Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writers: Adam P. Knave, D. J. Kirkbride
Artist: Robert Love
Release Date: 29th January 2014

Finding an original take on the superhero genre is pretty tough nowadays, and although Never Ending doesn’t offer up an original superhero, it has managed to tell a perfectly acceptable tale in its 3-issue run.

This final issue does initially drag a little. Heroes getting down about being heroes doesn’t make for the most interesting reading, and for a while our main man Chuck is out of action as a result of last issue’s events. Unfortunately, he is in ‘what’s the point?’ mode, and while this doesn’t make for bad reading, it does tire quickly. Luckily, writers Adam Knave and DJ Kirkbride manage to close things off on a slightly more heroic – if slightly ambiguous – note.

Robert Love’s artwork has its inconsistencies, most notably in the characters’ faces. The drawing style seems to chop and change from panel to panel, but despite this I still found the art in Never Ending pretty enjoyable. One particular scene in this issue where Chuck is attacked by a couple of thugs really pops off of the page.

I had hoped this final instalment would spend more time on Archie’s descent into villainy. As he was the bad guy in the piece, it would have been good idea to shift a little more of the focus onto him at some point, but unfortunately he was absent from this issue after his demise in issue #2, and by this point the flashback scenes are few and far between.

The obvious assumption is that Never Ending will continue past this short run, although it really does feel like the story is now done with. The title has pretty much covered Chuck’s entire career in flashbacks, and although some of his heroics are briefly skipped over, we know he won, and that honestly feels like enough. On the whole, though, Never Ending has been pretty enjoyable. Despite only being a 3-part miniseries, the pacing of the issues has been handled well, and this final issue wraps up nicely.

Rating: 3/5.

The writer of this piece was:

Alan Shields aka (Al)
You can also find Al on Facebook