The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV

The Amory Wars: Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV is a comic written by Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert and illustrated by Rags Morales. It was published by Evil Ink with BOOM! Studios in 2017. It is the fourth chapter in The Amory Wars saga.

Plot Summary
When we last left Claudio, he had declared to Apollo that he was "burning Star IV." When we begin this new chapter, we are introduced to Ryder, a writer with mental health issues, who is going through a tough break up with his girlfriend, Erica Court. We discover he lives in our world in 2015, what he calls the Real and he is the actual writer of The Amory Wars, what he calls the Fiction. As the story progresses, we see his delusions bleeding into The Fiction. For example, he sees his character, Claudio, in the mirror, and stabs a screwdriver through his hand. This happens to Claudio in the Fiction, but he claims he did it to himself without realizing. Later, we see Ryder also has a similar puncture wound.

Inferno devises a plan to use the Narrows to gain more power and make their final assault on House Atlantic, finally allowing the Crowing with his now matured and trained powers exact revenge for his family. However, in the Real, Ryder has perceived his bicycle as being possessed by an evil entity who continually eggs him on to kill Ambellina as a way to get over Erica, and finally, crosses over to The Fiction to confront the characters himself, interrupting the rebels' assault on the Red Army HQ. Claudio follows the Ryder into the Willing Well with the help of Chase after he steals Ambellina and demands her back. The two battle it out, seeming to bend the state of reality as they do, but ultimately, Ambellina is killed and Ryder goes back to the Real, leaving Claudio and Chase to ponder what to do next as Apity Prime is overrun by monsters, people mutated by Ryan's latest virus.

Publication History
A sort of preview issue was available exclusively at NYCC in October 2016, but the first official issue was published in April 2017 by Evil Ink with BOOM! Studios. Each issue came out monthly after that (skipping a month here and there), with the last being published in October 2018. There were a total of three collected volumes. The first was published in November 2017, the second in April of 2018, and the final volume in December 2018. An omnibus was released under the "Ultimate Edition" label in October 2019. This edition includes not only all twelve issues, but the entire 2005 graphic novel that came out alongside the original release of the album, and a clean cover gallery.

Creative Team
Ralph "Rags" Morales is well known for his work on Identity Crisis and Action Comics from DC Comics. He did all of the art in this chapter which is unique from previous ones who often had issues with keeping consistent art throughout. He specializes in penciling and inking. He has said that can't seem to do stock-like poses and prefers "communicative movement" in his poses. Morales did all the standard covers as well.

He works with Emilio Lopez, who colored all his art for this chapter, covers included. Lopez has done art for Bioshock, Metal Gear, X-Men, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He shares lots of personal art revealing a love of video games, anime, and other artistic media.

Variant Cover Artists
This chapter had a unique cover for fans who subscribed to receive the issues. There were a few other variants for special events. Here is the list:

Album Comparison
"" The album focuses very heavily on Ryder and will often flip between what he thinks he sees, and what's really happening. And then it will flash over to Claudio to show how things are connected. It is very disjointed chronologically as well. For example, "The Suffering" is the first song chronologically (issue 1), followed by "Welcome Home" in issue 2, but Issue 4 is split between "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood & Burial)", "Crossing the Frame", "Once Upon Your Dead Body" (and other events into issue 8), & "Mother May I" just all from different perspectives or about different events. "The Lying Lies & Dirty Secrets of Miss Erica Court" is from Ryder's perspective in Issue 5, but "Wake Up" is from Erica's and goes into issue 6. "The Willing Well IV: The Final Cut" depicts events that start in issue 6, but conclude in 12. "Apollo I: The Writing Writer" starts in issue 8 but goes into 10, while "The Willing Well II: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" starts in 9 but also ends in 10. "The Willing Well I: Fuel for the Feeding End" is of issue 11 and "The Willing Well III: Apollo II: The Telling Truth" is issue 12.

This actually leaves a gaps: There's nothing depicting issues 3 (where Claudio goes to his childhood home and visits Newo) & 7 (where they steal the Terrine of Anonymity from the Narrows/visit Hilmgore), and basically seems to not focus on any of the events happening with Inferno and the rebellion. One theory for this is that the title for Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV - Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow is meant to be taken literally... that is, it is the other half of the Good Apollo chapter and depicts these missing events, as well as the proper conclusion.

Trivia

 * The title is actually the last line that Claudio says at the end of the last chapter, Keeping Secrets.
 * Because the comics do not make the distinction between Volume 1 (From Fear...) and Volume 2 (No World...) clear, we are going to assume the comics for Volume 2 will continue under the general title of Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, until shown otherwise.