Skyward Vol. 3: Fix The World
Joe Henderson, writer; Lee Garbett, art & cover; Antonio Fabela, colorist; Simon Bowland, letterer
Image Comics, 2019
This collection completes the series, which was always intended to be told in three five-issue story arcs. So at fifteen issues total I suppose it could be considered a maxi-series, even though it has always been described as an ongoing. In the current environment fifteen issues of an indie series would be a good run in any case. Since this is the finale, I will have to talk about details: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Willa arrives in Kansas City, but she has only an enigmatic symbol from her late father's old journal to orient her, and she's not at all sure what it means. Edison has made it to Chicago, bearing a giant insect head in a bag to prove his story about the impending attack by the farmers. Willa finally figures out that the symbol is a geographic location--visible from the sky--and heads for it. Only to be caught by Barrow (thought to be headed for Chicago, but evidently he has been the unknown person following her), who handcuffs her to an air tank and attempts to send her skyward.
But they both enter her father's project. The big reveal is that it is an underground city called Crystal Springs: not the fix for gravity loss that we have been led to expect, just a clever workaround. The disappointment of that is almost eclipsed by the revelation that Willa's mother is alive after all (flashbacks show how she found her way there, as well as her life there up to this point).
By this time I was so involved in the characters that the lack of a gravity cure truly didn't bother me: I just wanted to see how everything worked out. And it does work out. The Chicago situation is resolved; the farmers are welcomed in Crystal Springs, so they can continue their work and help the other survive; Willa finally confesses her love to Edison. And the story ends with her heading out to explore the world with her mom. It's an ending that leaves room for a sequel, chronicling her adventures, as well as life with Edison and the new broader civilization in Crystal Springs.
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