This is it folks. The final issue of Hinterkind. It’s been an interesting ride for me, seeing how my views changed on the book the longer it went on. I started off not really caring about it at all in the first issue, and here we are at the final issue, where I am genuinely sad to see it come to an end. It’s had its ups and downs, but it’s still been a fun ride. Let’s see how the final issue comes to a close. Is it good?
Hinterkind #18 (Vertigo Comics)
It is the end of it all. The Skinling army is about to destroy the Sidhe Kingdom and all hope is riding on whether or not Prosper and her team can convince Tiamat the dragon to join their side. It all rides on this. What will happen to our characters and how will this all come to a close?
Overall, Hinterkind #18 has as good of an ending as this could have possibly have, given that it was ended prematurely. It has an ending that provides enough closure to the main current story with this war that you can feel a bit satisfied with how it went down. Rushed a bit, but that storyline does feel like it came to a good enough conclusion. Sadly though, the remaining part of the issue is a three page montage of what happened to the rest of the characters after the story was all said and done. It is appreciated that the writer provided an ending to all of the characters and left almost no subplot left uncovered, but it’s sad to see what kinds of storylines we could have had if the series were continuing on. It especially feels that way when you see some elements that don’t feel like they were covered well, but could have been if the comic had more time to develop (like Prosper and Parsifal hooking up or the return of the vampires). Honestly, it is as good of an ending as the series could have hoped for, but you can’t help but notice all of the lost potential in this ending.
The writing in general is sort of a mixed bag. The pacing is a bit half-half to start with. It definitely feels like portions of the story, as in the war itself, is being sped through very quickly. Meanwhile, the scene going on in the cave with the dragon is paced reasonably well as the characters talk and try to convince the dragon to help them. As such, the issue feels a tad uneven and probably could have benefited from being an oversized issue. Despite that, the story structure isn’t bad at all. The characterization is on the weak side for most everyone but Prosper and Asa, since those are the only characters who really get to do anything or have a strong scene that feels built up well. Everyone else didn’t really contribute to the plot that much or have any moment other than in the montage. The dialogue and narration are both fine though—nothing sounds unnatural or out of character for anyone. It’s just that, honestly, pretty much all of these problems can be contributed to how rushed the story ended up having to be.
The last thing to discuss is the artwork by Francesco Trifogli. This has always been a point with the comic that I found to be on the weak side due to its kind of lackluster style. In some ways, there are still elements of that in the issue, but in most others, it looks a lot better than a lot of previous issues. The brief bits of the war and the appearance of Tiamat are drawn well (though in some brief shots, it does look like some soldiers are just standing around and doing nothing) and are visually interesting. The art depicts some good emotional beats and reactions from the characters as well that ring true or feel sad. However, the colors look bland-ish and not all that striking, the layouts are standard looking with no real creative spin, and some of the action is stiff. I feel that if the comic had a more striking and visually stunning artist who could really pull off fantasy, a lot more people would have checked out the comic.
Is It Good?
Hinterkind #18 is the final issue of the run and wrapped up most of the plotlines and character arcs about as well as it could have. It does feel a bit on the rushed side due to the comic having to do a lot to bring everything to a close, even having to montage some parts of the story, but it’s still decent overall. In the end, would I recommend Ian Edginton’s Hinterkind now that I have seen it from beginning to end? Given everything, I would say that if you can find the trades for cheap and you like fantasy, maybe give this a shot.
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