Ascender Vol. 4: Star Seed
Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen, storytellers
Image Comics, 2021
Star Seed is the big conclusion not only to Ascender, but the whole Descender/Ascender saga (which began in 2015). Descender was set in a universe where robotics had been outlawed after an apocalyptic event caused by planet-sized robots called Harvesters. It centered around a young android named TIM-21 who was trying to reunite with his human family, dodging bounty hunters all the while. The series ran for 32 issues.
Ascender is a sequel series: it picked up the story in the same universe ten years after Descender's conclusion. Magic had now almost completely replaced machines. The story featured Mila, daughter of the characters Andy and Effie from Descender, but eventually involved several other characters from the earlier series. It ran for 18 issues; the last four are collected in this volume.
The story opens with TIM-21 on the Machine Moon, the home of "all of Machinekind." He is shown two worlds: the Machine Moon and its twin, the Magic Moon. Visiting the home of magic he is given access to all magic, as well as all data, and wills himself back on the former mining colony DIRISHU-6, reunited with his family. TIM was trying to make everyone safe, but instead he has set up the final battle between technology and magic. When it seems that all is lost, the Descenders return and save the day. Effie plays a surprise role in returning magic to the universe at large, restoring the balance. Tim has been transformed, but he is there to witness the universe being reborn.
I confess that there were times when I wondered where this series was going: it was hard to imagine how such a wide-ranging tale could find a satisfactory resolution. But Lemire and Nguyen pulled it off, against all odds. The characters kept growing right to the end, technology and magic found effective visual representation, and Nguyen's art was consistently beautiful.
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