoko doesn't do here.  It's a shame given how beautiful the art is.

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

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #40:  Enh.  I don't really understand where Pak is going here.  

Vader arrives on Coruscant to confront the Emperor, who asks Vader how he asserted control over the Force Wave.  Vader responds that hate was the key.  The Emperor asks why it's different than before, when his hate made him powerful but reckless.  Vader responds that he's learn how to focus it.  It's a mystery to me how the events of the last few issues resulted in Vader controlling his hate better, like some much else in this series, but it is what it is.

The Emperor orders Vader's own Death Troopers to attack, underscoring that, even though Vader hand-picked them, they're loyal to the Emperor before him.  He asks Vader if he controls his hate or if his hate controls him and, OMFG, if I were a Sith, I'd kill anyone who asked me such a pedantic question.  As they fight, the Emperor asks if he'll really continue this rebellion against him while the Droid Plague infects his Death Troopers (via the disc droids he brought with him).  

This entire exchange is odd.  After all, I don't recall ever seeing the Death Troopers previously, so the idea that Vader would give up his (alleged) rebellion against the Emperor for their safety seems absurd.  But also:  since when is Vader in open rebellion against the Emperor?  I thought this whole exercise was the Emperor just testing to make sure he was strong, as usual.  Aren't Sith supposed to struggle against each other?

Meanwhile, the disc droids expand the Plague beyond the Death Troopers, and the Emperor is forced to destroy Sectors 35 and 36 of Coruscant to stop its spread.  The Emperor then says that, the more than Vader or anyone else hates him, the stronger he becomes.  Um, sure, Palpy.  I get, rhetorically, that Palpatine thrives off conflict. But for some one who manufactured a rebellion against his own government to seize control of it, you'd think he'd have the strategic mind necessary to understand too much hate is sometimes problem. 

To that point, Vader departs.  In Vader's...office, for lack of a better term, the Scourge tells him that he needs him, and Vader agrees:  the two merge.  As I said, too much hate is sometimes problem.

Transformers #2:  Damn, Johnson isn't fucking around here.

The issue begins with Optimus marveling at Earth's natural beauty and accidentally stomping a deer.  Johnson uses it as Optimus' introduction to the fragility of Earth's lifeforms; in a stark comparison, Optimus is grief-stricken over his actions while Starscream takes to referring to humans as "squishies" later in the issue.  Spike assures Optimus it was an accident, but Optimus isn't letting himself off the hook that quickly.  

Optimus then exposits that the Autobots fled Cybertron after the Decepticons pushed them to the brink of extinction.  Cliffjumper interrupts their conversation, revealing that Ratchet got him operational.  In the Ark, Ratchet explains that he needs more energon if he's going to activate any other Autobot.

At the power plant, Starscream returns with Soundwave and Skywarp, and Soundwave has Rumble begin constructing an energy transfer model.  The Air Force dispatches a pilot codenamed Frosting to check out the disturbance, and Frosting apologizes to his passenger for delaying his ride to the airbase.  Soundwave overhears the radio chatter, and Starscream engages the plane.  The pair manage to eject, though Starscream graphically crushes Frosting like a bug.  The passenger ditches his parachute and activates a jetpack; he manages to take out Starscream's eye, prompting him to bail.  We get a look at the passenger's uniform with the name "Duke" prominently displayed.  Boom!  Meanwhile, at the plant, Frosting's abandoned jet dramatically crashes.

Back at the Ark, the Autobots, Spike, and Carly notice the smoke from the plant.  Optimus orders Cliffjumper to stand guard over the remaining Autobots, and Spike convinces Optimus to take him with him to the plant.  Carly tries to convince Spike how insane that is, but, after she fails, she decides to find her parents.  Meanwhile, Sparkplug arrives at home and gets out his camouflage and gun, which we learn when Carly arrives home.  (I'm actually not sure if Carly went to Spike's house first for some reason or if Sparkplug went to Carly's house.)  Looking insane, Sparklug tells Carly Starscream killed her dad, who we learn was Davey.

All in all, it remains a solid start.  The Duke connection is solid, particularly since it makes sense the Army will eventually dispatch the G.I. Joe squad to address such a threat.  That said, Johnson does a great job of showing what impossible odds they'll face given the Transformers' overwhelming indestructibility and size.

Eight-Month-Old Comics!: The November 1 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

No/One #6:  Honestly, if No/One hadn't saved Julia last episode, I'd think she was No/One at this point.

After all, we learn here that No/One isn't any of the three suspects The Drop named last issue, because Copycat #3 shoots Harmon, kills Kemp, and attacks Alejandro.  

In other words, it's a lot.

The issue begins at PPD HQ, where Ben is trying to convince McGarrity to give him a couple of men to surveil Aaron because he can't keep him under 24/7 watch by himself.  McGarrity declines because it's too political, which seems bullshit to me, particularly for a guy who was so eager to nail Aaron to the wall.  Frustrated, Ben talks to Harper and Singh, who tell him they have no evidence connecting Aaron to his lawyer's murder.  Suddenly, a cop interrupts, and we learn Copycat #3 shot Harmon.

At the Ledger, Teddy finds Julia trying to get in touch with Donovan Kemp and Alejandro, though Teddy assures her that he's already spoken with people about getting them protection.  Ben arrives and asks why they named Vince a suspect, and Teddy is a dick to him, saying that he doesn't have time to hold his hand.  Ben insists Aaron could've been the shooter, revealing that he's tailed Aaron for weeks but lost him the previous day.

At Noah Kemp's office, his staff are trying to convince him to pull his proposed legislation authorizing "preemptive" self-defense.  One of the staffers, though, shows everyone a clip from Alaina Page's show.  (Her show starts with this introduction:  "Welcome back to the Wall.  Reporting from the parapets, I'm Alaina Page."  Amazing.)  Page comes out swinging for Kemp's bill and then crucifies Kenneth Chbosky, whom FOC hired as a contributor.  (The live reenactment of their fight on the podcast is worth a listen.)  Suddenly, someone interrupts Kemp's meeting to inform him what we learn on the next page, that someone killed Donovan.

With two suspects dead, fucking JC arrives to "touch base" with Julia.  She asks where Alejandro is, and JC admits they can't find him.  She loses her shit on Teddy and JC, who has the audacity to tell her to relax.  She quits.

At Alejandro's gym, Copycat #3 is ready to kill Alejandro when No/One arrives.  No/One tells Alejandro to run, which he does, but he then returns.  He finds the gym in shambles and a wounded No/One.  Alejandro brings No/One to No/One's car and drives from the scene as cops arrive.  No/One loses consciousness, and Alejandro may, or may not, have gotten a look under the helmet.  No/One tells Alejandro to leave, which he does.

On the podcast, the only new revelation is that Harmon survived the shooting and confirmed the assailant used a .38 Special, which means it's Richard Roe and, as such, not Aaron Kern (allegedly).  Of note, Alejandro doesn't admit to the press that No/One got shot.  To me, the most important part is Noah Kemp's tear-filled rant about how the vultures in the press - i.e., Julia and Teddy - are responsible for his little brother's murder.  It's important, because it reminds us that we're dealing with (in this world) real people and the body count is pretty insane right now.  In addition, Patton Oswalt does a great job of walking through Teddy's grief over how his failure to say no to the Ledger's Powers That Be resulted in Julia getting blamed for Copycat #3's attacks on Harmon, Donovan Kemp, and Alejandro.

Honestly, I have no idea where we go from here, which is awesome.

The Sacrificers #4:  This issue is more linear than Remender's usual ones.

Pigeon's grief-stricken parents are sitting quietly as the village - including their other children - celebrates around them.  Pigeon's sister asks her father why he's sad, which makes sense given he always told her Pigeon was going to a better place.  The father later gets drunk and rants at his fellow villagers, asking why they celebrate the loss of a child and demanding to know what the gods sacrifice.  It's devastating.

Meanwhile, in Rokos' palace, the Foreman tells Rokos that the blue liquid is his finest work, brewed from a new recipe.  (Uh-oh.)  Rokos ignores him and asserts that it's the same recipe it's also been when he addresses the "Lords of Harlos."  Notably, he claims he made the liquid and invites the other Lords to partake of it, delivering the same pablum that they've earned it for keeping the world "perfect."  He invites a toast to Luna who "lives apart from [them] to balance [his] light with night."  Luna refuses the liquid, decrying the Lords as parasites feasting on innocents' blood and smashing her glass to the floor.  (Team Luna, obviously.)

After Luna leaves, Rokos ridicules her for "crumbling in her gray land of pious dust."  He and the rest of the Lords drink the liquid, instantly becoming younger, to Soluna's horror.  Fueling the implication the Foreman did something to the liquid, he departs in a rush, and Soluna follows him on Rokos' flying carpet, taking Rokos' sword with her.  Again, uh-oh.

The Space Between #1:  Bechko and Luckert present an interesting premise here, as we meet the inhabitants of the Dodona, an asteroid-cum-starship taking Earth's remaining humans (and some animals) to a new planet after Earth's destruction.

We begin with Revla, a pilot, saving another pilot from crashing into the Dodona despite her commander's order not to do so.  Revla exposits that it doesn't matter if the Dodona's brass court-martial her, since they're set to "pair" her soon and she doesn't think they'll let her fly pregnant.  

For her actions, "they" put her in confinement, but she escapes below the "starline," which refers to line on the Dodona below which you can no longer see the stars.  Now below decks, Revla meets Les, one of the workers who maintain the algae the Dodona uses for food and oxygen.  Like Rose in "Titanic," Revla is stunned to see the number of people living below the line, making it clear the two sides of the line don't mix.

Also like "Titanic," the glimpses we see of the inhabitants above the line (i.e., the pilot class) show a brutal society of competitors whereas the workers below the line (i.e., the maintenance class) live in a communist Utopia.  For example, Revla is worried Les is going to turn her into the authorities for a reward, and he breaks it to her that they don't have credits below the line.

Les introduces Revla to his "purposive" June and her partner Neve who asks whether it's really true that the inhabitants above the line are nothing but breeding pairs.  Revla makes a half-hearted attempt to defend her culture as fighting for the future, and Neve asks why everyone is sacrificing for a future on a round rock instead of the present on an oblong one?  Fair enough, Neve.

Les figures out a way to get Revla topside, and she brings him with her to see the stars, which he admits his parents and grandparents likely never saw.  (Ah, inequality.  It's baked into us.)  The pair kiss, but suddenly guards appear and seize them.  As a crowd "'casts" (i.e., broadcasts) their arrest, someone comments how they didn't even know the workers were real.  

Revla now realizes the Dodona's leadership has put in place restrictions well beyond the original "Edicts" establishing, "To every passenger, a duty."  She 'casts a message to this effect, which starts an uprising below the line.  Les helps when a reporter interviews him and talks about saving the most beautiful woman alive when she fell from the stars.

We then move briskly through four years, as the ongoing uprising forces the Council to listen.  After four years, they release Les from prison.  He brings June and Neve with their new baby, which they can now have, to see the stars with Revla flying amongst them.

As I said, it's an interesting premise.  The execution is also pretty solid, so I'm intrigued to see where it goes.

Star Wars #40:  Oof.  This issue is excessively talky.  

We go on deep dives into Lando's psyche, but the issue is really just about him returning to Home One to convince Leia to send a small strike force (him, her, Chewie, and Luke) to Epikonia to free Lobot.  (Lando knows Lobot is on Epikonia because he has a tracker on him.)  Lando doesn't mention the fact that he has the Talky to Leia, so I wonder where he stashed him?  Is he stupid enough to bring him on the Falcon with him?  Probably.

The only real action, though, is a strange sequence where Lando turns off the Falcon's navicomputer because a droid core runs it and crashes into a cluster of communications arrays to slow down the Falcon enough to land.  Can he really not control the Falcon without the navicomputer?

Eight-Month-Old Comics!: The October 18 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

From the World of Minor Threats:  The Alternates #2:  Enh.  

This issue is better than the first one as the plot comes into focus.   Kid Curious realizes the "Prestige" drug all the kids are taking is somehow small liquefied doses of the Ledge, and the Persona discovers someone used black magic to turn one of the Divider's clones into his alleged fiancée.  (I can't remember why it's significant, but I'm assuming we'll learn at some point.)  After Crab Louie overhears his daughter agreeing to meet her boyfriend at a club where they can get their hands on some Prestige, the team follows her.  Once they identify her supplier, they follow him to see who's supplying him.  

All that said, I still find myself not particularly caring.  I don't know why exactly, but there you have it.

Coda #2:  This issue is nonsensical.

We begin with a group of creatures that look like a mix between goblins and mice offering a helmet, called the Embetterment Artifice, to their elder, Constructor Krocklamesh.  (Yeah...)  Krocklamesh allegedly worked on this helmet for 12 years, and the creatures are apparently members of Clan Oblique who want to bring peace and security across the world.  A large pink-skinned woman informs the group she'll accompany them because they need someone to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Elsewhere, Hum narrates this story to "Little Gap," opining that, when he (or she or it) encounters "one of these seductive promises I've been yammering on about -- big changes, brave new starts, etc.," he (or she or it) should make sure they've got "some other guiding light already in place."  Sure, whatever.

Hum informs us "Little Gap" is the "tiniest trace of absence, to make the rest of [his] quiet life moving forward."  Meanwhile, Hum is in a prison in Gorepit, where a solider informs him that the Gorepitians reject all the "old world's" traces, like magic and royalty.  That said, an important-seeming, tow-haired boy follows a Gorepitian official down a large exterior staircase.  It took me several readings to understand that someone named Mildew the Breaker bought the kid in a slave market and presented him to Gorepit as the son that its king lost during the Quench.  Apparently, the "scion's" absence sparked a cult, and Mildew is clearly trying to profit from that.

The official and scion join the soldier and the prisoners (including Hum) at the Place of Death, though the solider, to Hum's surprise, simply exiles Hum, the "scion," and "all members of this foolish little sect."  But the solider orders Nag's death, as he represents the "nonsensical old ways."  

I still can't entirely figure out Hum's involvement in this scam.  After all, I first thought he was in prison in Ridgetown, since, when last we left him, he discovered that Ridgetown creates akker by harvesting the blood of th least elf.  But we never get an explanation of how he's suddenly in Gorepit, and we also don't get an explanation of how he and Nag come to be connect, at least tangentially, to Mildew's scam.

At any rate, Hum proclaims Nag is only there because unicorns have to obey virgins and the "scion" sees him as a "sacred symbol" and part of some sort of prophecy.  The soldier is unmoved and orders the firing squad to open fire.  But the scion runs in front of the squad, taking bullets for Nag, which prompts Nag to go on a rampage. 

Meanwhile, the pink-skinned woman arrives at Gorepit with Clan Oblique.  While she's been killing raiders (of what sort, we're not told), the creatures have amassed a following telling people that they're going to liberate food from said raiders.  Once at Gorepit, the woman exposits that her husband does their shopping in Gorepit, making it clear that she's Serka.  (Isn't someone holding her hostage?  I guess not?)  Upon Clan Oblique's arrival, the soldier (I think) declares them all inhuman marauders come to "despoil and scavenge in our moment of weakness!"  (The "weakness" is presumably the aftermath of Nag's rampage, but I'm not sure.)  Anyway, Gorepit's soldiers engage Clan Oblique as Serka tries to stop them.

Standing over the dying soldier's body, Serka shows him a badge they took off a thief in the wilderness, and the soldier tells her that it's a badge of a customs agent meant to collect a small tithe from merchants.  (Didn't Hum already kill this guy last issue?)  One of the people following Clan Oblique gets nervous, informing Serka that the "thief's" crime was imposing a tithe "all because a few little barrels of siren berries were rotten."  (I guess he was an actual customs agent then and not Hum's thief?)  Disgusted, Serka asks a Gorepitian about why Gorepit isn't as rich as she thought, and the woman responds that "some weirdo in a hood bewitched the workers [who] cleared out the food stores 'n followed him into the desert[,] all because that lot shot some dumb little kid."  (How much time has passed here, exactly?  Mildew had enough time after the squad killed the kid to stir up a revolution?  Are they the "raiders" stealing the food?)

At least enough time has passed for us to find Hum fishing at a red lake when he hears a voice, in italics text, announce to a caravan arriving at the "Crimson Mire!  where perished the last kings of High Chivaris."  Hum watches as the cult's leader (presumably Mildew) reinterprets the prophecy, noting that "dozens" of them saw "a light" the instant the scion died, marking the "coronation of a new god."  Since the "prophecy" said the scion would found a new kingdom, they now declare that they're a new nation.

Rushing to a caravan, Hum calls for Mildew as he opens the doors.  He's disgusted by the sight of a creature with many bubbles of tadpole-like creatures in her stomach, and Mildew informs him the creature is a "sprigmother."  Mildew orders a worker to spread spawn within a thirty-mile radius so they can declare a miracle to eliminate all doubts about "the prophecy."  One of Mildew's thugs, named Mr. Kroti, ejects Hum on Mildew's orders, and Hum watches in dismay as the cult members set up camp on his land.  Hum ponders where he heard the name "Mr. Kroti" before when Serka arrives.

After they kiss, Hum immediately asks Serka if she's pregnant, and I'm guessing "Little Gap" is their unborn child.  Serka then realizes Mildew is the hooded cult leader Clan Oblique is chasing and tells Hum to get down.

In other words, I really have no fucking idea what's happening here.  Normally I'd hang in there since I think it's only a five-issue series, but I've got 300+ issues to read so I'm done.

Kill Your Darlings #2:  Holy shit, this issue, you guys.

In 1700, a group of men burst into a cabin where a coven of witches is meeting.  They kill all the witches save one, who they find hiding under the floorboards.  Calling her "the girl who wouldn't burn," it seems clear she's the girl from last issue.  Screaming, "we were supposed to be safe here!!!", she uses vines to kill the men.

In 1995, Rose clutches Wallace in the back of a police car.  

Fast-forwarding to 2003, Rose is in the Anderson Center, a place for troubled teens.  She wound up there when the "foster care system proved...problematic" for her, as the creepy Dr. Jacobs mentions to two parents who are there about their son.  The mother physically recoils from Rose, and Jacobs alludes to the "media blizzard around the...well, the nastiness with the fire in Valley Oaks."  Meanwhile, all the other students whisper about Rose burning her mother alive.

The only bright spot for Rose is Elliott's visits.  Elliott remains in a rough place as his mother is bed-ridden and his father is completely disconnected from them.  Elliott's a stand-up dude:  he's not only visiting Rose but tells her about how he's maintaining his mom's garden since it makes her happy.  Elliott apologizes for talking about his mom, and Rose quips that she killed hers.  Elliott chastises her, but Rose confesses that everyone's whispered about her for years and she still doesn't have a better explanation other than that she was the one who set the fire.  Before confirming they'll meet at the back exit at the usual time, Elliott pulls out Beat-em-Beasts for them to play, and one of Rose's cards depicts elephant-like "The Eternal Warrior."

That night, Rose's new roommate screams when she sees Rose sneaking to meet Elliott, but before she can raise the alarm the sprinklers start.  Rose runs into the hallway to see an arrow through the fire alarm, and several guards make chase.  She rounds the corner to find...Wallace!  He uses sleeping arrows to take out the guards and leads Rose to the exit as she ponders whether she's lost her mind.  We get the first hint that she hasn't when Dr. Jacobs finds one of the guards with a blow dart in his neck.  

Outside, Rose and Wallace escape over the fence and find Elliott.  Rose is thrilled to learn Elliott can see the "little elephant man" (Wallace corrects him with "elopig."). Wallace explains that the Kingdom of Rosewood is in danger.  Rose tells him that she can't return because that "thing" almost killer her, but Wallace tells her that it's been killing them ever since she left.  Wallace tells Rose she could create life where there once wasn't any, and Rose brightens.  He then leads them to the gate to Rosewood.

I was meh on the first issue of this series, but Parker and Sheridan wisely don't drag out the mystery, instead confirming here that Rosewood was real.  I'm excited to see where we go from here.

Local Man #6:  This series is starting to get repetitive, as Jack has to face another unhinged nut job coming after him.  

This time, it's an armed kid with #Truth written in tape on his flack jacket who opens fire in Inga's diner.  His goal is to kill "Local Man," because he somehow knows that Jack killed Camo Crusader.  Brian later tells Jack the only people who knew about Crusader were Inga and Kopecki, who winds up killing the kid to end his rampage.  Interestingly, Kopecki knew the kid, since the kid went to church with Kopecki's aunt, so I think it might be possible Kopecki is part of the same crowd as the kid.  That said, Inga suspects her investors though they deny it, leaving open the question how the kid knew.

Meanwhile, Brian asks Jack to speak to a group of hippies called the Star Tribe.  They're camping in a nearby park, and they don't like cops, obviously.  But a 16 year old girl who Inga knew through the Future Forum wound up drowned, and the Tribe apparently harbors known criminals so Brian wants some information.  Jack agrees, but the creepy Swamp Thing-esque creature who follows him implies the Tribe probably didn't do it.

At some point, you start to wonder why Third Gen doesn't let Jack leave Farmingham, since the attention that he's bringing probably isn't doing them any favors.

Star Wars #39:  Oof, this issue.  Soule really puts Lando (and us) through the emotional ringer.

The Talky manages to knock the rancor unconscious long enough for him, Lando, and Lobot to escape the pit.  But he warns Lando that they've got to bolt, as Jabba the Hutt is on his sail barge and will return at some point.  As the Talky navigates Jabba's palace to get them to a secret exit, Scourge-controlled droids surprise them and grab Lobot.  The Talky assumed they wanted him, but, as we know from the main series, the Scourge wanted Lobot given his hybroid status.  Lando and the Talky eventually find Lobot, only for the Scourge to inform Lando that he now controls Lobot.  "Lobot" departs with the other droids as Jabba returns, his men's guns a-blazin', and Lando brings the Talky to the Millennium Falcon and pledges to save Lobot.

But Lobot's isn't the only friendship Lando is forced to consider here, as he stands before Han before he bolts with the Talky and Lobot.  He (correctly) realizes that he and Lobot don't have time to free Han, since he'll be weak and potentially blind.  I initially judged Lando for that, but, when he made that argument, I realized that he was right.  But it means Lando failed not one but two friends here, and Soule makes it clear that Lando knows that.

The chips are down, and, knowing Lando, he's going to double down.  It'll be fun to watch.

Subgenre #1:  I like Kindt, and he does something interesting here.  

A hard-boiled detective named Verge (which isn't a very "hard-boiled" name) gets hired by his world's Disney (Decipher Comics) to investigate the murder of several blue-skinned monks from a cult called "I.P. Agents" at their HQ.  Verge himself tangled with a similar monk earlier in the day, though he seemed to think he was his landlord?  It was weird.  The man's blue skin definitely didn't seem to both him.

Deciper sends him to meet a woman who explains she caused a scene at Decipher several days earlier when she learned they used an AI to write the book she had just read and loved.  (I'm still not sure why causing a disruption makes Decipher seemingly want to pin murders on her, as I think they're trying to do here?)  She insists on accompanying Verge to the I.P. Agents' sanctum sanctorum, since she wants to see their rare-book collection, since they apparently are buying all such books.  

At the library, the monks' leader appears, and his monks attack Verge.  He says they're particularly interested in Verge and strikes him in the head with a baton that sends him into a new Roman body, where he again faces the blue-skinned monks.

It's weird, and I kind of like it.  I initially wasn't inclined to hang in there, but, re-reading this post, I think I will.

Eight-Month-Old Comics!: The October 11 Top-Shelf Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

The Hunger and the Dusk #3:  I am very happy to report that I was totally wrong about how this issue would go.

We begin in the aftermath of a battle between the orcs and the Vangol in the North, as Troth observes to his right-hand man, Karok, that they'll exhaust their warriors before the Vangol exhaust their ships.  Faran calls to Troth and points out the dirt below a Vangol warrior's fingers.  She tells him the old poems say the Vangol were a canny lot, though something happened to them when they went to the West that turned them into the monsters they are now.  Karok interrupts the pair right before they kiss.  Troth quips that he hopes his cousin fares better, and Faran hopes she fares well...while far from there.

In the South, Conwy brings a beer to Tara, who's devastated over Loris' death.   She asks Conwy how they could just put her in the ground, implying the orcs have a different funerary custom.  Conwy assures her that Loris' death wasn't her fault.  Tara thanks him for how kind he's been, and Conwy tells her that, in his experience as a warrior, failure and grief play a much larger role than does hope, which often leads to mistakes.  Tara is upset Cal isn't speaking to her, and Conwy tells her that it's because he's mourning a friend.  On cue, Cal tells everyone to get moving.

At a campfire that night, Conwy tells Cal that he's got to talk to Tara, reminding him that she's far from home.  He goes to her tent (bum-chick-a-bow-wow) and also tells her that Loris' death wasn't her fault.  Tara rues that she couldn't heal Loris despite all her skill, and, striking a similar theme as Troth, Cal tells her that there are too many Vangols and too few of them.  He suggestively lies back, hands behind his head.  He tells Tara that their partnership won't fail, because they've both been sent from their families.  It would've crushed most people, but they're survivors.  Tara cuddles to him.

They awake in this position the next day when one of the Last Men's scouts finds a Vangol scout and the Last Men capture him.  Tara recognizes that the Vandal is speaking a 500-year-old dialect, realizing they must've continued using their language after they left the continent.  Pulling out the arrow with which Conwy shot him, Tara tells the Vangol she'll heal him if he helps them.

The Vangol reveals how the Vangol have been traveling where they shouldn't be:  underground tunnels (recalling the dirt Faran found under the Vangol's fingertips).  Before they went extinct, the dwarves apparently built tunnels to the sea in case they had to escape their underground fortresses.  The entrances are only accessible during low tide, so you have to know where to look for them.  Tara pleads for Cal to send someone to tell Troth, which he does.

In the North, Troth and Faran attend the funeral for the dead soldiers, showing the more formal ceremony that Tara mentioned.  (Interestingly, the burial is at a peak with a view of two mountains, which they call the Two Twins, referring to their gods.)  Faran takes Troth into a tent to get busy (maybe for the first time), though Karok interrupts them again, this time to announce the arrival of the Last Men's rider.  (Karok hilariously apologizes when he sees a barely covered Faran in the doorway.)

Down South, the Last Men release the Vangol and Mikil goes to follow it.

Again, Willow is doing a great job here.  The intercultural tension is present, but she isn't playing it up as much as other authors would.  Instead, she keeps you focused on the tension that's actually driving everyone's actions, namely the Vangol threat.  It feels more realistic in that way, and I can't wait to see where we keep going.

Star Wars:  Dark Droids #3:  Let's get right to it.

The issue opens with the Scourge recalling the memories of a droid who once witnessed diamond rain on a planet where he worked as a laborer.  The Scourge gets lost in the beauty of it before realizing that he needs to inhabit Threepio fully, given the danger of his mission on Mustafar.  It's the first hint the Scourge is straining to stay coherent with all the minds under his control.  

On the Chelator, now Scourge 1, the Scourge inhabits a body that resembles the Witch-king of Angmar.  (It's pretty great.)  He realizes the Rebels also know of his presence, pitting him against two powerful enemies.  He's still focused on controlling "the meat," though, and we're treated, if it's the right word, to a horror show of droids with organic limbs.  (The droid with a skull for a head is terrifying.)

However, he can't control the bodies' consciousnesses yet.  He observes that he was created to inhabit organics, commenting on the Spark Eternal inhabiting Miril and Aphra.  (I don't know who Miril is, but I'm assuming they're a character from "Star Wars:  Doctor Aphra.")

On Mustafar, a droid attacks Vader in the bacta tank where we left him at the end of "Star Wars:  Darth Vader" #39, and it's chilling to see the droid and its fellow dragging a limbless Vader through the facility.  Of course, Vader isn't powerless, and he uses the Force to control his lightsaber and destroy the droids.

But the Scourge is forced to turn his attention to Scourge 1, as Ajax and his compatriots arrive.  The Scourge is worried the reprisals are happening faster than he expected, another sign that he's flailing.  But Ajax is also flailing, as his unending stream of inspiring quotes from motivation posters ends when TIE fighters take out Gertee.  

Meanwhile, the Scourge wonders if he didn't make a mistake in going after Vader when he did, as he struggles to fight off Ajax *and* find a way to take control of cyborgs.  He realizes he has to decide between fighting off Ajax, taking out Vader, or hacking the cyborgs (cue the repulsive scene of a R2-series unit with arms and legs).  Realizing he has to save himself first and foremost, he takes on Ajax and his followers, who self-destruct to protect their secrets.  

He then figures out a way to take control of the cyborgs, by transmitting himself in waves, not all at once.  With Ajax's invasion repelled and the cyborgs hacked, the Scourge goes for the trifecta:  taking out Vader.  However, Vader uses the Force to go after the spider droid coming toward his "helpless" body.   Oh, well.  Two out of three isn't bad.

Elsewhere, Ajax flees Scourge 1 alone, and the Scourge delights in suddenly taking on cyborgs, including Lobot, Valance, and someone else I don't recognize.

Like other issues, this issue requires a lot of concentration, mostly due to the fact that so much information comes from the Scourge's lengthy narration sequences.  But we're getting enough action in the tie-in issues to make it a worthwhile read.

Undiscovered Country #26:  This issue doesn't make a lot of sense, in part because it isn't supposed to make a lot of sense.  Aurora - or America - is playing a game, and the rules aren't clear.

500 miles off the California coast, Admiral Nelson of the AEA and Admiral Liu of the PAPZ ponder the fate of the party they just sent over the wall, which we now know was only three days ago.  Liu invites Nelson to dine with him and his officers that night, and Nelson is offering to return the favor when a PAPZ officer interrupts.  The officer informs Liu they must escort all AEA officers off PAPZ ships and then head immediately to the Taiwan Strait.  The officer makes it clear the Emperor issued the orders, and Nelson, revealing he speaks Mandarin, acknowledges that shit gets crazy sometimes.  After Nelson departs, the officer reveals to Liu that a plane has crashed into Taipei, with a spectacular image from Camuncoli emphasizing the devastation.

At the Vajont Dam in the Alps, a man named Joshua tests positive for Sky.  Annie tells Joshua she'll run him to one of the treatment centers down the coast, but Joshua refuses, figuring he'd rather die in the Alps than in a camp.  Annie, with whom he seems to have a romantic relationship, refuses to let him.  Annie asks if he wants to call his parents, and he says that he wouldn't want to bother them, as they're very busy people.

900 miles from Taiwan, Liu expresses disbelief in the PAPZ's assessment that the AEA intentionally shot down the passenger jet.  Liu confirms to a suit in Beijing that the AEA's Pacific Fleet is following them to provide humanitarian aid, and the suit announces the PAPZ has just extended its maritime border 1,000 miles, just as the Pacific Fleet hits 950 miles.  On the AEA ship, an officer points out this new border means they're in PAPZ territory, but Nelson notes leaving the area would acknowledge the PAPZ's claim.  Another officer informs Nelson the PAPZ fleet is spinning up its missile cruiser, and Nelson orders him to do the same.

In Italy, Annie and Joshua have spent time clearing the road, implying some level of devastation in this area.  Joshua begins coughing and confesses to Annie that he realizes they should've had a child.  He was excited about it, though he never told her that, and he can't "think of a single reason that ever seemed like something to put off."  It's funny how, as a parent, I think about that all the time, about how I wonder what exactly I needed to do before I became a parent.  

On Nelson's ship, his officer confirms the missile the PAPZ fleet fired was an older model, possibly meaning they weren't trying to hurt them.  Nelson orders the armory "kids" to return fire in the same vein and wonders why they're firing at all.  (If it isn't clear, Liu and Nelson are great characters, the polar opposite of Chang and Janet's squabbling bureaucrats.  They're professional soldiers who understand how the game works and not to take it personally.)

In Italy, Annie gets Joshua to a camp, but he's already crying blue.  The triage officer says that it isn't protocol to treat someone this far gone, but Annie tells him to scan Joshua's ID chip.  The guy opens his eyes wide and orders Joshua to get one of the few courses of "orgocet" left.

On Liu's ship, Liu informs a hologram of the Emperor that the action he's ordered him to take will result in a serious escalation of their conflict.  But the Emperor is furious the AEA is denying responsibility for the million lives lost and orders him to attack.  Liu says they'll fire the "hungry ghost" missiles at one of the AEA cruisers, and the officer exposits the AEA doesn't know about them so won't be able to deploy efficient countermeasures.

One second before the missile strikes, several lasers destroy them and an enormous helicarrier, for lack of a better term, decloaks over the ships.  Uncle Sam announces that it's the United States of America, and they've prevented the two sides from going to war.  Sam announces the negotiating team successfully convinced them to send out the Sky cure, and we see capsules full of odd robots deploying the cure with what looks like a fork.

Meanwhile, Nelson gets a message that he relays to Liu, who's responsible for communication with the negotiators:  he's to inform Janet that her son, Joshua, died.

In Zone Plenty, a stunned Charlotte returns to the team.  She informs them that America or Aurora (raising the possibility they're not the same entity) released the Sky cure to the world.  She also confirms that the AEA and PAPZ believe they (the negotiators) were responsible.  Janet notes they didn't even begin the negotiations, and Charlotte informs her that her son died of Sky.  A furious Janet rants that America had the power to save her son at any time but didn't.  (Fair.)

Suddenly, one of the Plenty-ers announces the "rider" is back, and they all turn to see Pavel riding a crazy looking horse.  The issue ends with him asking, "You want to go see Aurora?"  Fuck yeah, Pavel.