Seven to Eternity #17 (final issue!)
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Jerome Opeña and Matt Hollingsworth

What Happened Before: The Mud King can grant any one their wishes, but in exchange he can see through their eyes and they become his slave. Fighting him were the last of the Mosak Knights. Adam Osidis, son of a Mosak Knight, manages to sever the Mud King's control over his subjects, but the link remains and should he die, so will his subjects. Travelling with the remaining Mosak Knights to the one place in the world where the Mud King's influence can be completely undone, Adam himself is seduced by the Mud King's promises; a cure for the deadly disease he has.

Plot: Adam is restored by the healing waters. He returns to the Mud King to take him to the healing spring, but the Mud King refuses; he rather dies here and now, taking his servants with him and being proven by Adam's actions that anybody can be corrupted. He then reveals that he ordered the death of Adam's family. In a fit of anger, Adam kills him, but then sees Katie, his remaining daughter slowly dying as well, as she was still bound to the Mud King.
200 years later, Adam is now a King himself, the Eternal King who rules with an iron fist while trying to convince himself of his own righteousness.

The Good: I generally don't commend on Image Series, as they usually are part in a longer, ongoing story and reviews of single issues have little use (there are exceptions), but as this is the last series, this will probably be more of a review on the whole series. The good, as always, is Opeña's art.
I still maintain that the Mud King as an antagonist is one of the more memorable characters in this series, a man who became king one subject at a time and in the end is willing to die just to be proven corectly.
The series title "Seven to Eternity" is given context in this issue and I always appreciate a title drop in a comic or movie.

The Bad: I get the feeling that this was originally planned as a much longer series and I do think that I should reread it one sitting to see if that was just a misconception on my part. In my initial reading at least, I felt that many of the characters did not receive any development and I have to struggle to recall the names and motivations of most characters beside Adam, his daughter Katie and Garils, the Mud King. Which, especially with Opeña's art, seems like a waste. The mysterious wizard Torgga for instance, is constantly mentioned throughout the series (as both the one who can disconnect the Mud King from his servants and is also instrumental in the actual ending), but I don't think we ever see him or hear him talk, so he remains a cypher. (Again note that I need to reread this series).
Also you have this art and 4-5 pages in this comic are completely black or black with a just text ballons (they are effective for storytelling though; characters either slipping into unconsciousness/death and the passage of time).


6/10: I had high hopes for this series when it started, but it could have used a few more issues to develop the side characters. The main plot is there (Adam dealing with his family, his disease and his history), but I think it feels hollow. As said, I had different expectations of this series, more time spend on the journey
Curious that the series ends on a black page, no final word from author or artist as is usual for this kind of series, no adds or letter pages either, it's just this comic and only this comic.

How did I not know about this?  I love Mark Russell (though I'm not thrilled with the FF book he's doing).