A review by zomvi
The Never Ending Party #5 by Rachel Pollack

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

This was a pretty decent, if predictable, conclusion, but I found the final pages extremely problematic, and it really soured the entire experience for me.

There is a scene where the main character is watching a news report, after everything is said and done, and there is a masked reporter covering the conflict in the aftermath, saying: "President Dos Santos blames new plague on transgender critical race theory!" Until now, this has been a fairly diverse, authentically-spoken comic, and I can absolutely appreciate the calling out of real world issues and monstrous public figures, but considering we just experienced a global pandemic (I assume the inspiration, given the masked reporter and presidential failings/misdirection) it feels highly offensive that the anti-Asian sentiments and blame for the virus is casually replaced to better suit the creators' message. It felt like callous erasure of real world struggles for a demographic conveniently left without a voice in this otherwise progressive, diverse series.