The circle completes and begins again.

With this issue, Mike Johnson and Rafael Albuquerque close the first arc of their time-hopping series.  I’ve really enjoyed the book thus far, though I’m not as sure about some of the directions that the series is taking.  The story is still great and it reads very well, it’s just that a few of the things that had drawn me in are shifting a bit.

Mike Johnson is still rocking it with the story.  We’re well beyond explanations at this point, and this issue moves with breakneck speed, culminating everything we’ve seen up to this point.  We’ve spent a lot of time investing in this shifting, moving world, and though things seem like they’re settling into where we can be comfortable with the story, this pair lets the stairs become a ramp and sends us headlong into another direction.  A lot of time was spent on a certain character, and it now seems that it was only a prelude to a larger world.

The artwork continues to be top-notch (though I did catch a very tiny continuity error), and I’m really loving how expressive all of the characters seem to be in any position, whether we can see their faces or not.  Albuquerque has a solid handle on the form of body language and uses it wisely to sell us on what’s going on.

As for the things that bother me, I’m really worrying about Nila.  When we first met her, she was a tough-as-nails badass that I had hoped was going to be a Furiosa-like character who would meet and exceed the ideal of the strong female character, but, in the last couple of issues ,I feel like she’s being relegated into a more subservient role to Joshua, who I don’t necessarily feel is stronger or better than she is in an even contest.  Now, this may just be me feeling this way because we haven’t gotten much about Joshua, and there is certainly an emotional strength to Nila that’s very enjoyable. I just hope in future issues she gets to kick ass and save some folks on her own, too.

Aside from that, I still think this is one of the most fun and interesting titles going right now and love to see the twists each new issue brings.  And, let me just say, when you hit the epilogue, you’re going to realize that this story is far from over, and the world is much bigger and weirder than you can expect.  Enjoy it when it hits shops this Wednesday.

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