The Wake #10 review

Last issue ended with the two story strands of this series drawn together, as 23rd-century woman Leeward met the 21st century's Lee Archer. Was the latter a ghost? A hologram? Somehow still alive after 200 years?

This issue we get answers, lots of them, as writer Scott Snyder and artist Sean Murphy bring their aquatic adventure to a close. I won't ruin the revelations - what The Wake is, for example - safe to say they're mindbending, and fit the wild sci-fi adventure we've been following this past year. Answers aren't definitive, but the theories of Dr Archer make sense, and there's a nice close to her emotional arc.

Snyder and Murphy's visual narrative is, once more, a treat, with loads going on in terms of character and setting. The words intrigue, the pictures fascinate - The Wake's genre-mixing carnival of ideas is something I'll be revisiting often over the years. And I bet I'll always find something new - a script subtlety I'd missed, or a clever visual nugget. 

Colourist Matt Hollingsworth and letterer Jared K Fletcher have also been along for the entire ride, and deserve credit for The Wake's steady pleasures, along with editors Sara Miller, Mark Doyle and cover artist Andrew Robinson,

The ending offers scope for more from this world Snyder and Murphy have so satisfyingly built, but if there isn't a sequel, fine - these ten issues will stand alone as a fine collected edition, just as they've been a superb monthly read.