The final part of the six issue series, Wild’s End has arrived. The series has given us a higher death count than I could have imagined, horror, adrenaline surged suspense,and so much mystery. Where has it all been leading to? A great revelation or has the wool been pulled over our eyes?
Neither.
Our small band of survivors led by Clive, the old Sea Dog have come face to face with an even bigger menace. They have been chased to a dead end in their attempts to protect the town. Now it becomes a race as they figure out a way to survive and defend themselves against this relentless laser-killing machine.
The six issue series has come to a calming end. Which annoyed the heck out of me initially. Wild’s End is a series that I have grown to love and admire. It is so vastly different from the rest of the comics I have been following. My expectations for a satisfactory ending were high.
Instead, I was given natural end to the story. Our band of survivors, well, survive. They walk calmly, shakily, back to town quietly and licking old wounds. Yet there is no heavy sense of a finale. It reeks of falsity, a calm before the storm. Clive seems to have a premonition as he looks up into the sky and ponders.
After the adventure and intrigue, the series ends in an anticlimactic way. For a science-fiction mystery comic, nothing was solved. The current actions of just surviving took up most of the characters energy and attention. Just like the reader, our characters are left to wonder and question: what the bloody hell is going on?!
The small spider robots and the huge long-legged gas lamp were quick to annihilate various town occupants using lasers. This suggests that this is an automatic trigger device. An “essence” escapes from these contraptions when they die. Are these “essences” nano-pilots? Do they contain microorganisms or something to power these mechanical horrors?
Even though the attack powers of these contraptions were great, they were easily annihilated. All anyone needs is to shoot the casing. Or, apparently, mow them down.Which in hindsight seems a bit too easy.From the ominous final panel, I speculate that these were more scouts than actual horrors. Which means something even worse is coming. Our characters are exhausted and traumatized but that must be trivial compared to what’s coming up.
There just has to be more to this story. I also want to see more of these characters. In just six issues, I have grown attached to them–Especially the cigarette smoking writer cat.
The conclusion of Wild’s End is available at your comic book retailer February 11, 2015.
