By Cat Wyatt

Motherlands is continuing its tale of a mother and daughter who have teamed up in an attempt to bring down one final bounty. Granted, the mother hopes to bring the bounty in alive, being that he’s her son and all. Tab doesn’t care so much about that since he left her alone with her hag of a mother. The last issue left us off with Sylph in shock and in tears after Tab apparently shot her son…

Who was obviously a decoy. Tab is actually shocked (and maybe a little embarrassed) that Sylph couldn’t seem to tell the difference. Though I suppose it could be Sylph’s theatrics that are the real cause here…

Anyway, Tab is pretty confident that the body she shot was just a psychic copy – after all, why would a perp as big as him ever go on a dangerous heist solo? It doesn’t make sense. And bonus, on the off chance she’s wrong that this bounty was a lot easier than anticipated, and it’s time for payday.

The body blowing up pretty much confirms that Tab is right (though I’m not entirely sure I agree with that – who’s to say a crazy person would rig themselves with a booby trap like that, especially when knowing how many bounty hunters are after him?). Tab knows him best, so I’m going to assume she’s correct on that count.

Sylph can’t seem to get past the fact that Tab knew that it wasn’t her son up there, and didn’t tell her. She doesn’t seem to understand why Tab could do that to her. Which is odd, because it should be clear as day. Sylph barely treated Tab like a human, and frankly it’s a miracle that Tab isn’t even more messed up than she actually is. Sure, holding on to her grudges isn’t helping anything, but she certainly has a right to do so. Either Sylph has completely blinded herself to the past, or something else is going on.

Now that they have time for a bit of a break again, Tab needs to take care of some things. Like getting her aura cleaned up so she can’t get tracked again (the pink mess on the floor is a nice reminder of what happened the last time she got tracked).

Picking up the conversation where it was left off; Sylph believes that all of Tab’s behavior stems from jealousy. Jealous of her brother and that is why she’s unable to understand ‘a mother’s pain.” Yeah, right. Though this actually did get to me – Sylph acts more like a mother to the child that left her than the one that stayed. Either she can’t handle that he choose his father over her (which is likely the case), or something else is going on…is there a chance that Tabitha isn’t actually her child? Unlikely, I know, because Sylph probably wouldn’t have bothered keeping her around otherwise. But still, it’s got me wondering.

It’s no wonder that after a conversation like that the two felt the need to split up for a bit. Tabitha left to get drunk…while Sylph left to get answers. It would appear that while she had no trouble harping on Tab for keeping secrets that she had plenty of her own. Some of which were causing problems in their investigation…figures (sorry, I just don’t like anything about that woman).

So…that fancy walking chair she’s in? She may have stolen it. But she has no memory of stealing t, which means she wiped her memory. Which raises the question, what else did she wipe from her memory? Is that why she doesn’t understand why Tab hates her? Did she erase the bad parts of their relationship? Or did she erase something else? Whatever it is…she doesn’t want to face it alone…and for once I don’t really blame her for that.

Meanwhile Tabitha is busy getting totally trashed. On the bright side, between the conversations they had and the drinks she’s been pounding down, something in her brain clicked. A sudden thought makes her realize she knows where Bubba is, and she’s done trying to play nice with her mom while tracking down leads. So this one she’s keeping to herself.

Once again I’m shocked by how much this series has made me feel. Every time I think I’m not enjoying it as much as I had, I realize I’m still responding emotionally to the story being told. So clearly I do care – I just don’t like what’s happening, which is a surprisingly big difference. I can like the story while not like what’s happening to the characters in it.  

Admittedly this issue was a bit slower than the last couple, but I think it’s because it’s building up to something big. In all likelihood Tabitha and Bubba are going to have a major interaction in the next issue, and I can’t even begin to guess how that will go.

Score: 4/5

Motherlands #4
Vertigo Comics