East of West vol. 8

If this series sticks to the estimated number of issues the story was planned to run from creators Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta, then it should be wrapping up in the next two volumes.  You’d expect the series to start ramping up the tension and action as its many players start to converge and make their (usually quite bloody) moves. That’s not what we get with vol.8. It’s a fairly low-key affair that advances several main plot threads in mostly satisfying faction starting with some long-overdue father/son bonding time between Death and Babylon.  While the former does his best to impart some personal knowledge about the world — like they joy of fishing — he can’t help but feel that the Balloon which has been guiding his son might be up to no good. We also have Crow letting the revolutionaries of the Union know that their revolution will not be televised as the Endless Nation assumes control of their capitol.  That’s only a stop on the way to fulfilling his real agenda: Bringing the Message to Armistice. Meanwhile, Hurk the ranger crawls his way back from death to take out the Message’s Chosen, starting with Prince John Freeman.

As always with this series there’s entertainment to be had from simply taking in Hickman’s baroquely eloquent dialogue and Dragotta’s exaggerated sense of design and detail.  There’s still that nagging sense that I should be re-reading all the previous volumes before tackling this one, but these storylines still establish enough personal stakes to keep me invested.  You can really feel it in scenes like the conversation between Crow and Bodaway which simmer with long-term resentments, which are easy to pick up on but the specifics of which are a little fuzzy.  Still, this volume only leaves me with two real complaints: That Death has not fully picked up on the really obvious fact that Balloon is manipulating his son’s perception to his own ends, and the death of a major character on the last page whose body is nowhere to be seen.  I’m certain that Hickman will follow up on both of these things as the series heads into its final act, though they’re left to read as annoyances here.