SPOILERS WARNING!!
This 6th volume contains 6 single stories about some of the big players in this series. It’s a way to both further the overall plot as well as allow some characters to have some personal time away from the big conspiracy.
The first story is a good example. Dizzy goes back to Chicago and meets with her girlfriends. They catch up, talking about men and other things girls talk about. Dizzy is almost like a normal person again. Then she goes to see her mother, but she doesn’t live there anymore. I wonder why she cries at the end. Is she just sad that she won’t see her mother anymore, or did she find out her mother is dead? It might just that she realizes she won’t have a normal life anymore. At the same time we see Graves and Shepherd talk about the Trust and which Minutemen to activate next (Point Man). We also learn that each Minuteman has a codename, which we will slowly piece together as they mention them.
The second story is about Cole, who goes back to Sasha to apologize, but he still can’t really marry her. It’s not use, because Sasha has moved on anyway. After that he happens to go into a bar with a robbery in course, which allows him to release his feelings and kill them. Yes, this cold assassin does have feelings.
The next story is about the Medici’s, their relationship and roles in the Trust, as well as an attempt on their lives, stopped by Shepherd, which shows his skills for the first time (he was just shown as a strategist before).
Issue 40 is about Lono, how this time he doesn’t pick a side. He’s just a freelancer, and does a job for Shepherd. However Shepherd sets him up to the cops. This is another ambigous ending, where it looks like Lono is dead, but he shows up again in future stories. Echo, who’s been with Lono since vol 5, is also arrested.
In the next story Graves meets with Vasco, Carlito and Kotias. The 12 remaining families have absorbed House Peres, something is changing. They actually don’t want Graves to do anything, they want to deal with Medici themselves. That might explain the attempt on the Medici’s in #39. The B story is an ironic story about a couple that witness a car accident, then while trying to help the victims they stumble onto the winner lottery ticket. They’re not bad people, but money can get to everyone. In the end they’re arrested.
In the final story, Graves talks to Wylie (does that mean that he’s the Point Man as the title suggests?), who at first goes back to work. But he’s robbed at gun point, at the end he goes back to Graves, who gives him the attache’ and wants him to kill Shepherd? This is obviously not what Graves really want, I’m sure he has ulterior motives.
It’s clear that there are many pieces on the chess board, and Azzarello is slowly putting them in the right position. At the same time these characters are more than one dimensional puppets, and we saw that in some of these stories. There is also a lot that we don’t know about the past, so hopefully we’ll learn more in the next volume.