Comic Review: The Ludocrats #5

The Ludocrats #5

Image Comics

Writers: Kieron Gillen and Jim Rossignol

Artists: Jeff Stokely and Tamra Bonvillain

The Ludocrats reaches its epic conclusion with this issue, which sees Otto von Subertan on trial for his life. He’s been betrayed by his friends, and all hope seems lost. How can the wacky, fun-loving characters recover from this? As it turns out, pretty easily. Nonetheless, this series concludes just as joyful and fun as it started.

As fast and casual as this conclusion seems, it’s perfectly fitting for this series. Problems the Ludocrats face are often resolved through nonsensical logic and fourth-wall breaks, and the climax is no different. There’s a sort of charm that the book has developed with how its story is presented. Clever wordplay and loose logic add to the zany world that these characters live in.

The fourth-wall breaks in this series have been extraordinary. There is one in particular from the previous issue that I find to be the greatest in the series. This issue features a much longer and creatively-impressive fourth-wall break where the comic changes into a completely different series entirely! The writers feature four whole pages of a made-up, dramatic comic that feels like it would perfectly fit in with most comics on the shelf today. The whole reasoning for its inclusion is to take a jab at the number of dramatic comics in circulation that don’t embrace the craziness the way this series has.

The artwork in this issue may be the series’ best. Right off the bat, Gratty is drawn with more-expressive detail to properly show her anger. With a trial taking place, the writers took advantage of the opportunity to get side-characters to make brief appearances, as well as several entirely-new characters. Everyone that appears on the witness stand is so unique and it’s really a testament to the variety of characters this series has to offer.

By far, the most impressive artwork in this issue is for the previously-mentioned made-up, dramatic comic. The art style is black-and-white and minimalistic, which is the polar opposite of this comic’s typical style. The moody, heavily-shaded pages match the tone of this miniature depressing story so well. Though intended as a joke, they truly feel like part of a complete series that doesn’t exist.

As much as I wanted more of this story, the ending is incredibly strong. The comic even ends with one last charming fourth-wall break for old time’s sake. The characters and the strange world they live in feels very established, and the charm shines with every joke. The writers crossed out the words “runaway commercial success” from the series’ description within the comic as a piece of self-deprecative humor. While that may be true, The Ludocrats remains one of my favorite series this year.

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