Will you go the distance?
Creative Staff:
Story: Brian Wood
Art: Garry Brown
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
What They Say:
Poachers, trophy seekers, killing contests, and sport hunting: Ninth Wave is having none of that. This series concludes with a roaring story of bravery and comradeship on the plains of Africa.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Ninth Wave miniseries draws to a close with this installment and I’m already feeling its loss. With a lot of material set up in the main series that ran previously, I really got into these smaller stories that take place earlier in the narrative to give us a look at what went on with the crew and some of the things they dealt with. There’s a rich layer of stories to be told in this world and I’m hopeful that we’ll see more of them in the future, be they one-shots or a miniseries storyline. Surprisingly, not a lot of books are really dealing with this kind of material and it’s definitely a loss for the marketplace to not have more. Wood’s work here continues to be one of the best signposts on how to produce it thoug.
This final installment works two stories that are related in theme as they unfold. The one that attracted me the most is that of Callum where he’s giving a talk about what it means to do what he does. There’s the dialogue of the right and moral thing he did, which as we saw previously was taken advantage of with a terrorist slipping through, and he acknowledges the price that has to be paid for it. And the push here is one that works because the world is in a state where things have to change, people have to put themselves out fully in front of what’s coming to do the right thing and accept the consequences. Callum certainly does just that and struggles with them, but he knows what he did was right. It’s great to just see him having this conversation and to show the stand that he’s taking all while encouraging others to do so. It’s preachy but necessary.
With the other story we see those that are part of the Ninth Wave doing just that, which is why they’re aligned and work alongside Callum. Shifting us to Africa where a big game hunter has paid everything he needs to in order to “legally” go after an important and well known lion in the area, it shows Callum’s crewmates working to stop it through nonviolent methods. While you may want them to just go in and shoot the hunter or something big and splashy, the truth is that it really wouldn’t solve anything because it’s made clear that it’s a corruption issue on top of the privilege of wealth that allows the hunter to do what he does. It’s really neat to see how the pair works to deal with him and a bit of the local side as well as it all comes together to reinforce the point that Callum makes in his conversation.
In Summary:
The Massive: Ninth Wave is a pretty strong miniseries overall with what it does because a miniseries of standalone stories is pretty rare these days. Everything has to have meaning or be a part of something larger, so getting something like this that digs into six or more stories within the installments expands the narrative in an engaging way. Wood definitely delivers across the board here and in this finale and he made out wonderfully once again with Garry Brown on board. Brown really captures a great look for both auditorium and Africa in this while ensuring that our characters are engaging beyond just the words provided but through posture and expression. I really enjoyed this series overall and the finale delivers what I’d hoped for.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 11th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
