Comic Review: Ascender #6

Ascender #6

Image Comics

Writer: Jeff Lemire

Artist: Dustin Nguyen

SPOILER FREE.

After a brief hiatus, Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen’s wonderous space epic is back. And I am very happy to report that it does not lose any of the momentum that has been built up so far. It features more of the surprises and poignant character moments that make this a fan-favorite series and one of the overall best of 2019.

When Ascender was first announced there was both excitement and a reasonable concern amongst Descender fans. As is the case with any sequel, there’s always a doubt of the new project living up to the high standards of the original work or a fear that it will alter a story we have come to love. Thankfully, our brilliant storytelling duo has proved fairly quickly that this will not be the case here.

In August, were left on a cliffhanger that separated our main heroes. Mila and Telsa were then forced to continue on their path towards escaping from the planet of Sampson, while leaving behind Andy (who, unbeknownst to them, is still alive). Considering the circumstances of their predicament, there is an initial tension between the two but after a while, they open up a little more to each other. They even share a really tender moment that references an old friend from DESCENDER and I believe fans will love this piece of nostalgia while reading. 

Meanwhile, our seemingly all-knowing antagonist Mother, continues to be a truly fascinating character to follow. She is both powerful and menacing but for the most part keeps calm and collected, which makes her even more imposing in my opinion. Many writers make the mistake of creating villains that feel the need to show their full power and be angry constantly, but Mother is balanced in her temperament. Another trait that makes her stand out is her preference to lead by example. Instead of just ordering others to do her work, she will ride to the front lines herself and deal with matters first hand if needed. Visually and behaviorally, I think of her as a mix between Marvel’s Thanos and Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.

In terms of the artwork, Dustin’s watercolor-style continues to be just as mesmerizing as ever. One shot in particular on page 6 — Telsa’s boat from far away — could easily be framed for display at a house. It’s that good. The covers for this series so far have been just as awesome as well. The half underwater/half above water design for this month was a rather brilliant idea.

Overall, this issue is a fantastic start to the next arc of the story and I absolutely can’t wait to see where it goes from here. Lemire and Nguyen continue to prove there is more to tell in this epic project and they seem to be physically incapable of delivering material that is anything less than stellar.

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