Last Mortal #4 – PREVIEW

Last Mortal #4 PREVIEW

story JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK
art & cover THOMAS NACHLIK

‘REGICIDE,’ Part Four The finale of the hard-hitting supernatural noir series from Minotaur Press is here. Alec King, the suicidal immortal, has been beat down, stabbed, and shot so many times he’s beginning to lose count. But finally, the man responsible for his best friend’s death is in his sights. The question remains – will Alec be able to make the hard decision for the first time in his miserable life?

 

The Last Mortal #2 – Review

By John Mahoney and Filip Sablick (writers), Thomas Nachlik (art), Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: His name is Alec King, born into a life of crime, violence and betrayal on the streets of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania. And he cannot die.

What’s Good: Thomas Nachlik’s dark, rough and sketchy art continues to be one of the highlights of this series for me. Although the story and characters are plenty engaging on their own, the book would be a lot poorer without this art to sell the gritty, noir-ish nature of the story. Not only does it look fantastic, it helps establish the dark urban environments and lends a strong sense of place and reality to what is, after all, ultimately a fantastical story. Although Image Comics uses thicker, high-quality glossy paper for many of their book, it serves this art style particularly well, as the extra glossiness emphasizes and highlights the contrast in the stark black and white images.

The story itself remains very strong, as we learn more about the (more and more tragic) figure of Alec King and his doomed friendship with Brian. The character growth feels organic and natural as the story progresses (despite the fact that it’s not told in a totally linear fashion), although now that the major ‘hook’ of Alec being immortal has been established, it will be hard for the series to top that moment of drama and revelation.

Last Mortal #2 – PREVIEW

LAST MORTAL #2 (of 4)

story JOHN MAHONEY & FILIP SABLIK
art & cover THOMAS NACHLIK

“REGICIDE,” Part Two

What would you do if you hit rock bottom and there was no way out? If you had tried to take the final escape and discovered that path was blocked? In the case of Alec King, the suicidal immortal, you pick up a gun and set out to take out the bastards responsible for your misery. A class noir revenge tale with a supernatural twist from Minotaur Press!

RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Last Mortal #1 – Review

By John Mahoney and Filip Sablik (writers), Thomas Nachlik (art), Troy Peteri (letters)

[Small spoiler warnings in effect–this review will give away the ‘twist’ at the end of the story, though it’s nothing that will surprise anyone even passingly familiar with the premise of the book.]

What’s Good: The idea of immortality has fascinated human beings for much of our history. It’s a gift associated with heroes and gods–either a result of divine birth or (occasionally) granted as an ultimate reward for a great deed.

But what if immortality wasn’t given to anyone godly or heroic at all? What if immortality just…happened?

That’s the situation that small-time crook Alec King finds himself in, following a disastrous attempt to help his best friend commit a far more heinous and complicated crime than either of them are used to. Interestingly, this first issue doesn’t deal with the consequences of Alec’s immortality at all yet, and instead serves as both an origin story, and as a primer to get to know our main character and what makes him tick. While I was surprised by the lack of…I guess…”immortal-ness”…in the issue, I wasn’t at all disappointed. The book sets up the characters (and Alec in particular) so well, and the action is so taught, intense and well-paced, that I was perfectly happy to let the story carry me along. When the denouement finally happens in the last two pages, it feels like a natural outgrowth of the story established to that point–and it’s impact is much stronger for it.

The Last Mortal – PREVIEW

LAST MORTAL
EST 2010

“I’ve never done one thing right in my life. But I killed my best friend. And apparently I can’t die.” ~Alec King

Created by: Filip Sablik, John Mahoney, Thomas Nachlik
Key Artists: Thomas Nachlik
Genre: Crime/Revenge

Immortality is the most sought after gift in human history. When does it become a curse? When the only thing you want to do is die. Alec King is a small time criminal and three time loser. When he gets his partner and best friend killed, he tries to commit suicide and finds out the hard way that he can’t die. Now he has to find a reason to keep living.