Billionaire Island #6 is out September 16, 2020. — **Billionaire Island #6** is out September 16, 2020.

By Jacob Cordas — What an ending to the series.

Billionaire Island #6 sticks the landing so effortlessly, while going darker than anything Mark Russell has ever made previously. Over the last six issues, Russell, Steve Pugh, Chris Chuckry, and Rob Steen have built a dynamic and engaging satire. The world was never far off, taking a Randian fantasy and pushing it into sci fi realism. Each step of the way was equally mixed with fantastic jokes and cynical morals.

Here, in the final issue, the creative doesn’t ease up. The art is filled to the brim with amazing visual gags. Whether it be the Jim Cramer stand-in decked in a turkey costume, the orangutan burger or even a suicide attempt, every panel is jam packed with jokes. Even more impressively, they never impede the story. Every joke is a natural extension of the themes and tones established so far. It heightens the world without ever hiding it.

The writing maintains that same strength as well. I laughed hard enough at a joke midway through I had to screenshot it and forward it to multiple friends. I keep coming back to a line of dialogue on the first page while writing this because it’s just that funny.

But it, of course, isn’t just jokes.* This is a satire of late-stage capitalism and doesn’t pull it’s philosophical punches on that. The world is dying here. As they get closer and closer to the end, they seem to win. Yet they don’t. They never really could. A system this deeply entrenched couldn’t be changed that easy though we desperately want it to be. Each level of little horror and indignity only stacks to enable it. If it wasn’t right, why would we sit with it?

It isn’t death that makes cowards of us all - it’s the fear that capitalism isn’t worth it. And we will kill each other until we kill ourselves so we don’t have to face that fear. Characters run from it, hiding it. They do what they can so they don’t have to admit it.

It is such a cynical note to have to end on, like if Garth Ennis was writing economic critique. But that’s what we have here. A team of people committed to telling an uncompromising story the way they need to. It hits home on every page and makes you laugh on every page. Late-stage capitalism was almost worth it to bring us this comic.

Now lets burn the system the fuck down.

Overall: Billionaire Island #6 is a gut punch of an ending. It is equal parts hilarious and tragic. This is the late-stage capitalism satire we need right now, even if it isn’t the one we want. 10/10

*That you can hopefully get out of Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal, if Marvel ever decides to admit how good the one-shot they released was and turn it into the series it needs to be.

Billionaire Island #6 - REVIEW

Billionaire Island #6
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Steve Pugh
Colorist: Chris Chuckry
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: Ahoy Comics
Price: $3.99
The new series by Mark Russell (Second Coming) and Steve Pugh (The Flintstones) wraps up with a bang! After a devastating series of events on Billionaire Island, Shelly, Trent, and the others are determined to let the world know the truth. But for Business Dog? It's time for dinner. Plus a selection of AHOY short stories and illustrations.
Release Date: September 16, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Billionaire Island

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My name is Jacob Cordas (@jacweasel) and I am not qualified to write this.