All things end, some with a whimper, some with a bang, some too early, some too late, but all things end. The default state of the universe is entropy, and no story is complete until the final line. And so we have come to this, the final instalment of Hopeless:Maine, Survivors…

Ardent readers of this blog may have noticed over the years I have something of a thing for Hopeless Maine and its creators. I have rather a lot of Hopeless artwork on my walls at home. I have all the sloth comics editions and large hardback Outland (US) edition. I have multiple copies of the prose work as well. Including an american edition writers had never seen until I took my copy to show them. All of which adds up to a certain amount of emotional investment in a series of graphic novels I originally bought the first of on a whim because I liked some art work that kept popping up on my twitter feed because Craig Hallam kept liking it.

Yes, its all Craig Hallam’s fault, but I am sure we have all long suspect this to be the case… But back to emotional investments…

Starting with Personnel Demons I have followed the lives of Salamadra O’Stoat and Owen Davis on the fog haunted island of Hopeless through five novels. At some point along the way I fell a little in love with Miss O’Stoat, and then a little in love with Owen. And then at some point I cease to be a little in love with the pair of them… A little had become a lot… I cared deeply for the pair of them and I was a little angry with them both at times…. And don’t get me started on Percy, manipulative, conniving, controlling, arsehole, I’m glad he…

I said don’t get me started.

At some point along the way I met and, I think it not unreasonable to say, have become friends with the creators of Hopeless, but I had read the first three books, backed kick starters and had interviewed them for the blog a long long time before I ever met them. When I finally did I did so in my usual, slightly bewildered, a tad confused, way. Probably made a bit of a fool of myself. And then ran away at the first opportunity. Suffice to say, it did not go well… Luckily I am not sure they noticed it not going well, or even figured out who I was.

Subsequent meetings have gone better…

The point here is, I came to Hopeless originally, not through my friendship with its creators, but purely through the artwork and then the writing. To judge its the final novel then on anything other that the art, the writing and the story as a whole, would seem foolish and to an extent just wrong. This final book is the culmination of years of work by its creators. It is the final chapter in an epic tale. This is where everything has to pay off, where the answers need to lay. This is where the journey has led us and what everything has built to. This is Roland entering the dark tower as the Ka-Tet of nineteen laying sacrificed in his wake. This is Frodo and Sam coming at last to mount doom. This is Avon’s last stand before the federation. This is The Doors playing that long D cord at the end of ‘The End’…

So, is this the final chapter Hopeless deserves? Is this the final act it needs to be? Does this complete the journey that began in personal demons? Yes.

Does it answer all the questions, what is the thing in the fog? What, when it comes down to it, is Salamadra? Is Owen ever going to stop being moody and actually tell her how he feels? Well, Yes, no, sort of. You expected all the answers? You never get all the answers, nothing would be worse than getting all the answers…

This is about the journey, it is also about power and the dynamics of power. Real power verses the perception of power, and the wiliness to be the sacrifice that is needed, while never sacrificing your inner-self. Submission as a choice, is more powerful than being forced to submit and dictates the true power in a relationship… Or perhaps its just pretty pictures and words…

They are moments that will delight the reader, moments which might cause some to punch the air with delight and loudly whisper “YES!” to the unrelenting gods. There are dark moments , funny moments and joy. And a final resolution that just feels right. The one you knew was coming the moment after it arrived because its the only end there could be.

All things end, some with a whimper, some with a bang, some too early, some too late, but all things end. The default state of the universe is entropy, and no story is complete until the final line. And so we have come to this, the final instalment of Hopeless:Maine.

And it is perfect…