Saga Book 7 (#37-42)

"Families are goddamn wildfires.  They might start out small, but brother, watch them grow". - Hazel

Look we're up to Book 7 of this series and about a zillion different characters have appeared I can't summarise it all in one introduction.  If you haven't been following, go read the previous posts, go on shoo.  I always appreciate the hits.  Anyway this series by writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Fiona Staples tells the story of a war between the planet of Landfall and its ornery little moon Wreath.  A war that has grown to encompass most of the galaxy as planets take sides and go to war as well.  But a Landfall woman called Alana and a Wreathian man called Marko fell in love, eloped and had a child called Hazel.  Much happened as they turned into something of target for both sides trying to cover up that they existed,  immediately prior to this book Hazel was captured and spent several years in a prison, after her family was split up due to events.  But finally she was rescued and one of her fellow prisoners a somewhat salty transwoman Wreathian called Petrichor came along as well.  Now the reunited Alana, Marko and Hazel are travelling back in their wooden spaceship to drop off Prince Robot VI and reunite him with his son after he got caught up in their shenanigans as Petrichor makes clothes for the new baby because Alana is pregnant again.   The story is narrated by Hazel from some point in the future and this six issue volume contains the first major arc, "The War For Phang".

Marko and Alana are watching their daughter sleep and are so happy to have her back.  Alana says they need to tell her she's going to have a sibling. Marko says she should take a test first, but Alana says she's late and craving roast beef sandwiches, "and those things completely gross me out unless I'm knocked up".  Marko says pregnacy between their species is a dangerous thing but Alana thinks everything they were taught about the incompatibility of their races was just propaganda to keep them apart.

Marko and Alana together with Hazel.

Marko says that Hazel is still processing how to be part of a family again, but Alana says she's five years old and pulled off something she never did, "my little girl's going to be a big sister."  She then embraces Marko and says "we are so fucking lucky".  And of course it's then something goes wrong with the ship.

Elsewhere onboard, Prince Robot VI is naked and trying to orgasm from masturbation, he tugs away saying, "come on, you bastard let's clear out this cannon before it backfires."  But he doesn't see to be having much luck and one of the images in his head is Alana.  Hazel comments that there had been a time when Prince Robot VI wanted to kill her parents with his both hands.  "Thankfully, my folks had a way of growing on people" she goes on to say.

Well some of them anyway.  Izabel the ghost babysitter is chatting with Petrichor who is spinning away making a romper suit, "earning my keep for our new prison wardens."  Izabel asks why not some nice maternity gear but Petrichor says she won't dress a "filthy Landfallian".  She is grateful for the ride but hopes Alana and Prince Robot VI gets sucked out during a hull breach.

She notes that Hazel is still missing her grandmother and all her friends from the detention area.   Izabel says she's been sitting for Hazel since she was a newborn, she'll be OK.  Petrichor wonders if she's told others she's trans.  Izabel says, "who even cares, Petri?"  Petrichor looks a little sad and replies quietly, "you have no idea."
Izabel said Hazel had to keep the truth of her own body a secret so she understands the value of privacy.   Petrichor asks if she does, Izabel points to her missing lower half saying, "lady, does it look like I give a shit what anybody's got going on below the waist?" 

Petrichor and Izabel.

Petrichor asks why Izabel chooses that form.  Izabel said it's because it was ow she looked last time she drew breath and also she has a sweet musical band T-shirt she got from the final show of "Pyrosis" before they broke up.   Petrichor is impressed Izabel saw them live.  Then the orange lights reach them and Hazel runs in saying "You guys, come quick.  Sounds like something real bad is happening!"

They all congregate in the engine room, including Prince Robot VI, "what have you sex criminals ruined this time?" It seems a fuel artery has sprung a leak and they are running on fumes.   If they toss the magic helmet into the furnace it'll get them enough thrust to reach the next system.   They have no alternative, they are going to have to land and refuel on Phang.

This godforsaken place was also caught up in the Landfall and Wreath war.   An exotic land made up of thousands of species who all hated each other.   They are ruled by either a duly elected president or dictator depending who you asked.  A violent insurrection rose up and the interstellar community was forced to choose between a government and its people.  So the Landfallians and Wreathians took opposing sides. The war was more for territory than helping the people of Pheng, the comet has fuel in spades.

Hazel: "Over the years, wave after wave of young soldiers gave their lives to ensure that their enemies never seized control of this motherlode. The locals had a pretty rough time of it too.  the infrastructure was a shambles, Phang was left with only one real export.  Refugees."

We then cut to Sophie and Lying Cat, now on Wreath.  Sophie admits she misses her home a little but everyone she loves are on Wreath.  Gwendolyn walks over to her and Sophie says she has applied to intern with a real Freelancer.

Sophie and Lying Cat.

Gwendolyn asks why she would let her best page do such a stupid thing. Sophie says she wants to pay her back, finish what The Will never did.  She says she saved enough to start paying her union dues, she wants to take care of Gwendolyn's evil ex-boyfriend, Marko.

Gwendoln says that's sweet of her but she is over Marko.  Sophie says that Marko is the reason Gwendolyn doesn't have a better job on Wreath.  Gwendolyn says it's not that simple and when Lying Cat starts saying "Lyin...ghh?" he finds Gwendolyn's stick in her mouth.  She tells her to take a walk. Sophie pleads with her saying she knows how "abusive creeps like Marko think".  But Gwendolyn says it's time to find out if Sophie has any family left, Sophie asks why now, things can't get worse on Phang where she is from.

Back in the wooden spaceship and after some back and forth between them all regarding whose army did what to the comet the ship lands.

Hazel: "Every new world we visted was an adventure.  And few adventures ended worse than this."

Petrichor strides out and discovers a small, meerkat looking alien who says his name is Kurti and he is really hungry. When Petrichor tells him they have food inside, he asks will it be enough for all of them and over ten more pop up behind him.

Kurti.

Izabel tries to frighten them off with her illusion powers but Kurti and the others can see through them.  Prince Robot IV comes outside with Hazel and he and Izabel exchange a few insults.  Kurti says he doesn't understand, "wings and horns and ghosts and androids.. working together?"  Petrichor snaps, "fucking hardly."  Marko tells Kurti he and his wife are conscientious objectors.

Prince Robot VI says they are deserters "masquerading as peacemongers."  Petrichor agrees.  One of the other little aliens says they don't care who they are, their homes have been destroyed and they have been wandering for ages.  All they want is a little water and Hazel says they have lots and can she show them?  Marko and Alana share a look then say of course she can.

Marko tells Alana they can't turn them away in front of their daughter. Alana says she just wants to get out of here as fast as they can.  The comet's soil is rich with energy so it should take no time.  Hazel notes they were always bad at estimating how long things would take. They thought they'd be on Phang for a few hours, "we were there for six months".

The family grows.

We then cut to a very pregnant Alana, she is overseeing mealtime for the meerkat aliens.  One of them, the elder Jabarah gives her a bracelet to mark the birth of her son.  Alana says she doesn't know the sex of her baby but Jabarah says she knows by the way she holds her in her belly.  She thanks Alana saying their ship could have left weeks ago but it's been tasked with providing for the tribe.  "Our tribe" Jabarah says holding Alana's hand.

Elsewhere Marko and Petrichor are keeping an eye out for any fighting coming close by.  She says it was stupid to align with the clan of beasts.  Marko says they are saints, but Petrichor says that when she was stationed here one of them blew itself up at a checkpoint and killed three of her best men.  Marko says you can't judge a people based on the actions of a few.  Petrichor turns her back and says:

Petrichor: "Yes, I'm we aware of your niave beliefs.  I just hope I'm gone by the time you find out how wrong you've been."

Izabel finds Hazel and Kurt exploding bugs with Hazel's magic.  Izabel scolds them, but Hazel says she's not the boss of her and runs off. Future Hazel snarks, "what, like you were never a vicious little asshole when you were that age?"

Chekov's spell in action.

Watching, Price Robot VI says as his mother used to say "kids are a drag".  Izabel says she sounds like a "cunt".  Prince Robot VI says it's a fair assessment.   He's decided that he wants to be reunited with his son whose birthday is in a weeks time and he has no intention of missing it.  He's going to trek through several warzones to check an abandoned Robot Kingdom embassy in the hope he can find enough fuel to launch them off the place.

Izabel says she'll go, she can be his advance team. She's not doing it for him but for Hazel and her parents. He doesn't understand why she is so loyal to people have her in indetured servitude.  But Izabel says Marko and Alana have overpaid her.  They treated her like their flesh and blood and "they showed me the universe."

Hazel: "While my family enjoyed the world's longest pitstop, the various forces that wanted us dead were still hard at work. Some harder than others."

We then cut to The Will and his companion, a dog called Sweet Boy. He rings on a doorbell and a Wreathian woman answers.  He tells her he is trying to get in touch with Gwendolyn and the woman says that's her wife. Her name is Velour and tells The Will that Gwendolyn and Sophie are in Cerfurbo for a week, on "High Command business". The Will asks what kind of business and she says, "none of yours" and slams the door in his face.  Sweet Boy laughs as they walk away.

Izabel is doing some scouting and comes across a man with two heads, he's another Freelancer called The March and he has a little boar companion called "Bootstraps" (one of the heads appears to be female, but I'm going to stick with calling The March "him" just because it's easier, sorry).  He tells her he is looking for Marko, she denies knowing him but he says she can only be here if she had been attached to a baby.  Izabel babbles and tries to get away but he throws a lasso at her and actually captures her with it.

The March.

He tells her that "you ghouls aren't as untouchable as you'd like to think."  He says if she tells him where Marko is he'll let her go.   If she doesn't there is no coming back from the killing he'll inflict on her.  She says she doesn't want to die again, then defiantly asks if she should tell "the ugly bitch or the uglier bitch?"  He runs her through with his sword as Future Hazel remembers how she say the same things as she tucked her in at night, "Be a good girl tommorrow.. but not too good".  And Izabel explodes. Elsewhere Hazel cries out in pain as future Hazel muses, "No babysitter sticks around for ever... but the best ones never really leave you, do they?"

We then cut to Kurti as he brandishes a rifle he found, the others start playing with it and accidentally fire it.  Alana appears and asks what "the fuck is wrong with you kids?!"  Kurt whispers that she "said a cuss". Alana confiscates the weapon, then Hazel comes running in to the kitchen where the others are saying she can feel that Izabel has gone, she can feel it.

Prince Robot VI admits that she had gone to check for reserves of fuel, it's not like she could be killed again, "can she..?" Hazel cries that she was mean to her and now she's dead.   Marko says he is sure he can track her down. But Petrichor says she'll go and look for her, Marko is a wanted man whereas she most likely won't run into a soldier who knows her.

The Will is enjoying some downtime on Wreath in a titty bar.  He is contacted by his Freelancer rep who note he hasn't taken a job in months.  He says he'll get back to getting Marko and Alana and the baby, but he is told that assignment has been transferred to a "better-reveiewed" Freelancer - The March.  Insurance says he also failed his last drug test and so The Will is fired.

The Will, not in great shape right now.

Also the rep is shutting down so if he wants to appeal it'll have to be with a different one. Business is lousy for them right now.  A few years ago the powers that be would outsource their work but now they are happy to get their own hands dirty.  As he tells The Will this, The Will is being attacked by what appears to be the strippers boyfriend.

The Will tries to uses his lance on it but that was deactivated as soon as he was fired. He is no longer authorised to legally terminate individuals.  His rep wishes him luck as The Will breaks off the Wreathian mans horn and stabs him with it and he slumps to the floor as the Wreathian staggers off and the rep calls him "Billy", no longer is he The Will.

Back with our main cast, Hazel is sitting and thinking.  Kurti comes up to her as she asks if he believes in Paradise?   He says he does, and they wonder together what it must be like.  Hazel thinks it might just be "a fakey story they tell.  Like the Feather Fairy".  Kurti asks what the Feather Fairy is and Hazel tells him that one day a feather from her wings fell out and that scared her, but Izabel told her that the Feather Fairy would trade her a gift for every feather she put under her pillow.  But she just got marbles that Izabel put there.

Hazel: "There are no fairies.  It's just like Paradise, another made-up like they tell us so we won't be scared.  But we should be.  We should be scared."

Kurti is still pondering how Izabel could physically put marbles under her pillow.  Hazel says she is going to kiss him now and they gently kiss on the lips (Kurti is a kid too).

Hazel and Kurti get closer.

Petrichor is ready to leave to look for Izabel.  She insists of going alone, refusing to take the rifle saying they might need it. She tells Alana she has the future to think about, "and you've surrounded yourself with people who only think of the past."

We then cut to The March exploring the abandoned Robot Kingdom Embassy.  It looks like they all killed each other. One is still alive though missing his lower half, he asks for a bottle of "Juniperus" to drink before he expires.  The March says he'll pour him a drink if he tells him what happened here.

The March asks if this is to do with the current targets but the Ambassador says it's larger than that.  They uncovered something shocking they were going to share with their hosts here on Phang but there was a "disagreement" between them and the Royal Gaurd as to whethere or not this was a prudent course of action.

The plan is underway, "they intend to exterminate every living thing on this comet".  The March asks who the hell is "they", the Horns or the Wings?  The Ambassador just laughs saying "or?" and then expires.  The March says "dammit.  I always wanted to see how these freaks drink." And he downs the booze instead.

The March and Bootstraps.

We then return to Prince Robot VI having a dream, he's riding a pegasus and talking to his son, Squire who calls him a "good father, but a terrible man".  Prince Robot VI asks how he could call him a good father?  Then Squire turns into Izabel and he says he had worried he had lead her spirit to its doom.  She says he did but it's a far cry from the worst thing he's done and she turns into a girl with a hole in her forehead.

Watching him sleep and looking at the images playing across his screen are Hazel and Kurti who note that his dreams are always creepy.  Kurti says it's more interesting that reading sacred scrolls with his cousin.  He then tells her that with Izabel gone Hazel will be the sitter for the new baby because that's how it goes in his family. Hazel says it's not fair, she just got mum and dad back and now she has to share them.  Then Prince Robot VI wakes up and they run off as he yells at them.

Marko and Jabarah are watching a battle taking place in the distance.  He wonders why the Wreath forces to the north are suddenly retreating, they have the Landfallians outnumbered ten to one, "since when do my people run from those odds?"  Jabarah hands him a sword saying they should be prepared to fight.   But Marko refuses to take it saying he wants nothing to do with instruments of death again.

Jabarah says that he mustn't be scared, the blade is only as good or evil as the person who wields it. "I'm not fucking scared!" yells Marko.  He then asks Jabarah to forgive him, Phang was the first place he killed someone.  Holding a sword was as exhilarating as holding his daughter for the first time, "more so on my worst days". While they talk, The March is watching them through a telescope.

Marko admits his struggles with his violent nature to Jabarah.

Back on Wreath, Sophie and Gwendolyn are walking to a small shed. Gwendolyn tells Sophie if she isn't out in fifteen minutes, "tell my wife I died somewhere exotic".  She goes inside and down some steps into a larger underground room.  There she meets a Landfallian man called Gale.  Gwendolyn hands him a box saying it's exactly what "you assholes requested" and Lying Cat confirms she is telling the truth.

She says she is concerned for the rest of Phang, can they guarantee civilians won't be harmed.  Gale says they will relocate as many locals as possible, but this is foremost about "bringing a dignified end to a theatre of war that's already cost both our sides way to much."  She says is that all Phang is to them, a "theatre?"  Gale walks off saying that if anything goes wrong with this, Wreath High Command will have her executed long before she can rat them out to the press.  Neither of them notice Sophie was peeking behind them and heard it all.

Back on Phang, Petrichor is searching for Izabel.  Then a giant mushroom speaks to her saying perhaps it can help.   It says it's a "Bluecap" planted in places of conflict to remember the battles fought there.  Petrichor asks if she has seen a spirit pass this way.   The Bluecap says it hasn't, no one resides here anymore the peple were evacuated at gunpoint.  Petrichor asks why, what is coming?  The Bluecap tells her "the real question is... where are we going?" And we get a double page spread of Phang heading towards a giant figure floating in space.

Petrichor chats with a giant talking mushroom.

Back on Phang, Alana is examing her belly in the mirror. Prince Robot VI appears and asks if she is okay? She says the baby is just kicking hard. He says he wants to speak to her in private and the word "LUST" appears on his screen. Alana realises he is high.  He had kept the last of Yuma's Fadeaway stash himself and took it five minutes ago.

He says he sees himself in "high definition" and realises he has feelings for her and points his gun arm at her.  He tells her his feelings aren't sexual, he thinks she'll be " an excellent mother to my son". Then he puts the gun to his head and says, "please help him be a better man than I was."

Prince Robot VI is depressed.

Petrichor has returned and tells Jabarah that they're all going to die, she didn't find any sign of Izabel but the Bluecap told her why everyone is abandoning this comet, "we're about to crash into a goddamn Timesuck". Jabarah says the Bluecaps are unreliable, but Petrichor says she saw it and it'll happen within the hour.  Jabarah says God will keep their homeland safe, much to the vexation of Petrichor.  Then she asks why Jabarah is lookout and she says she relieved Marko so he could put Hazel and Kurt to bed.  Petrichor sniffs the air, picking up the scent of expensive bodywash, "or am I losing my mind?"

Inside Prince Robot VI is still holding his gun-arm to his head, "right. Safe travels then". Alana pleads with him not to do this, she says his son would be haunted by this.  Prince Robot VI says he is doing what's right and she sees an image of herself in bondage gear on his screen.  Prince Robot VI implores her to look away, then Marko comes in and the drugged up Prince points his gun at him.

As the words "Sorry" appear on his screen, he shouts "die Moon cunt" at Marko and blasts him, but Marko has his shield and manages to protect himself just being rendered unconcious.  Prince Robot VI realises what he's done but then Alana wallops him across the back of his head with an ornament and he's down for the count as well.

Meanwhile Hazel and Kurti are playing hide-and-seek. Unfortunately it's then that The March appears and grabs Kurti telling him that if he tells him where the family he is after is, he won't hurt him or his loved ones. Kurti just tells him his "breaths smell bad".  So The March holds his sword to Kurti's throat and walks out into the open saying he requests an audience with "foot soldier Marko".

Shit starts to go down.

Looking down Alana can only swear, "God fucking dammit".  The March says that his piggy Bootstraps followed Izabel's "stench" here, oh and he killed her and he'll do the same to Kurti unless Marko comes out.  Hazel is sitting with her hands over her ears while Future Hazel says it was always the sound of violence that bothered her more than the sight.

Hazel: "To this day, I still prefer the silence of space to the rhythmic din of worlds like my mom and dad's.  Peace always sounded nice... but peace and quiet is the dream".

We rejoin Sophie, Lying Cat and Gwendolyn.  Sophie is irritated that they are collaborating with Landfall.  Gwendolyn spouts some excuse that this is for the good of Wreath but before an argument can ensue, The Ex-Will, now just Billy appears with Sweet Boy. 

He tells them that he's come to try and make things right with his old partner Lying Cat and maybe Sophie could come with him and learn to be a proper Freelancer.  "Lying?" says Lying Cat.  He then admits he's not a Freelancer at the moment but he could start showing Sophie the ropes as he makes things right with the union.  Gwendolyn puts a protective hand on Sophie's shoulder.

Sophie says she can make her own decisions. She goes up to Billy and tells him she'll always be in his debt for rescuing her from the nightmare she was trapped in. 

Sophie: "But working with Gwendolyn has shown me there are ways to change the lives of millions, not just the individual men like you are paid to hurt."

Her place is on Wreath but if Lying Cat wants to go with him she won't stand in her way.  We then get a shot of Lying Cat siting between Billy and Sophie... then she slinks behind Sophie having made her choice.  Saddened Billy leaves them saying "Good luck with your politicking ladies" as he walks off into the sunset.

Oh Lying Cat, you so cute.

Back on Phang, The March is giving them one last chance to come out.  Hazel whimpers about what she is going to do, but Jabarah puts a hand over her mouth as Petrichor shushes her.  Then Alana appears armed with the rifle, "hurt the boy and I separate you two.  Painfully".  She says they'll pay double to get rid of him, but he says that she has no idea how much "the Moonies are willing to spend to have you and Marko eliminated". He goes onto say that actually they're fortunate he found them because they at least want their "half-breed kid alive" unlike the Landfallians who want them all dead.

Alana bluffs that Marko left weeks ago with Hazel, but perhaps they can make a deal for the other half-breed he left her with.  He calls her bluff and incapacitates her with his sword whip.  Petrichor mutters that the blast radius is too tight, she'll hurt Kurt as well.  At that, Hazel bites Jabarah's hand and able to speak, casts a spell that makes small explosions round The March which startles him into dropping Kurti.

He grins that it was a cute trick but now she should get down here and kiss her mama goodbye.  And then he is absolutely riddled with holes from the laser rifle and falls down dead in a pool of blood. Everyone looks on in paralysed shock as the shooter is revealed to be arch-pacifist Marko.

Marko will shed blood to defend his family.

On Wreath in Gwendolyn's home, Sophie is doing her hair and asks her what she thinks hell will be like.  She's feeling awful about what is going to happen to Phang.  Gwendolyn says that the only way they are damned to hell is if one of the countless lives they save turns out to be a mass murderer.  She also says that they are doing the people of Phang a favour, what have their lives been like "trapped in an endless crossfire of some asshole despot and whatever underfunded resistance he's up again this month?"

Sophie says she recognises that war can't be won without casualties, but how many are too many?  Gwendolyn says it varies by battlefield, she can't give her an exact number.  Sophie then asks is there really a hell?  Gwendolyn says of course there is and it's reserved for the Landfallians who started this.  She tells Sophie not to speak of this in front of Velour and Sophie says she wouldn't have mentioned this but she's been having bad dreams and... then Velour arrives with cupcakes and Sophie is happy again.

Inside the wooden spaceship, Prince Robot VI is tied to a chair, he wakes up and his first words are "Oh. Oh no.  Alana and her baby..?"  Marko says they're OK no thanks to him, he nearly got them all killed.

Prince Robot VI: "So why the bloody fuck haven't you cut off my head yet?"

Marko draws his sword saying, "good question" and moves to strike.  Then Petrichor appears saying he'll be cleaner to execute once they are out in the vacuum and she brings fuel!  Turns out The March left his vehicle outside their camp and she was able to drive back to the Robot Kingdom embassy and find some there, and Izabel is to thank for that.

Fuel! Time to go finally.

They are getting ready to go and hopefully will escape the Timesuck.  Alana and Hazel are rounding up the tribe who they have offered a ride to.   Hazel is drawing a thankyou card to give to her dad for killing The March, Alana isn't sure Marko would want one.  Then Jabarah comes up and returns Marko's blade saying they won't be coming.

Alana freaks out saying they'll all die.  But Jabarah has faith they'll escape.  Alana says even if they do there is nothing but ruins for them.  Jabarah says the Creator will provide for them.  Alana points the rifle at them ordering Jabarah to call her people now.  Jabarah bids her farewell saying that she hopes their new baby will be "as perfectly joyous as your first" and if they are looking for a name, "might I suggest Kurti?" In their tongue it means "sunshine" and she leaves.  Hazel says she didn't even get to say goodbye, Future Hazel reflects:

Hazel: "The more you care about someone, the more likely it is that your eventual parting of ways will be as sudden as it is baffling".

Meanwhile Billy is having hallucination sex with his dead old girlfriend The Stalk while his dead older sister The Brand watches.  His sister sighs and says there has got to be a more efficient way to masturbate than gnawing on tainted meat and fantasizing about old girlfriends.  Then suddenly Sweet Boy is shot in the head.  A masked figure appears and tells Billy he killed someone they loved, and they shoot Billy in the gut saying "... so this is gonna be a kind of process."

Then we cut to some Robots watching Phang and they say that it's going to pass through the Timesuck unscathed.  Then they are attacked by some Landfallians disguised as terrorist group The Last Revolution.  They take the controls of the observatory and insert the glowing cube Gwendolyn had passed onto Gale, saying "this is for all the guys Phang took from us."  And a white light spirals out of the observatory and into the mouth of the Timesuck.

I don't think my heart can take much more..

On Phang they all rush to the ship but it's knocked about and Alana takes a huge hit and the fuel cube falls out.  Now it's hot but Petrichor manages to pick it up and put it back and the ship blasts off.  Marko holds his ears to Alana's stomach and when she asks if he can hear the baby's heartbeat, he says nothing and starts to cry.  Future Hazel closes out this volume over the images of her parents weeping and Kurti dying on Phang with the following words:

Hazel: "You know that old cliche about millions of deaths being a statistic.. while the loss of one life is a tragedy?  If that's true, what is it when you lose something that never even had the chance to be born?"

There are five lights Brian! Five lights!!!

Jesus.  BKV you sadist.  Everytime I read a new volume I am filled with trepidation because I know I am going to get punched hard in the feels.  And this was the worst/best yet.  Giving us an adorable tribe of critters who WOULD have survived as their faith said they would if not for the rampant politicking that saw Phang designated a sacrifice.  And to have Gwendolyn, Sophie and Lying Cat be party to it is just horrible.  And while I guessed Alana might lose the baby, it still was rough when it happened.  They all seemed so happy before, living in a little community for five months until Izabel's death and the arrival of The March kicked things into high gear.  And losing her was a shock, she'd been in the story since day one.  While I am glad The March got killed, I just want to know what'll happen to his piggy Bootstraps.  I hope it snuck on the ship when no one was looking.  It's amazing how multi-layered the characters are, for example Prince Robot VI when he comes round his first thoughts are of Alana and the baby, not himself.  Who could have predicted that several volumes ago?  And The Will, now Billy is sympathetically portrayed on a huge downward spiral, Lying Cat's rejection of him, while a lovely moment for Sophie, manages to be a tragic one for him.  No one wants him and he's left poisoning himself to conjure visions to keep him company while he tries to wank.  BKV's writing is so impressive and it's married to art by Fiona Staples that just gets better and better.  There doesn't seem to be anything she can't imbue with depth and personality with her fine linework and delicate colouring.  She does ALL the art and there hasn't been a single fill-in artist since the story began.  Truly impressive.  Young Hazel is a spirited girl and it's cool seeing the beginnings of the snarky philosopher that Future Hazel will become in her.  Seeing her finally get to act like a kid, playing with Kurti and just hanging with someone her own age was lovely and of course makes the final images of his death all the more upsetting, I genuinely had tears in my eyes by then.  As per usual it'll feel like another long wait until Book Eight comes out now.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Book 3

"It starts with a prayer and ends with a curse" - Kyubey

So here we are with the third and final volume of the manga adaptation of the 2011 twelve episode anime of the same name.  The story revolves around the sinister creature Kyubey, an amoral genderless bunnycat who finds vulnerable teenage girls and offers them a deal.  A contract with it that if it grants them a single wish, they will become Magical Girls whose job from now on will be to fight "Witches" - eldritch abominations that feed off the living.  Kyubey does this by extracting the girl's soul and placing it in a "Soul Gem", so while the girls acquire super-strength, the ability to manifest weapons and can heal from the most appalling of wounds, their bodies are merely empty husks as for all intents and purposes the girls are now liches.  Kyubey hid this detail from them but events conspired to reveal the truth.  Sayaka, took this news very hard and started down a path that left her Soul Gem at it's limit and at the end of Book 2 transformed into a witch as witnessed by the constantly pursuing Kyoko who had started out bullying Sayaka but after the Soul Gem revelation became more well... interested in her well-being shall we say.  Meanwhile the other Magical Girl, Homura was revealed to have time manipulation powers and Kyubey dropped the bombshell that she is does not actually originate from the current timeline.  Both she and Kyubey are engaged in a very aggressive battle for Madoka's soul (Homura has killed Kyubey several times just out of annoyance because the little shit is a hive mind with infinite bodies), Kyubey for reasons still unstated, really, really wants Madoka to contract with it.  Homura will do anything to stop that, and she has managed to be in the right place at the right time many times to intervene and stop it happening.  This final volume sees the focus move to Homura as all the questions thrown up by her actions and attitude are finally answered.

The manga is unflipped and so reads from right to left, honourifics used too, and before we explore Homura's character it's time to wrap up Kyoko and Sayaka's story.  Sayaka's witchform is called Oktavia Von Seckendorff, this is a meaningful name as it comes from Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, who composed for "Der König in Thule", the poem that appears in Goethe's version of Faust, as well as wrote a book called "Das Rad des Schicksals" (The Wheel of Fate). Oktavia fights by throwing wheels, and the word "Schicksal" appears in her labyrinth.  Faust is a big influence on this series and we'll be finding out just which Magical Girl is Faust in a short while.  Oktavia is also a mermaid, which if you know the original non-Disneyfied version of "The Little Mermaid" is incredibly appropriate to Sayaka's story arc.  Why it's almost like it was deliberate or summat.

Homura to the rescue.

Kyoko swiftly changes into her Magical Girl form and scoops up Sayaka's empty shell of a body.  Suddenly Homura appears and when Kyoko asks her what that thing is, Homura confirms that Sayaka has become a Witch, didn't Kyoko witness the change with her own eyes?  Homura says they can't fight with Kyoko holding Sayaka's body so she tells her to grab her hand.  When she does so, Homura's shield whirrs and clicks and time freezes and they escape the labyrinth, just as Madoka comes running up to see what has happened.

Kyoko lays Sayaka on the ground and turns away in great emotional pain as Madoka tries to rouse Sayaka, but it's futile.  Sayaka is dead.  Asked why, Homura doesn't spare her feelings, "her soul mutated into a Grief Seed... then a Witch was born causing its destruction".  Madoka can't believe it but Homura assures her this is reality.  Madoka wails that Sayaka wanted to be a champion of justice and help people.

Homura: "She took on a curse corresponding to the scope of her wish she made... and to the same extent that she saved some people, she cursed others.  That was how she lived as a Magical Girl."

Kyoko angrily accuses Homura of "flaunting your knowledge at a painful time like this!  This girl is Sayaka's..." and she trails off overwhelmed with sorrow.

Homura is relentless though and says to Madoka that now she understands the truth behind what "you so wanted to be."  She starts to leave telling Kyoko that now she's brought the corpse out to be careful with how she disposes of it.  "You call yourself human!?" rages Kyoko.  "Of course not" says Homura, "and neither are you".  And she walks off.

I thought fighting entropy included computers and CVEs!

Later a grief stricken Madoka sits in her bedroom and Kyubey comes to visit her.  It says it has something to discuss with her. Madoka says Kyubey wants to turn everyone into Witches, that's what the contracts are for.

Kyubey: "Don't misunderstand us.  We have no evil intentions toward you humans.  It is an unavoidable circumstance that drove us to this."

So get ready for the reason it's doing all this.  It's all about fighting "entropy" and prolonging the lifespan of the universe.  Yeah.  It gives a simplistic explanation of how the universe is slow ridding itself of energy. So Kyubey's people went out to find a source of energy that "does not fall under the laws of thermodynamics".

Well if it works, it works.

They discovered it in Magical Girls.   Its culture developed a "technology that can take the emotions of sentient beings and convert them into energy". They themselves don't have emotions so they researched the various life-forms of the universe and discovered humans.  The souls could provide enough emotional energy to overturn entropy, and the most effective were "females of your species entering the second stage of maturity, transitioning between hope and despair".

Kyubey: "In the instant that a Soul Gem burns out and turns into a Grief Seed, it releases an enormous amount of energy.  The job of we Incubators is to collect that energy."

Madoka says that they are "disposable goods" then, supposed to die for them?  Kyubey tells her that eventually humans will leave the planet and take their place with them, "in the long run this is a deal that benefits your race too".

Madoka shouts that Mami died and Sayaka went through all that pain for some "incomprehensible excuse!?"  She says it's too cruel.  Kyubey says it did nothing without mutual agreement no?  Madoka cries that it "was just you tricking us!!"  Kyubey says that it doesn't understand the whole "trick" thing.  It thinks humans don't take responsibility for their own failure to "understand the consequences of their decisions".
It says that they have a really hard time comprehending human values, with a population of nearly seven billion, "what's the huge fuss over the death of each and every single creature?"  Madoka says if it thinks like that Kyubey is the enemy of humanity. He sighs that it was futile trying to explain to her.

Kyubey: "Someday you will become the greatest of all Magical Girls... and then you will become the evilest Witch ever known.  And when that happens, we will have our hands on an amount of energy the likes of which we've never seen before.  When you decide to die for the good of the universe, call me anytime... I'll be waiting."

Shithead. And with that it leaves and Madoka curls up and starts sobbing herself to sleep. Kyubey then goes to see Kyoko who's broken into a hotel and has Sayaka empty shell of a body laid out on the bed as Kyoko uses her magic to keep it from decaying. Kyubey says it can't understand why she's going to all that "trouble to preserve the freshness of this corpse."

Kyoko taking care of Sayaka's remains.

Kyoko asks Kyubey if there is a way to get Sayaka's Soul Gem back and like the good spin-doctor he is, Kyubey gives her a non answer.  He says Magical Girls defy logic but it's never happened before, implying maybe it could but he can't give any advice how.  Kyoko starts eating furiously saying she didn't want his help anyway.

Next day Madoka comes to meet Kyoko, who tells her she thinks she can save Sayaka.  She's a Witch now but if she hears the voice of a friend she might remember what it means to be human, and maybe "if I split that Witch in two, a Soul Gem might come popping out and we could revive Sayaka!!"

Kyoko: "Well, isn't that the way it should work?  In the end courage and love triumphs over all?  Like in those stories.  When I thought about it, I became a Magical Girl 'cos I loved those stories.  Sayaka was the one who made me remember".

Kyoko tells Madoka it'll be dangerous, she might not be able to protect her.  But Madoka agrees.  She formally introduces herself and Kyoko laughs, pressing a candy bar into Madoka's hand as she introduces herself too.

They find the labyrinth and Madoka asks if Homura would help but Kyoko says she's not the type.  She isn't friends with her they just have some mutual interests. In a few days Walpurgis Nacht (for some reason this volume goes back to the fully German name of Walpurgis Night as used in the anime) will come to the city.  It's like the "ultimate enemy to us Magical Girls" and can't be defeated by one Magical Girl alone.

Madoka sadly thinks that she is a coward, letting other people do the fighting for her.  But Kyoko roughly says being a Magical Girl isn't a joke or playing around, they put themselves in harms way because they have no choice.  She then smiles and says one day Madoka might have her back against the wall, so "you can think about that stuff when the time comes."

Oktavia Von Seckendorff.

They reach Oktavia and Kyoko sets the plan in motion, she'll protect Madoka while Madoka does the whole "I Know You're In There, Fight" trope thingy.  But it doesn't work.  Oktavia assualts Kyoko with projectile wheels and swings a huge sword at her.  Kyoko starts shouting too, telling Sayaka not to be so stubborn but she is battered harder, Kyoko can only muse darkly "come to think of it, we met trying to kill each other, huh..?"

She tells her to bust the place up, release her anger and Kyoko will come with her, and once she's had her fill, wake up.  But Oktavia grabs Madoka and starts to squeeze. Kyoko slices her hand off, then Oktavia catches Kyoko with stab to her torso and slices through the floor and all three tumble down to the next floor and Kyoko thinks to herself:

Kyoko: "Oh come on God... you saw what my life was like! So just once... let me have a nice, happy dream..."

Homura arrives and catches the unconcious Madoka.  Kyoko is drenched in blood and barely able to stand, she tells Homura that Madoka was nice enough to hang out "with a dummy like me".  She tells her to go, she can't fight and protect Madoka at the same time, "you pick the one thing in the world you wanna protect and you protect it to the end."

Kyoko makes her decison.

Homura leaves and Kyoko tells Sayaka not to worry, "I know how rotten it can be... to be lonely". As Oktavia bears down on her, she starts powering up an attack from her Soul Gem as she kneels in the prayer position, "so it's okay.  I'll stay right here with you.... Sayaka" and with no regrets she detonates her Soul Gem and both she and Oktavia are killed in the blast.  The anime version is a little different, Kyoko manifects a huge spear and standing on top kisses her soul gem and tosses it in the path of her attack where it shatters as the killing blow strikes.  Check it out here.

That's Kyoko out of the story. So girl meets girl, girl tries to kill girl, girl falls in love with girl, girl turns in to Lovecraftian ambination and it all ends in a spectular murder/suicide.  Aaah. How many times have we heard that story Mr. Lister?  I'm only joking because I have something in my eye. And something in my other eye.... I HAVE SOMETHING IN MY HEART!  Luckily the manga gives me something to cry happy tears over as they meet again in the afterlife.

Magical Girl Valhalla, lesbianism mandatory.

Back with Homura, she has returned Madoka to her home and sits brooding in her own flat.  Kyubey appears and Homura asks if Kyoko ever had the chance to save Sayaka, Kyubey responds "not remotely".  But it's all worked out well for it as now Homura is the only Magical Girl left and she can't defeat Walpurgis Nacht alone, so Madoka will have to make a contract.  "I will never allow that to happen" scowls Homura.

And now it's time for a flashback to finally answer all the questions Homura's words and actions have thrown up.  It's the first day of school for a new transfer student who has been hospitalised for some time with a heart condition.  And it's Homura Akemi, but she's not the hair flipping, Zen warrior of mystery we've come to know, she's well... a massive dork.  She's shy and awkward, and freaks a bit when girls cluster round her asking questions.

H.. Homura?!

Madoka comes to her rescue, saying she'll take her to the nurses office.  Now we get a repeat of the walk we saw at the start but this time Madoka is the confident one and Homura the stammering shy girl.  Madoka asks her if she can call Homura by her "cool" first name (Homura means "Flame"), and she insists Homura should try to be cool to live up to her name.

But unlike the Homura we know, this one can't answer the questions written on the whiteboard and becomes out of breath easily during the athletics class, fainting during the warm-ups.  She miserably walks home thinking "I... can never be cool, can I..?"  Then a voice tells her "then it would be better if you just died, huh?"  And a Witches labyrinth forms around her as a voice yells "WHY DON'T YOU DIE....!" 

Familiars start to come for her when suddenly Mami and Madoka (armed with a bow), both Magical Girls appear and save Homura.  Kyubey perkily tells Homura they hunt Witches, and Madoka tells Homura to keep it a secret from their classmates.  They have tea round at Mami's and they explain the Magical Girl thing to Homura.  Madoka is a newbie, she only contracted a week before, "I'm sort of a half-baked beginner she says".  Mami says she did very well, but must get even better for Walpurgis Nacht is arriving in a few weeks.

Mami and Madoka, a Magical Girl team.

We then jump forward to that battle.  Mami lies dead.  Homura, not a Magical Girl herself, sobs that she and Madoka should run away.  But Madoka says she is the only one left to stop Walpurgis Nacht, and she tells Homura how glad she is she became a Magical Girl because she was able to save Homura and become friends with her.  And she leaps off to fight Walpurgis Nacht alone.

We then cut to to a weeping Homura sitting by Madoka's dead and brutalised body, "you knew you were going to your death... I wanted you to live on... even if it meant you couldn't save me."  Her grieving attracts Kyubey and he offers her the standard spiel about having a wish granted in exchange for a life of battle, she has more than enough potential.  So Homura stands up and makes her wish:

Homura: "I want to redo my meeting with Kaname-san.  I don't want to be protected by her!  I want to be the one to protect her!"

Her Soul Gem is formed, her powers unlock and suddenly she finds herself back in the hospital roughly ten days before she is to start school.  When she does so, and is introduced to the class, she is so happy to see Madoka again she rushes up to her saying she's a Magical Girl too, embarrassing Madoka a bit.

Bunnycat wants your soul...

So she goes to start training with Mami and Madoka, her ability to stop time is powerful, but she's got no offensive capabilities.  Never fear, thanks to the internet she starts making powerful pipe bombs she hides in her shield's Hyperspace Arsenal.  So she is able to defeat her first Witch, Patricia using them.  Anime version of that battle here.  Afterwards Madoka holds hands with Homura and she is definitely beginning to have strong feelings for Madoka.

But Walpurgis Nacht this time brings a nasty surprise.  Madoka over exerts herself and doesn't cleanse her Soul Gem in time to stop it turning into a Witch, Homura can only watch in horror as an ominous back figure boils out of Madoka's Grief Seed and she realises the truths Kyubey has been keeping from them.

Ever wonder why she didn't just tell the others?  Well we jump to the next timeline and Homura is telling Madoka, Mami and Sayaka what she knows.  And they don't believe her.  Sayaka says she is just trying to cause strife and also she doesn't like having Homura on the team as bombs going off in her face isn't fun. So using her time freeze ability Homura goes to a Yakuza den and steals all their guns.  Cool.

Suddenly Oktavia! Hello Oktavia.  Kyoko by now has joined them and as before Madoka is calling out trying to reach what she thinks might be Sayaka inside her.  Of course it doesn't work, and Homura freezes time, pulls out a revolver to shoot the missiles heading towards Madoka then blows Oktavia up with another large pipe bomb apologising to Sayaka as she does so.

Mami snaps.

So Oktavia is dead. Again.  But who gets her phat lewt?  Time for everyone to roll on it. Just joking, actually what follows it perhaps the second grimmest moment of the series.  Mami disables Homura via ribbon bondage and shoots Kyoko right in the soul gem which shatters and instantly kills her.  She then points her gun at Homura saying hysterically, "if our Soul Gems turn into Witches... then the only thing left for us to do is die!! You and me both!!"  But before she can kill Homura, Madoka shoots Mami's Soul Gem shattering it and killing her.  Homura hugs the broken Madoka saying they'll take Walpurgis Nacht down together.

Well that doesn't go as planned.  Battered, they both lie on the ground, their Soul Gems at their very limits.  And they have no Grief Seeds left.

Homura: "Say... we're going to become the monsters next huh? We're gonna throw things into chaos... do terrible things. Making everyone sad... destroy everything as if it never existed.  Okay I think I can live with that."

Madoka then says she lied, she has one left (it's heavily implied it's Oktavia's which Madoka couldn't bring herself to use).  She presses it to Homura's Soul Gem cleansing it.  Homura sits up and holds Madoka's broken body saying she wasn't worth saving.

But Madoka says she can go back in time right? Change history so this doesn't happen, "I want you to go back before Kyubey tricked us.. find the stupid me from then... and save her."  Homura says she promises, no matter how many times she has to do it over she'll protect her. Madoka is pleased but has one last request.  She wants Homura to destroy her Soul Gem which is already starting to turn into a Grief Seed.  Homura calls her Madoka for the first time and pulling out her revolver, shoots Madoka right in the soul. The grimmest moment of the series.

I um... see Homura perferred revolvers at first.

Time turns back, she is back in the hospital ten days before school.  And she has changed.  The events of Timeline 3 have hardened her.  She undoes her braids, uses her magic to fix her eyesight so she doesn't need glasses anymore and generally sports the air of the cold Homura we already know.

So what Homura does now is what any gamer knows to do when you reach the same sticking point in a game.  Reset to an earlier check-point and grind up your stats on weaker enemies until you can finally beat the end boss. This timeline she takes care of all the witches herself and ends up fighting Walpurgis Nacht in a rerun of the dream Madoka had right at the start. This time we hear what she was trying to scream at Madoka, not to listen to Kyubey, not to make a contract.  But Madoka makes the contract and we jump forwards to the aftermath of the Walpurgis Nacht battle, or curb-stomp more like.

Madoka's witchform runs amok.

Kyubey comments that he knew she'd be powerful, but she destroyed Walpurgis Nacht with one shot, then transformed.  And into something way worse as we see a huge black whirlwind like form on the horizon.  Kyubey tells Homura they have more than filled their quota of energy here now, so Madoka's Witch form is a problem humans are going to have to sort out now. So it may have been a different timeline Kyubey but it DID lie about having humanity's best interests at heart then.  He asks why Homura isn't going to fight it, but she says "this is not my battlefield anymore" and turns back time again.

Homura: "I'll relive it over and over. For you, my one and only friend.  As long as it's for you I don't mind being stuck in an never-ending labyrinth".

And that brings the flashback to an end.  There are a few things to tease out of this section.  First of all it cements Homura as Faust and Kyubey as Mephistopheles, but in Goethe's version of Faust there is also a female character Faust is obssessed with, her name is Gretchen.  And Madoka's witch name?  "Kriemhild Gretchen".  I rest my case.  Also there is elements of the legend of Sisyphus, fated to push the same boulder up a hill over and over. 

It's never stated outright how long Homura has been resetting time just that she's seen countless deaths.  Spin-off media like various manga miniseries and the PSP game have filled in events that have occured in other loops, and the head writer himself, Gen Urobuchi said she spent around 100 times trying, reliving the same six weeks for nearly twelve subjective years. Yeah things are shitty for Homura, but she'd do anything for love.

Kyubey puts it all together...

Back in the present she seems to have told all this to Kyubey.  It says she's travelled a large number of parallel worlds, "seeking a singular result you desire".   Now he understands Madoka's potential:

Kyubey: "A Magical Girl's potential is decided by the scale of the burden of fate she is forced to bear... Madoka is a normal girl with a normal, average life.  I couldn't understand and ascertain why so many threads of fate were concentrated upon her."

Because Homura rewound time over and over perhaps this created Madoka's potential to become a stronger and stronger Magical Girl, "I knew it!  The one placing all the burden upon her is you".  Each universe tied a strand of fate to Madoka, "then suddenly her unprecedented magical potential makes some sense."

Kyubey: "Those lines of burden that you've placed upon her time after repeated time have all twisted about connecting to Madoka Kaname.  What an achievement Homura! You raised her to be the worlds most powerful Witch."

The sudden revelation leaves Homura horrified and speechless and Kyubey goes off to bother Madoka.  It tells her Kyoko and Sayaka are dead. It then gives Madoka a lesson in how Incubators and Magical Girls have helped humanity evolve.  Ever since prehistory they have been making Magical Girls and wishes granted have caused turning points in human history, "and in the end they all fell in the depths of despair".

Madoka says Kyubey betrayed them all, but it responds that their wishes betrayed them, and if they couldn't deal with that they shouldn't have made the wish in the first place.  Their tears have become "the foundation for the standard of living that you all enjoy today".  Madoka asks if it ever understood what pain they went through, but Kyubey says if they understood that emotion they wouldn't have come to Earth in the first place.

Madoka then goes to Homura's flat (which in the anime is much bigger on the inside than out) to talk to her about Walpurgis Nacht.  Homura tells her Walpurgis Nacht is so powerful it doesn't have a labyrinth but normal humans will just see it as a natural disaster.  Homura assures Madoka she can beat Walpurgis Nacht on her own but Madoka doesn't believe her.

Suddenly a tearful Homura lunges forwards and hugs Madoka.  She wants to tell her who she truly is, she lives in a completely different time from her, she's from the future and she's met Madoka over and over, "and as many times as I've met you, I've seen you die!"
Homura: "What can I do to save you?  I've been searching for that answer, starting over and over again time after time."

Homura apologises saying this won't mean anything to Madoka, "I got the feeling I got lost in time long ago".  The desire to save Madoka started it, and now "please... let me protect you".

The battle begins.

The day of reckoning has arrived.  Homura is ready for it, as the normal humans including Madoka are herded into safe shelters from the extreme weather front they see Walpurgis Nacht as.  Homura freezes time and fires many RPG's at her (they slow down and stop then when she restarts time they all hit at once).  She fires mortars and then crashes a truck full of explosives into it.  But it doesn't work (check out the battle in the anime.  Bad ass. She basically throws the entire armaments of the JDF at Walpurgis Nacht).  If I could say why I think this is so, I think it's because of the nature of Homura's weapons.  They aren't magical like the other girls manifest and I think that if this was a videogame, she's be coded as completely physically immune, only magic can damage her.

Homura has to fend off Familiars taking the form of Mami and Kyoko, but she's tiring and in big trouble.  Madoka in the emergency shelter wonders how Homura is doing.  Kyubey appears and tells her Homura is fighting desperately because she is still trying to attain her goal.

Kyubey: "She'll repeat this meaningless chain of events over and over, never learning her lesson.  I imagine that now she equates stopping the cycle with giving up."

When she finally realises Madoka cannot be saved, she'll give into despair and turn into a Witch.  This causes Madoka to start to leave the shelter, but her mum Junko appears and sternly asks what she is hiding from her.  Madoka says she has a friend whose life she has to save and she must go now to do it.

Homura can't win, no matter what she does.

Junko yells at her for being selfish, but Madoka replies that she holds her families lives precious and wants to make sure they are protected, "it's something that only I can do, so it's something I just have to do."  Junko looks sternly at her, then asks if she is sure she won't botch this and nobody is tricking her...?  And she lets Madoka go.  Out into a hurricane.  And she isn't even drunk this time.

A badly injured Homura struggles to get up, despairingly she wonders why she just can't win against Walpurgis Nacht.  She starts to turn back time, but then remembers Kyubey's words, that this will just make Madoka even more powerful.  Tearfully she sits and waits for the end.  Then Madoka comes up accompanied by Kyubey and says Homura doesn't have to protect her anymore.  She is going to make a wish.

Kyubey tells her that any wish can be granted as she is so potentially powerful.  Homura tries to tell her not to. If she does, what has Homura been doing all this for? Madoka sits down by her and says because of her wish to protect her, she's become powerful enough to make a wish which she thinks is finally the answer, "so please... trust me." Kyubey is practically salivating at hearing her wish so she makes it:

Madoka: "I wish for all Witches to vanish before they can be born.  All the Witches through all of space and time, in the past, present and future... I'll save every last one myself."

Kyubey is actually shocked, it tells her that's going to mean a  "reversal if the laws of cause and effect!"  Madoka is lit up now by heavenly light, she says she wants to erase the tears of all those who trusted in hope, "I want them to be left with a smile on their faces."

Madoka: "Any stupid rule that interferes with it... will be erased!  It will be changed! That is my wish! Now... grant it! INCUBATOR!!!"

Suddenly Madoka is in a void speaking with Mami who says that was a frightening wish. Madoka will be a permanent part of the universe, the very concept of eliminating Witches for a limitless eternal stretch of time.  Madoka says that's what she intended, she wants to embrace hope and keep saying it forever.

Madoka's wish.

Kyoko appears and congratulates Madoka for finding a reason to do battle and she is determined not to run away? So all that's left is to "run with it as hard as you can".  Mami and Kyoko fade away saying Madoka is Hope now, all Magical Girl's Hope.

We return to reality and Madoka fires her bow into the air and millions of arrows burst forth, each arrow finds a Magical Girl about to become a Witch and Madoka appears, destroys the Soul Gem before they can transform and allow them to die in peace, fading away to join God Madoka in her Magical Girl Valhalla.  Madoka then takes on Walpurgis Nacht and as the many cursed Witches who make her up are purified she crumbles away.

Madoka's wish in action.

Then Homura finds herself in a dark void.  Kyubey's voice in her head (because of course that shithead survived) says because of her time powers she can see what ends up happening to Madoka.  It tells her that Madoka is rewriting the laws of the universe as they speak.  A huge black coment flies past, it's Madoka's Soul Gem, with every curse taken on a part of it now. 

It starts to transform into a Witch so huge it circles the Earth.  But as Homura stands aghast at what is happening, she hears Madoka's voice and she appears saying that her wish was to destroy all Witches and so "even I have no reason to despair" and she purifies her gigantic Witchform in a double page spread I can't scan.

Madoka's wish protects even herself.

We then see Madoka in a bright void.  Kyubey mentally tells her thanks to her actions her life has no beginning or end anymore.

Kyubey: "There will be no proof nor memory that you will ever have existed in this world. The existence that is you will shift up a level, becoming only a concept.  No one will ever be aware you existed and you will never be able to affect the world again.  You will no longer be a member of this universe".

Homura cries out that this is even crueller than killing her.  But Madoka appears to her (in the anime they are naked and do some serious snuggling, just to dial the gay up further) and reassures her this is what she wanted.   She can see all the universes that might have been and all the universes that still may be.

Now she understands what Homura went through for her, all the tears and scars.  She had a precious friend and she never realised it.   Now she has become what she is now, she's seen it all, "Homura-chan you were my very best friend".  They hug and Madoka tells her she'll always be with her even if she can't see or feel it.  Homura wonders if she'll forget her as well.

Hey, where the Naked Space Hug, huh?

Madoka says that she may remember her as she came out all this way with her and gives her the pink ribbons from her hair.  Then she starts to fade away saying she has many people to meet and that one day they'll meet again and then she is gone as Homura tearfully say, "don't go..."  She then falls back down to Earth.

We then cut to Kyosuke playing his violin on stage for an audition.  Sitting in the audience is Madoka and Sayaka.  Madoka says she could have made it so this never happened, but she didn't think Sayaka would have wanted that.  Sayaka agrees, saying she wanted to hear his violin and have other people hear it.  She thinks Hitomi is too good for him though.  Having made her peace with her wish, Madoka takes her away.

Homura finds herself back in the aftermath of the battle that caused Sayaka to push her Soul Gem past its limit and now she has disappeared thanks to Madoka although the others don't know that, they call it the Law Of Cycles.  Mami and Kyoko are here too as they were killed by Witches who have never existed now. Kyoko is upset and holding back tears at Sayaka's death says they had just become friends as well. Homura looks at the ribbons in her hands and starts crying, saying "Madoka..." Who's Madoka the other two ask her?

Poor Homura, even when she wins, she loses.

Sometime later wearing Madoka's ribbons in her hair, Homura bumps into Madoka's family. The son Tatsuya is now an only child, drawing a picture in the sand he calls "Madoka".  Junko has a chat with Homura saying hearing the name gives her a feeling of nostalgia.  She notes Homura's ribbons and says they are cute, saying "if I had a daughter... I'd probably make her wear them".

Later one night Homura sits talking with Kyubey telling it all about the Witch system.  Kyubey says it could be a reason why things are the way they are now.  Instead of Witches they fight Wraiths which drop mutiple cubes that cleanse the Soul Gem and are collected by Kyubey as a power source.  Seems Madoka saw the need for The Icubators' plans to still exist.  Kyubey says the old world is a memory in her head and is now "indistinguishable from some fairy tale your brain has constructed".

But it is fascinated by the concept of Witches (uh-oh), they have no idea why Soul Gems disappear when they can no longer be purified. If there was such a convenient source of power their methods would be quite different.  Homura says "that's just the kind of creeps you are".

Kyubey notes that the miasma is heavy tonight and the wraiths are out in force.  They are created by the curses of the world now.  She and Kyubey jump down and Homura brings out her new weapon, a bow as wielded by Madoka and huge black wings erupt from her back as she hits the ground.

Homura: "Sadness and hatred revive in an endless loop and there's no saving the world from it... Even so, this is the place that a certain girl was determined to protect. And I remember.  And that's why I will keep up the fight!"

The anime ended with Homura walking alone in a desert, sprouting huge wings she leapt into battle with many wraiths.  The manga ends with Homura being taken away by Madoka having returned to her original shy girl look.  This didn't happen in the anime and frankly it relies on Homura having healed from her PTSD and learned to deal with all the shit that happened to her.  The sequel movie Rebellion explicitly de-canonises this sequence.  But it does bring the manga to a happier ending than the anime.

Homura's new weapon.

So this volume is pretty damn epic, from the death of Kyoko, to the suprising revelations of Homura's backstory to the reveal of Kyubey's plan to Madoka's ascension to Godhood the pace never lets up.  With allusions to Faust, Sisyphus and The Little Mermaid the whole thing is saturated in symbolism.  You can see why I see romance between various characters, the ridiculous lengths Kyoko goes to to try and rescue Sayaka go above and beyond friendship as does Homoura's hellish existence to save Madoka. Even in the nicer new universe Sayaka still dies.  I'd get upset about this but I've seen Rebellion and she seems to have acquired a Jean Grey style ability to keep coming back from the dead so I think she just keeps doing it to annoy Kyoko.  Notably it's the three orphans, Homura, Kyoko and Mami that survive, while Sayaka who did have parents dies (the manga is missing her funeral which the anime covered) and Madoka now never existed.  Some people have criticised Kyubey's plan as somewhat ridiculous, but I was a teenage girl, my angst could definitely have powered whole cities.  Interestingly Kyubey is the real Lovecraftian being, it's an alien with values that we can't comprehend, apathetic towards humanity only seeing them as a resource to be exploited for some vast cosmic plan that we can barely comprehend (I'm going with the excuse he dumbed down his explanation so a fourteen year old could understand it).  And what of Homura? In actuality she failed.  She lost Madoka, and she's been left so numb and socially stunted she won't open up to her friends Mami and Kyoko, she confides in Kyubey of all beings.  I'll be convering the manga adaptation of Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion in a couple of months time, but as a taster I let you know that Homura confiding in Kyubey was a horrific mistake on her part.  Anyway I hope you enjoyed this jog through the series's manga adaptation, for all its faults, it does manage to tell the underlying story well despite it's fairly so-so art.  The anime is well worth watching, so I hope maybe these posts will encourage you to seek it out.  It's been split into two movies, with some added scenes and some edited out.  I still think the episodic anime is better, but there's choice there if you want it.  Before I close this out, I encourage you to check out this incredibly well blended and edited anime video that posits a timeline where Homura kept the other three alive to help fight Walpurgisnacht, it tells a full story in three and a half minutes with no dialogue and an awesome tune.  Fan vid makers are often hugely talented people and Puella Magi Madoka Magica seems to bring out the best in them.  Enjoy!