Over-a-Year Old-Comics: The Top-Shelf March 11 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  Bounty Hunters #1:  As the editor says in his letter at the end of the issue, intragalactic bounty hunters are at the top of the list of awesomeness that Star Wars gave us.  Sacks takes that premise and runs with it here, and I'm stoked to see where we go.

"Then:"  Valance is part of a crew, which also includes Boba Fett and Bosk, that his mentor Nakano Lash leads.  Someone named Khamus, scion of the Mourner's Wail syndicate -- the "deadliest crime syndicate in the sector" according to Boba Fett, so that's saying something -- has hired them to invade a citadel on Corellia so she can assassinate a member of the Unbroken Clan, which would apparently break some sort of truce.  Lash and the other bounty hunter on the squad, T'ongor, enter the citdel with Khamus.  But, Lash is appalled that Khamus wants to kill the target (presumably a child) and kills her instead.  T'ongor radios Boba Fett and Valance to flee.  Valance struggles to act as he can't believe Lash would betray him in this way.

"Now:"  Valance's droid informs him that a bounty has been put on Lash who has apparently emerged from hiding.  T'onga - T'ongor's sister - leaves behind her girlfriend when she learns of the bounty, seeking revenge for her brother's death.  (I assume he died when Nash turned tables, but we'll see.)  At a cantina on Burnin Konn, Bossk is bitching about the fact that Boba Fett managed to get Solo when Black Krrsantan and Dr. Aphra appear.  Before Aphra can leave, Bossk tries to kill "BK."  Aphra trades him Lash's location instead since she needs BK for a mission.  Most importantly, Boba Fett is transporting Han to Jabba when he gets wind of the bounty on Lash, revealing why he hasn't appeared before Jabba on Tatooine yet in the main title.

In other words, holy crap, these guys are going to go through a lot of lasers when they inevitably crash into each other.

Star Wars:  Darth Vader #2:  This issue is pretty straightforward.  Vader quickly realizes that "Padmé" is Sabé, one of the Queen's Shadows.  She confirms that she and her team were the ones who broke into Padmé's apartments in Coruscant in an attempt to find out Padmé's fate.  Vader tells Sabé that he's searching for the people who "stole her away" before she died, and Sabé agrees to help him.  She reveals that they were unable to decode the security footage so hid it on Naboo, where they now head.  Pak's definitely building to something here, which is exciting to watch.

Star Wars:  The Rise of Kylo Ren #4:  Jesus unprintable Christ, as Ebling Mis from "Foundation and Empire" would say.  I wasn't expecting much from this mini-series.  I was mostly just enjoying that Soule was giving us a solid look into Ben's past and doing better at it than most movie tie-ins.  But, this issue explodes with energy about halfway through it.

We begin on the "Minemoon of Mimban," where the Knights are interrogating a group of miners who they're holding hostage.  They're seeking the Mindsplitter, a stone that the miners discovered years ago and see as priceless relic.  The Knights plan on selling it.  Ben uses a version of the Jedi mind-trick that Snoke taught him to read one of the miner's minds, informing Ren that the stone is in a sealed chamber three levels below them.  Ren orders the Knights to kill the hostages anyway, to Ben's horror.  The Knights arrive at the Mindsplitter's location, and Ben balks when Ren orders him to join the Knights in killing the remaining miners.  Just as Ren's saying that he doubts Ben's resolve, Tai and Voe arrive.  Voe goes to save the miners while Tai hopes to use his connection to Ben - which he used to find him - to save him.

During their duel, Tai begs Ben to return to the light, noting every path has two directions despite Ben's insistence that he's too far along said path.  Ben whines -- not incorrectly, though -- that Luke and Snoke only see him as a legacy, not as a person.  But, Tai argues that he could still make a difference:  if he spent his life helping people, it would only matter that those people were helped, legacy or no legacy.  Before Ben can choose what to do, Ren uses the Force to snap Tai's neck.  He then attacks Ben, noting he's been fighting his descent into the shadow every step of the way.  

As they battle, Ren says his power comes in being nothing special, so he can be whatever he wants.  Ben retorts that other people think that he's special, but he doesn't so he can also do whatever he wants.  Ben then tells Ren that he realizes what Ren was essentially begging him to do earlier and kills him as his good death.  Showing he's chosen his path now, Ben then kills Voe after asking her, rhetorically, why she would want to live since she can't be a Jedi (assuming Luke is dead and thus can't train her).  The Knigths then bow to Ren.  We later see him turning his kyber crystal red and crafting his iconic lightsaber.

All in all, this issue really makes this mini-series a must-read for Star Wars fans.  It felt right to me that Ben could only fully summon his anger at Ren, someone else who had expectations of him that he couldn't meet.  It also makes sense that he could also accept killing Voe given how furious he was at her for dismissing him as a murderer, seeing him as something other than a person like all the people who only saw him as Han and Leia's son.  The fact that he couldn't kill Tai is a callback to "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens," as it's this struggle with killing someone he loves that leads to the iconic moment with his father on Starkiller Base.  It's rare that someone so seamless creates a prequel story that fits in the story that we know is coming, but Soule really delivers here.

Over-a-Year Old-Comics: The Top-Shelf February 12, 19, and 26 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars:  The Rise of Kylo Ren #3 (February 12):  Soule does a good job here once again showing how Ben isn't really committed to the Dark Side.  It's something we know due to the movies (particularly his internal conflict in "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens"), but it becomes a particular problem for him here.  

After Ben tracks down the Knights on Varnack, Ren tells him that a "good death" is the price of entry into the Knights.  Ben relays the story of how he killed Hennix during a fight with his former classmates.  

The trio found him on Elphrona, the planet where Ben first met Ren and where he went to try to find the Knight's trail.  A furious Voe attacked Ben, telling him that he was a murderer.  Furious that she didn't believe that Luke attacked him, Ben throws her off the cliff where they're fighting (of course) just as Hennix approaches them to try to stop the fighting.  Realizing that Voe will die from the fall, Ben uses the Force to stop her descent.  But Hennix throws his lightsaber at Ben, causing Ben instinctively to send it back at Hennix.  Ben immediately realizes that he can't stop the lightsaber from colliding with Hennix and save Voe.  He knows that Hennix will die, but he decides to save Voe.  

After Ben relays his story, Ren correctly points out Ben didn't really want to kill Hennix.  He agrees to let Ben travel with the Knights for a while because he's strong "in the shadow" but also makes it clear that Ben's going to have to cough up that good death at some point.

 I like Soule showing us how Ben's struggle with the Dark Side began, particularly as it forms the backbone of the third trilogy.  These sorts of movie tie-in mini-series usually aren't very good, but Soule's really holding up his end of the bargain here.

Dragon Age:  Blue Wraith #2 (February 19):  I re-read the first issue of this series in an attempt to follow the story better, but I realize that I would probably have to re-read "Magekiller," "Knight Errant," and "Deception" to fully grasp the series’ nuances.  Without that, it’s all just a jumble of plots and sub-plots, and it’s hard to tell why the characters make the decisions they do.

I still don’t understand why Vaea would leave Ser Aaron to help Tessa, as Tessa has done nothing to inspire such loyalty.  Tessa claims that it’s because she’s an orphan like Tessa is, but does Vaea just really drop everything to help every orphan she meets?   

Also, I’m not sure why Tessa really cares whether her father is indebted to her or not.  I assume that she’s advancing some larger plan, but, if not, why not enjoy no longer being under this thumb anymore?  Sure, I get her father was an asshole who crushed her spirit so she’s all calculating now.  But can’t she be calculating in a way that doesn’t put her life at risk trying to save him, particularly since I'm assuming that his reputation is going to take a hit after he lost his city and got himself kidnapped? 

Finally, I have no idea why Ser Aaron and company decided to follow the caravan.  I assume it's because they know it has the sarcophagus, which I also assume they learn at the end of “Deception.”  Even still, why do they care if someone uses it to make a powerful elf?  Like, I get Callie is just hanging with the people keeping him safe, but why do Ser Aaron and Marius care?  After all, Marius is a mage hunter not a powerful-elf hunter.

I'm really just here in case anything here gives us hints about the forthcoming game, because DeFilippis and Weir aren't doing anything to make me care about these characters per se.

Undiscovered Country #4 (February 19):  We learn a lot in this issue. 

First, Daniel has made a deal with the Destiny Man:  the Destiny Man will give him the Key and Daniel will lead Uncle Sam to the door to the next zone.  At that point, Daniel will provide the Destiny Man with the door’s location and, in exchange, the Destiny Man will grant Daniel free exit from the United States and “everything else [they] agreed.”  What constitutes “everything else” is inevitably going to answer the question whether Daniel is a hero or a villain.  Right now, he's really looking like the latter given that he's having this conversation with the Destiny Man in front of his chained companions. 

Second, the Destiny Man is trying to get back to Aurora, who expelled him (from wherever she is) to prove his governing idea of “live free or die.”  The Destiny Man stresses that people came out West to change, something Camuncoli underlines by emphasizing his crab and lizard hands.  To the Destiny Man, it you survive in his difficult land, you deserve it.  But he needs to “walk the Spiral” to prove that to Aurora. 

Third, Sandoval informs the team that she didn’t understand why they were chosen for the mission so she’s been researching it since Bukowksi approached her.  She then reviews why they're all such odd choices.  She reveals that Charlotte has Sky but she isn’t contagious only because she got an expensive vaccine.  That said, Sandoval says that she’ll start showing symptoms soon.  As we know, Daniel is a wanted man and Ace isn’t mentally stable.  Sandoval was fired for looking into the story that the Alliance really is poisoning the quarantine zones and implies that Janet and Chang are suspect.  

After finishing his talk with the Destiny Man, Daniel leaves, taking Charlotte with him.  Sandoval uses Buzz (her drone) to help the team escape.  She then informs them that Uncle Sam sent her a text message:  it shows a list with all their names on it, saying they were the ones to be sent to America.  Aurora signed it.  “Aurora” is not coincidentally the first word engraved on the Golden Spike (i.e., the Key).  It also seems pretty likely that Aurora is an AI.  

Valentina’s new mission is to track down Uncle Sam and get him to tell them what he knows.  Since Daniel and Lottie are also headed to rendezvous with him, it should be a helluva reunion. 

The Last God #5 (February 26):  Kennedy Johnson reveals most of the last mysteries not related to what happened on the Black Stair 30 years ago in this issue, setting the stage for a helluva run to issue #12.

In the past, the companions pass to the other side of the portal with Skol, entering a haunting realm.  On the winding floating staircase that serves as their path, they pass portals to other worlds.  The portals feel like Chekhov's gun to me:  Skol says that she doesn't have the power to open them while Cyanthe suggests they go through one, since nowhere could be as horrible as Cain Anuun.   Skol leads them to the Book of Ages, which is a platform where petitioners can ask questions.  She asks the Book about the Plague of Flowers, particularly how to kill it.

The Book informs us that the gods’ parent was Ang Luthia who manifested one day.  He created worlds to stave off the Void, which stared at him hungrily.  Then, after failed attempts to create other beings like him, he realized that he needed to infuse his own lifeforce into the entities.  He created:  Mol Anwe ("Firstborn" and "Of Light") from a star; Mol Uvanya ("Of Things That Grow") from the wind, rain, and soil; Mol Kalakto ("Of the Thing Made") from stone; Mol Rangma ("Of Flame") from fire; and Mol Choresh ("Of Knowledge" and "Of Riddles").

Prompted by a question from Mol Choresh, Ang Luthia tells his children never to mention or think about what lies beyond Cain Anuun.  But one day they find the Black Stair, which, unlike everything else in Cain Anuun, Ang Luthia didn’t make.  There, they encounter the Void for the first time.  They're frightened, but before they leave they hear the whimpers of a faceless, formless animal, neither alive nor dead.  (I imagined Voldemort in Charring Cross Station here.)  Feeling sorry for it, Mol Anwe gives it some of its essence, like Ang Luthia had, and creates Mol Uhltep, “Of the Void.”  

They return down the Black Stair, where Ang Luthia is waiting for them after realizing that they left Cain Anuun and stepped into the Void when he could no longer sense them, as if they had ceased to exist.  Ang Luthia realizes that the Void has found a way into Cain Anuun, and Mol Uhltep immediately strikes at him "with the pent-up rage and hunger of eons."  With his dying power, Ang Luthia renders Mol Uhltep into two and sends both pieces back into the Void.  The remaining gods build a pyre, sending Ang Luthia's burning body into the sky so that he may always watch over his work.  Mol Kalakto then bulids a second pyre atop the Black Stair -- the Fells Pyre -- to hold Ang Luthia's heart, which will burn forever and bar Mol Uhltep's return.  

The gods age.  Before she dies, Mol Anwe infuses her flesh and essence into one final song and creates the Fey, which means "Gift."  The other gods also create races upon their death, some unwillingly.  The Flowering Dead are somehow Mol Uhltep's children, "born of the broken, twisted corpses of his kin."

Enraged by what he saw, Tyr cries that Borl the Storm God created the world and that Freyth was his only son.  I'm guessing "Borl" is probably Mol Uvanya.  Veikko claims that the Spirit Mother created the world.  She's harder to guess, but I'm going to say either Mol Anwe or Mol Uvanya.  But, both acknowledge that their religions include stories of the Black Stair, with Tyr noting that Freyth used it to enter the Underworld to hunt Naga.

In the present, Cyanthe appeals to Skol to help them so that they can be rid of each other.  For her part, Skol sees victory over the Last God as wiping away their sins and finally deserving the songs that the peasants sing about them.  During their conversation, Skol hints at Hakkon and Grey’s fate, noting she had no items from Hakkon to put at her shrine to the heroes and also no quarrel with him. She mentions “poor old Grey” so clearly something not-great happened to him.

Meanwhile, Valko claims Skol made Shyf from her unspent years, though I have to wonder why Skol didn't just stop herself from aging.  Skol refers to Shyf as a weapon, so she must have some plan that she herself couldn't realize.  (Does she send Shyf into the Void at some point in the future fight?)  Evyindr tires of Valko's sniping and threatens him, leading to Shyf to stop them before they come to blows, noting that "it's not time for any of that."

Cyanthe wants to leave Eyvindr at the Pinnacle because he's "a risk," though Veikko pushes for Eyvindr to join them given the heroism that he showed last issue.  That said, she doesn't want Valko to join them because she doesn't want the quest to poison him the way it has them.  But Skol says Cyanthe can’t go because she senses the Void magic in her and knows that Mol Uhltep will use her against them at some point.  

Meanwhile, Shyf shows Valko and Eyvindr what Veikko already knows, that the essences of Aelvan lives fuel the Guild's power, including the Pinnacle’s Shield Wall, the only thing keeping back the Flowering Dead.  Valko is appalled that the Ferryman King would allow Skol to do so, and Eyvindr is mortified that he defended Shyf to Valko given she was part of such evil.  Realizing the danger, Skol teleports to the basement with Cyanthe and Veikko, and Valko pledges to destroy the tower collecting the Aelvan essences.  Veikko prevents Skol from killing Valko, but he hurls his sword to Eyvindr, who strikes down the tower.  The Flowering Dead then realize they can enter the Pinnacle. 

Honestly, at this point, I'm pretty much rooting for the Dead here, at least when it comes to destroying the Pinnacle.

Star Wars #3 (February 26):  So, we not only learn what Zahra's beef with Leia is in this issue but also that she be CRAY-ZY.  

When Vader gave her responsibility for hunting down the Rebellion, Zahra had the Fortitude, an Imperial Star Destroyer damaged in the Death Star explosion, resurrected as the Tarkin's Will.  She then staffed it exclusively with people who lost someone in the explosion, as she did.  She pledges to her second-in-command  here that one day she will whisper the name of the person she lost in Leia's ear as she cuts her throat.  (I'm going to say lesbian.  Zahra has some lesbian energy here.)

Zahra isn't the only one in this issue on a mission, though.  Lando, Leia, and Luke (I never realized just how many "L" names we have) arrive on Cloud City with their own agendas.  Lando is there to save Lobot (more "L" names!), which I was glad to see since I assumed his mission was there to sell out the Rebellion to Jabba (or, at least, was only there to sell out the Rebellion).  Luke is trying to find his lightsaber, and Leia is trying to figure out how to de-carbonite-ize Han.

Of course, it doesn't go according to plan.  Lando uses Lobot to stop Cloud City from properly venting the radioactive mining by-product, sending Stormtroopers his way.  (I'm not quite sure what his plan was, since you don't usually create a diversion that leads the people you're trying to divert right to you.)  He asks Luke for help, but Luke is confronted with mountains of mechanical junk in his search for his lightsaber.  (I'm also not sure what he was expecting.  Did he think it was just going to be sitting on top of a desk in the lost-and-found office?)  In the room where Han was frozen, Stormtroopers stun Leia as she's inspecting the equipment.

When told that the Stormtroopers have possibly captured a rebel, the station's commander, Captain Tranch, dismisses Leia's capture as "trivial" since he doesn't know who it is.  He orders his subordinate to follow orders and send the prisoner to the nearest Imperial Security Bureau office for interrogation.  We're then treated not only to some pretty hilarious Stormtrooper banter (reminiscent of Adam Pally and Jason Sudeikis' banter in "The Mandalorian") but also the sight of a carbonite-ized Leia!

All in all, it's a great issue.  Soule makes it clear that the trio is acting pretty recklessly here, overconfident in the ability to pull a fast one on the Empire.  In fact, I was glad to see both Lando and Leia in trouble given how they thought they could just waltz through Cloud City.  I guess sometime Stormtroopers do actually hit the target!

Also Read:  Dungeons & Dragons:  Infernal Tides #2

Over-a-Year-Old-Comics: The Top-Shelf January 1, 8, and 15 (2020) Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Star Wars #1 (January 1):  Soule summons the same movie-esque experience that made the initial arc of the previous series so spellbinding.  

He begins right where "Empire Strikes Back" ended, with Lando (not completely unreasonably) arguing that they shouldn't rush after Han because they know where Boba Fett is taking him (Jabba's).  Chewie and Leia (also not completely unreasonably) argue that Lando doesn't get a vote in the matter since he's a traitor.  For his part, Threepio remains consistently and hilariously unhelpful, pitching for sympathy that he lost his arms and legs ("for a bit, anyway") and observing that Jabba is going to kill Han the first chance he gets.  In showing us this multifaceted argument, Soule passes the critical test for portraying these characters, namely the fact that I could hear the actors' voices in my head. 

The same is true with Leia's subsequent conversation with Luke, who's still reeling from his confrontation with Vader.  Saiz and Prianto do an excellent job here making Luke look as sickly and dazed as he does in the corresponding sequences in "Empire Strikes Back."  Soule has Leia and Luke update each other on the events that they didn't witness in Cloud City.  Leia explains that Vader froze Han in carbonite meant for Luke and Luke tells Leia that he now realizes that he passed right by Han when he arrived on Cloud City.  It's a great callback to the movie, as I can see this scene -- of Luke seeing Boba Fett from his hiding place in the corridor -- in my head.  Soule also reminds us that Luke hasn't yet told Leia about what Vader told him.

Leia tells Luke that, if they can't save Han, they can save everyone else, and Soule makes it clear that she's throwing herself into work to distract herself.  She tells Chewie to bring them to the rendezvous point with the Rebel Fleet.  Lando (again, not completely unreasonably) argues that they should lay low, noting -- in , another great callback (this time, to his own limited series) -- that he knows someone on Nar Shaddaa that owes him a favor.  ("I'm sure she does, Calrissian," is Leia's dry response.)  Leia again tells him that he's a traitor and doesn't get a vote and Lando reminds them that he did technically save them all.

As if this sequence isn't good enough, we're then treated to one of the best battle scenes I've seen in a comic.  At Mid-Rim Rendezvous Point Delta-Three, the Rebel Fleet (Fourth Division) is pinned between a star and four Star Destroyers.  The scene is so impressive because Saiz and Prianto flood the background with green laser fire, something they do throughout this sequence, showing the care that they're taking here.  The Star Destroyers take down one of the Rebels' Nebulon-B frigates, and Commander Zahra is pleased with this development aboard the Tarkin's Will.  In Zahra's conversation with her lieutenant, we learn the Empire has a group of Rebels locked down near Malastare.  Meanwhile, aboard the remaining Rebel frigate, Kes Dameron (Poe's father) is focused on the battle as his wife, Shara Bey (Poe's mother), is out there fighting.

(I recognized Kes and Shara only because they appeared briefly in "Star Wars:  Empire Ascendant" #1.  Otherwise, I had to go to Wookieepedia to learn I know them from "Shattered Empire."  Confusingly, I thought I was supposed to know Zahra (possibly as Kanchar's lieutenant from the later Shu-Torun arc), but it turns that she's a new character, despite Soule expositing that she has beef with Leia.  At this stage, one challenge of following as many Star Wars titles as I am is that it's getting harder and harder to keep the new, comic-only characters straight.)

As Kes and Shara seem to be on the verge of losing hope, the Millennium Falcon appears.  Leia touches base with the Fleet and someone informs her that they can't jump to lightspeed until someone breaks the blockade.  Of course, Leia orders Chewie to head to the Imperial cordon, and Zahra dispatches a squadron of TIE fighters after them, thrilled at the possibility of ending the Rebellion with Leia's death.  Lando convinces Chewie to let him fly, and Leia and Luke man the guns.  Lando continues to express disbelief with this crazy plan, though he's somewhat comforted when he learns from Chewie that he and Han installed two ST2 missile launchers on the Falcon.  I totally approve of this role for Lando, not yet believing in the incredible things that this team can do.  (I also want Lando to say "star destroyer" as many times as possible so I can hear it in Billy Dee Williams' voice from "Return of the Jedi.")  

Proving why Lando needs to believe, Luke struggles with using the gun with just one hand (and with his burgeoning fury over the fact that Ben clearly lied to him about his father) and surprises even himself when he uses the force to collide the TIE fighters into one another.  Lando than fires the missiles into the Imperial battery and 90 percent of the Fourth Division manages the jump to lightspeed.  Later, Zahra informs Vader, and he's obviously displeased.  But, he's most unhappy when he learns Zahra tried to destroy the Falcon.  It's here we learn of Zahra's "hatred" of Leia, but Vader makes it clear that the ship can't be destroyed due to Luke's presence on it.  

Meanwhile, at Backup Rendezvous Point Gamma-Nine, Leia and the other Rebel leaders realize that the Imperials have broken their codes, since the Fourth Division made contact with the Eighth Division near Malastare right before the Empire attacked.  (In her conversation with Vader, Zahra reveals to us that she designed the signal-analysis protocol that allowed the Empire to break the codes.)  Leia and the Rebel leaders are at a loss as they know they can't contact the other Rebels to switch codes since that'll reveal everyone's location.  Lando helpfully points out everyone else may already be dead.  (Way to win over the skeptical crowd, Lando.)  The issue ends with Luke questioning his future since he now believes that Ben and Yoda didn't want him to be a Jedi.

All in all, I have to say I'm pretty excited about this series.  It's honestly why I returned to comics after this long break, and I'm glad to see Soule capture some of the magic that we saw in Aaron's first arc of the previous series.  Although some of the magic is missing due to Han's absence, I'm not sure it's a bad thing in the long run as I think we're going to see Leia and Luke able to stretch their wings a bit.  At any rate, it's good to be back in the galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars:  The Rise of Kylo Ren #2 (January 8):  We learn a lot about the Knights of Ren here, though we still have some questions on the table.  First, we learn that Luke and Ben encountered the Knights when seeking out lost Jedi treasures on Elphrona.  Ben marvels as Luke quickly disarms the Knights.  Ren realizes that they're outmatched, but he notes that Ben has the same shadow in him that Luke earlier mentioned that he sensed in the Knights.  Here, we get confirmation that the Knights might be Force-sensitive on the Dark Side, but they're not Sith.  The confrontation ends with Ren throwing his helmet to Ben, saying that he should seek out the Knights if he wants to explore his "shadow" one day.  Ben does exactly that as this issue ends, but his "friends" from the Jedi Temple find him before he can leave to meet them.  It seems like we're going to learn that "Ren" is really the title of the Knights' leader, since I'm assuming the "Long ago" title that we saw last issue introduced a different set of Knights.  But, it's still unclear what their mission is, which I'm guessing we'll learn next issue.  After years of a question mark hanging over this group, it really is nice to start getting some answers here.

Dragon Age:  Blue Wraith #1 (January 15):  I really could use a "Previously in 'Dragon Age...'" introductory page here, because I only vaguely remember most of these characters and I really don't remember how they've come together as a group.  At this point, DeFilippis and Weir are pulling together characters from the previous three mini-series -- "Magekiller," "Knight Errant," and "Deception" -- which means we're going back four years.  I know that he's obviously writing for the trade at this point.  If you're reading the actual comics, though, you're missing a lot of the the nuances of the various relationships between the characters, on which the plot unfortunately turns. 

Undiscovered Country #3 (January 15):  This issue is more linear than the previous two issues, as we're witnessing two fairly straight-forward plots unfold.

Two weeks before the team entered America, Ace was in a van in the "neo-Canadian wilderness."  He's preparing to release a bird named Prince into the wild.  Prince has a harness in which Ace has inserted an Eisenhower dollar, which he informs us will reveal "the truth."  Before he can release Prince, someone named Warren and a team of shocktroops surround Ace's van and take him into custody.  Warren later interrogates a restrained Ace in a padded room, showing us that Ace may be a little crazier than we've so far seen him.  

We learn that Ace is in trouble because he swiped some moon rocks from a research facility outside Geneva and wired them to a helmet, which he says allows him to receive signals from America.  Before we think he's too crazy, though, Warren shows us the map that Ace developed, which fairly accurately depicts the Spiral.  Warren exposits that Ace's theory is that America became not only physically but chronologically separated from the rest of the world, something Ace calls a "time dilation" he inferred from the varying broadcast frequencies.  As such, Ace (as we now know, correctly) predicted that America has a "distinct biome with flora and fauna completely independent of eco-logic" as well as different creatures, social structures, and landmasses.  Ace has been forced to post these thoughts on the "gray wires" because he's been clearly shunned by academia (and fired from the institution that Warren runs.)

Warren dismisses Ace's helmet as a tin-foil hat, and Ace doesn't win any sanity points when he explains that tin-foil hats block transmissions.  Ace's plan was to send the bird -- an Arctic tern, which has excellent migratory impulses -- through the United States.  He'd retrieve the bird on the other side and measure the oxidation rate on the Eisenhower dollar's silver to check how much time passed.  As Ace begs to release his bird, Warren informs Ace that he wants him to go on the diplomatic mission to return to himself by seeing he's wrong.  Ace calls bullshit.  He knows Warren wants to go as much as he does, but he knows Ace's right and he's a coward.

In the present, the team is making its way through a market within the Destiny Man's moving city.  (Ace thinks it's a Wal-Mart converted to "Amazon Browse" after the "Great Absorption" in 2024.  Heh.)  Daniel is in communication with Dr. Elgin, who informs him that they have to get to the city's top floor, the Neon Throne Room, to steal the key.  Ace informs the team that Congress passed a law, called the Liberty Bill, that required companies over a certain size to install emergency exists, escape routes, and safe rooms.  (This part is a highlight, as Ace notes Congress passed the law because of mass shootings - or "unofficial private military actions" -- and it was a "complicated solution to a simple problem.")  Ace points out the ladder to the roof and notes that there should be an alarm system, which Daniel figures they can use to create a distraction.  As they make their way to the back, Valentina tells Ace that his work is brilliant and encourages him just to keep doing his thing, even though Chang is losing his shit and criticizing him.  When the team arrives at the ladder, they learn the alarm is busted, so they split the party.  Daniel takes Lottie with him to get the key and tells the rest of the group to stay off the radar.  Valentina again compliments Ace, which makes him suspicious and she admits that she has her reasons for being nice to him.  Ace goes to test his coin when he realizes that it's gone, causing him to panic.  

Meanwhile, Daniel and Lottie arrive on the second floor, the "parking lot," where the Destiny Man keeps the vessels that he uses to try to breach the borders that the key will allegedly open.  They climb into a ship and Lottie sees a photo of her and Daniel as kids and realizes that they're in Daniel's submarine.  They then get into an argument, as Daniel claims that Lottie wanted to pretend his parents never existed and became a saint as a doctor while dismissing him as a villain.  Daniel is searching for something and Lottie is appalled when he finds it:  the ship's detonator, which he originally planned to use if he were caught.  She thinks Daniel's going to use it to blow up the city, telling him that his plan confirms that he's a villain.  Daniel explains that he didn't try to break into America; he succeeded, because their father gave him instructions.  Lottie refuses to believe him, and Daniel again tells her something that he's apparently repeatedly told her, that their father sent him a message when he was 16 years old.  Lottie begins to argue, but Daniel cryptically tells her that her Sky Virus cure and their parents are at the center of "the whole thing."  Daniel apologizes, admitting he's been to the moving city before as the Destiny Man's goons arrive.

In the market, Daniel finds out one of the hawkers stole his coin and he trades his watch for it.  He applies the solution to the coin and tells Valentina that he should be able to use the result to calculate the rate of time in this zone so that he can find the right path for them to leave.  However, the Destiny Man's goons find them and take them into custody, forcing Daniel to drop the coin.  Daniel struggles long enough to see it turn red, realizing that they've been inside "so much longer" than 50 years.  He then tells Valentina that they can never leave.

At this stage, I think we've got the following main questions that need answering soon.  First, how did Ace know to build the helmet to listen for transmissions inside America?  Moreover, how did Daniel's father know where to find him and how to reach him?  Both instances -- if true -- prove that electromagnetic shield over America isn't as powerful as thought.  Next, how did Ace figure out time ran differently in America and all the information that he has about the Spiral?  Time seems to run different in each specific zone, exemplified by his discussion with Valentina.  My head hurts just thinking about it.

Over-a-Year-Old Comics: The December 18 (2019) Non-Event Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Guardians of the Galaxy #12:  This issue is how you end a story!  I totally cried with Pete as the original Guardians sat at Raccoon's bedside and Pete told him the galaxy could wait while he got better.  Cates sticks the landing so well here.  As Rocket said, a raccoon doesn't defeat J'Son:  an engineer does, as Rocket rewires the ship's polarity and frees the heroes.  The gang makes short work of J'Son's Drax clones while Rocket reveals that he also programmed the ship to return to its original time.  Lockjaw skedaddles the heroes off the ship as J'Son comes face to face with Thanos and Death at the End of Everything.  Cates took the Guardians to a pretty dark place in this series, but he promises brighter horizons, particularly as we end not only with Pete and Gamora holding hands but also a resurrected Drax.  "Guardians of the Galaxy" was one of the few superhero comics I'm keeping on my pull list, and this issue makes me very glad that I will.

Invaders #12:  This series just sort of ends.  Unsurprisingly, the Invaders win, defeating Machan before he can use his Doomsday machine to flood the world.  (I have no idea why London seems to be the only place flooding or how Spider-Man and the Thing managed to get there so quickly, but it is what it is.)  

The exciting part, for me, was the question of how Cap and the rest of the Invaders would deal with Namor once the threat passed.  The answer?  They just forgive everything because he was an Invader.  Cap doesn't even try to excuse Namor's behavior with Machan, as Namor himself admits that Machan didn't do anything he wouldn't have done.  Cap just says that he can't stay mad at Namor, no matter what we does, because they were Invaders.  Really?  Like, attempted genocide is totally fine if an Invader bro does it?  

Given how grounded in psychology this series was, I was surprised to see Zdarsky take the easy route here instead of giving us a Cap truly wrestling with his responsibilities toward, and his comradeship with, Namor.  Instead, he just shrugs his shoulders.  (Actually, he just has another beer with Bucky and Jim, but you get the point.)

I feel like Zdarsky must've written himself into a corner here, like Claremont did with Phoenix when he revealed that she destroyed a planet.  I wonder if the Powers That Be at Marvel decreed that Cap and Namor had to be buds, because it's the only reason I could see for Zdarsky swerving from the wall at the last minute.

King Thor #4:  I don't know what to say here.  This issue is a sprawling mess, which isn't necessarily bad but also isn't necessarily good.

The first ten pages unfold as expected, with Thor somehow finding the power he needs to defeat Gorr the Necroverse because, as Loki says, "Thor is Thor."  Does that make any sense?  Not really.  It has something to do with Thor spending his whole life defining "worthy" as eliminating his demons, but instead he now realizes that it means embracing them and marshaling his rage and shame into "the storm."  Sure, whatever.  At this point, I'll give Aaron a pass because it's his last time at the trough.  

Then, for lack of a better term, we drift into space.  In the Halls of All-Knowing, Shadrak, "god of imbeciles and imbecility," angers the Librarian by knocking over some Thor tomes.  Shadrak looks through them, and we discover that they detail Thor's exploits before he becomes King Thor.  We're now "treated" to a truly bizarre sequence of pages, with Thor:  as "God Cop," policing other gods; as a world ("Thor the Thunder World") spitting "rune moons made of solid uru;" as an amesiac Lord of the Ice Apes of Jotunheim, etc.  Marvel can't pass the chance to get in some advertisements, as Balder becomes King of the Norns, Jane is shown as Valkyrie, and Sif takes over Heimdall's role.  Then, we finally see our Thor sitting on his throne.  At this point, though, Aaron's overwrought narration has me skimming.  I know that Aaron wanted me to be immersed in this story at this point, and I wanted to be.  I really did.  But, I was mostly just bored and confused.  This feeling of dissociation with the story that I thought Aaron was telling is made worse when we return to Shadrak, who tell us that he's looking forward to reading more Thor stories the next day.  I'm glad he is.

We shift to the future (or present, at this point).  We learn that Gorr survived his encounter with Thor, but he's now a simpleton with no trace of the Necrosword remaining in him.  He lives in a garden on Indigarr, watched by loving gods.  Lest we think that Gorr deserves worse, Aaron reminds us that it's unclear if this outcome is Heaven or Hell for Gorr.  Meanwhile, we also learn that Loki has sacrificed himself to rekindle a dying sun, with Midgard seemingly the sole planet left in creation.  Wrapping up the sacrifices, Thor hands over Mjolnir to the girls and then somehow becomes the new support system for the devastated Universe, the pillar on which creation will rise again.  How?  I don't know.  I guess we'll never know.

In other words, man, I'm disappointed.  It doesn't overshadow Aaron's accomplishments when it comes to this character, but it does make me wish he would've just ended with "War of the Realms."  When I saw "King Thor" marketed, I was worried that it seemed self-indulgent, and it seems that way now.  I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.

The Last God #3:  This issue is interesting, as with previous ones, more for the stories that we're not being told than the ones that we are.  

We start the issue in the past with Try lying to Cyanthe that her father left the group because he seemed angry.  Cyanthe is devastated, blaming herself for driving away her father after their argument the previous evening.  Veikko knows better, accusing Tyr of murdering Cyanthe's father not because he had the Plague but because Tyr wanted Cyanthe to himself.  As the trio travel, they discover dead Aelvan near the Pinnacle, which Veikko explains humanity made Aelvan slaves build on the ashes of their previous place of power.  Veikko realizes that a beast called an ursulon killed the Aelves and has the trio flee.  The ursulon later finds them, and Veikko assumes that they're goners until Cyanthe realizes why it's enraged:  it's carrying its dead cub in its hand.  Cyanthe uses her teymsong to quiet the beast, allowing them to share a moment of grief over their lost family members.  It's a really touching moment, a rare show of emotion so far in a series that prides itself on how such feelings don't have any place in such a cruel world.  Veikko watches in wonder, having previously asserted that only Aelvan prayers have power.

In the present, Cyanthe, Eyvindr, and Veikko make their way to the Pinnacle, where Eyvindr witnesses the meager conditions that the people in his hero's empire endure due to Tyr's negligence.  Cyanthe announces Eyvindr will stay at the Pinnacle after she and Veikko recruit Skol and her Eldritch Knights to travel to the Black Stair; after they win, he'll return to the slave cradles "where [he] belong[s]."  As the arrive at the Pinnacle, Eyvindr announce that he's leaving for the Stair on his own, tired of what he (correctly and incorrectly) sees as Cyanthe's lies.  She seemingly lies again, telling him that he can't go to the Stair because Mol Uhltep told them that Eyvindr would be the one to bring about the end of the world.  Cyanthe claims that it's because Eyvindr appeared in the arena in the yellow-tin crown reading all "[Tyr's] old lies" to him, a reference to the "true crown hidden by a false one of gold" prophecy.  It seems pretty clear that Eyvindr is the true crown of the prophecy, with Tyr's being the false one, despite Cyanthe seemingly implying otherwise.  Moreover, Cyanthe's spin doesn't explain the flashback that we saw in the first issue, of Tyr seemingly trying to kill an infant Eyvindr, since it's unclear how he knew Eyvindr would one day become the man in the arena.  That said, Eyvindr still isn't having any more of Cyanthe's lies.  He starts to leave, when Mol Uhltep appears to them in the form of a dead woman and her child sitting on the bridge.  He sends the Plague after them and the issue ends with Eyvindr plunging off the bridge in the melee.  

Star Wars:  Empire Ascendant #1:  This issue is sloppy, signified by the fact they accidentally switched two of the interstitial pages.  The main story is treacly, its concluding page's dialogue reading like something a middle schooler would've written.  The Vader story is fluff, not even attempting to tell a story that we've seen a thousand times already, about how ruthless Vader is, particularly when it comes to prizing victory over failure.  The Beilert story is the best of the lot, as the Aphra story is hindered by heavy narration via holovid that doesn't even sound like Aphra.  In the end, it feels like a money grab.  It's a shame, too, because I feel like it was Marvel's chance to tell a few pre-"Empire Strikes Back" stories that it didn't get to showcase during the initial "Star Wars'" run.  Instead, it's a forgettable issue that has me eager for the real story getting under way.

Star Wars:  The Rise of Kylo Ren #1:  Soule has an unenviable task here, as he's forced to impose some form of coherence to both the Knights of Ren and Kylo Ren himself.

Rian Johnson famously axed the Knights of Ren in "Star Wars:  The Last Jedi," only for JJ Abrams to reinstate them as Ren's own Praetorian Guard in "Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker."  Despite their appearances (or not, as the case may be), we never really got an explanation for who they were.  In terms of Ren himself, he's constantly switching personalities, bouncing among confident, desperate, focused, and shattered.  Soule not only has to try to forge a consistent vision of Ren but also needs to make us care despite the fact that we all know (spoiler alert if you haven't seen "Star Wars:  The Rise of Skywalker") that he dies in the end.

This issue is at its best when Soule tries to address the Knights of Ren.  Soule seems to imply that "ren" was the name of the Force "long ago," with the Knights dedicated to its service.  Although it's clear that the Knights aren't good guys (they are, after all, trying to recruit a kid who brags about killing over 100 people), it isn't clear that they're formally aligned with the Sith either.  The Knight's leader refers to a "friend" providing them names of Force-sensitive potential recruits, who I at first thought meant Snoke since I didn't initially realize that we were seeing a scene in the distant past.  I'm assuming that it's a Sith, but I guess we'll see.

Soule struggles a little with Ren, but it really isn't his fault.  Ren is as sniveling as Luke was in the first trilogy.  When three of his cohort from Luke's temple return to find everyone -- including, they think, Luke -- dead, Ren is outraged that they don't believe him when he tells them that Luke tried to kill him.  He's alternatively vicious and appalled as he fights them, never dealing a killing blow despite his at-times blood-thirsty rhetoric.  He reads almost like Two-Face at times, more mentally ill than someone struggling to reconcile the life he thought he was living with the circumstances in front of him.

Overall, though, it's a good start.  Soule has shown an ability in previous work to mine newfound insights to characters with muddled histories, so I'm optimistic that he can do the same with Ren here.