Synopsis
Lord Pumpkin/Necromantra #4 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Chapter 1: Smashing Necromantra
Script: Dan Danko. Pencils: Jeff Lafferty. Inks: Pav Kovacic.
Lord Pumpkin has returned to the Kingdom on the Godwheel where he was created and once ruled. He kills his way through some Palace Guards on duty, and accompanied by his sarcastic crow companion he makes his way to the Guard's Mess Hall where Capt Bjork is belabouring the servants and his minions. He announces his presence and many of the Guard swear to serve him because they remember how merciless he was. But many others want to fight for their freedom. Civil war erupts and Lord P warns Bjork what will happen to him if any of the freedom fighters survive the day.
LP leaves them to confront Queen Marinna in her court. She sends her Guards and attendants away. Pumpkin tells her that won't help them because he'll kill them anyway. She tells him that it was so they wouldn't see what *she* does to *him*. And he's staggered by a blast of light ...
Chapter 2: Pump it up
Script: Mike W Barr. Pencils: Gabriel Gecko. Inks Stephen Baskerville.
... and he's confronted by Marinna's true identity Necromantra. Both are surprised because both thought the other dead (both *did* die in the Godwheel mini-series). But now they exchange blasts. The Guards rush to help her even though some are uneasy that their Queen is revealed to be a sorceress. 2 are sent to get reinforcements but Pumpkin kills the rest with a blast of green fire from his mouth. The 2 pass young Arielle looking for her stepmother. She's seen her using sorcery before but now she sees Marinna gaining energy from the deaths of her Guards. LP spots Arielle and throws her at NM who saves her with a gust of wind. And another gust propels Pumpy towards a stone wall. He saves himself from going splat by blasting a hole in it to pass through (into what clues suggest is a lavatory).
Meanwhile the 2 Guards have reached the Mess Hall where the other guards are fighting each other and they ask them to come to the Queen's aid. But the loyal troops are losing so Capt Bjork sends some of the rebels to kill the messengers.
The crow now attacks Necromantra and forces *her* to fall back through the hole where she's hit by a thrown loo brush. Pumpkin now approaches her with flaming breath and she has no escape in the confined space. But she spots water leaking through a wooden door and blasts it open. Water gushes in which she uses her elemental control to direct at her enemy.
Who suddenly dematerialises with his crow to find himself facing masked individuals who give him a purple jewel which they say can help him defeat Necromantra, and they want her handed over to *them*.
Chapter 3: The return of the King
The creative teams from chapters 1 & 2 take turns to illustrate parts of this.
Lord Pumpkin recognises these guys and knows they can be trusted. They explain that the gem will increase the power of the candle in his pumpkin head, and thus the force of his blasts. He swallows it and exclaims that he's never felt so alive. He does a test blast and incinerates a stand of trees. And then they send him and his crow back to the castle. He blasts his way in and finds the Guards still fighting each other. LP emboldens his side and a loyal Guard sends a servant to tell the Queen it's not going well for her supporters.
Necromantra finds Arielle who wants to know why she didn't use her sorcery to save her father Lord Tavon. (We know that NM actually killed her husband to gain his throne.) Marinna reminds her step-daughter how weak she was then (until her sorcery was repowered by various deaths ending with her husband's). Ari asks whether Lord Pumpkin killed him, but before Marinna can decide what to say they get the news that the Pumpkin has returned again. Marinna gives Arielle for safekeeping the amulet that Tavon gave her at their wedding, and she assures her (truly) that she loves her.
NM flies into battle intending to despatch her foe with 1 quick blow. But she finds him much more powerful than before and encased in magically-generated armour. And she can barely hold off his force blasts. But she cunningly casts a spell to make his armour too heavy to move in, but he daren't remove it. And she knows she's running out of power to maintain the spell.
It is at this point that the mystery men turn up to claim their prize and say their bargain with Pumpkin is complete. But Arielle bursts in to offer herself instead of Marinna, which of course the captors deny. Marinna tells Ari to run because she is very weak and hungry. She manifests a demon (from #2) but it grabs the girl rather than her enemies. Arielle dies (I think) and her death partially revives Necromantra. But the mystery men take her away (and Ari's body at the request of Lord P).
The Pump goes to where the 2 factions of the Palace Guards are still battling it out and tells them that the Queen is dead. This energises his side, and he promises the opposition that if they surrender he won't kill them or their families. But then someone appears behind him who knows what his promises are worth. It's the (dead) little girl from #2 who set him free from his fate as a scarecrow and then he killed her and her family. He tries to banish her with his new gem but it has no effect on her. She tells him that the 'horned man' has resurrected her (body without a soul) and protects her. LP realises she refers to Loki (from #1). She reaches into his head and pulls out the gem. She claims that the 'horned man' could have taken it from him at any time but this way was more fun. And they both disappear.
The issue ends with a strange epilogue page echoing a scene in #2 where the girl has a childish picnic laid out at the feet of Pump the scarecrow, and she's reaching up to pretend to feed him. But this version also has Necromantra watching and she drops the amulet she gave Ari which the crow then investigates.