Undiscovered Country #15 (September 1): Snyder and Soule deliver a fairly straight-forward issue here as the team encounters exactly the sort of legends that you'd expect them to find in Loreville: Davey Crockett, John Henry, Annie Oakley, George Washington, etc.
After a skirmish with the team, Oakley and her crew bring them to Washington who informs them that the "war" destroyed almost all the inspiration that Possibility possessed. As such, he isn't sure if Ace will be able to create his masterpiece. Washington explains that Prosperity's human founders created the biosynthetic legends whom the team has encountered throughout the Zone because they needed inspiration (given that the outside world was shut to them). One of these legends was the Crossroads Devil - the mythical figure in many tales who offers what your heart desires...for a cost. The Devil convinced Loreville's residents to kill all the humans (i.e., the aforementioned "war") except for the ones needed to maintain the Anything Engines. Washington and others resisted, and the humans eventually unleashed a flood, destroying the Devil and the Engines.
Washington explains that many legends still kill humans in the hope that the Devil lives, explaining why the gangsters and mermaids attacked them in issue #13. Moreover, some legends are simply insane, as Valentina learned when she encountered Captain Flag and his crew last issue. Brer Rabbit informs the team that one Anything Machine allegedly exists on the Mix, and the team decides to head there. Later that night, Washington expresses hope to Annie that the team can succeed. He then descends in an elevator to meet the Devil, who's pleased when Washington informs him that the team bought the story.
Snyder and Soule continue to recover their footing with this arc, which makes sense given its focus on storytelling. One challenge at this point is that it's starting to feel formulaic: the team arrives at a new zone, figures out the puzzle, and moves to the next zone. Snyder and Soule are surely aware of that, so I wonder what they going to do to shake up the formula when we presumably move to the next zone.
Die #20 (September 29): At the end, I have no idea how I feel about this issue or this series.
Gillen takes the easy way out here when he reveals that Die isn't planning on taking over Earth so much as living off the Earthlings playing RPGs. In addition to this last-minute shift in the series' purported stakes, Gillen doesn't ever fully explain Die's nature. For example, it still isn't clear how Die became sentient. Although it exposits the steps that set up its existence - Reisswitz for the mechanics, the Brontës for the means, Tolkein for the material, and Sol for the construction - Gillen never really explains how the god at the end of time made it all work.
As such, the story simply ends. Since Sol's death means only five of them can return home, Chuck dies so Sol can live. The team then answers Die's question about its purpose and leaves. We learn that Mistress Woe lied and Matt's dad is still alive, that Sol's wife gave birth to a child, that Chuck kills himself again so Case can feed on him and survive (though I don't understand how because I'm pretty sure Case isn't Fallen) and that Case, Chuck, and Molly seem now to work for Die, that Izzy seems likely to write down their experiences, that Sol's mom gets to have her son back.
I'm not how this series would've ended without Covid-19. I wonder if Gillen will address that at some point. But, Covid-19 saves this series a bit for me, because its moral - whatever it originally was supposed to be - is that we need to find a way to live in a changed world. Even Ash and company's attempt to change an RPG world failed; in the end, they just have to live with the world as it is.
As should be clear from my last few reviews, I feel disappointed in this series. For me, Gillen got lost in the swirl of ideas, which impacted his ability to tell a coherent story. I have the vague sense Gillen meant to go somewhere else with the story but wound up so off track he couldn't get there. I understand that. I can imagine Covid-19 exacerbated the sense that he couldn't accurately convey the reality that he wanted. I feel like this ending presents that honestly, making me more comfortable with the long detours and dropped threads. I think that it's probably the sort of series that benefits from a re-read once you know where it's going and maybe I'll re-read it someday. For now, I'll just agree that we have to live with the world as presented. It wasn't the ending I wanted, but that axiom covers why I just have to accept that.
Undiscovered Country #16 (September 29): We get another straight-forward issue here as the team enters the Mix and activates the Anything Engine. The Devil plans on making the team an offer they can't refuse, in which they'd stay in Prosperity and continues creating, though I'm guessing that the team isn't going to win in that bargain. The most interesting part of the issue is the flashback in which we learn that items from America - such as gigantic mutated creatures floating in the Gulf of Mexico or a 300-year-old 2019 U.S. quarter surfacing in Bangkok - appeared on the outside, guiding Ace in his research (and setting up his conflict with the Lafayette Group, which wanted to promote the idea of a stable America inside the walls). I'm not sure why it's important, but it seems significant.
Also Read: Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton #4 (September 8)
No comments:
Post a Comment