A Classic Never-Was
Art Team: Tyler Kirkham, Arif Prianto, David Baron
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: September 12, 2018
This is it, the end of the road for the Immortal Men, and while some send-offs can be bittersweet this is not one of those occasions. The title Immortal Men has been off the rails from the start and does nothing in its concluding issue to rectify that fact. As a matter of fact, it only throws more garbage on the junk pile, until it spills over into a non-ending, that will surely make anyone who spent the $18 to collect all six issues furious. So let's see where it all goes wrong this issue ... join me.
The issue begins with the Infinite Woman's calling a council meeting of the other four Immortal Clans, who were named checked but never previously seen in this series and its present-day events, as they gather to discuss the Immortal Man's death. Shocked to hear of his passing, the meeting serves only for the three parties who show to agree to meet again later. We waste five pages in the final issue to really never revisit this idea again, five pages this story could have used elsewhere. Things are going great.
Then its off to visit Waller with Caden's bodyguard Roderick. He tries to draw Waller's attention to the fact there are crazy Immortal people fighting for the fate of the world under everyone's noses, you just can see them. Waller takes the bait and agrees to help, with Roderick stipulating she helps him find Caden as well, and we never revisit the situation again. You starting to get the point yet.
Remember the Batman who Laughs? He was in this story at one point too, doing things. I just want to highlight how much has been thrown at the wall throughout this series without any real point to any of it. That continues in a big way as we end.
We eventually see Caden and his team deep inside the Infinite Woman's headquarters, giving the business to any Bloodless they come across, as Caden is gifted different abilities along the way from his new blood mask. From here on out things get real hazy, for both the art and storytelling, as the book attempts to wind down and tell some semblance of a story ... kind of.
What is supposed to be the big showdown between Caden and the Infinite Woman runs a full two panels in length, where Caden looks to be about chopped in half on the first swing of a sword. Thankfully Timber takes out the 'magic tower', which hides all the fighting between the two parties from the public eye, and apparently stops swinging swords. With the 'magic tower' now down it reveals all the Immortals to the world for the first time. This apparently ruins everything the Infinite Woman had going for her plan, as the team of the Immortal Men jump out of the bad guy's warship, I guess having saved the day? (As much as one team can by jumping from a giant ship placed directly above New York, but doing nothing about it in general, other than showing it exists.)
If that's not enough for you as a non-ending that makes no sense the Justice League shows up on the last page stating "The Immortal Men are real. What are we going to do about it?" ... Please DO NOTHING, stop this nonsense NOW. Issue and series over.
I'll be honest, as a whole, this wasn't a good series at all, and I wouldn't recommenced it to anyone. Although to be fair the previous issues were much more well put together than the random collection of half finished scenes I just read in comic book format this month. There are legit pages of story this issue that take time to introduce new characters and concepts in a cancelled book, while taking no time to bring closure to, or explore what was actually setup in previous issues. The tribe concepts brought up again here are abandoned on page five, poor Roderick is still looking for Caden, and the Immortal Men just kind of jumping out of a plane and vanishing, as the Infinite Woman is just floating in the sky ... that's how this series, not the issue ends.
If you spent your hard earned $18 on all the issues of this series I'm sorry. You basically collected an outline for what might one day become a story, but I doubt it. These are the reasons people get turned off to modern comics ... much like I have become lately. There were grand promises of Jim Lee art on a new title, written by James Tynion, yet somewhere along the line nobody sent them that memo I guess. All parties involved pushed something out anyway, that it seems like their heart wasn't behind, deadlines were missed, and the customers are left $20 lighter in the wallet having not even a complete narrative to look back on. DC needs to do better and if you're going to try to get people invested in new characters there needs to be an effort present beyond the issue one cash grab.
Bits and Pieces:
I love other things these creators have done but this is far from one of them. Why would someone continue with the New Age of Heroes if they've only picked up this book? The story is a mess, it concludes a six-issue run with a non-ending, the art looks very unfinished even rushed at points, and you can barely tell what's occurring through dialogue or the pictures half the time. Avoid this at all costs even if you have bought the previous five issues.
2.0/10
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