Donny Cates shows us his own struggles with bringing the story to a grand ending. The very first panel reflects this as a creator draws the Jump-The-Shark scene from Happy Days. This comic is constantly taking risks and at any moment there is the fear that it will go too far and lose the audience. But it’s the skill of Cates along with the perfect artwork by Geoff Shaw that keeps us immersed in spite of the big risks.
The first scene pulls back to Pendleton interviewing his chief suspect, Donny Cates himself. Cates has emerged from the bubble and Pendleton grills him on the nature of his stories and his power over his characters invading reality. Cates tells Pendleton that Crossover was meant to be a love story but got off track. Pendleton is obsessed over how the story will end.
Ellie meanwhile gets a visit from a self-obsessed and classically unnamed writer. He also is obsessed with endings and Ellie’s place in his own story. The characters from Powers make another appearance including Christian Walker making it clear that the reports of his powers being gone are woefully incorrect. They are on the trail of a killer and the prisoner takes them to a baseball field where they encounter…Negan himself. He meets them with Lucille in hand setting up a massive face off for the next issue.
The issue nicely begins with the crossover between reality and fiction and ends with a massive character reveal as the world of The Walking Dead has crashed into our narrative. This issue is a perfect encapsulation of what this book is about, massive surprises, great character work, interesting meta textual commentary and great art. This book is one we’ll be rereading for decades to come, revealing more nuance each time we read it. Cates and Shaw are incredible story-tellers and have so much to say about comics and writing even while they bring in more and more toys to play with.
Writing: 4.7 of 5 stars
Art: 4.8 of 5 stars
Colors: 4.7 of 5 stars
Overall: 4.7 of 5 stars
Writer: Donny Cates
Art: Geoff Shaw
Colors: Dee Cunniffe
Publisher: Image Comics
Author Profile
- M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.
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