Nothing Last Forever, Not Even Forever: Reviewing ‘Stillwater’ #18

For eighteen issues, Stillwater has focused on the horror of both immortality and the horror of being stripped of choice. This was a series where the control of some over the many in order to ‘hide’ the gift/curse upon their town led to the inevitable of both coup and rebellion. Here now at the end, the horror hits a peak and the humanness of it all leads to something quite different.

Through these issues, Chip Zdarsky, Ramón K Perez, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooten have created something quite special and interesting. A world that is so fleshed out that it feels so real with characters that have had entire arcs with so much more left on the table that could be explored in many cases, but also done in such a way that stepping away still feels satisfying.

Violence has been a key component of this series, because it’s the weapon that is wielded by those in charge to try and keep their power. Whether it was just in Stillwater from the Judge or Galan/the marines once they took power or in Coldwater once Galan set forth to conquer this other town, under the guise of sharing immortality. Zdarsky spent many issues pointing to this violence and how it was a tool of these people and how wrong it was, we started the series with our main character Daniel being angry and violent, only to end it all with the characters having to willingly choose to break the cycle of violence in order to actually all move on.

Daniel’s arc comes full circle with what I mentioned above there, but he’s not alone. Galen tries to unleash as much violence as possible, only to break down and relent as Daniel shows him the real way and forgives him. An old soul stuck in the body of a child forced to be like a child and never able to grow up finally having a chance to prove he’s grown up. Even series villain Ted gets his moment as he draws a line at murdering children and rescues others to cleanse his soul from all the darkness, he’s done for years even as it ends his life.

Really there is too much that happens here to really go into detail, because it’s better to read it and come to one’s own conclusions. One conclusion I will praise though is the actual conclusion of the series. We see at the end that Daniel, Galen, and Clara are working to try and dispel the curse over the town because it is Clara’s curse she’s lived with for far too long. They acknowledge that they are now the ones taking choice away from people, but they realize also that immortality is something that isn’t right and brings too much pain and suffering in the long run. Except, their attempts to erase it seemingly backfire.

Not only did they fail to get rid of immortality, but there are also indications that by erasing the borders on the map they might have actually spread that immortality to the world at large. Zdarsky leaves it vague enough that we see this is what Daniel is assuming happened, but it’s not actually answered. It’s a great way to end because it raises questions and leaves us wondering in a good way while leaving space for the creative team to return to this world one day if they so choose with an intriguing hook to build from.

Everything that Perez and Spicer have done issue after issue helped build the foundation of this world, making it such a deep and powerful world that feels entirely real. Perez easily created spaces that appear just like any small town one might find in various portions of the nation from the actual town to the wilderness, while also tapping into the emotions and horror. We get the great body language and facial expression shots that allow us to close-up observe characters and feel exactly what they are feeling at that moment.

Every single panel and shot has so much going on, not a bit of space left ‘wasted’ or empty as it either is deep with background/foreground elements or is framed in the best way to achieve whatever feeling the moment needs. I’ve become such a fan of Perez’s artwork because it hits that great spot in comic book work where it’s clearly an illustration but also has just enough realness to it that one can easily believe they could walk into this world at a moment’s notice.

This is a dark story through and through, and we feel that everywhere. I’ve noted time and time again that what Spicer does color-wise here with the lighting aspects is so great. There are tons of shadows to really hit home that dark feeling but each space, no matter where it might be, feels genuine to however it would naturally be lit. Daylight scenes feel like they should be on a city street or in the woods, night scenes feel actually dark save for the moon or human-created lights that break up that darkness, and even a scene where we see nothing but fire actually appears lit by fire. This probably seems like something that doesn’t need to be pointed out but there are some colorists that truly are doing this work on a whole other level when it comes to creating the right appearance of lighting effects.

There is a toned-down sort of appeal to Spicer’s colors that gives them a far more realistic sort of quality. This isn’t a superhero or magical or such book where one would expect wild swings of vibrant colors to be popping up. That’s not to say there aren’t brighter pops of color to be found. They are saved for things that would have that sort of feeling in the world like parts of the woods or they are used to alter reality somewhat just a bit in order to create more of an emphasis for a scene.

Lastly, despite all the violence Perez and Spicer work to make sure that the violence and gore are effective and brutal feeling without ever being excessively gory or torture porn-like. This is a body horror story in some respects, and we can feel that, but many of the brutal blows are obscured by shadows or framed in a way that lets us see them without fully seeing them. Even the blood takes on a pink hue here rather than bright crimson red so that we know it’s blood, but we don’t see blood everywhere. Basically, they create and use violence effectively without crossing a line that is hard to come back from with many stories.

Rounding it all out is the lettering work from Wooten. Visuals tell a ton of the story here but there are also a ton of words to be uttered and shared through these issues. Making sure they flow in a way that is not only easy to follow but follows the artwork in a way that compliments rather than takes away from is right in Wooten’s wheelhouse. There is a distinctiveness to the voices on the page as Wooten adds in little emphasizers and flairs that allow us to feel the personality, volume, and tone of any character at any given moment. Hearing those things, in a way, through the lettering is so beneficial because it’s the only way we can make sure that we’re reading/hearing the characters correctly within our heads. Yes, I can see that a character is mad on the page but if I can tell even more that they are mad through the way their words are presented it just makes it all come together perfectly.

This is one of those series that I know for certain I’ll be reading it all the way through once more, experiencing it differently as one full saga rather than one told month to month (with some gaps). There probably will be new things discovered by doing so, because this creative team created with even more depth than is clearly apparent on the page. Teams getting to stick together all the way through a series together to complete a mission or goal isn’t as common in comics as it once was so when we get one of those it’s a true joy.

Stillwater #18 is now available from Image Comics.