Reviews for Last Wish, Part One ••••••COMICS
A confident embarkment upon a six-issue comic series. This was my favorite of my review batch. Moody, beautifully detailed brush & ink art, legible lettering and a clean layout support a rather confusing plot. A young man is haunted by the women in his life as he finishes editing his student film in upstate NY. Transitions happen without warning in a series of flashbacks and flash-forwards. Berenstain renders gorgeous cityscapes and interiors. It was a pleasure to reread.
-Zine World
While the demise of Dimension Z, quite possibly the finest underground comic publisher of the last five years, may have meant a sad, premature end to the Colossal Monster Wars, an ongoing tribute to the Godzilla chronicles, it has freed-up Z's principle players for independent projects. Adam Berenstain's Last Wish is the first work to risk from Dimension Z's ashes. While the artist appears to have abandoned his monster-roots, devotees of Berenstain's Harvey Kertzman-inspired work on titles like The Horror of Mecha-Gurnalon and The Arbiter will be pleasantly surprised by Last Wish, a sort of existential coming-of-age story about a film-student/artist named Moses, set against the industrial back-drop of Buffalo, New York. The city's grim surroundings make an appropriate stage for Berenstain's story, a bleak character study which weaves its way through family life, dead-end jobs, artistic projects, and the failed relationships and missed opportunities of its main character.
Last Wish marks an artistic as well as narrative departure for Berenstain. While the artist's work for Dimension Z was noted for its crisp lines and striking half-tones, Last Wish is heavily inked and drawn in an almost abstract style. The comic doesn't have any gray-scales at all and the contrasting lines often make for chilling caricatures and sharp plays of light and shadow. While the art has a distinctly organic feel, it is, surprisingly, a perfect medium both for Berenstain's neo-realist storyline and for his industrial setting. And while, at times, unwarned narrative shifts from past to present can be disconcerting, the story develops a flow that is at once beautiful and raw. Berenstain doesn't hide behind self-deprecating solipsism or protect himself from the reality of his surroundings with the tiresome veil of irony. Last Wish is the real deal.
While Last Wish will most certainly be compared to comics like Minimum Wage and Optic Nerve, be assured that it is head and shoulders above them. It seems only a matter of time before Berenstain is picked-up by a larger distributor. Until then, he'll continue to enjoy cult-status both as an illustrator of some of the finest monster comics of the 90s and as one of the brightest new-comers to the ever-expanding genre of comics-realism.
-Your Flesh
Relationships between friends, family, events past and future. These are the building blocks of Adam's thoughtful character study. Moses Frey is in the process of breaking up with his current girlfriend. This spurs him to reflect on his past relationships, and what he recalls of awkward moments with his parents and previous breakups is as uncomfortable for the reader as it is for him.
Adam does well to prevent the plot from falling into over emotional psycho drama, instead he manages to present a character whose inability to articulate his emotions is almost understandable. Not that we can sympathize totally with Moses, his coldness seems too calculated for that. His budding attempts at film making reflect this need for control over people and in telling their stories. You get the sense that as much as he keeps replaying the events of his own life, he can't come up with the directors cut of his life so far.
Adam has constructed an intriguing narrative out of the interplay of flashbacks and present day events. This structure tends to be slightly confusing in parts as Adam doesn't always clearly signal the transitions between scenes. His artwork is a pleasure to look at, with what looks to be brushed ink working well to give the whole work a sombre atmosphere. Wrapped as it is in a striking illustrated cover and top notch production, this is an impressive start to what promises to be a strong title. Pick it up now so when Adam gets picked up by one of the classy alternative publishers, you can say you where there when it all started.
In a word: Complex
-Silver Bullet Comic Books
Reviews for Last Wish, Part Two
Part 2 has Moe moving in with his girlfriend as the main story, plus some flashbacks to him as a young boy. Heavy-inked, angst-ridden comic/serial really stands out in the larger panels with all the wealth of background detail. The story kept my interest, though I'm a little lost without Part 1. Still recommended for his drawing skills & storytelling ability, and I think if the other parts will equal or surpass this one, he's got a solid achievement here.
-Zine World
Moses decides it is time to start taking life seriously and commit to things, especially his relationship with Nicole. So they decide to move in together. His student film didn't do that well in the end of the year awards, and things are starting to look shaky in the office of the magazine he does volunteer work for. These events bring to mind memories of his childhood with an ill mother and an aggressive father.
Adam works to high standards in this book, as he did in issue one, and it is obvious that this plot is going to require readers who are prepared to stay for the long haul, but it is also apparent that those that do stay are going to be rewarded. Big changes in peoples lives need serious consideration, their impact amplified by a lot that has gone on in the past. Adam is working to show us how these things can work.
With Moses, Adam is creating a complex character. Sometimes he sounds pompous and full of youthful determination. Other times we can see his mind at work, uncertain about how things are going to turn out. Occasionally we see him happy, such as when we share the happiness he feels as he moves in with the women he loves.
The layouts have a very cinematic feel to them, as is befitting the story of a budding film maker. The transitions between scenes of the present and Moses' childhood memories have an impact without ever being jarring. Adam's art style, that looks to involve a brush, is on just the right side of busy, with lots of background shading and texture that gives most of the book a sombre tone. This may be trying to create lighting effects, as the scenes in office interiors have a bright, even glary look that approximates neon lighting. Nice touch.
I was pleased to find the expectation created by the first issue is well and truly met by the current one. For coherent, serious and deliberate storytelling you can't really ask for much more that you'll find here. In a word: Deft.
-Silver Bullet Comic Books
A serious drama about a serious film student and his seriously tragic relationships.
-Quimby's MiniMagalog
