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  1. #46
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    That was a really short issue. First time I've felt let down by this series. Story was fine and it looks like we'll get a cool fight next issue, but what was that, three scenes?
    Last edited by son of booyah; 06-21-2017 at 04:26 PM.

  2. #47
    Astonishing Member rui no onna's Avatar
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    I enjoyed it, but yeah, it was pretty short. The oversized $4.99 issues were so much nicer.
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  3. #48
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    Tyler Gaddis- An Hommage to William Gaddis?

  4. #49
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    This whole arc is shorter issues than the 1st. I didn't have a problem with the length of this issue. Same as the last issue.

  5. #50
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    Little late to the party. Just got the first issue the other day.

    I love this book so much already.

  6. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by _Feely_ View Post
    Little late to the party. Just got the first issue the other day.

    I love this book so much already.
    It's my favorite book on the stands.

  7. #52
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    OK, I admit I'm not quick to pick up on these things, but I'm in the dark about what's happening here. At the shooting range, Ria Rothschild tells Beatrix Bischoff that "The scales between myself and Viktor are unbalanced [well, duh!] - you know what that means." This sounds as if there is a challenge (in the arena of the Lesser Scales) between Viktor and the Rothschilds, but Beatrix gets her to agree to a truce, for the sake of the whole school. The carnage at the end, however, seems to show that both Viktor and Ria are targets of a bigger challenge - are the scales unbalanced between Caina-Kankrin (or even the whole Western School) and someone else, such as one of the groups attending Daniel's funeral? Was Ria referring to that in her eulogy after the cardinal's remarks? Or is this slaughter a result of the awakening of Mammon, like the original Black Monday? Or are we supposed to be unsure at this point?

  8. #53
    Astonishing Member rui no onna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by seismic-2 View Post
    OK, I admit I'm not quick to pick up on these things, but I'm in the dark about what's happening here. At the shooting range, Ria Rothschild tells Beatrix Bischoff that "The scales between myself and Viktor are unbalanced [well, duh!] - you know what that means." This sounds as if there is a challenge (in the arena of the Lesser Scales) between Viktor and the Rothschilds, but Beatrix gets her to agree to a truce, for the sake of the whole school. The carnage at the end, however, seems to show that both Viktor and Ria are targets of a bigger challenge - are the scales unbalanced between Caina-Kankrin (or even the whole Western School) and someone else, such as one of the groups attending Daniel's funeral? Was Ria referring to that in her eulogy after the cardinal's remarks? Or is this slaughter a result of the awakening of Mammon, like the original Black Monday? Or are we supposed to be unsure at this point?
    I thought that was just Ria just paying lip service to Beatrix while going ahead with her plans for revenge. The one doing the killing looked like Ria's familiar.
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  9. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by rui no onna View Post
    I thought that was just Ria just paying lip service to Beatrix while going ahead with her plans for revenge. The one doing the killing looked like Ria's familiar.
    My read on the situation as well.

  10. #55
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    But Ria's "imbalance" was just between her and Viktor (who is still tied up), wasn't it? Or was she referring to a need to achieve a "balance" with all the members of Caina-Kankrin (many of whom are dead on the heap)? And isn't Ria herself one of the casualities? If Abby is killing everyone, that seems more nearly like an act of Mammon. (I assume the familiars take their orders from him.)

  11. #56
    Astonishing Member rui no onna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by seismic-2 View Post
    But Ria's "imbalance" was just between her and Viktor (who is still tied up), wasn't it? Or was she referring to a need to achieve a "balance" with all the members of Caina-Kankrin (many of whom are dead on the heap)? And isn't Ria herself one of the casualities? If Abby is killing everyone, that seems more nearly like an act of Mammon. (I assume the familiars take their orders from him.)
    Alexi definitely appears to be one of the casualties. I think the lady below the one with glasses is Beatrix and perhaps glasses girl was a random casualty? Hair color seemed too light on both ladies and Ria has a thinner face although with the angles, it's difficult to tell for sure.

    They exiled Ria when she was a teenager. I expect she's seeking revenge on all of them (perhaps with her twin being exempt).
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  12. #57

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    Whew. I've been following this series since the beginning of this year's arc when I picked up all of the issues. I'm pretty inexperienced with comics in general -- this is the first I've followed in ages. I really appreciate some of the discussion that's taken place in this thread so far. BMM gives you so much to talk about.

    On the ending of issue 6, I just posted on reddit about how floored I was to see what looks like Alexi, Beatrix, (possibly Marco upside down) and maybe others in the body heap that Abby uses to create her blood scales. If that's just a few random Caina-Kankrin staff or something, then no big deal, but otherwise...damn!

    As to what's actually going on in that scene, it tracks pretty closely with the explanation that follows it. The greater scales seem to concern large-scale power shifts in the market (eg. crashes), while the lesser scales concern, well: "singular transactions between practicing members of various schools, [and] is the physical arena in which practitioners engage in both hostile and mortal takeovers." So it seems very likely that what's going on is that Viktor is being forced into a challenge. The fact that Abby is the one that seems to be making the challenge would at first suggest the "familiar sacrifice" as described shortly thereafter -- that Grigoria is challenging Viktor to correct the imbalance between them, but that she is sending Abby as a proxy.

    BUT, if Grigoria really is one of the people on that body heap (and it looks like she could be), then another possibility emerges as well. At the end of the previous issue, Grigoria sends Thomas Dane to find the missing Wynn Ackerman. I don't think we know under what circumstances Wynn has gone missing, and we don't see him in issue 6. But if he has been found, then this could be all part of some plan on Girgoria's part to affect a massive power transfer of the board. Now, if she's actually one of the bodies we see heaped up there, this could either indicate some sort of treachery on Wynn's part, or that she's just crazy enough to enact a plan in which she sacrifices herself. But that doesn't seem likely, since she looks flabbergasted when she briefly comes to and sees what's going on.

    This also reminds me of an interesting piece earlier in the series, which may be relevant here. In issue #2, we are shown a letter written to Milton Rothschild by his father, in which he is given 3 different options for consolidating his power and prolonging his life unnaturally: Consolidate the school (which seems to be maybe what's happening in issue #6), petition for a familiar (which Milton does do, and which works for him, for a time), and a third option, which is blacked out. It's worth pointing out that the difficulties Andrew suggests in the consolidation option -- that it has to follow protocol, and therefore the other board members would realize what one is doing -- seem to be overcome in a situation like the one we're at right now. Everyone seems to have been killed.

    AND, let's jump back two pages. At the board meeting in which Grigoria is voted back into the ascendant seat, there are also who entries in the minutes which are almost entirely blacked out. Someone -- I'm going to suggest Grigoria -- asks for "full access to all of" something, and is rejected, but successfully gains "arbitration of access to all" of that thing. What if she petitioned for access to her grandfather's notes, files, or whatever, and came across that letter. The events taking place as of issue 6 certainly seem to reflect the train of thought that her great grandfather was laying out in his letter. Maybe she got the idea from him? This one's a bit of a stretch, but I'm desperate to know what those access entries are referring to.

    Anyway, that's it for now. As a final note, my post on reddit also mentioned the decreased length of this arc's issues. While I'm happy to get anything, and am LOVING this experience, I would also be excited if the final arc next year returns to the length of the first arc. I want as much of this story as I can get

    Thoughts on any of this?

  13. #58
    Astonishing Member rui no onna's Avatar
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    Well we did see Abigail eating Milton Rothschild. Familiars appear to be tricky creatures that can turn on their summoners. From what I understand, regular human sacrifices are required in order to acquire and retain a familiar and the closer the blood of the human sacrifice is to the direct line, the better.

    I'm curious about Ria's bloodline. Her mom was a Rothschild born in 1846 and is older than her grandfather.

    Also just noticed the Vol 1 TPB cover. Hickman | Coker | Garland | Wooton | Abaddon, lol.
    Last edited by rui no onna; 07-21-2017 at 07:55 AM.
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  14. #59

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    WOW. Totally did not even notice the birthdate craziness for Ria's mom. Her father and maybe her grandfather seem to have been under the impression that she was just a penniless nobody. But there are a few indications toward vampirism on Ria's part, which could be hereditary -- most recently issue 6 when she tells Beatrix that bullets won't kill her because they aren't silver.

  15. #60
    Astonishing Member rui no onna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by OceanMachine View Post
    WOW. Totally did not even notice the birthdate craziness for Ria's mom. Her father and maybe her grandfather seem to have been under the impression that she was just a penniless nobody. But there are a few indications toward vampirism on Ria's part, which could be hereditary -- most recently issue 6 when she tells Beatrix that bullets won't kill her because they aren't silver.
    Since the silver bullet thing appears to be common knowledge, I just took it to be one of the benefits of having a familiar - extends her life/youth and increases her endurance. Iirc, if Ria was in the Stone Chair, it's the familiar who dies instead of her so the familiar acts as a shield of some sort.

    As for her mom, maybe not a penniless nobody but a Rothschild fallen from grace? Milton is old enough to have known of her so that may explain his disdain. Edit: Re-read volume 1, Milton had no idea where Ria's mom came from. Seems like the Rothschild last name was just her married name. I think Abigail called her a whore but I reckon Abigail also knew more than she's telling.
    Last edited by rui no onna; 07-21-2017 at 01:07 PM.
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