The Last Barbarians #5 // Review
They’re dead and decayed. After the magic goes into effect, they’re looking a whole lot better, but they’re not moving. So maybe they’re still dead. Sylv thinks it might be the case that the magic dealt with some of what ailed the two women, but maybe they were too far gone for magic to revive them. She finds out just how complicated things are in The Last Barbarians #5. Writer/artist Brian Haberlin concludes a solidly entertaining walk into the traditional sword and sorcery fantasy genre with the aid of co-writer Hannah Wall. Colorist Geirrod Van Dyke breathes a little bit of depth and radiance into page and panel.
It’s the plague. Magic is all well and good, but healing the plague? There are things that even magic can’t cure. Thankfully, it might not have to. Sylv and her friend are given enchanted armor that will protect them against the plague. Will it be enough to finish what Sylv’s been hired for? Perhaps. Before they can continue their journey, there is the small matter of a couple of fallen friends who need to be buried. Sylv will be kind of surprised to find that the destination that they’re heading for is a portal. She’s going to be even more surprised when she finds out where the portal leads…
Haberlin and Wall seem to be in a bit of a hurry to wrap up the series. There's a fine line between a fast-paced ending with a lot going on and a narrative mess. The finale of The Last Barbarians seems to be a bit too close to falling over the edge and becoming nearly incoherent in the process of resolving everything. The characters remain interesting and relatable throughout. The dialogue isn't always the best. In fact, some of it's really bad. Overall, Haberlin and Wall manage to hold it together pretty well through the final panel.
Haberlin finds a lot of interesting ways to frame the action. In places, it all feels pretty stiff. Magic continues to glow quite well on the page thanks to Geirrod Van Dyke’s work. Emotions hit the page in just the right way. Sylv seems to have a graceful and fluid emotionality throughout. The lack of impact experienced in many of the action sequences in the issue could have been amplified if only there wasn’t quite so much that had to happen in the final issue. It all looks pretty good. It just feels rushed.
The series would've been a lot more satisfying if it had an additional issue in which to clear everything up at the end. Each one of the characters in the ensemble has an appeal that would have benefited from a little more room on the page before the series closed out. The big final conflict would have seemed much more compelling if there had been more time to build up to it as well.
