Debris #4 is a sad comic. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it’s the final one. This mini-series has been fantastic. Why you ask? A simple, but engaging story, giant monsters, and most all of all, an awesome female protagonist. Not much else one can ask for. This series doesn’t try to hammer down messages or try to be ‘smart’ by using dialogue you’ll see in bigger name titles, it’s just telling a simple story about a girl trying to find water for her people. The finale isn’t quite as explosive as I thought it’d be, and even slightly a little rushed. It could have used an extra issue. But nonetheless, it’s still a very good installment and a fine closing with a satisfying ending.

Here’s the official description from Image:

The epic finale to the junk punk series sets the stage for a massive battle between humanity and the Colossals, with the fate of the entire human race in the balance. Maya must lead the Athabascan Tribe to victory against the insane wasteland dragon spirit, Nogo.

Have I mentioned how much I love Maya as a character? Not only is she tough, she’s genuinely caring in her goal. A character you, the reader, can respect. Kessel on the other hand is handled extremely wrong here. What he does comes out of left field and felt forced for the sake of the story. (He makes up for it later…but it doesn’t excuse how poorly it was handled.) Anyways, the story continues with these people taking Maya and Kessel to their home. There Maya meets the leader. Some great dialogue follows, really good writing here. (Apart from Kessel.) There’s a lot of tension, we really do care about Maya. When she’s getting injured, we feel a bit sad inside. We want her to succeed. When stuff like that happens to the reader, you know you have a winner.

The art is a slight step down. For the most part it’s good, (the flying Colossal looks pretty awesome) but later some panels with Maya look really off, like the sketching wasn’t completed. The ending is rather nice, fully closing up the story. No sequel, just a one-shot four issue mini-series. While the finale may have seemed slightly rushed, it’s still all tied up nicely. (Could have used more giant monster action, but that’s just the Godzilla fan in me talking.)

Overall, while not the super fantastic five star closure I was expecting, still a fine issue. We got some pretty great writing, (aside from the Kessel fiasco) the dialogue between Maya and the chief was very good. We got a little giant monster action, and a rather nice ending. If you haven’t been reading Debris, I strongly recommend you give the trade paperback a shot when it releases.

4.5/5