Written by Curt Pires
Illustrated by David Rubin
Colours by Michael Garland
Letters by Colin Bell
Published by BOOM! Studios
The Fiction has been a very entertaining and enlightening ride, venturing beyond the nostalgic connections one has with their childhood into deeper emotions like regret and isolation. Each of the characters within The Fiction are given a respectable amount of treatment, gradually learning over the four issues about the way each of them are dealing with these vast emotions and the influence that the past still has on their lives. As the end breathes heavier upon the necks of Kassie, Max and Tyler, they must confront the evil that has embodied their one time friend Tsang to return to their reality alive.
Curt Pires dials down a bit of the sentimental nature of past issues and gets straight to bringing this series to a close. It is a great feat to fit this much emotion and care into a group of characters in a four issue mini series, causing for this concluding issue to feel that much more melancholic. Pires’s layered storytelling and unconventional methods of learning about the characters by swinging from the past to the present is handled firmly and is stylistically enhanced by the team of artists.
David Rubin’s artwork grows in impact and sets the tone as The Fiction progresses, reaching its peak in this very issue. Rubin has some really playful and gorgeous double page spreads. These spreads contain sprawling lines and textures of various images, such as the morphing of the Fiction as Tsang reiterates his power by altering the surroundings into what appears to be the belly of a beast as a tunnel of reddish flesh walls in the characters. The flow of the double page spreads is the perfect collaborative effort, combining the tight, tense script of Pires with Rubin’s flowing linework, Michael Garland’s moody colours, and Colin Bell’s well placed lettering.
Michael Garland’s colouring shifts the tone of the issue as alterations are made to the background. The emotions and intensity increase within the scenes as an orange, pink, pastel-like mixture fills the scenes behind the characters before changing suddenly to a yellow-green tone as the stakes are increased. Garland’s colours really add another level to this issue and series as a whole in which emotion is layered within each of the creative team’s roles.
Ultimately, The Fiction is a series about good versus evil. Sure, it may be one of the oldest stories to be told, but there is a reason that it still persists as one of the most used forms of storytelling. The Fiction takes a more personal approach to this idea, in which each character, and in turn, everyone in this world, deals with the light and the darkness of not only within themselves, but within the greater world around them. It becomes Kassie’s responsibility and acknowledgement that in order for her to change the world around her for the better, she must apply the appropriate amount of meaning and purpose to not only herself, but to those that matter most in her life: her friends. The meta acknowledgement in this issue (including a Lewis Carroll Easter Egg) solidifies the personal connection that all stories have with their storytellers, extending out to the reader and their own respective meanings absorbed when venturing down the rabbit hole.