Dept. H Omnibus Volume 2
Created, written & illustrated by Matt Kindt; Colors by Sharlene Kindt
Dark Horse Books, 2019
After reading the first two TPB collections of this series it completely dropped off my radar, so I was happy to be able to get the second half of it in one edition. It begins at the series' halfway point, so there is a lot going on. The deep-sea base is on the brink of destruction, but Mia is still actively working on solving her father's murder. The base staff has split into two groups, so there is a lot of shifting between them, as well as many flashbacks that shed light on their relationships. It is through these flashbacks that Mia finally figures out how and why her father died; by the time she gets there it is a bit of an anticlimax, but it is a convincing solution. After a very long sequence Mia makes it to dry land. She still has a decision to make about what to do with the cure to the epidemic that the team had developed. There is a lovely final memory sequence of Mia's late mother: her advice to always err on the side of compassion will guide Mia's decision. No need to spell it out in the narrative.
So the conclusion is satisfying on many levels. It does feel like it took Kindt an awfully long time getting there, though. I can imagine the story being shorter by at least a quarter. He does use the extra pages to include lots of interesting world-building artwork: undersea creature designs, equipment diagrams, even a few faux advertisements for undersea diving gear.
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