Cave Carson Has an Interstellar Eye #5 – Jon Rivera, Writer; Michael Avon Oeming, Paul Maybury, Artists; Nick Filardi, Colorist
Ray – 8/10
Ray: The penultimate issue of Jon Rivera’s space-hopping family adventure finds Cave and Chloe as wanted fugitives giving chase across the galaxy. As they arrive on their latest hideout planet, they learn something weird – there’s a concert being given by Star Adam. The same Star Adam who ended his life cycle peacefully in the opening issue of the series. Naturally, Cave wants to know what’s going on, and that leads him to investigate the planet. It turns out to be not so much a planet as a living ecosystem under the guidance of Prince Elium – a living cosmic energy being who infuses every bit of the planet. Cave is able to track down Star Adam, who is alive and well – but smaller and more human than ever before. This is an interesting take on the celebrity life cycle, where they become bigger than life before eventually coming back down to Earth. This title is a little hard to understand at times, but its metaphors are usually perfect.
Of course, there are still bounty hunters after Cave and Chloe, so they have to go on the run again, this time under disguises provided by their ally. Michael Avon Oeming, who always delivers great art, has a lot of fun here with the weird world of Prince Elium, and manages to give the pages a very interesting surreal vibe. There are a few too many moments where things get weird for no reason, but overall this is a great penultimate chapter – including the reveal of a villain that ties the series together brilliantly and plays into the backups by Paul Maybury. That backup this issue fills in the blanks between Cave’s old adventures and where he is now, including revealing what killed off Cave’s wife. While this series has been a bit uneven and confusing, I feel like it never lost sight of its central concept and characters. That’s made it one of the most consistently fascinating books in the Young Animal line.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
