A quiet end rather than a bang.
Creative Staff:
Story: Dennis Hopeless
Art: Victor Ibanez
Colors: K.J. Diaz
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Nobody’s ever been careful what they wish for. Lupe is no exception. Loneliness, obsession, and sanity-eating monsters collide in our cosmic horror conclusion. Love conquers all, though… right?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This series has been pretty engaging from the start with how Dennis Hopeless presented it but I was surprised how quickly we got into things and that it’s wrapping up just as quickly – or so I thought before we had a four-month gap between the last issue and this finale. That said, what works the best with this book is that while it plays in familiar territory it’s not in a rush to get through things. It actually has some really solid pacing so that you can feel that end-of-the-world atmosphere to it where there’s a kind of stillness and decay rather than just constant action. We do get action, however, and Victor Ibanez delivers well there with the creatures at hand but also the monster that is humanity. I love the look of the book with all of its details in this area but also just the decaying world aspect which features a lot of neat little things that Diaz can deliver well with the color design.
After all the big moments we had in the previous issue, this one certainly slows things down but there’s still plenty of tension as we wait to see how it’ll wrap things up. With Eddie being caught up in what Lupe was doing topside before, this one has her waking up in the bunker that he has after she’s been passed out for a while and her clothes washed. The confusion is nicely played and as the two connect in person, Eddie does his best to try and make it as calm as possible. But that only goes so far as she’s watching the footage he’s been taking of her forever, and she’s quick to anger in general. His approach certainly has a creepy vibe but there’s also the reality that unless he nuked her, which may ort may not do the job, he’d be killed himself. So watching made the most sense though there’s a stalker element about it as well.
The finale wants to find a way where everyone can live but it has to work through some truths first. Lupe has her accusations but she also makes it clear that she does know and understand all that she’s done at this point, what she’s responsible for. The pieces about her being lonely and how much of this goes back to how terrible childhood is there, and Eddie has a kind of savior mentality about him that’s off-putting. Which makes it a little weird – but not a surprise – that he’s trying to figure out a way that the two of them can go off into the sunset together. With the monsters, of course, because there’s no solution there. Just the end of the world and survivors being wary about them at the least. It’s a subdued ending that has a kind of post-apocalyptic fairy tale aspect ending to it,
In Summary:
To some degree, there’s always that element of you know it would end like this in some form because of all that happened. There was no way to fix the world and the only other option was a kind of death-of-monsters path to follow. But a lot of the energy of what we had with the series up until now just dissipates quickly. There are tense moments because you can’t be sure what the monster will do but the action and intensity from previous issues just isn’t here. It’s an interesting end but one that feels, well, a bit safe after all that we had happened over the run and all the weird places it went and uncertainty it had. It’s solid and well done but I was hoping for something a bit less cerebral for it.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: March 29, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
