“Into the Unnamable”
Creative Staff:
Story: Sarah Hoyt
Art: Ricardo Bogani
Colors: Werner Sanchez
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
What They Say:
At last, the secrets of the Unnamable are revealed! Having travelled beyond our universe to reach the home of the Unnamable, Barbarella and her stalwart companions may have the answers they’ve been seeking, but they’re very, very far from home, and very, very vulnerable. Can a war between universes be averted? Will the Architects sacrifice our universe in the name of victory? Can we possibly fit in all the answers we’re promising here? One thing’s for sure, our universe will never be the same again. Learn more in this final chapter!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a really strong ten-issue run out previously, this new series wraps up like most of this run with some interesting ideas and a good sense of crazy. The first series had that as well as Sarah Hoyt turned in a very strong, engaging, and enjoyable read in that run that I really dreaded the thought of losing them as the writer behind it, especially with such a great art team bringing it about visually. This series did a great job of connecting with past works while still feeling connected to the film in its own way so I’m beyond glad that they’re back for more. This time around, Ricardo Bogani is on board for the artwork and they’re bringing their own look and style to the series, especially with Werner Sanchez coming on for the color design. It’s not a carbon copy of what we had before and I’m excited to see more of their style with this run as it goes on and they get even more comfortable and experimental with it.
With a few months between the previous issue and this finale,l well, that never helps especially if you read a lot of books. The finale works about as expected with some fun out of left field twists that keep you guessing to a degree. Hoyt handles things well in dealing with what Vix’s people, the Architects, are doing as she realizes that the majority of them are not taught about the true goals of their people. With some rough mental probing of Durix once again, she discovers the whole idea of basically ascending and creating a new universe to control everything in and she uses Durix to confront them about it. What’s amusing and completely nonsensical is that when she makes it very clear in simple language about the scale of wrong they’re doing, almost all of the elders snap to reality. It’s just pure nonsense but it’s how I expected things to end here. While Durix can’t go along with it, the rest have realized the error of their ways and are going to try and fix it.
Of course, they can’t undo the damage they’ve done so instead they get off easy by going to the other universe that Barbarella was involved in helping to create and they’ll strengthen the barrier so they can never interfere again. Vix gets to stay behind but even that feels kind of cruel in some ways. Things wrap up easily enough in this regard and all the drama falls away, unfortunately. The tension with Jack, which already felt forced, just dissipates and it’s all-friends now. The biggest drama is Taln revealing to Barbarella the truth about how he has to find out who he is and where he comes from in this holographic sense and it’s a journey she can’t go on. There’s no real tension to it even though it’s been seeded well enough since early on but that’s mostly because we’re used to Barbarella (and Vix) moving on and not staying with anyone for too long of a period. It’s almost refreshing to cast the supporting characters away here at the end and open it up to whatever the next series brings.
In Summary:
I enjoyed this series well enough as it had some good fun to it, some really weird moments, and more time with Vix and their people, which was a treat. But it also felt like a story that needed one more issue for better pacing to tell the finale and to give it the emotional resonance it needed with the characters. What we get just feels a bit rushed and without the kind of material and time it needs to allow us to feel like it’s earned material. It’s not bad per se but it could have been better in that regard. It does look good and has a solid sense of fun as needed, such as the horrified looks on the faces of the Architects, but other areas – notably with Jack – just didn’t click. All in all, a decent bit of fun that has me looking forward to what’s next. And hopefully something a little less huge in scale.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 9th, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
