Well, at least Brubaker goes whole hog when it comes to unresolved endings. He overwrites the final issue of Deadenders to an exceptional degree and still manages to get away with some of it. His writing skills–his short comic subject, like from Dark Horse Presents or Lowlife–come through and he writes some rather decent scenes.…

Reading this issue, I do think Brubaker is just abbreviating his plans for how Deadenders would eventually turn out. It’s the only explanation for why he’d string together the issue’s awkward little “chapters.” Even with the dumb dialogue and terrible new characters, the worst thing about the comic is the art. Pleece and Cameron have…

I guess Brubaker just found out Deadenders was headed for the chopping block because he kicks off a rapid-fire close-up arc this issue. Instead of going out with some dignity, he’s trying to answer all of the Deadenders‘s questions, whether they’re important in the context of the previous issues or not. In order to get…

Well, there’s a disappointment. It’s like Brubaker forgot all the build-up he’d been doing towards the race and its location. He had a chance for a sublime issue and instead he used it as background for getting Anna back to Beezer’s home sector. He also continues the villain arc, which seems like an incredible misstep…

It’s hard to tell where Brubaker’s going with the series at this point… besides the inevitable moped race. He’s revealed some more about the big terrible event, but not exactly. He’s hinted there’s more to the story. At the same time, he’s finally established the girl enough I can remember her name–Anna (though I swear…

Besides a little framing scene at the beginning of the issue, Brubaker manages to stick with Beezer (his protagonist) for the entire issue. Brubaker layers the narrative a lot with a flashback catching the reader up to the environment suit girl being out of her environment suit. There’s a real lack of drama–she and Beezer…

Beezer gets a nemesis this issue. Instead of seeing things in an idyllic, pre-disaster light, this guy sees them the other way. Bleeding eye sockets, end times sort of thing. I assume Brubaker has a point to the juxtaposition but it doesn’t really matter. The nemesis angle is a lot less interesting than it should…

Cameron Stewart joins as inker this issue, which Brubaker splits between the present action of Beezer exploring the nicer sectors and flashbacks to his departure. The way Brubaker layers the narrative is sort of nice. He’s doing it to keep Deadenders more compelling, which he might not need–Case and Stewart’s vision of the perfect future…