Comics: Charmed Issue #14 Cupid's Harrow

[joshingabout]

Issue #14
"Cupid's Harrow"


Cover A: by David Seidman


Cover B: Photo Cover


Release Date:

[/b]
September 28, 2011[/center]

SUMMARY:
Coop is on one of the toughest assignments a Cupid can accept and this time it comes with unexpected consequences. When Phoebe sees her husband plagued with questions about the family he never met, she tries to help by researching his past unaware that a mysterious force works against her. As she tries to orchestrate a reunion centuries in the making, she could wind up tearing a family apart.

Written by: Paul Ruditis

Artwork by: ??

Colours by: ??

Letters by: ??

Edited by: ??

~ All information and images thanks to charmedcomicfan.jimdo.com ~

[joshingabout]

I think this issue sounds brilliant! I think EVERYONE in the Charmed fandom wanted to learn more about Coop so they could feel a deeper connection with him on a more personal level, and I think this origin story of his will finally give us that!

Also, seeing as Cole is the shadowy figure in the Seidman cover ripping the photo of Phoebe and Coop I assume that he's back in the bigger picture, possibly due to events in Issues #11 and/or #12. At first I thought he looked A LOT like Drazi, the demon of hate that undid Cupid's work in S2. I hope they play on that...

I honestly want this issue NOW. I'm glad that Volume 3 seems to be focusing more on one-shots, as two volumes consisting of one large arc isn't getting "tiresome", per se, but I just want to finish the storyline already One-shots or short story arcs won't leave me so impatient xD

[Esmeralda]

I just got a phonecall from The Source saying that this one is in - somehow I missed out on #13 (although if I miss that one, I don't think I'll care that much since it's Piper-centric - after The Heir Up There, Piper's family still makes me roll my eyes - it's still too much all about them, with them still the most uninteresting of the three families because we already know so/too much.), but this one - I want to find out if Coop is truly a cupid with cupid powers or just a man with a cupid ring that Piper was able to use.

ETA: Anyone else find it ironic that Issue #14 (as in Feb 14th) is the issue about Coop? It's probably unintentional, but I find it cool.)

[joshingabout]

Es, you really should read Issue #13. You may not like Piper and/or her family, but this season is still a bright side better than the other seasons for their character development. Give it a go. It's a fun issue that's quite touching.

As for Issue #14, I won't get it until next week. I've just moved to University and luckily enough there's a comic shop right down the road from my student accommodation! Unfortunately they didn't have Charmed in (only Salem's Daughter from Zenescope's stock) so the guy is ordering it in for me. Hell yeah!

And Es, that is a great coincidence! I never noticed the dual 14s

By the way, judging from the previews (found here: charmedcomicfan.jimdo.com/app/download/3671786752/4e833c57/c54edd55269bd10e00465e340f5eed1c57df4d5d/Charmed14_preview.pdf?t=1317140084, a download link to PDF files) this issue is going to be amazing. The first few pages alone were so beautiful and touching. Also, Dean Kotz' artwork has GREATLY improved. I'm very impressed!

[StoryGirl83]

I won't get issue 14 for a few more hours, the store's not even open yet for starters, but I am extremely interested as the previews look good, much improvement on Dean Kotz part and the story on the preview pages had me in tears, mostly the first three pages.

I am a little worried as two people on another site said that there was a duplicate page and probably this extends to all copies going out today. I will still get it, but I hope that if this is true, Zenescope will post the missing page so people can read it as well as I hope they do a second printing sooner rather than waiting for it to sell out.

[ljones]

Also, seeing as Cole is the shadowy figure in the Seidman cover ripping the photo of Phoebe and Coop I assume that he's back in the bigger picture, possibly due to events in Issues #11 and/or #12. At first I thought he looked A LOT like Drazi, the demon of hate that undid Cupid's work in S2. I hope they play on that...

How nice. Cole is back as the deranged villain from S5.

[joshingabout]

I'm not sure if that's how Cole's role will play out. I made that post way before Issue #12 was released, and the outcome of that issue makes me think that Cole's role won't be so sinister.

If anything I think the issue's cover might be to stir up drama among the fans. It'd be interesting if Cole has to work against Phoebe if he is to complete the objective given to him by Patty in Issue #12. That's an interesting thought.

I've been so interested in this issue since it was announced. I really can't wait till next week.

[StoryGirl83]

Well, the page was indeed missing with a duplicate or the page two over and it certainly made me do a double take when I got to it, before I realized that it was the duplicate, even though I was expecting it. I'm tempted to mutilate my comic book and paste on the correct page in one copy so that I can read it properly.

You might have gathered from that that I have access to the missing page. Zenescope did indeed notice their mistake, obviously too late, but they sent a copy of the page to Kostoszomgas. I've got a link for a place where I posted it. In order to read it from him you have to download it, so I thought I'd make it so you just have to open a page.

When you get to page nine, don't turn the page until you read this one. Then, skip the page that is there and read page 11. After that it's all correct. It does make it a little difficult, hense why I am seriously considering printing this out and pasting it in, but it's an interesting story.

Cupid's Harrow Page 10

[Esmeralda]

Sept 28, 2011 11:42:39 GMT -5 ljones said:

Also, seeing as Cole is the shadowy figure in the Seidman cover ripping the photo of Phoebe and Coop I assume that he's back in the bigger picture, possibly due to events in Issues #11 and/or #12. At first I thought he looked A LOT like Drazi, the demon of hate that undid Cupid's work in S2. I hope they play on that...

How nice. Cole is back as the deranged villain from S5.

He's definitely not that. He's the obsessed demon from S3. The difference is that Phoebe is very happily married with a baby rather than obsesssed with Cole.

[Esmeralda]

Sept 28, 2011 23:41:59 GMT -5 StoryGirl83 said:

Well, the page was indeed missing with a duplicate or the page two over and it certainly made me do a double take when I got to it, before I realized that it was the duplicate, even though I was expecting it. I'm tempted to mutilate my comic book and paste on the correct page in one copy so that I can read it properly.

You might have gathered from that that I have access to the missing page. Zenescope did indeed notice their mistake, obviously too late, but they sent a copy of the page to Kostoszomgas. I've got a link for a place where I posted it. In order to read it from him you have to download it, so I thought I'd make it so you just have to open a page.

When you get to page nine, don't turn the page until you read this one. Then, skip the page that is there and read page 11. After that it's all correct. It does make it a little difficult, hense why I am seriously considering printing this out and pasting it in, but it's an interesting story.

Cupid's Harrow Page 10

Thank you so much for that, StoryGirl. I got the issue last night and was definitely confused by the duplicate page. Although I figured out what happened, this makes it make much more sense.

I enjoyed this story including the idea of what a cupid is - it's cute and rather comforting for someone who lost a baby cousin when she was very young and have never forgotten how much that devastated my aunt and uncle - they never did get over it and ended up divorcing.

I got a kick out of the idea of Coop watching the nursery - reminded me of Paige and Leo at Magic School, especially if Leo was still a whitelighter (I still think those magic kids should walk all over a mortal)

Wasn't dreadfully nuts over jealous Cole - I think the whole story would've been much better without him, or better, as someone suggested, had it been Drazi rather than Cole - Ruditis definitely missed the boat on that one.

Liked the artwork - some of the best images with *all* of them looking enough like the actor that you can tell who it is. And I'm sure you'll know what I'll say next - FINALLY! A BEAUTIFUL PJ!!! If this artist sticks around, I won't scream.

Oh, by the way, when I got #14 (glad you like that coincidence) I also got #13 (which I also like the fact that it's that number) and disliked it as much I thought I would. It shows why Piper should've kept P3 and not had her restaurant until after the kids were grown and could take care of themselves - her first priority should be mother to those kids - especially Wyatt! No doubt in the comic book universe, it won't be a missing dad who's the reason Wyatt *will* turn evil - it will be a missing mother. Nothing that was done shows that Wyatt will be given the attention he needs not to turn evil. So at least in this universe, Chris is indeed on an everlasting time loop.

[StoryGirl83]

Es, glad you were able to make use of the correct page.

News found on Kostaszomgas' site, from Zenescope:

This is what Zenescope will do with the missing page from Charmed #14

They'll be offering a free digital download of the issue through comixology. Details on that are coming soon (i will post a link when the issue is up). The page will be printed in the back of Charmed 15 as well. Lastly, it will definitely be fixed for the trade paperback.

When he posts whatever additional info they send I will post it here.

For those of you interested, you will probably have to have comiXology account to do this. It is free and will allow you to access digital comics found on the site. Some, such as Charmed Issue #0 are free to read here. Others cost money to access, a one time fee for that particular comic. They currently have issue 0-8 on comiXology. Though I think it is more designed for smart phones and tablets, I checked and I can access my (extremely small) library on there through just my laptop, so if you don't have a smart phone or a tablet, you can still read it.

---

Back to Es, my mom had a miscarriage when I was five-and-a-half, which isn't the same as actually meeting them and then losing them, but the thoughts of what my little brother or sister might have been still bring tears to my eyes when I think about what happened and I know it still hurts my parents. I'm sorry to hear about your cousin and what happened in the aftermath of her death.

I like the idea of Coop getting to watch the nursery, too.

My responce on the Cole situation is a little long and I don't want to write it out at the moment, maybe if we get a chance to chat sometime in the next week, I can go into that.

Hehe, PJ finally looked like a girl . . . about time. The first time I saw Piper in the issue, I didn't realize that it was her and I had a lot of trouble telling in a lot of the pictures at Halliwell's that it was Piper. I do think he is improving greatly. I saw improvement between "The All or Nothing" and "The Charmed Offensive" and I see even greater improvement between "The Charmed Offensive" and "Cupid's Harrow". I look forward to seeing what he can do on his fourth issue (not sure if that's "Where There's Smoke, There's a Firestarter" or the yet to be titled issue #16"). Not to mention when we get to see his fourth issue, it will have broken the trend of loosing an artist after three issues (since it is my understanding that he is officially the main artist for the series at present). Hip hip hurray! Although I still think Tess did the best job over all I really liked how this issue looked and I think he had the potential to do a great job as he gets more comfortable with the characters. I loved his original characters in this one.

[Chrisaholic]

And I will start on October 24 finally with my Charmed comics!! Though then only #0-5 as this os offered on amazon!! *sighs*

[marienomad]

I'm going to see if I can read some of the Charmed comics. Oh, I thought of something. Now, Cherubs are reincarnated forms of babies who died too early right? What if Phoebe's unborn son ended up reborn as a Cherub? That might be cool and could tie into the Cole storyline.

[StoryGirl83]

Nov 2, 2011 3:06:25 GMT -5 marienomad said:

I'm going to see if I can read some of the Charmed comics. Oh, I thought of something. Now, Cherubs are reincarnated forms of babies who died too early right? What if Phoebe's unborn son ended up reborn as a Cherub? That might be cool and could tie into the Cole storyline.

That's an interesting thought. I wonder how that work, a baby possessed by the source dies. Does he become a candidate for being a Cupid? And how does Drazi work? Children of evil parents even are not necessarily evil, so is Drazi a Cupid gone astray?

[Esmeralda]

Drazi is a Demon of Hate. That's a totally different thing than a cupid gone bad.

I don't like the idea of people Up There taking out a child's father on them, so I would think the Phoetus could indeed become a cupid. I remember that Fourever Charmed used that idea in her fantastic "Fourever Charmed" and I loved the idea, probably the best piece of closure for Cole and the Phoetus that I've ever read:

A red haze filled the air, outlining the shape of a woman. When the haze vanished, Phoebe Halliwell stood in its place. She wore a simple pair of white hip hugging bell bottoms, a peachy-pink satin camisole, gold stiletto sandals, and gold dangle earrings. Her hair was pulled into a bun, and a golden satin choker was wrapped around her neck. A small white leather purse hung on her shoulder. Cupid’s ring was on her finger.

The Charmed One gazed around for a moment, inspecting her surroundings. She was standing on a beautiful, white sand beach. The sky was a gorgeous robin’s egg blue, and silver-cerulean waves were lapping softly at the mouth of the beach. She could hear birds chirping peacefully, and smell the salty air.

Then she saw him. Phoebe swallowed hard. Never in her life had she imagined doing what she was about to do. Or wanting to, for that matter. She moved near quietly over the beach. She could barely hear the sand crunch under her shoes. Everything was overpowered by the sound of her heart slamming against her ribcage. She could hear it right between her ears.

“Phoebe.”

The witch froze. Her body was tingling, like a thousand pins and needles shooting through her.

“I know it’s you. I can always tell it’s you. There’s a certain way you shuffle your feet, and it used to drive me crazy.”

“I didn’t know I shuffled.”

“Now you do.” The man at the edge of the water turned around. He was dressed in a black suit with a satin red dress shirt underneath, and shiny black dress shoes. His face appeared cleanly shaven, and his blue eyes were still as piercing as ever. Cole Turner smiled. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to see you too,” Phoebe replied slowly.

“I never thought I’d see you again.”

“Likewise.”

“Why did you come?”

“I’m not in love with you anymore, Cole.”

“I know.” Cole moved near his ex. “So why did you come?”

“Because I heard you were here,” Phoebe whispered. She salty breeze flew across her face, fluttering the hairs around her. “I heard you were stuck in limbo.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” The ex-demon splayed his fingers outwards, pointing towards the water.

“It is when you’re watching me, but you can tell me yourself that you want me to find love. You have to go through my sister…and Drake.”

Cole cringed. “You found out about that?”

“Yes.”

“From who, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Cupid.”

“Cupid?” Cole looked surprised. “How did you get to know Cupid?”

“He’s actually one of many Cupids,” Phoebe explained. “But The Elders sent him to me so that he could help me find love.” Her brow creased. “I thought, seeing as how you’ve obviously been watching me, that you would’ve known that.”

“I don’t watch everything, Phoebe. Only when I sense that you’re feeling at your worst about love.”

“Oh.” She looked down at the sand, digging the toe of her shoe into it. “I’ve found true love.”

“You have?” Cole smiled brightly, for the first time in years. “What’s his name?”

“Coop, the Cupid I told you about.”

“Coop,” Cole repeated. He laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“His name,” the ex-demon chuckled.

“Why?”

“It begins with a ‘C,’ that why.”

“And?”

Cole crossed his eyes, surprised that she didn’t remember. “Do you remember the day you went back in time to save Charlotte Warren?”

Phoebe nodded.

“And do you remember when someone asked you if wanted to know what the first letter of your true love’s name would be?”

Phoebe’s eyes flickered in realization. “With the apple peel,” she gasped. “It was the letter ‘C.’”

Cole grinned. “I always thought I was that person. But I guess I was wrong. It was pointing you to ‘Cupid,’ to ‘Coop.’”

Phoebe narrowed her eyes. “How did you know about that?”

Cole waved his arm. “Long story. It doesn’t matter now anyway.” He shrugged, again moving towards Phoebe. “So, why did you come here?”

“I wanted to free you.”

“Free me?”

“Yes. I want you to be able to pass on to your afterlife. To be able to finally get over me.”

Cole frowned. “I can’t do that.”

“You can’t keep loving me Cole-”

“It’s not that!” He interjected. “It’s, well…I have something I need to show you, and then you’ll understand.”

Phoebe stood hesitantly.

“Oh come on, Phoebe. I won’t hurt you. I never could. Besides, I don’t have powers anymore anyway. And even when I did, you could still kick my behind.”

Phoebe chuckled, startling herself.

“That’s more like it,” Cole smiled. He moved to Phoebe, taking her hand in his. “Come on.” Together they walked in silence, moving down the beach.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Several minutes passed, and then Phoebe heard the giggling of what sounded to her like a child. “Cole,” she whispered alarmed, “is there a child here?”

“Shh.” Cole placed his fingers to her lips as they walked further down the beach. Then he stopped abruptly, pulling her with him. “That’s why.”

Several yards ahead of them, a beautiful brown haired boy about Wyatt’s age, possibly a little older by not much more than a year, played on the sand. He had on blue swim trunks with little sharks on them. And even from as far away as they were, his bright blue eyes were unmistakable.

In his hands he had a large, plastic yellow bucket in his hands. He kept running from the edge of the beach back to the middle with a bucket of wet down, and dumping it down to create sand cones. He was building a sand castle. The little boy was squealing with delight as he ran back to the water, with his yellow bucket swinging at his side.

“Who is that?” Phoebe gasped. “And why is that sweet little boy trapped in limbo?”

Cole didn’t get a chance to answer, because the little boy spotted both of them and squealed in delight. He dropped the yellow bucket and came barreling up the beach, running straight for Cole.

Cole bent down and caught the little boy as he ran into his arms. “Hey buddy,” he cooed enthusiastically. “How’s it going?”

“Great!” The little boy giggled, hugging Cole’s neck. He stopped, turning to face Phoebe with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. “Who’s your friend, Daddy?”

Phoebe’s heart skipped a beat. “Daddy?” She repeated, looking curiously at her ex-husband.

Cole knelt down, placing the little boy back on the ground. He beckoned for Phoebe to kneel down with him. “Turner,” he announced, “this is a very dear friend of mine.”

“Turner,” Phoebe breathed. She held out her hand, to which the little boy immediately grabbed and shook. “It’s nice to meet you, Turner. My name’s Phoebe.”

“Phoebe?” Turner beamed. “My Mommy’s name is Phoebe too!”

Phoebe’s body stiffened. “O-oh r-really,” she stuttered. “Wow.”

“Turner,” Cole said slowly. “Why don’t you go back to building your sand castle? Phoebe and I some important things to discuss, okay?”

Turner nodded in understanding. “Okay, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you too, son.”

As the little boy turned to run off, he peeked over his shoulder and waved to Phoebe. “It was nice to meet you, Phoebe!”

Phoebe choked as she waved. “It was nice meeting you too, Turner.” She watched as he ran back over to his sand castle, and then turned sharply to her ex. “What’s going on?”

Cole placed his hand to his head. “You were never supposed to find out,” Cole sighed.

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“That little boy over there,” Cole said as he pointed to Turner. “He’s our son.”

“Our son? Cole, I don’t know if you recall or not, but we never had children.”

“Yes we did,” Cole countered. “You were pregnant, just before Piper was. Remember when The Source took me over?”

“Yes.” Phoebe wiped the corner of her eye. “I remember that very clearly.”

“Well, that’s the son that was vanquished with The Seer.”

“But he was The Source’s son.”

“No.” Cole’s voice was sharp. “He was our son, Phoebe. He may have had The Source’s powers, but he was still our flesh and blood.”

Phoebe looked back at the little boy. “How did you get him?”

“I asked The Elders to bring him here.”

“You talked to Them?”

“They were the ones who sent me to eternal limbo. I asked them about our son when I was banished. They didn’t budge.”

“So how did he come to be here?”

“After I sent Drake to you, and got you to believe in love again, They came to me and wanted to reward me for making you see that love was possible. They said I couldn’t leave limbo, but They wanted to know if there was anything I wanted. I told Them that I wanted our son.”

“And just like that, They sent him?”

“Yeah. He was a baby at first, but he grew up in literally a matter of days. Until he was about the age he would’ve been, you know?” Cole gazed back at their son, his eyes getting ever so slightly misty. “I named him Turner Warren Halliwell.”

Phoebe leaned into Cole’s side. She was no longer in love with Cole, she knew that. But as a friend, a companion, she still loved him and always would. He’d always be her first true love, and she knew that. Then she felt his hand on her cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, wiping away her tears. “He’s just…so beautiful.”

“I know.” Cole smiled, beaming with pride for their son.

“You know, I also asked The Elders for a favor.”

“You did?” Cole looked surprised.

“I did.”

“And what was it?”

“I asked Them if they’d consider granting you a reprieve from limbo. I asked Them if They could allow you to help people, like you helped me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I asked them if They could make you a Cupid.”

Cole stepped back, shocked. “W-what did They say?”

Phoebe reached into her pocket, pulling out a small golden ring with a red ruby in the shape of a heart in the center. She held the ring out to Cole. “The inside is inscribed,” she added.

Cole held up the ring to the sunlight, examining the inner ring. “’To Coleridge Turner, I wish you the best. Love forever and always, Phoebe Halliwell.’” He curled his fist, cupping the ring within it. “Thank you, Phoebe. But you know I can’t accept this. I’ve got to stay with him.” He motioned toward their son, Turner.

“I guess that’s why They gave me this too,” Phoebe whispered. She slid her leather purse off her shoulder, reached into the bag, and pulled out a small golden bow, complete with a white arrow with a red, heart shaped point.” Phoebe handed the bow over to Cole, and then turned her head towards her son. “A little cliché, huh?”

Cole wrapped his arms around Phoebe, literally lifting her into the air. “I love you, Phoebe. Always have and always will. I know it can never work between us, but I still have the uttermost respect for you. And what you’ve done…” He put her down, and kissed her cheek. “Thank you. Thank you, so much.”

Phoebe blinked back the tears. “Go give him that for me, will you?” She placed her hand on his arm. “And tell him that his Mother loves him, okay?”

Cole slid the ring onto his finger. He glowed pink for a moment, and then walked over to his son. He knelt down, handing the little boy the Cupid’s bow and arrow.

From afar, she could see her ex-husband’s lips moving as he spoke something she couldn’t hear to her son. Then she saw Turner glanced around his Father, with tears glistening in her eyes. Phoebe’s heart was beginning to break.

She couldn’t hear him, but she could see his lips moving and she knew what he was saying. ‘I love you too.’ She wiped her eyes as Turner and Cole both waved to her, and then faded into a red puff of smoke that hung in the shape of a heart for a moment, and disappeared.

Phoebe closed her eyes, breathing in the salty see air. She wiped her cheek one last time, wiping away all her tears. The witch slid her purse back onto her shoulder, tucked her hand with Coop’s ring to her chest, and faded away in a red haze.

To read more: Fourever Charmed's "Fourever Charmed"