MARA #6
Written by Brian Wood
Art by Ming Doyle & Jordie Bellaire
Release date: October 2, 2013

In six issues Wood, Doyle and Bellaire have laid before us a stylized world full of sacrifice. The story which began with a slightly mysterious turn of events that lent itself to the stuff of science fiction or superhero books takes on a more global theme with this final issue.

After losing everything in issue five, Mara has finally removed herself from the very planet that has done nothing but continue to take everything away from her. While there are hints of the outcome from the last cliffhanger, the actual motivations are slightly lost to the overriding plot. That works out well, because the final message drives home a large impact of emotion, highlighting the human condition through a super-human being.

Doyle’s art combined with Bellaire’s blue and gold themed palette transport the reader between the past and the present… between the Earth and space. It’s art that, after this many issues, is easy to take for granted how perfect and well placed it is for such a story. It helps set the over-arching tone that tugs at your heart.

Just like previous issues, Wood tells the overall story through vignettes of current happenings and flashes to the past. While previous issues used this to reveal relationships between characters and world build on how this society functions, the stories are now used to speak to a larger theme: sacrifice. Mara’s sacrifice through her life and family, any person’s sacrifice through life, and what that should mean to us as a society and how to conduct ourselves. When looking at such a global message, you can go back through the first five issues and see this theme trickled throughout.

This emotional conclusion does an excellent job of drawing to a close Mara’s extra-normal life, while still leaving the possibilities open to see her face again should another lesson needs to be given to the world.

Verdict: 10/10