Pigeon and Soluna flee from the Caretaker, but while Pigeon wants to run, Soluna wants to beg her mother for help. When Luna does not respond, can the two of them work together to survive? Find out in The Sacrificers #6 from Image Comics!

THE SACRIFICERS #6

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Max Fiumara
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Editor: Harper Jaten
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: January 10, 2024

Previously in The Sacrificers: The Caretaker arrives home to his partner, Joy, removes his helmet, and is revealed to be one of Pigeon’s people. They have a plan – over the years they have collected extra children, so they too have access to the elixir. But the Caretaker wishes he could also be recognized as a god. Soluna barges in and accuses him of betrayal. She wants to know what he is doing, since one day the kingdom will be hers. The Caretaker has a glass of elixir and Soluna demands to know if it is the same as her father had. It isn’t – the Caretaker prefers one distilled from fear. Soluna is not afraid of him, but she miscalculated – she brought her pet, which the Caretaker captures and threatens. He straps her to one of the extraction chairs and tells her that her father never plans to give up his throne.

RIVALRY OF SUN AND MOON

The Sacrificers #6 opens in Luna’s castle on the moon where her other selves argue about which of them is the current phase. Rokos arrives and comments on her many sides and how they always bicker. Then he tells her they are all unnecessarily haggard, hinting about her refusal to drink the elixir. But he has not come here just for her. Soluna is missing and he thinks Luna had something to do with it, that she is somehow trying to shame him.

Soluna is in an extraction chair having her emotions harvested – fear? Despair? The Caretaker tells her he lured here her, preying upon her ignorance. Suddenly, there are strange noises in the pipes. The Caretaker finds a loose valve. But when he goes to tighten it, the pipe gives way, and a very surprised and wet Pigeon shoots out. (Last issue he was exploring the underwater pipes.) His fall sets Soluna free and breaks the glass vessel holding the elixir.

Pigeon sees that Soluna is in trouble and picks her up. The Caretaker swings a wrench at his head, and he ducks. The wrench hits a control, and a trap door opens. Pigeon and Soluna fall down it landing in an enormous heap of dead bodies and skeletons. Pigeon recognizes Noom’s body among the dead. A horn sounds calling the Husks to chase them down.

Rokos declares his love for Luna and begs her to come back and put off their quarrel which must have upset Soluna. Luna says she will never take part in the abomination of the elixir. Soluna saw the ceremony and must have fled in disgust. But, Luna declares, it is time for the next generation to take over. Rokos disagrees. They are not yet ready. Luna tells him to take a look at what he has become. Instead, he becomes so angry that he lashes out, destroying her so she will never eclipse him again.

Soluna and Pigeon run, but Soluna soon tires and Pigeon cannot carry her. Soluna decides to sit and wait until her mother Luna saves her. Pigeon is appalled to realize that Soluna is one of the gods. Soluna begs her mother for help and the moon disappears entirely from the sky. The Husks catch up with them and Pigeon fights them all off single-handedly. He is astounded and so is Soluna until she accuses him of stealing her birthright and her powers. He pushes her away and then she asks for his help.

THE DARK UNDERBELLY OF THE WORLD

The art of The Sacrificers #6 takes us to darker and stranger places in this world. The opening on the moon is fascinating and fanciful. We meet the multiple Lunas as they stand close in a group, so close that they appear to be attached. The light on their bodies reflects their phases. As the scene progresses, the focus remains on the full moon, but her other phases are always present, always watching and listening. When Rokos pleads with her, they surround him as though reflecting different amounts of his light. When he lashes out, he lashes out at all of them and kills them all.

That children are the source of the elixir is awful, but it becomes even worse when Pigeon and Soluna fall into the pit, and we get a better idea of the sheer scale of all the sacrifices that the gods have demanded. The area beyond this charnel pit is no more pleasant. The waters of the bog are poisonous and the plants here, if they are alive, are gray and twisted, more like some sort of giant fungus. It is the antithesis of the land created for the children to enjoy for a short time before their inevitable deaths.

BOTTOM LINE: THE BLINDNESS OF POWER

The Sacrificers #6 has become a commentary on privilege and corruption. Power is seductive, and those who hold it become ever more loathe to relinquish it. Can this chilling cycle ever be broken?

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