Last time we checked in with “The Midas Flesh”, it was just over halfway through its run and going strong. So far as super-weapons go, the Midas touch is a pretty novel concept; but more than novel, this series from the Boom! Box imprint exhibited a solid sense of fun. This quality is as striking as ever as this final chapter sends us home.
Written by Ryan North
Illustrated by Shelli Paroline and Braden LambLadies and gentlemen, the end is nigh… of THE MIDAS FLESH, that is. Our crew has done everything in their power to stop the universe from ending from the Midas curse, but were their efforts enough? Tune in for this finale that’s so crazy, you wouldn’t believe us if we spoiled it for you right now.
I commented on some awkward moments of exposition back in the third issue; and while the onus of explaining the more obscure applications of the Midas touch never quite left the series, looking back, this willingness to explore the weird science behind the myth feels like one of its greatest strengths. Here, though, we come back to the weapon writ large – something that could potentially destroy the universe – and to fit with these highest of stakes, this story winds up reaching past its limits as they have been defined so far. You could quite literally call the incident that defines this issue a deus ex machina. But the story of Midas is a mythic one, and if it’s going to be blamed on anybody – well. It makes sense, bringing us back to the first issue and where this whole kerfuffle really came from.
What anchors the broad strokes of the conclusion is what’s been keeping this series lively all along: the jokey dialogue in conjunction with the lighthearted art. While the contrasting personalities of Fatima, Cooper, and Captain Joey seemed overplayed early in the series, their interactions as this issue draws to a close are both entertaining and endearing. Even when they’re staring death – or forces beyond human comprehension – in the face, they keep up their self-conscious banter. There’s something heroic in their commitment to calling out awkward moments even when they’re five seconds away from being 24-carat corpses, and more than providing comic relief, these snatches of banter underscore the unusual courage of these three individuals. Even said forces-beyond-human-comprehension get in a couple of silly lines of their own; and here, of course, the effect is humanizing. In the end, everybody does wind up sounding a little similar to one another; but in a wrap-up issue like this one, there are worse crimes than having all the characters contribute to a particular prevailing mood.
Paroline and Lamb’s work has been consistently engaging over the course of the series, and while it’s a little unfortunate that part of the issue’s climax involves everybody keeping their helmets on, they manage to sneak them off at an opportune moment. Cooper fans (and I am one of them) will have a particularly good time watching this nerdy dinosaur hash things out; from the way he adjusts his glasses, to the look of his face when trying to get Joey out of a brawl, his particular brand of annoying likeability comes through clearly. But if you ever needed an encapsulation of what the three main characters of this series are all about, the panel where they all think they’re going to die – and wear three very different expressions – would definitely do the trick. While these characters are somewhat set in their molds, and haven’t vitally surprised us over the course of the series, this is a subtle moment that gestures toward their individual complexities.
It’s difficult not to concentrate on the characters when discussing the art; all the talking keeps them at the forefront of the reading experience. But this is space story, with all the spectacle that implies. A few issues ago we had the good fortune to watch an entire planet split in half, implode, and turn to gold; and while this issue doesn’t have an equivalent phenomenon, it does make space look lovely. A sequence of panels wherein we zoom out from one star system, to our galaxy, to disparate galaxies, to the whole shebang, is simply but beautifully rendered, getting at the sense of wonder that is so necessary to high-concept sci-fi.
Continued belowAs the last pages of the issue spin themselves out, the colours couldn’t be more on point. Gold was always going to be an important colour to this series, but the variety of ochre tones that distinguish this sequence are surprising. It all gets dirtied up to put us in an “ancient world” frame of mind in the very last pages; and combined with the precision and confidence of the art style, every shade shines.
It hasn’t been the smoothest read from start to finish, but with this explosive conclusion “The Midas Flesh” has managed to reaffirm its central concept and send us home in high style. This series has been hard science fiction infused with hilarity; and while it never went quite as deep or political as it could have gone, it brought us to a thematically satisfying conclusion. This will be an excellent read in trade.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – A fun, surprising finale that pays off the central concept beautifully.
