The Victories is a world where Michael Avon Oeming dumps everything in his head onto the page. Espionage, superheroes, science fiction, and melodrama are here in spades.

One thing that makes the Victories a little difficult to get into is the ruthless pacing and introduction of concepts and characters, but in this issue, the penultimate of the miniseries, everything clicked.

Palpable irony arises from the transhumanist/antitranshuminist science and cultism juxtaposed with the actual superheroes’ painfully evident flaws, scars, and humanity.

Oeming’s art also works hard for the story in this issue, with a lot of the emotional beats sold in D.D. Mau’s facial expressions. There is also beautiful single page splash that was a nice surprise. Oeming’s cartoony, expressive art didn’t always work for the gravitas of the story for me, but once you get immersed in the world it is wonderful. Filardi is a nice match, setting the tone perfectly with his moody and vibrant colors.

Additionally, there’s always a nice, informational and often shocking editorial in the back of the issue, written by Oeming about some of the concepts being addressed in the comic.