#31 - #36 "The Counterfifth Detective"
What's It About: Introducing Milo Garret, a private eye detective and former Minuteman who has gotten himself mixed in a mystery so deep that almost everyone drowns.
What's Happens: The arc starts off in #31, where the scene is at Milo's office, and is actually the ending in #36. Nothing is given away at this point yet though, and soon the story cuts back to several days back when Milo had just been discharged from hospital (He received the attaché from Agent Graves at the hospital in #27). Milo was going to meet Karl Reynolds, an art dealer who had gotten him hospitalized, but more importantly, the man who had employed him to track another man - Monroe Tennenbaum. On his way to Karl's, he bumps into Lono leaving the place, and after that finding Karl sporting a bullet in his head.
#32: Milo wanted to know why Karl wanted him dead despite hiring him, but with Karl dead, there was no way to find out. So Milo instead went for Monroe. Monroe spills the beans and it turns out that Karl wanted Monroe to find an old painting about 400 years old (hint!) but Monroe couldn't get it for Karl. Lono then approaches Monroe and buys it from him instead, which means Karl was hanging loose, and that's my guess why Karl hired Milo to track Monroe.
Issue #33 begins with a short flashback scene of Milo's car accident which got his face disfigured and all messed up. When Milo wakes up from his dream, he meets City Detective Chet Fargas who starts interrogating Milo about Karl's death. Milo lets him in on some info, while cutting him out from the more important details. After Chet leaves, Milo checks up on the people who've had fine art shipped within the last month, and one name corresponds to the list of names in Karl's diary - Megan Dietrich. Milo Garret then assumes a false identity - Mr. Lewis - a rich chap who wants to invest his bonds with Megan's security company. He then cleverly changes the subject to works of art and tries to make the connections to Karl Reynolds. At that time, he came up with nothing.
To add further twist to the plot, another new character appears - Echo Memoria. She claimed to be Monroe's lover and that they had worked together in France to acquire the painting but Monroe cheated her. Milo did some homework and was broke into Monroe's hotel room. Not long after, he caught Megan there. She said Monroe wanted to meet her to set up a charitable organization for Karl. Soon both Milo and Megan were shocked to find Monroe dead in his own room's toilet.
In #34, Megan and Milo have a chat about Lono and his history with Megan's family. Somehow, it now appears that Megan has the painting everyone's after and Karl wants it bad. She also said that Karl (before he died) threatened to inform the former owner (My guess: Echo, and to inform her of what I don't know). It's revealed at the conclusion that Lono and Echo have been working together to get the painting, which explains why Lono killed Karl and then later robbed Megan's house of her painting in #36. Before the painting was stolen, Milo gets a glimpse of the painting at the end of #34. He sees the word Croatoa and all his past starts coming back to him.
The only event in #35 related to the investigation was Echo providing some information to Milo. She said that she helped Monroe get the painting but she wasn't paid so now she wants the painting back. When Lono arrives (Lono and Echo are actually working together), everything sort of plans out for both of them when Lono throws Echo and Milo out of the window onto the pavement below. Both survive, but Echo remains innocent in Milo's eyes.
In #36, Megan finds out that Mr. Lewis is actually Milo and mistakenly thinks that Milo had something to do with the painting being stolen from her mansion. Milo is confused, but when he sees Echo Memoria's entry in Karl's datebook, everything hits him, including Lono as well. Lono was sent by Echo to finish off Milo, probably in case Milo got too close to their scheme. So, in the end, the Minuteman dies, killed by one of his own.
Interesting Thoughts: This review only focuses on the painting heist and its mysteries. A lot more actually goes on in the storyline, such as Milo meeting Graves and Cole Burns after he regained his lost memories, and also his sexual encounters with his girlfriend and Megan Dietrich. Milo also went through a short road of self-discovering, asking himself questions like: "Who am I?", while also making his peace with Megan despite their past.
This
arc is the most frustratingly complicated comic story I've ever read, but it
doesn't mask the beauty in language and art which can be found in this arc (and
TPB). Inevitably, I've got some of the facts wrong and I hope you readers will
inform me of your suggestions and corrections. 
Perplexing Questions: 1. Why did Karl want to kill Milo in the first place?
2. If Lono bought the painting from Tennenbaum, how did Megan end up with it?
Possible Ans: Lono was working for Megan to get the painting, before the hit on Karl.
3. Did Karl ever have the painting? Was he with Monroe and Echo in France?
Possible Ans: Karl probably never had the painting and wasn't in France, but someone else was.
4. How did Karl even know Megan had the painting? Why did Echo order Lono to off Karl?
Possible Ans: Perhaps
it was Megan who had Karl killed. Who knows? 
Quotable Quotes: Milo: "The other night..." (When they had sex)
Megan: "...You brought me to that apartment to kill me. I used what I have to stay alive."
Milo: "Encore?"
Megan: "Only if I have to."
