As announced this morning on the Vertigo blog, Jeff Lemire’s “Sweet Tooth” will be ending with issue #40. The arc will be titled “the Wild Kingdom” and sees Gus’ journey reaching an end in the snowy plains of Alaska.
As Lemire writes,
So why end it now? I want to make one thing really clear…Sweet Tooth is not being cancelled. The decision to end it at #40 is entirely my choice. Truth is, I always knew what the ending of Sweet Tooth would be. It was one of the first ideas I came up with when writing the pitch for the book. The beginning and the end of this story were always pretty much written in stone, it was the middle bit that was fluid, and grew and changed as I went along. So, for me it’s incredibly gratifying to finally get to the end of the journey with Gus and Jepperd. Everything I’ve done with the series so far, everything I’ve built month after month, has all been about this, the final story.
With “DMZ” and “Northlanders” from Brian Wood having wrapped up and “Scalped” and “iZombie” on their way to their endings as well, it does feel a bit like the end of an era. DC are releasing three new Vertigo ongoings this year (“Saucer Country”, “Collider” and “Dominique Laveau”) as well as a spin-off (“Fairest”), a mini (“New Deadwardians”) and a handful of graphic novels, but one can’t help but notice so many long-running fan favorite titles coming to a close right around now as “the Year of the Creator” is taking off.
Lemire does tease that his collaborations with colorist Jose Villarrubia are not over just because “Sweet Tooth” is, however, so one would assume to see a new ongoing from him soon (in addition to “the Underwater Welder” later this year).
The final issue will be a double-sized fully painted issue set for release in December.
