It would seem as though the creative team behind this series heard the phrase “go big or go home” and thought to themselves that they can do better than that.  At the previous set of circumstances from the last issue, Terza is dead and dissected, the other heroes are on the verge of death and there are four Earth sized planets on a trajectory with Earth that will result in the death of billions.  It would seem that across the board that the heroes are outnumbered and against impossible odds, but that is equally the setting for a great story to be told.

There are a lot of good parts to this issue and not really any bad ones.  The way in which Leo deals with the threat of Minus-i is inventive, even by the otherworldly application of superhero powers and his might be the most comprehensive death in comic book history.  So too is it pretty notable what is done with Terza’s remains, as she is dead but, as a being of ultimate power, that might not stop her.  What this issue really comes down to though is the destruction of the Earth and the heroes that are scrambling to do something about it.  Some developments occur which might not exactly make things better either as perhaps it is not only Earth that is threatened any more.

This series which has been notable for its ability to surprise and to lead into interesting tangents does the same here.  This issue might in fact be the best so far in the entire series, a series which is notable for many issues which could have been called “the best so far”.  Really the only problem with this issue is that it read so quickly because it was so engaging.  The pacing of the storytelling was excellent, and the characterizations were excellent, and the series continued to surprise, even after having done so many times before.

Story: Mike Carey  Art: Elena Casagrande
Story: 9.5  Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.5 Recommendation: Buy

 BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review