By Cat Wyatt

This may be hard to believe, but it’s time for the last issue of Heavenly Blues. It’s been clear for a while now that there’s more going on with this scheme than meets the eyes, so it should be interesting to see how their grand heist plan actually pans out. Here’s hoping everything works out for our group of unlikely protagonists.

Since every issue up until now has held backstory for each of our five main characters, you’re probably wondering how they’re going to handle the sixth issue. As it turns out, we're still granted flashbacks, but this time they’re smaller and more focused. The first page shows us, Erin and Isaiah, in hell, back before they even heard of James and his job. It’s actually even before Erin and Isaiah were friends, meaning it was back when Erin was teaching Isaiah about hell and doing her damned best to break him (no pun intended).

Back to the present time events though, we see our lovely pair up in heaven. They’ve come a long way, since that first scene. Not just physically, but as a team. They’ve learned to respect and even like each other; something that is probably very rare in hell.

The plan is in full swing, and part of that plan apparently involves a party at Uriel’s place. Go figure. Anyway, Erin and Isaiah are obviously already there, and it looks like Amunet has just arrived as well. Presumably, Erin and Isaiah will be providing the distraction and backup with Amunet does the actual thievery here.

Meanwhile, Hideki and James are at the train station. NAME has been staking out the trains for a while now, and it’s probably a safe guess that they’re hoping to use the trains as their method of getting the hell out of there (again, pun not intended, but very fortunate).

Remember the last issue where Erin had to pretend to betray Isaiah? Well, we finally see the repercussions for that, and it’s easy to see why she was so concerned about that move. Uriel beats Isaiah pretty well, but thankfully he doesn’t stab him with that special perma-death blade he has. Still, Isaiah, while still alive, does not look very good. Uriel makes it clear that he will, in fact, be killing Isaiah, just when he has more time to do so. Presumably, he wants to torture Isaiah a bit more first. Whether it’s for fun or to make an example out of him is slightly less clear.

Believe it or not, here’s where things start getting really good. Isaiah (and Erin) is left under an angel guard, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good guard. There are some really fantastic dramatic lines for this scene, and that alone makes this one worth reading directly. Long story short: that angel didn’t do a very good job.

Meanwhile everyone else is going forward with their part of the plan. Hideki and James are taking over the train, which is actually a lot more amusing than intended, while Amunet is doing her best to blend in with the party. The second part of that doesn’t sound terribly dramatic, but remember she gets to be the one that actually gets to steal the Holy Grail. Technically speaking she could leave them all hanging once she got her hands on it, so her plot is not one to be ignored.

When you think of heaven, you probably picture some idealistic scenario where there’s no drama, right? Well, that probably was the case before these guys came to town. Now there’s two separate shooting situations going on, and nobody seems to know how to deal with that. So it looks like James’ observation in the last issue is actually holding true.

It’s not long before all three parts of the team find themselves in quite the struggle. Hideki and James are in a shootout with James’ blast from the past; Amunet is fighting a robotic golem that’s protecting the Grail; and Erin and Isaiah are up against Uriel. We really should have seen that last part coming, huh?

While all three fights are entertaining in their own right, having all three happening at once is incredibly intense. You’ll want to check out what actually happens here. Each fight has at least one particularly interesting or surprising moment, proving that the authors can still surprise us even after all this time.

There’s one final conflict our team must have, before we can consider their plan a success, and you can probably guess who that will be with. It’s pretty short and sweet, which is good since everyone is likely anxious to see what happens next to our protagonists.

The ending is beautifully bitter sweet, and one that will likely stick with readers. As far as endings go, we really couldn’t ask for more. Every question was given an answer, all plots, both minor and major were given a chance to get wrapped up, and our characters got one final chance for some growth. What more could we ask for?

This has been a really interesting series. There are a lot of expectations and assumptions made when you hear that a story is going to be about heaven and hell, but Heavenly Blues did a fantastic job of smashing all of those preconceptions to pieces. Sure, they happily play off some of the most basic tropes in the lore, but they make it their own at the same time.

This is one of those series that will have you laughing one moment, and the next will tear out your heart. There really is no emotional in-between as far as they’re concerned. They’re here to make sure that you’re fully emotionally invested in what happens to these characters, even the ones you weren’t inclined to like in the beginning.

The artwork has done a wonderful job supporting the story being told here. It’s light and brightly colored, but also has no fear of showing blood and pain. And while violence does rear its head from time to time, it is never overdone or overly gory, something that surely would have taken away from the story.

Score: 4/5

Heavenly Blues #6
Scout Comics