Motherlands Simon Spurrier, writer; Rachael Stott, artist; Felipe Sobreiro, colorist Vertigo Comics, 2018
One thing I can say about the later Vertigo miniseries: they were still swinging for the fences, with wildly original concepts. Must have made a hell of an elevator pitch. This one takes place in a network of parallel realities where a nearly infinite set of alternate human civilizations mesh together (reminiscent of writer Rick Remender and Italian artist Matteo Scalera's Image series Black Science, which began in 2013 and was still running in 2018 when this miniseries was published).
There are outlaws that hop from one universe to another, and bounty hunters called the Retrievers that chase them. The most famous and successful of them was Sylvie, who also had a huge reality show in her heyday. Hunter Tabitha Tubach is her daughter, but she is very different from her mother: chubby rather than sexy, and straight-laced rather than flamboyant. But when a lead points to Tabitha's brother (who went with Sylvia's husband, and is now a famous outlaw in his own right) the two women form an uneasy partnership.
So this is ultimately a family story, despite the sci-fi setting (another thing that aligns it with Black Science). The family drama was a major part of the backstory, and it continues into the current narrative. The resolution is full of twists, including a cloning that redefines the mother/daughter relationship. The Sylvie who partners with Tabitha is both her mother and an extension of her, which results in a kind of hyper-resolution. And Tabitha continuing in her mother's role as a reality star.
The whole parallel realities thing never completely connects, but shifting between them is an effective narrative device (especially visually). The family narrative seems unresolvable, but it does conclude, with Tabitha still standing and ready to continue as a Retriever. Could even be a sequel, although that seems unlikely now.
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