There are many impressive things about this final issue of The Spire, but I think the most impressive has to be how Spurrier and Stokely pace the whole thing. It’s got a quick reveal to solve a mystery, but then spins into this third act for the entire series. Not to mention a simultaneously tragic…

The Spire is racing. Or maybe it isn’t. Maybe it was always headed to this place, where Spurrier rushes everything. Every subplot, every character, the cliffhanger resolution, the mid-issue reveals, everything is rushed. When it gets the final panel and Shå says “it all ends tonight,” Spurrier and Stokely are out of breath. It’s an…

This issue of The Spire is a weird read. It takes place outside the city, with Shå in disguise and acting as a bodyguard. A forbidden, unknown bodyguard, but bodyguard nonetheless. There’s a lot about the religious fanatics, setting them up as villains–with the awkward shortcut of comparing them to Christian fundamentalist bigots. But while…

Politics, romance, danger, The Spire. Five issues into the series and it still has a lot of surprises. Not just in the plot or a twist, which this issue ends on, but in how Spurrier is going to approach it. This issue is very straightforward, nearly noir with Shå having to figure some things out…

It’s a bridging issue. It’s a decent bridging issue because Stokely’s art is awesome, but it’s still a bridging issue. What does Spurrier do besides humanize the protagonist a bit? He hints at more dread down the line. So what? There’s a great fight scene and then Stokely gets to do a lot of narrative…

The Spire continues to impress, though this issue shows the first time Spurrier lets the size of the comic get ahead of him. The lead, Shå, shows up on the fourth page or so–some beautiful double page spreads from Stokley here–but she’s just leading the reader through procedural stuff. Stokley’s composition is so strong, it…

The Spire continues to go quite well. Some of Stokely’s art seems a little loose–the setting has a lot of design elements and Stokely takes great care with them. Then he’ll rush through a dialogue scene when it comes to the characters’ faces. The panel sizing is great, the composition is great, it’s just loose…

The Spire is an interesting mix of fantasy, sci-fi and cop story. The protagonist is a captain of the city guard (the Spire itself is a city state in the middle of nowhere–think Mega-City One only in a steampunk-ish future) who’s cavorting with the new ruler’s little sister. The captain is also a woman. Real…