I'm a well read grad student who's bluntly honest about all things, although I try to be most honest about myself.
I didn't really enjoy this issue: it was all monologue, did tie up a couple storylines, but it didn't set the stage for the next story. The 'it was more like a rebirth' line at the end was lame, and made me embarrassed to be reading this.
It also didn't feel like it flowed. Dialogue and less of 'going over what had already happened making this feel like half a recap issue' would have made this issue a smoother reading for me.