Broken Frontier

The Phi Collider is ready for its first test, but it's up to unwilling test subject Julie and her cohorts to stop the possible end of the world. Thriving off fears of the Large Hadron Collider, Echo wraps up in this 30th issue. 

It's impossible to recommend a book at the 30th and final issue. There are 29 issues before this, all leading towards this moment. In fact, the writing of this book, as seen at the beginning of this issue, decidedly lends itself more towards trades and collections: issues start and stop at the end of scenes, not at the end of stories. Echo, the most science-fiction of all of Terry Moore's works, is best thought of as a TV miniseries or one or two tightly-connected movies, akin to a Kill Bill. For those willing to dive into a story two and a half years after it began, all you need to know is that the danger and fear of the Large Hadron Collider is alive and well, and it's up to a woman unwittingly involved in its operation to stop the possible end of the world. 

If you've never read a Terry Moore book, you're missing out. Moore, like Brian Bendis or Dan Slott, excels at putting everyday people in extraordinary situations. There's not a line of dialogue that seems out of place for a character. As Moore tackles art alongside dialogue, he even makes sure to give characters faults: if a character such as Julie is commented on as statuesque, it's a plot point, not a bad character design. At the same time, the book exudes poetry and symbolism: while characters may speak in real-world dialogue, narrative segments that tie the themes of the book together are expertly told through quotes or adaptations of dialogue. 

As natural as his dialogue flows, Moore's art is perfect as well. One may decry the book not being in color, but when you have pencils and inks as perfect as this book gives you, you don't need much else. When an artist can masterfully go from a character ripping through enemies in one page, fearing the end of the world midway through the book, and then being sheepishly embarrassed at the end, any and all emotions can transcend the black, white, and gray medium they're in. The small details matter too; it may take you the whole book to realize that men have square dialogue boxes and women have circular ones. The fact that any and all aspects of this book are handled by one person make it less prone to faults and more prone to expression. 

The only weak part about this book is that it's the end of the series, which by itself says enough about the overall quality of Echo’s full run. Word that Moore's next project, Rachel Rising, is only months away, makes the pain slightly less hard. If you missed the boat on Echo, don’t look at this issue as a start but go back and pick up the trades, or wait for the announced One Volume copy. It works better that way.