Moore is using this series to explore magic as faith, and how religious symbols and ideas are all interconnected. It's a thoroughly complex and even confusing prospect to examine, and perhaps even moreso within a super-hero story. I admit, I don't get all of what Moore is saying, but fortunately, it's not the details that are important. Moore manages to convey the essence of what he's saying, of what he believes, through what his characters feel. The overwhelming emotion in this concluding chapter of Sophie's quest through the afterlife is powerful and infectious.
Sophie, the new Promethea, and her predecessor, Barbara, arrive at the final stop on their celestial and spiritual journey: Kether, the pinnacle of Heaven where one becomes one with God. It is a place of purity and love, of power and a wonderful vulnerability. And it is a place in which it is remarkably easy to lose oneself. The two women have attained their goal, but it threatens to envelop and consume them both.
Williams and Gray bring realistic style works incredibly well in bringing out the surreal energy and setting of the plot. The monochromatic tone of the opening scene was thoroughly effective in conveying the flood of positive energy the characters are experiencing, and Williams injects remarkable joy in their faces to drive the point home. The simplicity of that opening scene in Heaven makes for a rich and entertaining contrast with the meticulous detail of the New York cityscape that greets Sophie upon her return.
Promethea's journey through the Heavens has been a lofty one at times. Huge ideas and the meticulous details of a faith that combines all others are quite a bit to take in. But in the end, it all comes down to a tender, grounded sense of humanity. Sophie's other-dimensional stroll is boiled down to one simple idea: growing up. Sophie grows up and comes to relish the things and people in her life that before caused her grief. It's a notion to which I find it quite easy to relate.
This is not only the end of a long journey for the title character, but for the reader as well. A bimonthly publishing schedule and slow pace had the potential to alienate some readers, but the lucky ones are those who stuck with it. I look at this final chapter on its own and I realize how remarkably accessible it is. The story is summed up so succinctly, but that exposition never intrudes on the plot, characters or emotions that drive them forward.
Promethea may very well be Moore's finest -- and perhaps most personal -- work.
