There was another twist! Creator Stephen Mooney told me to look out for another twist after my last review, but what I couldn’t tell you all in the review was that I knew this one was coming. Due to the progression of the story reveals in the last issue it was a bit obvious, but the journey was fun. I just didn’t say anything because it would spoil the story to anyone that hadn’t figured it out. This was a fitting ending to the series. It doesn’t deviate from the path set in the first issue and delivers a solid reading experience from beginning to end and that’s what really matters. This issue begins with an announcement that Half Past Danger will return! Good for that, but awkward placement. The real story picks up with one of the spoilers from the last issue that I can’t talk about. The result is a character going overboard and the other characters thinking that they’re dead. We can see from the art that it was planned and the rest is basically revealed as much later on. The results of this story are actually pretty sad. Sure there’s the fun cheekiness that the characters and story have always had, but the actually conclusion is really jacked up. There is one scene in particular with Irish towards the end that was a real bummer of a scene.
The art on this series has been great. It’s rare to get an illustrator of Mooney’s talents that can also tell a story. I think I’ve said this from the beginning but the range of subjects he covers in this series and issue are most impressive. A book of just his dinosaur drawings would be enjoyable as well so cough, cough, get on that. The action in this issue is very rewarding and I enjoyed the fact that the character that fell to their death was handled the way it was. Usually in comics (or even film for that matter) when a death is faked they show it really happening and then just explain it all away, but Mooney shows us the faking as it’s happening and that was a nice touch.
Overall this was a rewarding ending to the series. It’s a bit on the happy side as far as endings go, but there are some real emotional moments in the issue and final pages in particular. Though it was a solid ending the pacing could have been better. The ending, ending itself wasn’t particularly necessary and could have been dropped in favor of more action, but it is what it is at this point. If you’ve been following the series it’s definitely worth finishing the journey.
Score: 3/5
Writer/Artist/Creator: Stephen Mooney Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 11/27/13