The Immortal continues to get better with each issue. That’s fairly impressive considering it’s an indie comic created and entirely produced by one person. When I say it’s gotten better I’m not saying there’s some jump in production. The art and presentation continue to be consistent. Rather, it’s the story that continues to improve which is of course what you want with any comic book you’re reading. To recap, our main character Z is the last human in the galaxy. He’s an independent bounty hunter that’s regenerated so many times that he’s lost his name and a lot of his memories over the years. The regeneration chamber is a big piece to this story even if it’s only being hinted at. With it, it makes Z practically immortal. He relies on it like a crutch at times which makes him and his decisions interesting. I have a bad feeling that eventually he might not have that machine or he won’t be able to get lucky and kill himself.
As with the last two issues we see Z regenerating at the start of the issue. Which is strange because he was being captured in the final pages of the last issue. In a clever use of the storytelling device, we see Z gather his back up memories and remember what happened and how he got away from the other bounty hunter. The news after that is worse because the fake person with the fake bounty on his head has spread the bounty even further and increased the amount of money. This brings out high ranked bounty hunters, hunters that Z considers his friends… but with so much money on the table, can he trust that they’re still friends?
This issue provides a lot of character development for Z. We see just how alone he really is and how this bounty on him is tearing his life apart. One of the best things about all the bounties on his head is that Z doesn’t honestly know if he did the crimes that they say he did. It presents an interesting conundrum for the character and for us as the reader. Can we trust someone who has lost so much of their memory?
As I said, the art continues to be consistent. It’s still in all black and white and as I’ve said in my previous reviews, Darryl Knickrehm has created art that is meant to be black and white. It’s not light pens waiting to be colored, but rather a book that is heavy on the black ink when needed and knowns exactly when that is. In particular, the scene with Z’s regeneration was the best it’s been and the transition from his eye to his memory about the other bounty hunter was not only creative, but visually impressive. More importantly though, it worked the way the creator wanted it to.
With us being three issues in it’s clear to me that as long as Knickrehm sticks the landing, this is going to be a series worth reading until the end. It’s not too late to check out The Immortal and if you’re a fan of sci-fi or pseudo immortality stories then this is definitely for you.
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The Immortal #3 (of 8) Writer/Creator: Darryl Knickrehm Publisher: Waylines Media Price: $3.99 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital Website
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