Reading 1

Past: Five of swords
Present: Nine of swords, reversed
Future: Five of wands, reversed
Influences: Knight of coins, reversed
Potential: Six of cups

This relationship has never gone smoothly. Any victory achieved has been hollow (five of swords) and ultimately unsatisfying. The situation persists to present day, but now fraught with a certain degree of self-loathing (nine of swords, reversed). The situation will bring out the worst in everyone but is likely to just go out with a fizzle because everyone is sick of it (five of wands reversed). 

Influencing the sitch is a miasma of stagnation and dissatisfaction (knight of coins). I sure don't know how to address that in order to reconnect with old friends (six of cups). Except an incredibly powerful common enemy. 

Reading 2 
Past: page of wands, reversed
Present: nine of swords, for fuck's sake
Future: four of wands
Influences: ace of cups
Potential: judgement

I have a lot of ideas that I'm struggling to realize (page of wands, reversed). The story is full of dread, ticking timelines, and prophecy (nine of swords). Especially prophecy, because the nine of swords in this deck I'm using portrays the Oracle of Delphi telling Laius that his son is going to kill him. 

The future of this is... well, the four of wands is normally one of the happiest cards you can pull. Reversed... well, it usually symbolizes a private journey, but in this particular case I interpret it as the situation getting FUBAR'd. 

The situation is influenced by, like, spiritual rebirth, unconditional love, and stuff (ace of cups)? I mean the party is currently in the land of the dead, if they survive that could count as a rebirth. I was tempted to interpret this as a literal looming campaign reboot but this is the ace of cups, not Death or the Tower, dammit. 

The potential of the situation is represented by the card of judgement, which in my deck is portrayed by the Monkey King leaping between the Buddha's fingers. In this position of the spread I'm not sure how to interpret Judgement, except as an indicator that it's time to shit or get off the pot. 

Reading comics
Garth Ennis's Rover Red Charlie is one of the happiest things I've seen Garth Ennis write. I guess narrating a transcontinental journey from the perspective of three dogs will do that to you. However it is a postapocalyptic transcontinental journey, and still has got some brutal violence, rotting corpses, and radiation sickness. Dogs are not immune to the horrors of the end times, but on the plus side, the main trio of dogs do not die and they get a happy ending. Way happier than Pride of Baghdad, anyways. 3/5, recommended to anyone with a decent tolerance for comic book violence.