3 out of 5

Its a fitting conclusion to the current storyline, once again stepping through and nodding at super spy and espionage tropes while working its way around the last few action-packed, bullet-riddled twists of Who Framed Velvet, but for some reason: I dont find myself caring all that much.

Maybe it was the long break between issues, except that’s sort of the reason I wait to read until an arc is complete.  Maybe it’s my growing distaste for Brubaker’s focus on sneery attitude over content, which does rear its sneery mug at times in ‘Man…’ – a title I’d previously felt to be stocked by meatier characters – except my relative boredom kicked in before any instance of those ‘times.’ Maybe it’s something more simple: That in a way, although this title (according to the backmatter) was of mass importance to Brubes, he also, in his own way, had to stop caring.  Because the book, once an ongoing, instead came to an end.  Sure sure, there are promises of eventual continuations, but otherwise Hollywood (working on the as-of-now upcoming Westworld TV show) and Ed’s nth rejiggering of his Criminal format with Sean Phillips (e.g. Kill or Be Killed) called, requiring Velvet to be written to something of a conclusion.  So explain it however, but there’s that fact to fall back on: What once was a growing story was curtailed.

Now, to back up to my original statement – there wasn’t anything especially lacking about the last arc.  Ed spaced out his reveals and events well; the issues read in an exciting blur.  Velvet’s internal monologue, evolving her thoughts on agency intrigue with the step-by-step updates to the core mystery and thus to her worldview were well written, and within character.  And Steve Epting fell in to such a steady rhythm with Ellie Breitweiser’s color and Brubes writing, finding the balance between his moody shadowing and the super-real big city settings of the comic and nailing the action pacing to sincerely make his work look more electric than ever before.

But: The extras, story-wise, suddenly don’t add up to anything.  Side characters very squarely become side characters – in contrast to what felt like a growing world before – and, along with this, their dialogue starts to feel like a mix of both cliche and Ed’s boring surface-level societal complaints, which are on full display in his Criminal writing (and well summarized by issue 15s preview of Kill or Be Killed…).  Because these all figure as supporting details, we lose the immersion; Velvet suddenly seems like it’s a story just acting like its a spy story.  And, maybe needless to say, the other effect of this is to undermine any punch the mystery’s resolution can have.  Seeing as how that resolution becomes the entire reason for these five issues (since we’re indeterminate-amount -of-time pausing here), perhaps you can see how that equated to my lack of investment.

Or maybe not, if you’re still under the Brubaker spell.  Alas, for me, while the concluding Velvet arc looks great, and gets the major notes right, several side factors sucked out some of the fun, rendering what once felt like a pretty cant-wait-for -the-next -one read into popcorn entertainment.