The Last Book You'll Ever Read #4

The Last Book You’ll Ever Read #4

Vault Comics 2021

Written by Cullen Bunn

Illustrated by Leila Leiz

Coloured by Vladimir Popov

Lettered by Jim Campbell

Every stop along Olivia Kade’s book tour has summoned new threats, but the true predators, who stalk the night with tooth and fang, all protect their prophet. And what is Connor Wilson if not Olivia’s protector?

Things are getting weird! Well okay they were already weird but they are getting even weirder than I thought it would get. After the attack on the bus last issue the surviving entourage are now in a police station and this is where we pick things up. It seems that the more incidents that occur the more in demand the book becomes thus creating a never ending cycle, think ouroborus, of reading the book and violence. It is almost as if this were the plan for the book the whole time though why Olivia didn’t want Connor to read it is beyond me, after all they’ve begun a hot, steamy and torrid love affair (I would like to see more of him when he’s naked just an fyi) so I don’t see that stopping if he reads the book. Though I suppose the more incidents we see the more intrigued he’s becoming as he listens intently to the bookstore excerpts.

I am loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does this magnificent job in continuing to flesh out their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the weirder and more intriguing things become.

I am pretty darn impressed with the way we see this being structured and how we see the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I am also very much liking the way that these layers open up new avenues to be explored. Whether it’s Willow, what Connor sees or just the overall madness that’s occurring everywhere they go all this adds so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

First thanks for the peen on the first page about time someone showed one and it just is so next up is Connor’s. I do very much like this comic book style artwork for this story and the creativity and imagination that we see in bringing things, very specific things, to life. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp that along with the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail we see within the work is extraordinary. The use of backgrounds as they enhance and expand the moments is fabulous as well as how we see them work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is exceptionally well rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a phenomenal eye for how colour works. I love seeing how colour is utilised to maximise the overall effects it can produce.

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I marvel at the way Cullen’s mind works because this started off oddly enough sure, however, the further we get into the story the more bizarre and creepy things keep getting. This is so far from ordinary and thank the lucky stars above because that means we are just more intrigued than usual. With such immaculate writing and stellar characterisation wrapped up in these brilliant interiors we are getting so much more than we bargained for.