I never would have imagined that The Last Broadcast was a series that people either love or hate. It’s a series that I’m enjoying a lot, but I don’t know if it brings about enough emotion to be so black and white about it, either way I’ll continue to enjoy it and hopefully I can point out what it is that I love about it. This issue we learn that Ivan is being held on Alcatraz Island… well technically last issue, but here it’s openly acknowledge and it’s pretty nuts. He’s running around frantically when he spots a cabinet with his stuff inside. He attempts to break the lock with a fire extinguisher and is disappointed by the results. I won’t tell you what he says, but it was pretty humorous and I enjoyed the dash of reality in this otherwise fictional world. He does manage to find Dmitri, but he’s also discovered by his “nurse” making him even more frantic.
We flash back three weeks before Ivan ended up on Alcatraz Island to hear him recall a tale of a failed magician job and then it’s back to the mystery of the box. Ivan wants to hypnotize Landell the crazy old guy that speaks in riddles and is partially to blame for the mess everyone is in. After a lot of back and forth with Harumi in which Ivan shouts out details in public that he shouldn’t, she finally agrees. Ivan puts Landell under and the results are, well they’re very revealing.
I really enjoyed this issue. I like Ivan as a character and how he doesn’t change no matter the circumstances. It’s consistent writing to have a character like Ivan that’s a bit of a smart-ass and have him continue to be so in any situation which is what happens in this issue. The story doesn’t really mention or deal with Blackhall this time around, but you won’t even notice until you start thinking about the series as a whole. Andrè Sirangelo delivers yet another fantastic issue and peels back more of the mystery.
The issue is dialogue heavy, but you’d never know that by how dynamic Gabriel Iumazark’s artwork is. Ivan and Harumi are both very animated with their expressions that they give off while talking, especially to each other. What’s even better about this is that it’s pretty clear that Ivan is attracted to her, but it’s a one way street. Iumazark’s artwork continues to be beautiful to look at and is very different from other comic book art gracing the shelves.
I’m definitely in it for the long haul on this story. There’s three issues left and while I’m not sure what else I can say about the quality of this story, I’ll keep with it just to give other readers a place to talk and share about this series. Hopefully we’ll see more like this from Archaia because these are the type of interesting comic books that I want to read and I’m sure others are in the same boat.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Andrè Sirangelo Artist: Gabriel Iumazark Publisher: BOOM!/Archaia Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 8/20/14 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital