The final lows before an ascent.
Creative Staff:
Story: Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson
Art: Eoin Marron
Colors: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
What They Say:
Lynn enters the center of the Inferno with those who turn their backs. Lucifer lies in wait with the final offer to end her suffering. Will Lynn find her forsaken family?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I really enjoyed the run that was Her Infernal Descent but the final issue is one that will definitely put some readers through the wringer. Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson take Lynn through the final stages of her journey and it connects well in establishing the path that she’s on and how to finally progress. This issue does have one big change from the previous issues in that Eoin Marron is handling the artwork after Kyle Charles did the rest. Marron does a solid job here in that it looks and feels like what we had but you can definitely tell the differences. I’ve liked a lot of what Marron has done elsewhere but it’s highly unfortunate that we had to go through an artist change for the finale and that it took four months between the last issue and this one to bring the run to a close.
Lynn’s journey is one that is, naturally, a very personal and painful one and the run has done a really good job of exploring it over the course of the previous issues as she’s had to grapple with the reality of it. As she closes in on the final layer and what it offers there, we see how William and Agatha are doing their best to guide her so she can get the resolution she needs, though there’s still a little tension and back and forth to be had. The final layers are interesting enough with how they’re presented, and I loved a little moment with Ray Bradbury, but the key piece that’s brought out here is how the whole of all of this is Lucifer himself, much as God is heaven and the paradise above. We get that realized in human form of course but the blending of the personification and the place is an interesting angle to work with, especially as Lynn is venturing down into the final level, the bowels of hell and Lucifer itself.
The actual encounter with Lucifer is handled well but it comes after Lynn makes the reveal of what happened in the real world with her family and her responsibility toward it that has left her in the state that she’s in. It’s a rough piece as she goes on, all while William and Agatha make clear she doesn’t, but the nature of it just comes across so honestly combined with the artwork that it really makes an impact on the reader. Which in turn makes the time with Lucifer all the better, mostly because of the reunion that we do get with her family and the closure of it all. Her journey, struggle, the descent… it all comes down to these moments and it’s wonderfully presented. The closure that she gets that lets her move forward again reminds us of those opening pages of living in that hollowed and empty house but now able to start bringing some form of life back into it.
In Summary:
Her Infernal Descent wasn’t always an easy read with its content and the leaning into some of the literary aspects that didn’t quite flow well for me, but it was a strong work as a whole. This finale only suffers for me in that it’s several months late and it loses some of its energy from that, but for those that read it later in singles and trade form that won’t matter and it’s simply a solid culmination of events following Lynn’s story. Eoin Marron stepped in well and delivered a great looking book that captured the essence of what came before. This was a really great series that stands apart from what a lot of comics do in general, and what a lot of AfterShock Comics has done, and has me hopeful for more intriguing works like this.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: December 5h, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
