Ender Wiggin is on the colony planet Lusitania to Speak for the Dead. He has made some progress, but the Catholic Church is still standing in his way. Also, the Pequininos know he’s here with the Hive Queen and are demanding to speak with him. Learn more after the jump.
ORSON SCOTT CARD’S SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD #3
Writer: Aaron Johnston
Artist: Pop Mhan
Colorist: Veronica Gandini
Letterer: Cory Petit
Cover Artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli, Danny Miki, and Brad Anderson
Editor: Jordan D. White
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
Previously in Speaker for the Dead: Ender has been gathering info on the people he is to speak for, unfortunately the Bishop has told his church not to cooperate. Ender has made it clear that if they interfere or hinder what he was asked to come do, they could be facing Starways Congress and their strict ruling on religious prosecution.
A TURN FOR THE BETTER, A TURN FOR THE WORSE
We open on the offices/home of Bishop Peregrino who has the head of the morgue (the man Ender specifically threatened about religious persecution) and Dom Cristão (a priest) to discuss how horrible the “infidel” Speaker is and that he’s trying to supplant the church. When Dom is asked how to handle this, he shows that men of faith can show reason and tells them to cooperate. The Speakers do not present anything that is against the Catholic doctrine nor do they present a rival organization, the only time they have power is when someone interferes with the job they are meant to be doing at which point the government intervenes and ruins the day of anyone who gets in the way. Of course, the Bishop is still against it but allows Dom Cristão to speak with Ender anyhow.
Dom Cristão and his wife meet with Ender and discuss some of Pipo’s death, what little they know anyhow, which is that Pipo found something in Novinha’s notes the night the Piggies killed him and she wanted to hide that from Libo because of how much she loved him. With love as the focus the conversation turns to the idea of a celibate priest being married which intern gives us a touching moment with Ender missing his sister as they had rarely been apart once he won the last war. When he excuses himself Jane commends him for his acting, which offends him so he turns her off. A beat later he turns her on and apologizes but gets nothing.
Next we get an interesting character moment as Ender is apparently lost without Jane and has to have Olhado help him to get into his computer. A fun little exchange is had between the two as Olhado mocks him a bit for not being able to use the computers and then again for not knowing his own password (turns out it’s Ender which is, according to Olhado, like having a naughty word). Then Olhado sees how much Ender is worth, just thanks to investments and the relativity of light-speed travel. Ender then gets to talk with the Piggies, convincing Miro and Ouanda to let him by letting them know about the information they’ve given the Piggies that they shouldn’t. While speaking with the Piggies, Ender is asked if he is the author of The Hive Queen (a 3000 year old book, which he is) and he tells them the truth. Ender then asks them how, without any tools, they are able to get bows and other things. This part is awesome as they literally ask a tree to fall and it provides whatever they draw into it, in this case a bow. The last bit we have is the Speaking for Marcão and then the revelation that Starways Congress has found out about at least part of what Mira and Ouanda have provided the Piggies and are coming to arrest them.
LOTS OF ADORABLE PIG PEOPLE
The art is still fantastic. Mhan does just a wonderful job of making everyone distinct, and this time we got to see a whole lot of the Piggies which was awesome. We get a good sense of scope and location here as well, letting me get a reasonable idea of the general layout and size of the town of Milagre.
BOTTOM LINE: STILL WORTH IT
This issue had so much more going on than the last two. Seriously, just look up there at how much more I wrote and when you read it realize how much detail I had to leave out. Fortunately for the story, everything is still running smoothly and the pacing fits itself well within the series. Also, since reading the last issue I have actually read the original Ender’s Game novel and can see a lot more of where Ender is coming from and I like how Johnston has worked with him. This issue is another 4.5 out of 5 stars.
3 Comments
Sadly, I still don’t really know what’s going on. Oh well, Ender is probably just not for me.
Has anyone answered your question? Just in case I am going to give it a shot…
*SPOILER FOR ENDERS GAME
In Enders Game, Ender Wiggins is a child sent to battle school to learn to defeat the buggers. This is a species that almost killed off the human race. In the end he is tricked in to thinking he’s playing a game, but in reality he kills off the entire species of Buggers. Well, that is until he finds one more bugger Queen and is given the task of finding a place for her to rebuild. Through this he realizes that everything was a misunderstanding and they shouldn’t have been murdered.
This is where Speaker for the Dead comes in…at the end of that book he writes a book about the Buggers. He tells the truth of the Buggers, why they did what they did and how the humans shouldn’t have killed them because they were no longer dangerous.
After this the Speaker for the Dead becomes a Speaker for those who have died. He speaks nothing but truths to understand why people lived the way they did with no niceties or fabrications. He comes to this planet in particular because he has to speak for two people who were killed by a newly found species called the piggies. He also wants to find out why the piggies are doing these things before humans try to exterminate them as well.
I know this is long, but I hope this helps.
Cool, thanks! I forgot about this. It’s odd to have a response to a comment I made almost exactly one year ago. Lol