Comic Review: Low Road West #5

Low Road West #5

Boom! Studios

Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson

Artist: Flaviano

This is the last issue of the series Low Road West, a series about a group of teenagers who find themselves stranded in the Oklahoma dust bowl mid-evacuation after a nuclear strike.

As the conclusion to the story, Low Road West #5 feels like it falls a little flat. The previous issue’s set up of the main characters being a “pantheon” with their own individual roles (Propher, Scholar, Trickster, Scholar) doesn’t feel like it has much of a pay-off. There’s the climactic boss fight with the Godslinger that the series has been building up to, but it’s an incredibly short sequence in the end that doesn’t particularly feel befitting of the build-up the four issues before have given it. The story ends at an odd place that makes it feel like there should have perhaps been more issues. The plot for the issue is pretty simplistic and then it just feels like the book finishes mid sentence, with the interesting mysteries set-up before feeling like they don’t really get resolved.

The characterisation for this issue is decent but among all the action it doesn’t feel like anyone really gets a chance to shine. While the series on the whole has had very clearly distinct and well written characters with their own interestin subplots, in this issue, the individual characters don’t get much in the way of important or meaningful dialogue and moments. The Godslinger is a decently threatening villain but feels a little generic and doesn’t particularly feel like an interesting character in his final form here.

The outstanding element of this issue by far and away is the art. Flaviano’s art with Miquel Muerto’s colours offer a sensational depiction of the otherworldy realm of Copper Sky and its strange, mutated inhabitants. Facial expressions are clear, the action flows and the scenery is beautifully weird. The bulbuous, fleshy growths that adorn the skin of the mutated characters are utterly gross and bizarre, and are immaculately detailed, as is everything else within this book. Muerto’s colours are vibrant and eye-catching, with a wide variety of colours on display on any given page. Aesthetically, this book is wonderfully gorgeous.