Review: The Wake Finale

the wake, leeward, vertigo, scott snyder, http://dorkshelf.com/2014/07/31/the-wake-10-review/

The Wake  #10the wake, vertigo, http://comicbookrealm.com/series/33476/308659/vertigo-the-wake-issue-6

Scott Snyder, Sean Murphy
Vertigo

The cover of issue #10 distills the conclusion of The Wake. A woman gasps for air, struggling for her life, having reached the surface of the ocean. Her head is directly in the center of Dr. Archer’s sightlines. On Leeward’s right hand side is the sunrise and on her left are surreal splotches of sunspots. It conveys a psychedelic effect, causing you to wonder what out of the few scant images are real and what are unreal.

Leeward can tell between what’s real and what is not. The falsehoods promoted by the government have come to an end and she knows her encounter with Dr. Archer actually occurred. Furthermore, she believes what she learned from Dr. Archer: that humans are an alien species to Earth whom willfully forgot their own origins. The Mers are not totally merciless to mankind as an invasive species because they are not working to totally eradicate them. Some humans (presumably the most intelligent, and kindest) have been returned to their ship. This is done to preserve the group for their journey to the next planet on their checklist.

Dr. Archer also explains that the origin of the modern human condition through this lense:

“Picture all the times we’ve done this. All the planets out there. All the seeds sent, the ladders built and climbed down. All the versions of us at rest. Hell, somewhere out there is likely a version of you, a version of me, a version of each of us, at peace, at home, wherever. But not here. Here, I wake up restless. You wake up restless. We all wake up restless… On this one crazy planet, one in thousands, maybe millions, we are not at rest. We sense it, some truth just beyond our grasp, beyond our comprehension, our reach.”

Humans cannot be at peace on Earth because this particular planet does not accept us.

Once Leeward returns to the surface, the government is not open to her explanation of what transpired in the underwater cave. In between threats of torture, the president implies that the entire episode was a hallucination.

“Some people believes that every time we sleep, we die and when we wake we are reborn as new selves. Here I was seriously hoping you might wake from your little underwater nap as someone much smarter this go around.”

Whether the president believes the vision was real or imagined, her metaphor is apt. Humanity had purposely shut their eyes and slipped into a dream where they had always inhabited Earth, and it requires opening their eyes and regaining vision to comprehend the reality of their situation. the wake, issue 10, scott snyder, vertigo

While the government officials gloat about suppressing the truth from the masses, the spaceship defies the sonic net and lifts off from the water. In that moment, a spark of hope takes form and General Marlowe shoots the president in the head. While assassinating a figurehead is never an effective way to end a movement, it is an effective method to release Leeward from imprisonment, and she flees into the ocean with his help.

Ultimately, the last bastion of human government must be abandoned for people and the Mers to coexist. After the airship is destroyed and the spaceship leaves the planet, Leeward and a Mer regard each other on the surface of the ocean. Her embrace of knowledge and coexistence are the dawn of the new world, and this new era begins with a polite gesture: she waves to the Mer, and he descends peacefully.

The Wake ends with a sunrise hanging over a brightly lit ocean scene with a patchwork sail in the shape of a Mer’s face, the ship named after General Marlow’s deceased daughter, and a fresh-faced Leeward steering the ship while Mers and Dash the Dolphin race through the waves. Leeward’s final words offer a battlecry for everyone in our world, Human and Mer alike: “Don’t cry! Be brave! It’s all an adventure!”

This uplifting ending also marks a shift into the usage of bright colors in contrast to the swampy color palette of the previous nine issues. Past scenery ranged from the green hued mechanical world of the lab station, to the aqua toned underwater Mer attacks, to the murky rebel homebase. Even many people had shades of blue, green, and grey worked into their physical characteristics. The color scheme had a delightfully eerie effect, but with the advent of Leeward’s new life, brightly toned pastels and sunlight are given the spotlight.

This series touches on the source of humanity’s discontent and how to snuff out said discontent. If you haven’t read this yet, pretend you don’t know how it ends and give it a read.

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Romona Williams

Romona Williams

Romona Williams is an ex-librarian, current tutor, and constant writer. She can usually be found in antiquarian bookstores, curiosity shops, and carnivals after dark.

6 thoughts on “Review: The Wake Finale

  1. I caught most of what the ending was about but can someone explain to me how the moon blew up at the end and the reason for it? I know Lee mentioned something about there being fuel there but then didn’t elaborate.

    Thanks!

  2. Wonderful write up. Went online to search for resources to fill in a few gaps in the ending that I wasn’t really able to piece together after my first read through and this did just that. Great work and thank you.

  3. Thanks for the comment, Jared. I noticed the Leeward-having-no-tears-bit when I first read it but forgot about it until now. I like that detail, too.

  4. Nice summary! I’m not going to lie – I came here to make sure I didn’t miss anything in the finale. Your explanation cleared it up for me.

    Did you notice the bit about Leeward not having tears? I thought it was a nice touch.

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