REVIEW: The Last Fall #3

Written by Tom Waltz
Art by Casey Maloney
Published by IDW Publishing
Release date: November 19, 2014

After a three month wait between issues 2 and 3, The Last Fall is back. Will this third installment finally start giving us some answers?

If you“re unfamiliar with The Last Fall, the series follows Marcus Fall, a soldier in a long-running interplanetary war for resources and power. After many years of combat, Fall decides to leave the military service and return home to his wife and son, only to see them murdered by a suicide bomber. Enraged, Marcus rejoins the service vowing to take revenge on all his enemies. Unfortunately, Marcus is betrayed by his friends and is now presumed dead. Luckily for him, he is being taken care of by a doctor who has suffered as much grief and loss and he has.

This issue offers a great deal of backstory on Marcus and has some really tender moments. The flashback pages where he tells his son the story about his own father fighting in a war is delightful and moving. It“s really great seeing the bond that Marcus and his son shared, and does a nice job and showing how tragic war can be, especially when a father loses a son.

Tom Waltz is doing a great job writing this book and really diving deep into the characters“ histories in order to create a richer character in present. I am really enjoying how Waltz is able to tackle such serious and important topics as war and death in this book without ever coming off preachy. Sure, there are times when the writing can be a little dense, and there is a lot of dialogue in this book, but it is far more engrossing than I imagined the book would be.

As good as the story is, I can“t say I was very thrilled with the art. There are some moments where Maloney“s style shines through quite well, but overall, the pencil work is much less polished and clean than I normally like. Where Maloney shines is in conveying expression and emotions and there is a lot of that happening in this book.

Overall, The Last Fall #3 is another great installment to the series with a lot of great exposition. As long as IDW can keep publishing these books on schedule, they may have a sleeper hit with this series.

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Author Profile

Martin Ferretti

Martin Ferretti is an avid comic book reader, Hearthstone player, IT professional, father, and all around geek. His fascination with Valiant Comics may be bordering on the insane, but hey, it keeps him happy. Follow him @Valiant_Central on Twitter or his Valiant news and reviews site ValiantCentral.com