Is there a secret formula for writing the perfect ending? Finding the ideal closure to a story is perhaps the most complex part of the narrative, especially if the ‘while’ has been characterized by a series of great premises and crackling events that make readers’ curiosity soar. A real challenge that has claimed illustrious victims, including even a sacred monster like Stephen King, who also manages to undermine the affection that can be felt for a compelling story up to that last, tiring mile. The first two volumes of Deep Beyond they managed to create a strong expectation in the readerscreating a happy synergy between different components of the sci-fi narrative, but having reached the last turn of this incredible adventure it seems that something has been missing to get that grand finale that was expected with Deep Beyond Volume 3.
Edited by Star Comics, Deep Beyond was, together with Bacteriaone of the first products included in the Astra label, the series with which the publishing house has shown that it knows how to move easily even in various literary fields, not only such as the science fiction of the two aforementioned works, but touching on other types of themes, as demonstrated by the gorgeous Iconoclast by Paolo Martinello. With its first two chapters, Deep Beyond had contributed to presenting Astra as an interesting editorial proposal, thanks to a particularly intriguing world building operation, both on a narrative and visual level. Born from the imagination of Mirka Andolfo and David Goy (alias Davide Caci), Deep Beyond strength was made on a careful and rich social dynamic that presented a dystopian reality well intertwined with the concept of dimensional travel. A mechanism that is anything but simple, made captivating by the graphic interpretation of Andrea Broccardo and the coloring by Barbara Nosenzo.
Deep Beyond Volume 3: the salvation of the world at the end of the journey
As those who faced the transition to the new millennium in 1999 well remember, one of the fears of the period was that the computer systems might not process the new dating correctly, causing a collapse of the then rudimentary computer network. If in our reality this danger has been averted, in the reality of Deep Beyond this didn’t happen. The Millenium Bug, in fact, on the night of December 31, 1999 caused the collapse of the computer network, causing a period of barbarism and chaos that destroyed the society of the period, bringing out a fragile civil fabric, unable to face a new threat: the contamination. A plague without equal, of unknown origin, which aggravated the already precarious survival of humanity, which was forced to shut itself up in closed enclaves, within which to preserve future generations. A situation that is opposed by a group of dissidents, the defeatists, convinced that humanity must now face the consequences of their wicked presence on our world. Despite these terrorist attacks, humanity survives, seeking a cure for the contamination, carrying out research in protected environments, underwater laboratories. He lives in one of them Pamela Bellresearcher who in the first pages of Deep Beyond we see involved in a submarine encounter that is anything but friendly, the perfect starting point for a story that sees its theater right in the seabed.
From this research, lived in the first volume of Deep Beyond, we moved on to the discovery of the reality beyond the portal, which was the scene of the events of the second volume of the series. The decision to move to an alternative dimension has become a real challenge, won in terms of creating a society that is profoundly different from the human one and animated by a measured dissonance between scientific asepticity and a mysterious rebel cult that allowed the guests of humans to find hope for their dying Earth. What seemed like a rescue mission, in fact, becomes an opportunity to meet an alien civilizationthe peculiarities of which are quickly presented to us, without failing to give this world a definite nature, not only visually but also culturally. This feeling of initial incompatibility between humans and aliens is admirably used by Goy and Andolfo to sharpen the tone of weird science perceived in the previous volume projecting it towards a more structured characterization, in which there is a pleasant contrast between the purely scientific aspect and an almost mystical component, which sees precisely in the mysterious visitors the fulcrum of a religion long kept in the depths of this hid world -tech.
The rich premises of the first two albums of Deep Beyond have inevitably led to having high expectations for the finaleconsidering that the topics dealt with, far from light, had been optimally integrated with the intent of the narrative tradition of author sci-fi, capturing a happy metaphorical and critical formula in addressing challenging topics by placing them in a fantastic context that preserved the spirit without making them heavy for the reader. Andolfo and Goy proved to be promising sci-fi writersbut when it comes to finding the closure of their adventure they seem to have stumbled upon the curse of the ending.
It may have been one that contributed to this difficulty the complexity of the world that they have created, featuring a series of themes, characters and situations so rich as to become an obstacle when it comes to reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Deep Beyond Volume 3indeed, it seems to be crushed by the need to arrive at an ending that satisfies the reader, trying to better close the different narrative lines opened in the previous volumes. The return to our dimension is intertwined with the political component of the struggle for power, playing on a series of not always convincing twists and turns, requiring a generous suspension of disbelief from the readers.
It is not a question of a lack of concreteness on the part of the authors, but rather a sudden acceleration of the narrative pace, which translates into a sensation of hasty construction of an ending born more out of necessity than out of natural consequentiality of events. The decision to reveal the truth behind the Contamination, albeit basted on the right narrative dynamic, is sacrificed within a frenetic mechanism of revelations and changes in the face that have more the flavor of a deus ex machina designed to get out of an impasse than the caliber of a revealing twist capable of putting the whole story in a new light.
The weak point of the ending of Deep Beyond it’s this one lack of lucidity in creating an ending that lives up to the previous chapters. Even with these weaknesses, however, Deep Beyond Volume 3 succeeds to maintain the identity of the plot with an attentive use of the dialogues, in which the characters maintain their own personality even in this shaky evolution of the story. Narratively dismissive, but still sufficient to lead the story to a point where the reader can feel that this adventure has come to a conclusion that gives each character a well-deserved closure.
Too quick an ending for an exciting story
As with the previous volumes of Deep Beyond, again the Broccardo-Nosenzo couple offers a perfect visual characterization of the two worlds in which the story takes place. Broccardo manages to grasp the right nuances of the story, easily passing from a perfect graphic system to interpret the moments of revelation of the plot meanders to others in which the more action dynamism of the story takes over. All enhanced by the coloring of Barbara Nosenzao, perfect interpreter of a particular color scheme that requires careful use of the color palette, necessary to show the complexity of a land characterized by a compromised and poisonous environment.
Star Comics publishes Deep Beyond volume three with the same care as in the previous chapters. Taken in its entirety, Deep Beyond it turns out to be an enjoyable reading full of interesting ideas, which are partially ruined by an ending that is not up to the narrative precision that characterized the first volumes. At the end of this adventure between two worlds, one has the awareness of having in one’s hands an encouraging first work by two promising science fiction comic book authors.
