And so, too, must all things end, and what then?
Have you had that moment when a story finishes, regardless of the medium, and you find yourself disoriented? Like you’re caught between the place you were in the tale and the world in which you pay your taxes and do your grocery shopping? You take a deep breath, your focus having been so completely in that other place that you scarcely breathed, and whatever compelling part of the story that drew you so far in lingers awhile, overlaying your reality like an AR game. This is the feeling that some of the greatest stories I’ve read have left me with, and every one of them lingers into the “waking world” (for lack of a better term), because the truth that lays at the heart of them was powerful. Rick Remender has assembled just this sort of tale from top to bottom, and the finale is wonderfully executed. There’s a breath after the last page where you’ll need that moment to remove yourself from that world, and the cautionary tale within will stick with me for a really long time.
I don’t want to spoil anything in this review, but I want to definitely talk about the fact that the plot boils down to Debbie making a choice. This is nothing revelatory, but the fact that the one choice is extremely bad and makes the opposing one seem very good, but when you sit with it longer it presents a moral quandary that isn’t quite as clear cut. Davey’s choice is the delusions of a maniac, but Debbie’s choice is, in the fundamental sense, just as wrong. Each of them would remove the agency of all of the people in the world, and the “good” option is just better at covering itself up. There’s such a fantastic mix of messages and truly interesting qualities to the writing overall that it will be hard to accept that this is our final issue. I’ve always been a fan of “Leave ’em wanting more,” because the world will obviously continue, even though the story being told there has reached a conclusion. It’s wonderfully touching and inspirational, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
The art team slams it out of the park once more. Innovative scene compositions and a fantastic attention to detail make this book feel like the ones I grew up with. The ability of the work to enhance not only the tension but the wondrous range of emotional mish-mosh on display is fantastic, and there’s no way to look at any panel and not have it resonate with you in some way. I’ve loved the imagination of the world, and the conclusion brings it to a balanced whole. While it pales in comparison to the arc in Tokyo, it’s fitting and lovely to see how the world changes.
Intelligent and engaging, this has been a series that I’ve loved reading, and hopefully someday we may see more adventure in this world. I know I would be the first in the shop to pick up a copy.
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