The Charmed Offensive

The Charmed Offensive is the 12th issue of the Charmed comic series published by Zenescope Entertainment.

Summary
The Charmed Ones and Leo face down impossible challenges in a battle to reclaim the Heavens, conquer the Underworld, and save the Earth. It's a fight that's been brewing since long before the prophecy of The Charmed Ones was foreseen and building since the first issue of the comic book. When this battle ends the Charmed universe may never look the same.

Characters

 * Returning
 * Neena
 * Rennek
 * The Elders
 * Patty Halliwell
 * Penny Halliwell
 * Sam Wilder
 * Coop
 * Henry Mitchell
 * Kyle Brody
 * Melinda Warren
 * Cole Turner
 * Angel of Destiny
 * The Warren Witches

Plot
Piper and Phoebe are in the attic. Sam has prepped their "Whitelighter delivery service" to get everyone Up There, but Piper wants him to stay behind. Coop gets his old Cupid bow; and tell Phoebe that he'll use it to weaken demons with arrows of Love. Meanwhile Henry looks over Paige's body. Paige's spirit is assembling the Warren witches.

Up There, the glowing balls have merged into one giant ball, and Neena is working her magic on it. Leo is still tied up, and Rennek is keeping (poor) eye on him. Piper, Phoebe and Sam orb in, and they decide to wait for the signal, but Leo takes action. He kicks Rennek away, then uses one of the Darklighter arrows to break his shackles. Leo picks up Rennek's crossbow to fend off some demons, then tries to get into the area behind the big doors. Piper and Phoebe use this as their cue, and while they battle some demons, Leo gets in, surmising that there is some Whitelighter left in him.

The Warren witches wait beyond the gates of the Ancestral Plane, and Paige hears an explosion. She has Grams open the gates for Melinda, and the Warren witches charge into the battle. Just before the sisters can get together, Neena reluctantly enters the fray. At that moment, Leo emerges with wings and a flaming sword. He takes out some winged demons, and Paige telekinetically orbs Neena away briefly.

Sam, Henry and Coop arrive, with Henry carrying Paige's body. The sisters make Paige whole again. Neena returns, but Leo continues to take out demons, resulting in a standoff. Neena is angry that they're all ungrateful, because without her, they wouldn't exist.

Neena continues to justify her actions, and Phoebe uses empathy to feel Neena's emotions. Piper tells Phoebe to turn the emotions back on Neena; Phoebe tries and sparks starts flying from her hands into Neena's head. The emotions are too much to handle and they both fall to the ground. However, the psychic blast is powerful enough to incapacitate Neena for a short while. As Paige helps Phoebe up, the latter tells her sisters that she also felt compassion from Neena and realize that Neena truly believes she is doing what's best. She then tells them she didn't know if she could use those emotions against Neena.

Piper tells them to move to plan B, binding Neena's powers, while she is still incapacitated. Piper then pour a potion on Neena's chest and the sisters cast their spell. However, they alone aren't powerful enough to do it, but all the Warren Witches together are able to pull off the spell. After binding Neena's powers, the sisters turn their attention to the sphere of light and dark; with the help of the Elders and Leo's sword, they break apart the spheres. That changes Up There back to normal.

Piper asks Grams why Prue couldn't join them. Grams is evasive, but Patty pushes her to tell the truth. Grams explains Prue was resurrected, because she had yet to fulfill her destiny when she was killed. Piper asks if Prue is one of their kids, but Grams says she's not one of their daughters, but a stranger, because she was reborn before the sisters had kids. She won't recognize the sisters, but at some point, they'll recognize her soul.

The Angels of Destiny show up and say they'll no longer interfere, and neither will the Elders. They explained that the sister's children will grow up without the threat of prophecy, fear of the Cleaners or the manipulation of the Elders. Piper then asks if everyone knew what the Elders tried on her children. The Angels then inform her that they have absolved her children of any potential calling and that one day if the Power of Three transfer to any of the sisters' children, it will happen naturally and not because external forces interceded.

The Angels of Destiny then banish Neena to the realm she created, where six months out of the year, she'll be allowed to be reunited with her beloved, as a compromise. Leo's new powers are here to stay, but he can hide his wings. Kyle and Paige say their goodbyes, and the sisters, their husbands and Sam leave.

As the Warren witches head back behind the gates of the Ancestral Plane, Cole appears from behind a column. He tells Patty she shouldn't have lied about Prue. He wants redemption, and Patty tells him what he needs to do: "Find my daughter, Cole. Find Prue."

Powers Used

 * Molecular Combustion - Piper
 * Orbing - Sam
 * Flight - Leo
 * Telekinetic Orbing - Paige
 * Levitation - Phoebe
 * Empathy - Phoebe
 * Pathokinesis - Phoebe
 * Electrokinesis - Kyle
 * Electrokinesis - Elders
 * Telekinesis - Penny
 * Telekinesis - Melinda

Trivia

 * While Patty and Penny talk to Piper about Prue, they both make up a lie, saying that she was resurrected into someone else, a stranger. However, it now seems she is lost as that Patty asks Cole to bring back her daughter.
 * Leo somehow becomes a magical being, however not much is revealed about what he really is.
 * Paige's appearance in Cover A bares a striking resemblance to the outfit Phoebe wore as a superheroine in the Season 5 episode, Witches In Tights.
 * Paige's appearance on Cover B is based on two Season 8 photoshoots, although in Cover A, her appearance is based on a Season 6 photoshoot.
 * The Heavens is featured in the background of Cover A. So therefore, The Charmed Ones will fight Neena (possibly) Up There. If so, this would be the second time for Phoebe and the fifth time for Piper. It is unknown how many times Paige has been to the Heavens since "Forever Charmed" as in "The Heir Up There", Paige comments that things have changed since Leo's time as an Elder.
 * Cover B of this issue has the same style as the previous issue Last Witch Effort. Also Cover B in the previous one only featured Phoebe. This one here features only Paige, and next issue Cover B will only feature Piper.
 * Phoebe's position, appearance and hair bares a striking resemblance to that of Faith Lehane in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Safe. The background also has some similarities.
 * The title, "The Charmed Offensive", is a reference to the saying the Charm Offensive meaning a publicity campaign used by politicians to attract supporters by emphasizing charisma and trustworthiness.
 * If the eyes shown on Last Witch Effort are Neena's then this will be the second issue to feature a part of her on the main cover.
 * Phoebe and Piper hold the Red and Blue Orbs.
 * A special limited edition cover is based on a episode still from Witches In Tights.
 * This is the second issue which has the word Charmed in the title.
 * Penny uses Telekinesis for the first time in the comics and this is her third appearance.
 * This is the first time Melinda Warren shows her telekinetic powers to the sisters.
 * Phoebe's Pathokinesis power was revealed to be truly powerful. While she couldn't vanquish Neena with her power, she was still able to incapacitate her long enough for her and sisters to get a spell off.
 * Coop used his Cupid-Bow to shoot demons with arrows of Love, weaken them. This was the first time since Prue vanquished Vinceres in season 3 (Primrose Empath), that emotions were used directly against a demon.