In Review: Earthdivers #9

Synopsis: New York Times best-selling author Stephen Graham Jones and guest artist Riccardo Burchielli conclude their three-part Earthdivers Ice Age adventure! Tawny’s attempt to outsmart her Solutrean captors with a silent weapon from the future could still pay off, but the chief’s latest decree means she won’t be around to find out. Bound and boarded onto a skin boat headed across ice floes and frigid seas, she has one last, unlikely shot at getting out of this alive: SHARKS.

The Story

Having been captured by the Solutreans in the last issue. Tawny finds herself being transported via boat across the ice floes toward Europe. Still infected by a flu-type virus Tawny could play the long game and hope that her captures pick up her infection and die. But time is a factor for her. So as she squirms free of her binds she literally seeks to rock the boat in the hope that she can force her captors to fall overboard and hopefully be eaten by sharks. As her loose plan plays out. She manages to get back to American shores and reconnect with the tribe that has looked out for her but finds that they too have picked up her virus. Thankfully Tawny is able to fashion some basic Penicillin from the remnants of some mouldy bread before she resumes her search for her kids.

The Artwork

Riccardo Burchielli finishes off his turn in the art department in style. I really loved the sequence at the start of the book where we see the Solutrean people trying to take Tawny back with them. The drawings of the various bits of sealife were really nicely done and I loved the suggestive fin of a prehistoric shark poking out of the sea when Tawny hits on her idea.

I also loved the cave-style drawings toward the end of the issue where Tawny’s story gets told at the end of the issue from the Tribe that she helped against the Solutreans.

Overall

Although Stephen Graham doesn’t end his story on a happy note. I still got a good deal of enjoyment from it and feel that I got to know and like Tawny much more than I did over the first six issues of the book. I also enjoyed some of the dark humor that was present throughout the story.

This was a satisfying conclusion to the story, which leaves Tawny in a place where some other writer can come in and pick her story up for the future. Whatever that will hold.