Image Comics 2015
Created & Written by Alex Grecian
Created & Illustrated by Riley Rossmo
Coloured by Ivan Plascencia
Lettered by Thomas Mauer
This has been one of those journey’s you never expected to take but you once you started it you found you didn’t want it to end. I do like the way this story has been told and now that we see Rasputin in the present and have a greater understanding why that’s happened I can’t believe I was once skeptical of going that route. Yet this issue just proves that while for now anyway Rasputin’s story is over there’s so much more left to ponder and the imagination of the reader that’s been so engaged throughout is left to keep going.
It’s actually extremely charming that we open with Rasputin having coffee and doing the interview revealing all at a nice outdoor cafe. Aside from the writing is uncannily excellent, Riley really just kind of brings us this modern Rasputin that is charming, handsome and an extremely likeable fella. It’s disarming to see him this way when we mostly see him in his Russian garb looking so “mad monkish” for so long.
The writing here is pretty genius too! The fact that Rasputin is so openly discussing every aspect of his life from when he “died” to her and isn’t holding anything back. The reasoning is sound, solid and when you hear it it’s totally expected but still kind of surprising but hey that’s what Alex does.
Oh how this all plays out in the past and leads up to him being here in the present was something that’s been partially expected and utterly within the realm of conspiracy theory. That Rasputin was able to do what he did last issue to come back and then deal with his adversary and his so-called friends afterward well this is the kind of storytelling that really makes this as believable as it is. There’s this whole dichotomy here between his past and present that just makes you like the man even more. His past may have defined him but it’s his present that really showcases the way a man can change and become comfortable with who he is.
Once the news of Rasputin’s death spreads among the general populace you see just the kind of influence he had. Peasants rose up and caused a civil uprising killing Alexandra and Nicholas leaving Anastasia and Alex in Grigori’s care. Escaping from the destruction with them and what happens from there well you’ll have to read the story to understand. Still it does tie in all the things that people believe happened to the children so it makes it kind of thrilling.
Even the ending when Grigori hands her his memoir to read as he leaves and she starts it, which coincidentally feels like when we started this story, you are left with the feeling that perhaps somewhere down the road there’s an opportunity to see more of what he wrote about and see how he and the children prospered in America and perhaps more of a tie-in to the children and their ties to Russia.
That this is a logical conclusion to the story is great. Sure I wish it was an ongoing but that’s only because it’s been so magically told through both words and visuals that you don’t want to see it end. As it stands there is absolutely no reason why this shouldn’t be considered for Best Limited Series of 2015.