The biggest gamble yet.
Creative Staff:
Story: Tom King
Art: Mitch Gerards
Colors: Mitch Gerards
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
If there’s one thing popular fiction has taught us by now, it’s: never make a deal with the devil! And yet Mister Miracle is still listening when Darkseid approaches him with just such a devilish proposition—if Scott sends his newborn son to Apokolips, there will be peace on New Genesis. Since when has Darkseid been famous for his honesty?! It’ll be a miracle if this doesn’t blow up in Scott’s face.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get into the penultimate issue of Mister Miracle there’s just that sense of absolute tension about it. Tom King has put together a plan over the run that ratcheted things up well, bit by bit, so that when the big play from Darkseid was put into motion the payoff was in the psychological aspects of it. Here, we get to see what they decide on doing and watch it unfold, which is wonderfully illustrated once again by Mitch Gerards. He’s done some great things over the run with creative use of the panels and we get more of that here once again, especially those early pages that uses the nine panels for one image and creatively moves around it. I love how well Gerards has felt suited to this work as he’s got such a distinctive style that won’t click for certain types of tales. But here, it’s like this is a “born to do this” kind of project.
The bulk of it takes place on Apokalips and it’s fun watching the lead-up to that since anyone who tries to take a one-year-old anywhere is going to run into problems like this. Spending the whole issue inside a single room with Darkseid on his throne and basically saying very little while pushing the deal forward is just fantastic. Desaad is pretty much his voice in all matters, which leads to some interesting moments of accusation early on, and we also get a brief bit with Leilani at the start that provides for some lighter material. The idea of these parents coming here with Jacob and to give him to Darkseid in exchange for an end to the war and the Anti-Life Equation is one that’s fully wrapped in seriousness. But doing the early pages of it in a way that feels like a family reunion with silly bits and awkward bits gives it the right feeling.
What makes the book fun is waiting for the twist to hit and then getting surprised by two of them. While the second is one that’s best left to the book itself and the finale, the first one is largely waiting for Scott and Barda to put their plan into motion, whatever it is. You know they’re not going to give up their son and have a plan and once they get what they want in the trade they make a push through some creativity in weapon design to try and kill off Darkseid, who is already wounded from giving up an eye as part of the deal. Jacob is absolutely adorable in this early on in how he plays with Darkseid but shifting from that to some brutal sequences combined with a good look at what made Scott who he is is strongly laid out. Again, you know that Scott and Barda aren’t going to go through with it but the delight is in seeing their plan unfold.
In Summary:
Mister Miracle pulls off a miracle here but it’s both an expected one at first and then an unexpected one at the end that’s going to throw everything into chaos. Tom King has crafted a strong book throughout the run and that really does carry through here in a really great way as it touches on so many different areas while keeping Scott central to it all. But it doesn’t mean Barda, Jacob, and the rest are unimportant as their roles here are just as big in many ways. I loved what Mitch Gerards did throughout this with the visual design and his interpretation of Darkseid but I also just adore how brutal he plays with the cast as they go through the fights, making it feel like it has some real impact. I can’t wait to see what the finale brings but at the same time I’m really not looking forward to this experience ending.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: September 19th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
