Stillwater Vol. 3: Border Crossing
Chip Zdarsky, creator/writer; Ramón K Pérez, creator/artist; Mike Spicer, colorist
Image Comics, 2023
The Stillwater saga concludes here. It opens with Daniel somehow surviving the pyre outside of town which was intended to kill him for real by burning him alive. Daniel does not believe that the town is under God's protection, but he leans into it anyway, presenting himself as some kind of prophet. After his escape, Mayor Galen figures out the trick of re-drawing the town borders on the map, decides that life in Stillwater has become stagnant, and that what the residents need is change. He enlarges the borders further into the county to include the nearby town of Coldwater.
Bringing the citizens of Coldwater into the fold proves surprisingly difficult. In the meantime, Daniel returns with long Messiah hair, and we learn that Clara is the source of the town's immortality, the result of a deal with the Devil (or something like it, appearing in the form of her son). A satisfying series conclusion had to include an explanation of Stillwater's immortality, and I suppose that anything other than a supernatural explanation would have been a hard sell. But Zdarsky goes beyond that: complete erasure of the town borders results in a still world. An unexpected ending, for sure. It could be the introduction to a sequel, but I feel like it is the end of the story. The rest is left to the imagination.
This collection also includes historical tales about earlier years in Stillwater's history. "The Prisoner" by Jason Loo writer/artist; "Live To Tell" by Andrew Wheeler, writer; Soo Lee, artist; and Dee Cunniffe, colorist; and "Matrimony" by Ethan Young, writer/artist; and Dee Cunniffe, colorist all further illuminate Stillwater's early years as the town struggled to cope with the need to keep the resident's immortality a secret to the world at large.
Replies
I liked this series. I wasn't that familiar with Zdarsky's work when it started (I think I'd read Spider-Man: Life Story, and that was it), but I like Ramon Perez's art, and took a chance. I feel like it was stronger at the beginning of the series, but I'm glad to see it come to a quick, satisfying conclusion.
I'm not entirely sure I'd be down for a sequel if there is one; I'm pretty happy with where this landed. As much as I like Zdarsky's writing (I'm tearing through his Daredevil run now), I think I'd need Perez back for the sequel if I were to return.