Advance Review – ‘Out Of Alcatraz’ #5 Wraps Up The Superb Series Superbly
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
What is perhaps the best limited series of 2025 comes to a pitch-perfect ending. Don’t be sad that this story is ending. Instead, celebrate that you have been around to enjoy the tale of prison escapees and the equally flawed people who are assigned to protect and chase them.
Overall
10/10Let me let you in on a little secret: Reviewers, by nature, are a cowardly and superstitious lot.
We have little quirks when choosing which series to review. And when we have a week where we have multiple issues to weigh in on, the order in which we choose them is inversely proportional to how much we think we’re going to like them. In other words, we save the best – or what we think will be the best – for last. It’s almost like a little reward for getting through the rest of the work week.
Here’s the punchline: I’ve been putting off doing the review of Out of Alcatraz #5 for as long as possible. I really didn’t want this limited series to end.
I’ve been a big fan of the Cristopher Cantwell/Tyler Crook series since it launched. Cantwell’s scripting is top-notch. He has created plenty of interestingly flawed characters. You may not necessarily be rooting for them, but you absolutely want to learn more about them and what happens to them.
And Crook’s stylistic artwork immerses you in 1960s’ California. It’s difficult to imagine this series in any other artist’s hands. Each character is rendered in a unique way, so there are no issues telling them apart from each other.
And that leads to the end of this run. The two escapees from Alcatraz – finally joined by the third former prisoner who was thought to have drowned in San Francisco Bay – have nearly reached the end of their journey to Canada and freedom. Their mysterious handler Finally reveals a bit about herself – her name for starters. And the pair of G-Men who has rekindled their forbidden romance are closing in.
The resolution is, at once, surprising and enormously satisfying. Cantwell knew exactly where he was going and how long it would take to get there while still doing justice to each character as well as the readers. Out of Alcatraz is what independent comic books are all about:
Telling your story in your own way.
As a cowardly and superstitious reviewer, I’m sure going to miss it.
Out of Alcatraz #5 will be available in comic shops and on digital platforms July 30 from Oni Press.
