THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2025! When last we visited Claudia Matosa’s ecological sci-fi thriller The Last Day of Rain here at Broken Frontier its protagonist Carol was working to bring back rain to the environmentally ravaged world of 2091 only to be stymied by the mystery of lost data and a missing intern.
The Last Day of Rain #3 and #4 see the story shifting its focus more to a human interest focus as Carol searches for the aforementioned disappeared Art in the third issue, worried that he was the one who absconded with the purloined data. It’s a journey that takes her to the underground Shiba Town where the elite keep themselves safe from the burnt-out world above. In #4 we continue to explore the relationship between the two as the questions surrounding the missing data drives and Art’s confusing behaviour continue to hang there in the background…
There are twists and turns in this penultimate chapter as The Last Day of Rain continues to reposition itself from hard sci-fi to a character study set in a science fiction environment. On the one hand it’s a focus that draws the reader more fully into the characters’ plights and makes it far easier to be invested in and sympathise with them. On the other, though, it does push the world-building aspects that Matosa had spent so much time setting up in the first two issues more towards the background. Though, that said, there are still plenty of dubious AIs, dystopian worldviews and post-apocalyptic conditions to contend with.
Matosa’s visual storytelling continues to grow in confidence. There’s a marked evolution from the first issue, with page layouts becoming more flowing in presentation. Matosa’s use of colour again gives an added edge to this fractured future world. Everything is set up for an intriguing finale as we await all the answers to be revealed in the series fifth and concluding issue.
Claudia Matosa (W/A) • Self-published
Review by Andy Oliver
Claudia Matosa is at Table A8 in the Bubbleboy Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2025 runs from November 1oth-16th with the convention weekend taking place on the 15th-16th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2025 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster by Ng Yin Shian
