The final issue of A.D. After Death is bittersweet. As many things are answered from how the cure has evolved to the motivation for taking it. Yet, at the same time many elements of this story are left unanswered leaving a reader to wonder. Thus creating a mixed feeling on how this story ends.
The Good:
The comic explains how the cure for death has come about as Jonah discovered and made friends with a woman named Claire. Claire was diagnosed with a disease that aged her body at different rates resulting in her slow death. Throughout his connections he learned about a place in the mountains that was working on a cure for death and illness. Yet, they needed a subject who had an aging defect, such as Claire. Jonah kidnapped Claire and brought her to the research facility where an anti-aging cure was developed. The research facility developed into a small town, which eventually isolated itself from humanity. This shows the best intentions to solving a problem often lead to unintended consequences by people. Furthermore, despite being shut off from the old society Jonah over the course of several centuries/cycles has prepared items to look for life below the mountains. His goal is to live and finally die of old age once he gets there with Claire. He eventually makes it to a boat that will bring him down the mountain only to be stopped by his friend Errant. Errant reminds him that every 3 or 4 cycles he goes through this same exercise of trying to go down to humanity. Each time he does this he goes out a little less further than he did before, before returning home. This shows that he is becoming more accepting of the life he has. It is only solidified in the final pages of the comic as Claire is telling him to go, yet he is standing with one leg on land and the other in the water symbolizing that this is the furthest he will go this time. In realizing this Jonah begins to understand that his very desire to save Claire, his mother, and his brother has led him to create the cure for physical death and develop the disease of memory death.
The Bad:
The problem with the comic is that the ending is unsatisfying as nothing is resolved. As Jonah has half of his body and ideologies in leaving while the other half is on land and staying. Rather than having him mature, which the comic makes it seem he has, this ending contradicts and demolishes all the ground that was gained in this issue, within a single panel. This ending significantly damages and changes the impact that the comic has, as it is a weak ending to a comic that had some thought provoking elements to it.
The Verdict:
A.D. After Death has been a thought-provoking comic as it combined the concept of the comic book with prose to tell a story. The final issue is bittersweet as many different pieces of information were explained that help allow the reader a better understanding of the story. There is an excellent use of prose and comic style to create a compelling climax to end the story on. Yet, this climax was wasted, as the ending does not match the build up. Rather the ending leaves the reader wondering what has happened to Jonah and the next steps that he will take either joining society or fighting against it. By doing this the comic drops the ball as no resolution is achieved, this affects the message and impact that the comic has.
Some of Scott Snyder’s work can be picked up here.
