IDW - Rom: Dire Wraiths #2

Writer: Chris Ryall

Letterer: Shawn Lee

Editor: David Mariotte

Main Story Title: One Small Step for Dire Wraith-Kind, Part 2 

Main Story Artist: Luca & Andrea Pizzari

Main Story Colourist: Jim Boswell

Side Story Title: One Small Step for a Spaceknight, Part 2

Side Story Artist: Guy Dorian Sr. & Scott Hanna

Side Story Colourist: Ross Campbell

Main Story Plot

The Wraiths on the Moon attack Armstrong and Aldrin, intending to take their bodies to head to Earth, but are stopped when the Adventure Team arrive, Kiev shoots at Axlar, despite being told to not risk them all with weapon's, and the Wraith seems to vanish.
Adventure One docks with the Apollo 11 Command Module, where he congratulates Collins on humanity getting this far, but tells him that it's over, as their journey is beginning now...
Back on the Moon, Armstrong tries to contact Houston, but their signal is still baf, but they do hear him saying that they are under attack, and Sulor attacks the line Human, before he is joined by some of the Adventure Team to fight the alien off by freezing him with and ice cannon.
Nearby, Kiev starts to pass out, after Axlar secretly drilled into her foot, and replaced her. Sulor breaks free of the ice, and destroys Flannery's helmet as revenge for the ice cannon, but also absorbs his essence to use his knowledge to their advantage.
Axlar reveals his identity to the others and bites off Aubreyson's head, instantly killing him too.
Aldrin grabs the historic American flag from the ground and spears it through Sulor, killing the Wraith surprisingly easily.

The second Mystic finds the Adventure Two shuttle, where she taps into it to learn how to pilot it, when she picks up an SOS from the Adventure Team's satellite, where Sandra announces Hanks murder and asks for a reply, or she's going to sound the alarm to Earth.
The Mystic decides to head to the satellite to use it to head to Earth to join the bulk of the invasion.

The last member of the Adventure Team, Dodger, tries to get Armstrong and Aldrin into the lunar lander to return to the Command Module to get back home to safety, whilst he stays to fight Axlar, however the Wraith still plans to possess one of them to go to Earth, as they need to help in rebuilding it to a new homeworld, as the Solar Order do t know anything about their plans here yet, and they're the only ones who can possibly stop their spread.
Axlar bulks out, ready to destroy the astronauts and take over one, whilst the second Mystic approaches the satellite and Collins looks ominously ahead, completely alone in the Command Module....

Side Story Plot

Rom and Bikini arrive on Marn-33, where they find Dhorian's lifeless body and a portal to an unknown-to-them part of space, which they cannot enter.
The two Knights mourn their fallen ally, and wonder whether the armour could possibly live on without the living Knight inside. On cue, Dhorian wakes up, and attacks his allies, revealing that it's a tally a Wraith-Mystic using his corpse as a puppet, who launches herself and the two Knights through to portal, leaving them adrift near a red planet...

Characters

Adventure Team

Dodger/James Brightside
Arsenal/Anatoli Kiev Killed and Replaced by Axlar
Scalpel/Elmo Aubreyson Killed by Axlar
Mixmaster/Martin Flannery Killed by Sulor
Sandra Shore
Hank Armstrong (Mentioned) Killed and Replaced by a Mystic 

NASA 

Neil Armstrong
Buzz Aldrin
Mike Collins Possibly Replaced by a Mystic
Houston Operator (Voice Only)

Dire Wraith

Mystic Aby'ss
Mystic Sky'sm
Axlar
Sulor Killed by Aldrin
Third Mystic (Side Story Only)

Solstar Order

Rom (Side Story and Flashback Only)
Nikomi (Side Story and Flashback Only)
Dhorian (Side Story Only) Dead, Body Possessed by Third Mystic
Orphion (Flashback Only)
Livia (Flashback Only)
Fy-Laa (Flashback Only)
Guar (Flashback Only)
Maur (Flashback Only)
Other Space Knights (Flashback Only)

Notes

• Sorry for the delay on this again, when I'm not at work I'm busy playing Animal Crossing (maybe I'm not sorry)
• Due to the current pandemic, comics are being delayed right now, so a lot of the newer releases haven't been shipped here to the UK yet, or are just postponed for a while. Sorry, but that's life right now :/ 
• I'm still not sure about the identities of some characters because the mages have the same character models, and the NASA astronauts all look very similar. The only way I know Collins is the one in the Orbiter, is because I know Armstrong and Aldrin were the first to walk on the moon from history.
• So...I'm guessing my hopes for an Inhumanoids comic are dashed now, since most of those characters are dead now!
• Despite us seeing last issue that the Wraiths actually absorb their victims, and imitate them, rather than possessing their bodies....Kiev appears to just get possessed by Axlor.
• Sandra is revealed to have been hiding whilst Hank was killed last issue.
• Due to the Hank-Wraith being a sent from the scene, and Collins looking a bit sinister at the end, we can probably assume that he's been taken by the Wraiths too.
• Apparently the other Wraith-Mystic can absorb the ability to fly the Adventure Two shuttle from accessing it's systems....okay then....
• The Wraith possessing Dhorian's body in the side story appears to be the Mystic that he seemed to kill last issue...so what happened to the other soldier Wraith??!!