Even though things looked pretty grim for Ripclaw at the end of last issue, as he was defeated by Leviathan and taken back to the Cartel’s base, when Stryker catches up to him, Ripclaw has the matter well in hand. Leviathan is apparently dead, as is most of the cartel’s members, and Warchild is tied up. Stryker takes Warchild back to the medical base, and plans to bring him back to Cyberdata along with Velocity, Aphrodite, and Dominique, who is still having an extremely difficult time coming to terms with her new cybernetic implants. Ripclaw ends up talking her out of suicide and tries to help her see the bright side of things, even agreeing to go back with them (echoing the close friendship these two characters had in previous versions of this series). But then things take a deadly twist, when the full extant of Cyberdata’s control over Aphrodite is revealed.

I won’t say more for fear of spoilers, but I will just say that, although this was a dialog-heavy issue, it does feel like the overall story is really starting to move forward, so I’m even more intrigued about where it goes from here. I thin writers Matt Hawkins and Bryan Edward Hill are really starting get into the groove with this series now, and finding the right mix of action, drama, and mystery.

Chacebook rating: FOUR STARS

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