Stranded in orbit around a vampire planet, the Cosmic Quartet struggles to come to grips with their power and their purpose. Who are the real Psi-Lords? Find out in Psi-Lords #4!
PSI-LORDS #4
Writer: Fred Van Lente
Artist: Renato Guedes
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: David Menchel
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 18, 2019
Previously in Psi-Lords: Beacon, Tank, Hazard, and Artisan fought with a Widower and discovered they aren’t quite so powerful as they thought. They also find Scion, whom they thought had been killed. Scion tells them the story of the Psi-Lords, powerful beings who were themselves caught in the gyre. He leads them into a meditative state from which they emerge healed. They also have more memories, as though they’ve known each other in the past. Beacon sees more in her meditation and confronts Scion about his having arrived here on a ship with a nuke, at which point he has his pet creature turn her into crystal and shatters her.
AND NOW THERE ARE THREE
Hazard investigates the shattered crystal at the start of Psi-Lords #4, and realizes that Beacon is gone, simply…gone. Artisan finds this hard to believe, and Tank comes upon them, saying Beacon was really upset with them about something. They fall back on asking Scion what they should do, and, as the manipulator he is, he claims Beacon would want them to continue their quest to find the Psi-Lords’ ship. They soar off to it, and Tank busts his way into an empty ship. Artisan and Hazard joke about this.
Scion claims the Psi-Lords are psychic beings, and the ship holds monoliths that were the source of their power. He talks grandiosely of evil men inflaming people’s hatred for their own selfish motives. (Topical, perhaps?) and Artisan quips about Twitter. Scion continues, talking about his life as a guru, seeing the Psi-Lords in his dreams, attracting followers. But, of course, this is all a distraction as he grabs holds of the monoliths and their powers, and then goes on to talk about how the Psi-Lords had wanted him and his brothers to free them.
This sets off a fight, and Beacon shows up. As she was about to be turned into crystal, she thought of turning herself into light, which is clever, and ended up in a different place where a being called Ravenrok declares his sign is branded on her scalp. He reveals to her yet another memory of the past. In this version, the four of them were all astronauts from different countries chosen to go on a tactical mission in space to intercept an object hurtling toward Earth. Scion redoubles the fight, and Beacon makes the group realize that they are stronger together, that their powers were designed to work together. There is a clever call-back to an earlier joke.
And then the Widowers show up. Oh yeah, those guys again.
BEAUTIFULLY OTHERWORLDLY
The photo-realistic art style of Psi-Lords #4 may not be to everyone’s taste, but I do like it here. The characters seem plausible, and when they use their powers, they seem that much more fantastic. Their facial expressions are more natural than exaggerated, but it makes them seem genuine. We’re already onto Scion, and he’s got that expression where his head is tipped a little forward so he’s looking out, right beneath his eyebrows. It’s an expression used for bad guys in movies, and it comes across just as sinister here.
Beacon’s return is dramatic, and the story she tells is dreamily cosmic, or so the art would imply. These space scenes are gorgeous – colorful in the style of blended watercolors. And I do love the color throughout. With the watercolor style, many of them are somewhat muted, but it makes the contrast colors pop.
BOTTOM LINE: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ORIGIN
Psi-Lords #4 seems to be bringing us closers to the truth of just what the heck is going on here and who are the Psi-Lords. It’s a bit wordy, but everything seems to be making a little more sense. I love how we almost forgot the Widowers, and their timing for reminding us that they’re still a force to be reckoned with is impeccable.
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Psy-Lords #4
Fighting their way through the Gyre and to the truth.
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Writing9
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Art10
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Coloring9
By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.