By Zack Quaintance — The first thought I had when I cracked open I Breathed A Body #5 was, holy cow this has been a trip. This is perhaps best evidenced by this fifth and final issue’s opening line — The Underland remained open, defiant within the soil. Reality skewed above the visage of a fungal metropolis. I repeat, a fungal metropolis. So yes, this book has grown like the fungi so central to its plot, but at the same time, it has remained in keeping with the world and core interest I found so enticing way back in I Breathed a Body #1.

Which is all to say that I enjoyed both this finale and this series a great deal, to the point I consider I Breathed a Body one of the most fascinating comics of the year so far, if not the most fascinating comic of the year. This is just such a smart comic, with its thematic interests spread throughout several fascinating ideas, from the idea of our identities in the social media era (I loved this line in I Breathed A Body #5, “We share too much of ourselves. The lines between us have erased”) to micro-dosing with psilocybin that has become common in Silicon Valley, where these social media companies are most often formed. It’s all packed into this book, and teased out with a truly stunning and unpredictable body horror tale.

On top of that, this book is scripted in a way that lets the artists do incredible things with both the storytelling and design work. Andy MacDonald turns the human body into sheer terror in this comic making it at once part of the setting and of the mangled state to which several of the characters have been reduced. The detritus of bubbling organs and melted bones backgrounds many a page, and it works to a stunning and uneasy effect, made all the more lucid and jarring by Triona Farrell’s colors. This is a book interested in subject matter I’ve rarely seen, with art unlike any other comic. It’s a big job, yet everyone involved makes it work. And, as always, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s letters pace the entire affair, expertly leading the eye while using interesting tweaks — from underlines to highlighted words — to accentuate the captions and dialogue.

This issue as a finale is a natural extension of the rest of the book, an outcome that feels both surprising and inevitable. Throughout reading (and writing about) this series, I found myself focused a bit more on the social media corporate elements of this story than on what turned out to be a more important theme here — parenthood. Indeed, in this last issue the story reveals something that has been in front of our faces all along — this is a narrative about parents, the future, and the world we build for the years to come, all of which should have perhaps been obvious given the contents of the first issues first page.

I found this to be one satisfying read, the type of story that has just enough concentration and focus that it makes it possible at times to almost disassociate from your will to understand every last thing, subsequently just kind of letting the whole affair wash over you, bring you to a place of surreality and hazy consciousness. This won’t be an entertaining story for all readers. I can be realistic about that. Some folks will be downright putoff by some of what comes to pass here, but those who come to this story with an open mind will come away with a lot to contemplate, to the point they think about what they’ve just experienced at odd times during every day life, like when logging on to Twitter, reading headlines about YouTube influencers, or thinking in terms of what we’re building for the next generation. This book was very much for me, and if you’re nodding right now, I highly encourage you to check out my chat with writer Zac Thompson about it.

In the end, friends, it’s all one hell of a thing for a five-issue comic book series to accomplish in the good year 2021.

Overall: For readers who have enjoyed the body horror surrealistic unpacking of the social media age, I Breathed A Body #5 is a strong and satisfying conclusion, a nigh-perfect ending to a wonderfully different type of comic. 9.2/10

REVIEW: I Breathed a Body #5

I Breathed a Body #5
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Andy MacDonald
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: AfterShock Comics
A science fiction horror series about social media, big tech, and influencer culture.
The door to the Gelbacut Underland is open. The world is changing, minds are merging and a Fungal God seeks vengeance. Battered and broken, Anne is trapped in the middle of it all. With her head full of voices and nowhere left to go, only one question remains: Will she save herself or the world?
Price: $3.99
Buy It Here: I Breathed a Body #5

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.