A little bit unsatisfied indeed.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dean Motter
Art: Dean Motter
What They Say:
A disappearing skyscraper and a crime lord are revealed in the retrofuturistic metropolis of Radiant City! Mister X, allegedly the city’s mysterious creator, must expose those who threaten his city—but can he do it before they silence him?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fourth and final installment of Mister X: Razed Expectations essentially does what it set out to do, which was to unsettle the reader while teasing them further into the world in which Motter has expanded and created here. The book had been kind of awkward in the two middle issues simply because of the breakup of the story into halves spread across two issues, but each was telling a distinct enough story that reconnected with each other that it did work well enough, though I suspect those picking this up in trade form will get more out of it overall. With the finale here though, there’s an underwhelming feeling about it as the sense that various parts and pieces are put on the table, and it’s unclear where they came from and if they belong to this particular puzzle.
With Mister X having been caught in the trap that was set for him, it doesn’t take much to escape thanks to a little help from Rosetta, who just happened to come across him while doing her own investigation that’s quickly hitting dead ends all around. The dynamic between the two is almost comical in the way he’s so aloof, and while she spins off to do her own thing and investigate the teasing mentions about Simon that he provides, X himself ends up on his own little adventure that involves Mercedes for a bit. That turns into quite the accident with is ex-wife Consuelo coming back from her own misadventures over the years to exact a little revenge on him. It feels out of the blue to bring her into the story, and to wedge in the background with her and Mercedes, and then to put the two women together for a time in the aftermath of the accident as Consuelo ends up dying from her injuries. It’s laid out well, but I’m not sure why it’s there other than to complicate Mercede’s life.
Part of the focus of the series overall has been the mayoral elections and all the weirdness there with the various candidates and their goals, which seemingly turned it into a clown car of awful participants. That does get dealt with here as it goes on, first illuminating that Mister X was involved himself simply to toy with them all and play at the various personalities a bit. But it turns kind of dark as it goes on as most end up in jail over their actions while Staro himself ends up disappearing after a disastrous encounter. With Rosetta having missed out on all the stories thanks to the zombie subplot and the other investigation that kept her out of the city, she ends up connecting with Mister X towards the end and sort of commiserating, but there’s just a weird feeling about the whole encounter in that there’s this sense of unease and that nothing was settled. Which does work, because it’s more like real life there in that there’s no closure, and that’s appropriate for Radiant City. But it is unsettling.
In Summary:
I really enjoyed the Mister X: Razed overall as a miniseries because of what it presented and how it did it, through the dialogue, narration, artwork and color design. But it’s a series that was more engaging as a journey rather than the destination, at least in the monthlies form, as this installment feels incomplete, almost as though there’s no real conclusion but rather just a drifting away of elements that leaves us with that unsettled feeling. There are some neat little moments in it scattered throughout, with Rosetta’s investigating being almost comical to the weirdness of Mercedes’ therapist and what he really is, but for me it’s all about the overall mood and feeling of this really unusual place and what it represents. Though I’m left on kind of a down note here with the final installment, I’m hoping we do get more again sooner rather than later because it’s definitely a very appealing work.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 27th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
