Our two star-crossed lovers, Mali and Tessa, are still on the run from . . . what seems like just about everyone on the planet. Really, it’s just the ones who are part of the mysterious and eternal war, but there are enough of them that it seems like everyone. Everywhere they go, they’re ambushed by someone—often whole groups of someones—looking to kill them or capture them for their disobedience to the cause.

After being caught in the middle of an ambush, our heroes board a plane and escape to Johannesburg, where we meet Tessa’s parents. This is rather a big thing. Over the last 6 issues, we’ve learned plenty about Mali’s history. Her stepfather was an executed serial killer who’s been reincarnated as a 10-year-old girl and is now helping her to escape. We’ve learned virtually nothing about Tessa’s past, though. We know she’s spent her whole life training for the war, to fight and to kill. We’ve never really seen how she grew up, though.

Turns out, Tessa’s father was briefly President of South Africa and is completely oblivious to . . . most things, it seems. Her mother, on the other hand, is an Atlas—one of the generals of the secret war and a cold, calculating woman through and through. Will she approve of her daughter’s relationship with Mali? Can she help them escape to a place where they’ll be permanently safe? Even if she can, will she?

This issue of Welcome Back opens up a number of new doors. We begin to find out the reasons behind the eternal war—and get clues as to the secret to escaping it. There’s plenty of action and intrigue, along with a couple of cool, new characters. If you’ve been following the comic so far, you definitely won’t want to miss this issue.