Terminal City stops more than ends. Maybe closes is a better phrase. Motter closes the series. There’s no finality to it and there’s lots of openness–in the last pages, Motter’s still introducing next things. It’s a capsule view of these people, important in the city, years after their glory days. Sure, events occur in Terminal…

Anyone remember the Spider-Man trailer with the reflections of the city in the eyes? Because DC and Lark should have sued or something–it’s in this comic book, down to the pacing of the shot. Anyway. The penultimate issue. Motter is hurrying things along here. He’s sort of still introducing new stuff, but not too much.…

This issue, presumably, starts the winding down of Terminal City. It ends with the first really action-oriented cliffhanger of the series, but Motter’s also winding down the characters. He’s moving Cosmo, still the ostensible lead, into a smaller role. His chances at romance dwindled this issue and, what’s really crazy good about Motter’s writing, is…

Motter opens and closes this issue with excerpts from Cosmo’s memoir. As with all memoirs, it’s interesting to see what’s omitted–in this case, it seems like Cosmo gets his girl back at some point in the future. But that aspect is just good writing from Motter, it’s nowhere near as interesting as how he finishes…

Maybe I’m off a little about how Motter is plotting these issues. This issue is far more gradual than if it’d been the second part of a new minor arc. Instead, it’s Motter introducing new problems and resolving old. It’s so strange how he plots the book–it’s a character drama amid these fantastic settings and…

Motter starts his second “arc” here, but it’s not important yet. It does surprise me how much I like his approach to this issue–introduce backstory in the first half of a comic, then bring it into the present action in the second half. Motter never makes it feel hurried… but he uses Cosmo’s narration to…

And now, ever so slightly, the story begins to gel. Motter, without drawing attention to it, closes off one aspect of Terminal City. A character, established in the first issue, is totally different by the end of this issue. I think, as I struggle to remember my first time reading the series, this sort of…

The second issue has a little less story than the first. It’s not quite a talking heads book because it’s before talking head books, but it’s basically everyone–except the girl and the human fly (I’m hoping names will start sticking next issue)–hanging around the hotel restaurant. Yes, a lot of new stuff is introduced–though an…

The first time I read Terminal City, which must have been almost ten years ago, it knocked my socks off. I’m not sure if it knocked them from the first issue, as this time through, I’m not yet without socks. I’m close, of course. And finally knowing enough to say Michael Lark’s art here (at…