This has been the kind of month for comics I like. A few books every week, not less than 2 or more than 4. Plus, it's nice to actually read some of these first issues I've been waiting on, try to figure out what's worth keeping. But for today, a book I might not be keeping.
There's a flashback to when Cynthia first met Angie and Gloria. Zero snoops around Cynthia's apartment, trying to get a bead on who she is. Learn a little about her interests and who she's been in touch with. Most of the issue, though, is Cynthia speaking with Zero's brother, who wants her to get the shard back. But he takes entirely the wrong approach, and it doesn't end well for him. Although I assume he didn't get killed like all his goons. He got tossed aside, but there's no corpse wearing an ugly sweater vest.
For the most part, Lore and Sposito use this issue to flesh out Cynthia. We do learn a little about Zero. That they're nosy and have a limited attention span. Also paranoid, probably with reason. There's a couple of panels where they debate leaving for a while as they looks out the window. The street below is drawn at a distance, but just a little closer in the second panel. Close enough to tell a couple of the people's faces are turned Zero's way. Are they looking at Zero, or is it a coincidence? We don't know, but it speaks to Zero's mindset.
We also learn a bit about the group he and Axton are part of, and at the least how Axton sees the value of people (or maybe just Zero). But all of that is teaching us about Cynthia. Zero's snooping gives us a sense of Cynthia's current and past life based on what he finds. Letters to Angie she didn't send. Shackles, her reading choices. We see she used to lead her own crew of werewolves before she met Angie, even if we don't know what happened after.
The conversation with Axton is the main show, though. After his test with the goons doesn't work, he tries money. Then insults, then a more overt threat with the true believers of their little group. During the first half, he never looks directly at her. Which might be because he's driving, but not even out of the corner of his eye? He does in the second half, but he's always trying to be aggressive or dismissive. Never trying to understand what she's saying.
Meanwhile, Cynthia is pretty much always watching him, until her old crew show up. His show of force doesn't interest her at all. Guys with guns and axes, big whoop. We've already seen her beat a banshee. Instead, she's taking his measure, listening to not only what he's saying, but how. The fact he only talks about the Shard, but never about Zero unless she brings them up. And Lore takes this chance to try and establish that Cynthia has certain principles. That yes, she's worked for bad people and done bad things, but she does have at least one rule. That family is important.
Overall, it's a good approach, and yet I still feel like I'm waiting for the actual story to get interesting. I don't particularly care about Gloria, and I haven't seen enough of Angie to care about her, whether Cynthia still loves her or not. The Shard is still this vague MacGuffin. Maybe the arrival of Cynthia's old gang or pack could be something. On that line between, "I am interested to see what happens next," and "I think what happens next could be interesting, eventually," this book is on the latter side.
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