In Review: Compass #5 (of 5) The Cauldron of Eternal Life (Final Issue)

Synopsis: The Cauldron of Eternal Life falls into Margul Khan’s hands! Now Shahidah El-Amin must hold the line and stop him, or his unkillable armies will spread in conquest across the globe.

The Story

Picking up from where the penultimate issue left off. Margul Khan has used the Cauldron of Eternal Life to heal himself and claim immortality. It seems like Hua Ling has once again betrayed Shahidah El-Amin. But that is soon proved to be a ruse. As Ling attempts to facilitate Shahidah’s escape. Unfortunately for them. Margul Khan who is now fully healthy catches Ling and Shahidah just as they are about to make a break for it.

What follows is Margul taunting Shahidah and Ling as he boasts about his superiority and threatens them. He even toys with one of the Welsh warriors only to find himself and his men faced with an army. In the confusion of the fighting Ling and Shahida figure out how the cauldron works and use that knowledge to put a stop to the cruel Margul Khan.

The Artwork

Once again Justin Greenwood provides some fantastic artwork for this final issue. We get lots of action and the various fight sequences are drawn wonderfully well and have a real sense of visceral and savage motion to them. I really liked the panels later on in the comic where we see Ling and Shahadiah fighting back to back. The artist captures the brutality and confusion of the battle really well. I also liked the sequence where Shahadiah and Ling push the cauldron off the side of the hill emptying it.

Overall

Robert Mackenzie and Dave Walker finish their story in style and leave it open for further adventures with the mention of various other artifacts that we can learn about. As with all the previous issues. We get a bit of a history lesson at the end. This time out we get a history about the Cauldron of Eternal Life and how cauldrons were used by the ancient druid and Celtic priests back in the iron ages.

Overall. A fun book that uses ancient historical artifacts and cultures to tell a compelling and fun story. Please guys write a sequel.