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A Beast Of A Finale For Beast Wagon

Published Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:00:20 -0500

Olly MacNamee writes

In this, the finale issue of a critically acclaimed series, the rain starts pouring – as if to threaten a second Biblical flood that will wash away humanity's evils – and the different dreamlines and plots come colliding together as the Whipsnarl Revolution comes to its bloody conclusion.

It's a finale that has been well thought out too. With so many different characters introduced throughout the series, both human and beast, it make for some interesting conclusions to each of their individual stories. You'll be happy with some resolutions that Owen Michael Johnson presents, while angry with others, and even frustrated at some of the decisions one or two of the entrapped animals take. But then, that's what makes this a good book: our investment in the diverse players in this morality play for the modern age. And, through these stories, the bigger issues in society that have been explored across the series are also played out. Are we simply too well conditioned in our own gadget filled microcosms that we simply accept the status quo for what it is? Or, are we right to rail against the odds and outrageous misfortunes? This are not questions neatly answered in this comic, but then the hasn't been a series which treats it's readership with kid gloves, thankfully. One message that is loud and clear is that our treatment of animals continues to be appalling on some many levels, and throughout history too. I mean, how can we continue down this road of animal cruelty, captivity and butchery and still expect to save the world?

John Pearson provides his usually high quality art to each page, flirting back and forth between two very distinct colour palettes throughout the book, depending on what mood is needed. The orange and reds of a savannah sunset also add a bloody, battling quality to proceedings, while the colder, blues and greens give a foreboding darkness to the rainy revolution too. Timelines are garbled, purposefully, at times – again, an appropriate narrative device given the links made to the dreamscape and shamanistic characters and the story of Whipsnarl Zoo, like so many myths, legends and fairy tales before them, are open to interpretation, depending on your perspective.

A story of animal cruelty and the human beast, but one soaked in the magic realism of the oral tradition which was once our own way of making sense of the world through the stories we shaped, changed and told. And, as the dust settles, a new story will be added to the ranks; to be told throughout time as animals and humans remember this day, this battle, for years to come. As, I dare say will you, after reading this grand finale.

So, go hunt this last, spectacular issue out at your LCBS, or through Changeling Studios too.

Beast Wagon: Finale

Changeling Studios

Writer: Owen Michael Johnson

Artist: John Pearson

Price: £5.00

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