Tweet
Released by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: Apr. 23, 2014
Purchase From Amazon
The story here picks up right where the previous issue ended, chapter 3 of The Magician storyline. It's also completely “silent,†with all the characters expressing their thoughts, never spoken. It's also incredibly dense and full of more dialog as a result.
[NOT-SO-SILENT SPOILERS AHEAD]
Duncan and Lyme have been jumped by the “new Mind Mgmt†group, the Immortals, who have it in for both of them. The advantage these men have, though, is that they're both predictive readers, so they know what the other person's going to do at the same time they themselves think of it. They fight back, but not before getting shot/stabbed/beaten, yet still able to escape somehow. And on his way out Duncan destroys the magic trap that was shielding that place.
Meanwhile, the deaf albino twins attack Meru, Billy and Dusty, with even the bartender getting in on the action. But Meru's ability to dampen abilities seriously confuses the conjoined assassins, leading them to seriously wound Billy and Meru both while Dusty just abandons them all. But nobody gets far, once Meru's gone they find Dusty and take him out (along with the bartender witness).
That just leaves the “autowriter,†Perrier, on her own, having just seen her write out a scene wherein both Lyme and Duncan are dead, their bodies getting dumped in the city. She rushes out to the Retirement Home to find them and spies the smashed magic box. She's then hopeful but has to know so she enters the home of her own free will. But the remaining Immortals aren't happy to see her there. That is, until The Magician finally makes an appearance…
The remainder of the issue details Meru and Billy's earlier trip to Chicago, to the Hotel Victoria, a former Mind Mgmt safe house. It was repurposed, though, to be an experiment where agents were placed with zero intruding stimuli for long periods of time, alone with just their thought - no windows, no paper or writing utensils, just the agent and the inside of their own heads. They would just pick a particular topic and see where they could go with it. To illustrate this, the story of Leonard Lemon is told. He was probably the greatest mind ever recruited to the agency and his idea focused on making “fictional weaponry†a reality. He devoted 10 years to the place, the caretaker only opening his door when none of his food was getting eaten. But inside the room was scorched floor to ceiling, with no sign of Lemon at all…
This issue expertly conveys the whole premise underlying the series as these mentally-overpowered agents go into survival mode. Matt Kindt yet again surprises and amazes with this series.
