#THE LORE. THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. THE TWISTS. THE SHENANIGANS. THE CONCLUSION.

[enderpearlgurl13]

When you finish a really good fic with an interesting plot that gave you severe emotional whiplash throughout the shenanigans and cliffhangers that has a satisfying conclusion but then you snap back to reality

[dinoburger]

None of us really know either way, but I do remember speculation in the mid-late 2010s re: whether or not the TF2 comics were leading into something space-related (between what happened to Sniper's mom, the spaceships located in several in-game maps, and the perpetually-unfinished valve map rd_asteroid that used to be in the game's playable map rotation). Entirely guesswork, plus a dash of hope that Valve would continue the storyline post-comics.

:\ yeah, though, ultimately… the comics really shook up the status quo of the game and the established setting, but it's hard to see what conclusion they could've been barrelling toward. Real intrigued by that comics/Helen infographic you posted a few days ago -- I've likewise been puzzling over what Helen's debt could be (for all of the comics' hiatus and then some, lmao). Either way, I don't believe there's enough foreshadowing for us to have figured out whatever-it-is, and then there's the eternal question of "What Comes After?" (both in-universe and regarding Valve's seemingly-dwindling interest in the IP) looming over it all.

(like tumblr user milfy, I'm not really sure what comic 7 could've done to conclude things in a satisfactory way. ngl, sometimes I wish we'd gotten something set during gravel war or mvm -- at the risk of sounding overly critical, I'll admit I personally feel like the fandom missed out on getting some more gravel war era/group-focused content.

though with the then-ongoing [and, hell, somehow-currently-ongoing] status of the game itself, I also feel like the comics ending on too Final a conclusion would've soured some folks' milk. perhaps this is why I continue to entertain the "it was leading into another update" train of thought -- the idea of the comics smacking a big old super-conclusive "The End" onto everything seems unlikely to me, but I cannot fathom what would have come afterwards. or how any currently-raised plot threads would be resolved, if at all.)

… This ask was a whole lotta reiteration/conjecture, so I want to add that I love the TF2 stuff you've been drawing/writing. The classic team and Conagher family lore are so, so fascinating to me, so it's been Like Christmas Morning to me for months lmao. have a good one -🍊

oh man, I would've loved to have more stuff that actually delved into developing the characters during the Gravel wars/MvM... hell, they could've even played off the Scream Fortress shenanigans and have like, a big, ridiculous magical adventure

I also didn't know about the space stuff, that also could've been a cool direction

there's part of me that wants to hope they had some idea of what they were doing but the more I look at it, the more the plot feels like it dissolved more into "stuff that feels really big and important happening" rather than one coherent mystery to unravel, which... the journey should also be important. This is the stuff people criticize Marvel movies for, the twist becomes more important than the actual story. Putting all the eggs in that basket.

I definitely agree... idk like. I think they even could've gotten away with having different canons and not feeling like they had to pin the ultimate resolution of the entire game to the comic, either. Comics can be like that! Different iterations and interpretations of the same universe, that's cool too! IPs get revised and retconned and improved all the time, tbh I think like... the current obsession people have with canonicity can be grating at times.

I think in some ways it's even harder to get past that with an inconclusive work like this because yeah, it does end up being that everyone hopes whatever the conclusion is will be worth the wait, that it'll scratch that itch, and the longer folks go imagining some grand conclusion the higher expectations end up being. You can't really blame them either, at a point, because that's all they really have to go off.

and thank you so much! I love those guys, so I'm grateful when it's appreciated!

[blooms-of-ice]

Wyda is officially retired...for now. She had a good run, and I loved writing for her! GOD the existential dread I felt as I drew closer and closer to running the event that would end her.

Her story continues through another. Give a follow here! :D

I’ll be keeping this blog up as an archive, although I might still post every now and again. But since her arc is done, here goes! An unedited, unfiltered slurry of words-directly-from-brain-to-keyboard about Wyda! I’m warning you, this is true farm fresh to you stuff. And spoilers for many events in FF14. Read on if you dare.

Strap in, it’s going to be a long and bumpy ride.

Did I say that I love Primals?

Primal lore gives the FF14 devs a lot of creative freedom when it comes to designing bosses. Want the arena changed? Want something/someone to look absolutely wack? Want to spin up a threat without having a villain train for years prior? Bam, primals.

It also gives us, the players, the same creative freedoms when it comes to roleplaying!

The requirements to summon one are humorously low. At first, primals result from misguided and zealous beastmen shenanigans. Ifrit, Titan, Ramuh, Leviathan, Garuda...but then we get a bunch of weird summonings. Like when Ga Bu summons a funky version of Titan through his despair alone. Or when Yotsuyu brings forth Tsukuyomi because she really, really wants to see the world burn. Hell, Gilgamesh just thinks about his friend Enkidu in the presence of some crystals, and that’s enough to bring forth a primal. So I guess the only requirements for a primal summoning are 1) crystals and 2) thinking kinda hard? Strong feelings, especially negative ones, seem to be more effective but then again! What the heck happened with Gilgamesh? Who knows?!

But this is one of my favorite things in FF14. It’s a powder keg of a situation that will, and HAS, gone off multiple times.

Being tempered, meanwhile, is a fate worse than death. You’re forced to change sides and fight for the enemy. You don’t even find peace when you die - tempered souls linger in Eorzea thanks to how messed up they are by the process. But you don’t become a mindless servant either. *Points to Emet-Selch who is....kinda...on your side (???) but also on Zodiark’s side*

Things aren’t nearly as dark now that tempering can be cured. I’m very thankful, since otherwise my campaign would’ve had a very, very depressing ending. One that I originally planned for but STILL. I’m weak. ;_;

Riding off the Rails

Primal lore is flexible. In ARR, the rules are established, but later expansions took those rules and went “Well, what about this? And this? And this?” In other words, this is me admitting that I’m shameless and will stretch this lore until I reach the moon.

Developing Wyda was a ‘chicken first, egg later’ sort of situation. Though trite, I gave her amnesia in order to give myself an excuse for knowing nothing about FF14 lore (and because I was new to roleplaying). When I finally sat down to flesh her out, my mind kept returning to primals. I love ‘em and their potential for drama! So yeah, I was determined to make it work.

There were a lot of questions I had to answer. If Wyda is a primal, then why isn’t she tempering everyone she meets?! How is she getting away with being a ‘normal’ person? And how do I avoid power creep? I know, for a fact, that if I walked into an RP event and just said...hey. My character is a primal, are you cool with that? The answer would be a solid no. Nooooo! I’d tell that to myself! So I wanted to solve these questions in a fair way that would allow others (and myself) to remain immersed in the roleplaying world. Luckily, FF14 lore is like a bottomless chest of building blocks. It was just a matter of stacking them carefully.

Primals are summoned when someone thinks around some crystals (Ah, Gilgamesh...)

The primal’s purpose is based on the summoner’s desires, but with a monkey’s paw twist (Ga Bu’s Titan punching the other kobolds away is indicative of this)

The amount of aether used in the summoning determines how powerful the primal will be (Shinryu being beefy as hell)

Primals can be summoned out of thin air, or be channeled into someone’s body

When a primal is channeled, the summoner needs the Echo to resist (Ysalye and Ryne). Otherwise the summoner is tempered by their own creation.

Now, with those blocks in hand, I started spitballing...and it led me to this thought. If a primal’s purpose is to NOT be a primal, what happens?

Would they know that they’re a primal?

Can they still use their primal powers?

What happens when the primal is based off of someone who still exists?

For Wyda, I chose to swing this way.

Her memory is garbage because she’s a primal based on someone else. Even if you know someone really well, you can’t perfectly recreate/emulate them.

She’s normal-powered because all her primal magic is going towards suppressing her powers. Extremely inefficient. And she’s very human-like because she’s possessing someone else’s body, as opposed to being made purely of primal aether.

Primals temper whether they want to or not - aether leaks, and it corrupts. To solve this for Wyda, instead of leaking aether out of the wazoo...thanks to the nature of her summoning, she just leaks a tiny bit all the time. Not enough to temper.

But I also wrote myself into a corner. If Wyda isn’t going to behave like a primal, then how does she exist for so long? They need a constant source of aether to survive, and she’s not doing primal stuff since she’s too busy being human. And so...the answer is that she doesn’t. Once her aether runs out, then poof.

See? Fun! (But also pain. So much pain.)

Playing with Fire

Eorzea (like most fantasy RPG settings) is a nightmare factory. Most, if not all, who make their living ‘adventuring’ are scarred from what they have to face. For every success story (WoL), there are countless more tragedies (Avere). And even if you survive...who wouldn’t get trauma if you were an adventurer and it was normal for your buddies to be eaten by a beast, tempered by a primal, possessed by a ghost?

Which is to say, Wyda's scars run deep. Shit goes down. 

To repeat that in slightly more words: Wyda is an accidental byproduct of Cravendy’s grief and longing. At her lowest moment, Cravendy (a Seawolf pirate) thinks of her friend Dots and the unfairness of it all. And oops, there are crystals nearby. So now, we got Wyda walking around in Cravendy’s body, thinking that she’s someone named Dots. By the way, Dots is still alive! Very awkward.

Wyda is a denial incarnate. She is Cravendy’s dream for safety, family, and happiness for Dots. But denial does not erase the past, nor does it change how you feel. By existing, Wyda suppresses those feelings for Cravendy and freezes the other woman in the past. With the both of them like this, Cravendy will never accept her trauma and Wyda will be plagued with a stranger’s guilt.

Primal souls are weird. I have no idea where they come from, but they seem separate from the summoner’s. So as Wyda’s influence wanes, Cravendy’s soul begins to resurface. This forces Wyda into a cycle of self-discovery and self-destruction that, unfortunately, convinces Wyda that she ought to disappear. It’s a tragic conclusion she reaches after having her worldview shattered. She’s a copy of Dots, she’s a primal. What’s real, and what’s not? What even matters?

The Power of Love

Love is a persistent theme for all of my characters. For Cravendy, love is why she hurts, so she would rather forget it than bear any more pain. But Wyda is the opposite - she loves too much. When all else is a sham, Wyda trusts that the love she feels is real. And ultimately, this love dooms Wyda and saves Cravendy.

Wyda’s fatal flaw is her self-destructive selflessness. Thanks to being mistaken for Dots all the time, Wyda develops a low sense of self. Then events of the campaign erode that into nothingness. She’s a second rate copy full of brittle memories, she’s a fake! And discovering Cravendy’s sleeping soul only pushes Wyda further into her flaw. Here is my purpose, she thinks! My original! And I’ll save her no matter what, because she deserves to live!

But it’s a mistake. Certainly, Cravendy is saved, but Wyda deserves to be saved too. Although she loves with all her heart, Wyda never learns to love herself and see her own self-worth. She doesn’t understand that her friends don’t share her view of herself - as a worthless copy that can only find value in saving another. Her selflessness loops into selfishness.

Maybe Wyda will come back...She certainly has a lot to learn still!

The TLDR version of all this is that I accidentally pulled a Kingdom Hearts plot with this character, and now I understand, Nomura. I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU BRING BACK YOUR CHARACTERS. ;_;

[n3f-lol]

AT: The end of an era

Well, Adventure Time ended in monday and I’ve a lot of thoughts out of the finale. It was something... 

They overhyped a little bit with the premise for the episode but just ended a part for a pandering to the shipping wars fandom from the series. I ain’t mad about it, it was a thing that many people pushed forward for several seasons just because they wanted. It is a nice end game for the characters but I have my issues with the bubbline shipping, this comes out from the lore than anything else.

“The Art of OOO” - 2014 

I believe that if something like this wasn’t stapled from a while back I might have enjoyed the shipping.  In my opinion changing facts in the middle of the series or ignoring that kind of points feels more like lazy writing and/or pure tasteless fanservice into a series. Alienates the core audience and the newcomers usually don’t stay much, they might have a small burst at the beginning but in long terms there is a higher lost income. I remember that a lot of the shipping part of the fandom in conventions were really asking for the relations and stuff like than more than everything else. When the writers started to pander to this part of the fandom the show went to a decline (S5 to S7) and felt more like a teenage drama. Characters got twisted, development went down, interesting stories and how characters interacted with each other were boring. You remember that stuff for a lot of episodes from these seasons. Even when I watched the series for a long time and no matter the stupid shenanigans they came up, I stood with the series until the end. The art, the lore, the hearth of the people that where working on the series was present in many episodes. S9 and S10 were the conclusion of many stories into that final part, a point of redemption where other series could have dropped a lot of character development just to make something else. But they really decided to give a good conclusion to the series and seeing that everyone continued with their lives after that point. How the world changes and you decide how to spend your time with the people around you. I’m glad that the series had an ending and not being left thrown out as a failure as other series. 

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 22 April 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #9, like many issues before it, does its damnedest to break your mind. Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen continue to deliver one of the best horror stories every month that just seems to get stranger and more complex with each subsequent chapter. This issue yanks the rug out from under us.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1010 raises a million and one more questions as to what’s actually going on with Leviathan and whether some things are supposed to be clues or if Brian Michael Bendis is just changing continuity. Maybe a little of both. Stellar art from Steve Epting and Brad Anderson who continue to deliver a solid mood and atmosphere for this espionage-heavy story.

| Published by DC Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #20 changes the game a bit as Black Ant reveals more of what Kraven has planned. Wonderful art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #2 has some incredible artwork from Butch Guice as this action-packed thriller continues. Some interesting twists that ultimately are going to be crushing when they come to light.

| Published by IDW

Ascender #1 is pretty damn great. Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and Steve Wands kick-off this follow-up to Descender with what feels like a complete counterpoint to its hard science fiction. This delves deep into a universe taken over by magic and vampires, with technology either gone or kept under strict control. Even the art has shifted tone, from the dark inkiness from before to a greater reliance on white spaces here, to give it a different visual aesthetic. 

| Published by Image

Avengers #18 is a single issue story, tying in to The War of the Realms, spotlighting Coulson’s new Squadron Supreme of America (it’s unclear as to whether these are new versions or existing ones being manipulated, but there’s shadowy shenanigans), from Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Justin Ponsor, and Cory Petit. Marvel’s Justice League analogue just got their Max Lord.

| Published by Marvel

Bad Luck Chuck #2 sees Chuck recount some of her cases and a bit of how her “powers” work, while forces around her conspire to bring her down. Nice character building from Lela Gwenn with some great artwork from Matthew Dow Smith and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Dark Horse

Batgirl #34 begins “Terrible”, the three-part finale to Mairghread Scott, Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design’s run on the title. Some nice detective work here as the Terrible Trio hatch a new plan.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #11 builds off of last issue’s shock turn and the direct involvement of Bast as we get some answers about the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda and some of the machinations that are unfolding. The art from Kev Walker, Marc Deering, and Java Tartaglia continues to be a highlight.

| Published by Marvel

Coda #11 gears up for next issue’s finale as Murk unveils another stage in her plan and Hum does something incredibly stupid. This has been one of my favourite series over the past year and the build to the conclusion is wonderful. Absolutely phenomenal work from Si Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, and Jim Campbell.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Criminal #4 tells a haunting single issue story of a very messed up day in the life of Ricky Lawless. I love the mosaic that Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips are crafting out of these different time periods, building something larger out of an already sprawling world.

| Published by Image

Dark Red #2 takes an interesting turn as Chip is given a pitch to become the face of a new American heartland vampire nation. Interesting to see how racism also extends through to vampires. Very entertaining stuff from Tim Seeley, Corin Howell, Mark Englert, and Marshall Dillon.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1002 continues “Medieval” with some really great art from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn. There’s a weight and gravity to the art that elevate the story nicely. Also, it’s interesting to see an antagonist who thinks that he’s a hero above Batman, especially as he goes about trying to recruit Damian. It should be interesting to see who Arkham Knight is under the mask.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #2 is probably even better than the first issue, and the first issue was one of the most fun debuts I’ve read in a while. Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe capture a zany energy amidst the real, emotional drama that the kids are experiencing and it leads to some highly entertaining storytelling. Also, the art is phenomenal. Quinones is really stretching his artistic muscles, throwing in incredible different styles as the heroes emerge. This issue gives us pastiches of Dragonball Z and Gundam Wing and the transformation is amazing, the entire creative team perfectly capturing the style.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Doctor Strange #13 continues to force Galactus into the world of magic, delving further into some familiar faces from Strange’s past, in the second part of “Herald Supreme” from Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, Scott Koblish, Scott Hanna, Brian Reber, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Fearscape #5 concludes what has been a highly ambitious, inventive series from Ryan O’Sullivan, Andrea Mutti, Vladimir Popov, and Andworld Design. Sadly, Henry Henry doesn’t get punched in the dick, repeatedly, but there are some tragic twists that change the landscape.

| Published by Vault

The Forgotten Queen #3 delivers more of Vexana’s history, revealing she’s responsible for Dracula in the Valiant universe, along with a few other twists. I’m really liking Amilcar Pinna and Ulises Arreola’s art here. The odd angles adding something unique to the feel of the story.

| Published by Valiant

Invisible Kingdom #2 sees G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano continue to build a richly developed, intriguing world essentially founded upon a bedrock of an Amazon analogue, both in support of and opposition to. Gorgeous artwork from Ward.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Justice League Dark #10 outlines the Lords of Order’s plans for the multiverse and magic and why they’re initiating an assault on all of the magic wielders. James Tynion IV is doing some rather impressive world-building and story seeding all throughout his work, but it really comes to a head in this series. Also, the art from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson continues to be impeccable.

| Published by DC Comics

KINO #15 begins a new arc, tackling some messy current events throughout Europe in a rather interesting fashion. Alex Paknadel, Diego Galindo, Valentina Pinto, and Jim Campbell did some amazing things reinterpreting KINO in the last arc, delivering an intriguing thriller, and that doesn’t seem to be letting up any with this new arc. The politics and the manipulation are at an all time high and this is something you really don’t want to miss.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

The Lollipop Kids #5 is the final battle between the kids and Morgan Le Fay and her army of monsters for all the lollipops. This has been an imaginative series from Adam Glass, Aidan Glass, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, and Sal Cipriano with consistently some of the most beautiful art in comics. There’s a hint of what’s to come and I hope we see more of this story in the future.

| Published by AfterShock

Punk Mambo #1 is another great debut of a limited series for Valiant spotlighting one of their less used, but highly interesting characters from Cullen Bunn, Adam Gorham, José Villarrubia, and Dave Sharpe. The set up for supernatural intrigue delving into Voodoo belief is very entertaining, with some impressive artwork from Gorham and Villarrubia.

| Published by Valiant

Queen of Bad Dreams #1 is another highly imaginative, impressive debut for Vault. This time spotlighting a world where dreams can jump from the mind of the dreamer into the real world. Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and Kim McLean offer up some interesting, fleshed-out characters in Daher and Viv, that elevate this from just a unique take on a police procedural to greater interpersonal drama. Also, a mystery that’s going to hook you immediately.

| Published by Vault

Spawn #296 features some absolutely stunning artwork from Jason Shawn Alexander, FCO Plascencia, and Greg Menzie for this first part of “History of Spawn” as the march to the 300th issue gets closer and the stakes get raised as the powers that loom through Spawn’s life gather to try to put an end to him. 

| Published by Image

Star Trek: Year Five #1 to me feels like it has perfectly captured the spirit of the original series, delving deep into Star Trek lore and pulling forth a captivating story that showcases a lot of what made the television show great. Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Stephen Thompson, Charlie Kirchoff, and Neil Uyetake are off to a great start.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1, like Tie Fighter from last week, is a tie-in to some of the new stuff in the broader Star Wars universe with some new characters and locations. In this case it ties in to the new attraction opening at the Disney theme parks. This first issue introduces us to the seedy underbelly of the world shortly before The Force Awakens, from Ethan Sacks, Will Sliney, Dono Sánchez-Almara, Protobunker, and Travis Lanham, weaving in an entertaining flashback with the familiar faces of Han Solo and Chewbacca. 

| Published by Marvel

Stone Star #2 is as impressive as the debut issue, developing a couple more complex characters and spinning forth a political situation that makes the arena world of the Stone Star itself a bit more suspect. Jim Zub, Max Dunbar, Espen Grundetjern, and Marshall Dillon are telling a tale here that really shouldn’t be missed.

| Published by Swords & Sassery

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 is part one of “City at War” from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee. It’s mostly a gathering storm as the forces prepare for the oncoming onslaught, with an absolutely harrowing spark to kick off the conflict.

| Published by IDW

Thanos #1 begins a new mini from Tini Howard, Ariel Olivetti, Antonio Fabela, and Joe Caramagna that offers up a look at the formative years of Thanos raising Gamora, along with other bits of early history. This first issue paints a rather intriguing picture of Thanos as a deranged serial killer, building his own Winchester House out of his space station, which certainly is a different take.

| Published by Marvel

Wizard Beach #5 brings an end to this fun series from Shaun Simon, Conor Nolan, George Schall, Chad Lewis, Meg Casey, and Mike Fiorentino. It’s wonderful to see Hex learn and grow these past couple of issues and we get an interesting resolution to the nefarious schemes that were popping up on the beach.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Other Highlights: Black Widow #4, Books of Magic #7, Delver #3, Dick Tracy Forever #1, Elvira: The Shape of Elvira #2, Fantastic Four #9, Fight Club 3 #4, Firefly #5, The Flash #69, Freedom Fighters #5, Ghost Tree #1, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Special: Extreme, GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #3, Goddess Mode #5, Hardcore #5, Invader Zim #42, Ironheart #5, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1, Little Girls, Mae #12, Marvel Comics Presents #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #38, Princeless Book 8: Princesses #1, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #3, The Realm #13, Redneck #19, The Replacer, Rick & Morty #49, Runaways #20, Sex - Volume 6: World Hunger, Sharkey: Bounty Hunter #3, The Silencer #16, Star Trek Waypoint Special 2019, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #31, Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #3, Superb #19, Superior Spider-Man #5, Turok #3, Venom #13, The Warning #6, The Wicked + The Divine #43, Wonder Woman #69

Recommended Collections: Aliens: Dead Orbit, Backstagers - Volume 3, Black Order: Warmasters of Thanos, Despicable Deadpool, Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive, Exorsisters - Volume 1, Fissure - Volume 1, Full Bleed - Volume 3, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter, KINO - Volume 3: The Man in the Iron Mask, Livewire - Volume 1: Fugitive, Marvel Action: Avengers - Book 1, Marvel Knights, Scarlet - Volume 1, Shuri - Volume 1: The Search for Black Panther, Supergirl - Volume 1: The Killers of Krypton, Unstoppable Wasp: Fix Everything, Venom - Volume 2, The Warning - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy likes lemon cranberry muffins.

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 27 November 2017

Quick Bits:

Black Magick #9 brings the Hammer into play, while Rowan deals with her latest shooting and evaporation of one of the few leads she had as to what’s going on in the broader picture. It also feels like there’s some problematic workplace religious discrimination coming somewhere down the pipeline. As usual, Nicola Scott’s artwork is stunning.

| Published by Image

Critical Role: Vox Machina - Origins #3 brings together the three main threads of narrative and groups of characters in rather spectacular fashion. Matthew Coville again does a great job of capturing the humour and spirit of the characters, while Olivia Samson art brings them to life.

| Published by Dark Horse

Dark Ark #3 sees everything explode. Who would have thought that a vessel full of monsters could pass the time peaceably? 

| Published by AfterShock

Eternity #3 just opens the floodgates of imagination even further into the Unknown. Matt Kindt, Trevor Hairsine, Ryan Winn, and David Baron are just doing an incredible job with this story. It’s beautiful and rich, taking you further into endless possibilities.

| Published by Valiant

Giantkillers #0 introduces us to Auoro, Arkon, Tulat, and a couple seeming armies of...er...things chasing after them across space and time. Effectively, this is one of those big introductions to a chosen one epic fantasy time thing where we’re only given bits and pieces of what’s going on, but it sure does look pretty. Bart Sears, Tom Raney, and colourists, Nanjan Jamberi and Neeraj Menon, make this look beautiful. It’s the kind of thing that Ron Marz and Sears used to do at CrossGren, which means there are likely to be some good stories ahead.

| Published by IDW / Ominous Press

Hack/Slash: Resurrection #2 continues to be a fun and funny return to the monster killing shenanigans of Cassie Hack. There’s a really nice, well nice depending on how depraved you happen to be, twist at the end on where the zombies are coming from and why that you have to see for yourself.

| Published by Image

Heavy Vinyl (formerly Hi-Fi Fight Club - not sure on the reason for the name change) #4 brings the series to a close. Or rather to a break in story beats. It solves the mystery of what happened to Rosie and advances the relationship between Maggie and Chris, but there’s much more story to tell. I hope that Carly Usdin and Nina Vakueva get to tell it in a sequel, because this series has been good.

| Published by BOOM! Entertainment / Boom! Box

John Wick #1 features some really nice art from Giovanni Valletta. I was previously impressed with his work on an issue of X-Men Blue and was disappointed when he only did the first part of the arc, so it’s nice to see him resurface with this series. He has a style of simple lines and spotting blacks that is rather fluid and works well for a gritty action series like John Wick. Greg Pak also entices us with Wick’s backstory prior to the films.

| Published by Dynamite

KINO #1 reintroduces one of the astronauts from the Free Comic Book Day comic that launched the imprint in Catalyst Prime: The Event, Major Alistair Meath, as it turns out he was in the hands of the Foresight Corporation. Joe Casey sets up an interesting story here, tapping into both the wider lore that’s being established about the shared universe, as well as comics history as he presents an information download into Meath’s unconscious state changed by the Event in the form of a kind of golden age comic. Jefte Palo’s artwork tops it off, nimbly switching gears from the gritty realism of modern day to a more stylized approach for the “training”.

I’ve liked a lot of what this imprint has been doing (particularly Noble and Astonisher), even if I was a bit late into it, but this series looks like it may be one of the crown jewels.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

ROM vs. Transformers: Shining Armor #5 is an excellent conclusion to what has been one of the best crossovers/team-ups within the Hasbroverse. In no small part due to Alex Milne’s artwork, which has been stellar for the entire series, but also due to how John Barber and Christos Gage have approached this story. You could argue that it’s been a decompressed fight scene between the various factions, but it’s still been dense with the layers of what it means to be a Cybertronian, the mixing of science and magic, flesh and technology that mirrors the Dire Wraiths and the Solstar Knights, as well as revealing why these sides stayed separate in the intervening years before Revolution. It also has been a nice dive into the history of Ultra Magnus, just to tap into some of the broader Transformers continuity.

| Published by IDW

Sacred Creatures #5 is again an extra-sized issue with Klaus Janson and Pablo Raimondi splitting the art duties between them as they weave the story back and forth from ancient Mesopotamia and modern day. And much like the last issue, things are really starting to get heated in the story, complete with a horrific development toward the end of the book. The series was already neat with its premise playing with the concepts of the seven deadly sins, mapping them on to Nephilim, and then throwing in some ties to Biblical stories and history, but Janson and Raimondi have also well tapped into the family drama aspect resulting in a very rich, compelling narrative.

| Published by Image

Spawn #280. Again, the artwork from Jason Shawn Alexander is drop dead gorgeous. Pieces fall again into place as we approach the conclusion to the arc, with some interesting perspective from Cyan.

| Published by Image

Star Trek: Boldly Go #14 starts off showing off the various infinite Enterprises throughout the universe as spacetime seems to be fracturing, then focuses on four main crews--the Kelvin timeline ship, one of genderswapped crew, the one introduced last issue with Spock identifying with his human side and Kirk being raised by Klingons, and one where they all seem to be robots--before they’re intermingled somehow. This is certainly getting more interesting, especially as we see the crews split up and engaging with one another.

| Published by IDW

Star Trek: Discovery - The Light of Kahless #1 sends us back first to the early days following the first two episodes of the series, and then sends us further back to the formative years of T’Kuvma, the Klingon leader who was trying to reunite the houses and remind them what being true Klingons meant. It’s all right, I guess, fleshing out a character that was kind of one-dimensional on the show, but somehow it doesn’t really grab me.

| Published by IDW

Sword of Ages #1 by Gabriel Rodríguez is pretty damn great. For starters, it’s gorgeous. Rodríguez has a style that mixes the best of P. Craig Russell, Walt Simonson, and Hal Foster that you just want to soak in the pages for awhile, aided well by Lovern Kindzierski’s colours. There’s as much magic in the art as there is in the story. This is an interesting approach to blending science fiction and fantasy, with Arthurian myth as a touchstone, and there seems to be immense world-building. The only thing missing to make it perfect is a map.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Lost Light #11 reveals the depravity of Getaway, detailing what happened aboard the Lost Light after the mutiny. If you thought life cords floating in jars was bad, wait until you learn how they got there.

| Published by IDW

Vampirella #8 begins Jeremy Whitley’s run on the title in earnest as he kicks off a new arc following in the wake of Vampirella destroying Lucifer’s simulated Heaven. Apparently it had some negative ramifications and now the world is a desolate wasteland where no one can die.

War Mother #4 brings a satisfying conclusion to the series, setting up the possibility for what I hope is more to come. Ana discovers the secret behind the Montana’s operating system and it’s a somewhat expected revelation, still interesting though.

| Published by Valiant

Other Highlights: America #9, The Beauty #17, Heartthrob - Season 2 #5, Image+ Volume 2 #4, Jean Grey #9, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth 2017 Special, Kaijumax - Season 3 #5, Kill or Be Killed #14, Lazarus X+66 #5, Manifest Destiny #32, Moon Knight #189, Motor Crush #8, Nights Dominion - Season 2 #4, Old Man Logan #31, Quarry’s War #1, Reactor #1, Rick & Morty #32, Secret Warriors #9, Spider-Gwen #26, Spy Seal #4, Star Wars: Jedi of the Republic - Mace Windu #4, Star Wars: Poe Dameron #21, Star Wars Adventures #4, TMNT/Ghostbusters 2 #5, US Avengers #12, Venom #158, The X-Files: JFK Disclosure #2, X-Men Blue #16

Recommended Collections: All-New Wolverine - Volume 4: Immune, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - Volume 2: The Venom Experiment, Cannibal - Volume 2, Cloudia & Rex, Conan the Slayer - Volume 2, Daredevil - Volume 5: Supreme, Death Be Damned - Volume 1, Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing, Ghostbusters 101, GI Joe - Volume 2, Helena Crash, Injection - Volume 3, Insexts - Volume 2, Jessica Jones - Volume 2: The Secrets of Maria Hill, Monsters Unleashed - Volume 1: Monster Mash, Silver Surfer - Volume 5: Power Greater Than Cosmic, Star Wars: Rogue One, The Woods - Volume 8