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Released By: Dynamite Comics
Release Date: January 14th, 2014.
The Story:
The final issue of this run of Alice Cooper comics begins, as usual, in The Nightmare Place, where a concert is about to take place. Billed as "the comeback of a thousand life times" by Alice's new management, it's a chance for Andronicus Black to take over Alice's career for good, with the assistance of Miss Ambrosia White. A variety of citizens of The Nightmare Place show up for the invite-only event, but what of Alice's issue with the two squabbling boys?
That's right, Alice is still stuck in the Nightmoor, powerless to do anything about his shady management until Bart and Robbie put aside their differences...which they're suddenly very willing to do with the arrival of Lucius Black, who has decided that if he can't have Alice, he'll do anything he can to stop brother from taking over. A few whispers later, and Bobby is back in the hospital out of his coma, and Alice is off to the stage with some newly found information that should free him forever.
Honestly, I was pretty jazzed to hit the end of this series. Now with the entire run in front of me, I can say that the mess of writing that plagued it since book one really was as bad as it appeared...there's no sudden reveal at the end, accompanied by any kind of "Eureka!" Who knows what Writer Joe Harris was going for here? With multiple subplots that get very little attention and zero payoff at the climax, this run of Alice Cooper comics comes off as a waste of time with very little substance. Bringing back characters from issues ago that haven't been mentioned since, and abandoning the characters that we've been following for the last three issues in the blink of an eye seems like a poor decision to make, and aside from multiple segments of dialogue that refer to Alice's glory days as a real horror showman, it's hard to imagine how anyone from the Cooper camp greenlit this.
As is the case with all previous issues, I can once again praise Eman Casallos' artwork as being incredible, and the only thing worth looking forward to in these issues. Even when the story is completely lacking, Casallos always give the reader something cool to look at, and his drawings manage to convey a tone that seems perfectly fitting in an Alice Cooper comic. Unfortunately, it's the story that should draw you in, and this one doesn't. At all.
The Final Word:
If you like great artwork, you'll definitely find something in this run of Alice Cooper comics. If you want a good story, you're better off checking out Neil Gaiman's The Last Temptation.
