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KISSING CHAOS #8
Recommended (7/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Arthur Dela Cruz
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $2.25 US |
From the start, Kissing Chaos has danced on the edge of being
too obscure, and while its dreamlike, hazy viewpoint on events was part of its
draw, in the end it winds up being a little too unclear to serve up a truly
satisfying ending. I still feel like a lot of the meaning, a lot of the plot, of
the story, has eluded me, staying just out of reach, unrevealed. Which is not to
say there aren't a few interesting revelations in this final issue, or that the
finale doesn't have some terrific moments, including an escalating violence that
makes for a powerful conclusion. It's just that I would have liked to have left
the series with a few less questions, and a few more answers.
It's funny, but I hadn't
noticed until this final issue that Angela was mute. Given how much her
narration has defined the series, it never occurred to me that she was speaking
only to the reader, and never to the other characters. One of the big
revelations this issue sheds new light on the relationship between Angela and
Damien, as well as giving a pretty clear picture of the murder that drove the
whole series. Throughout the series, I've been expecting some kind of psychotic
breakdown from Angela, given her increasing jealousy and her warped view of the
world, but it seems that the psychotic break happened before the series actually
started.
One of my favorite elements in one of my favorite movies, True Romance, is the finale, where there's a comical escalation of players in the final gunfight, including the cops and the Mafia. Dela Cruz plays up a similar situation in the final issue of Kissing Chaos, with an interesting
showdown in the bathroom between Damien and Raevyn's ex, the arrival of another
player who wasn't familiar to me and of course the cops who have been on the
trail of the three teens from the beginning. However, Dela Cruz doesn't play the
situation for laughs, but rather uses it to illustrate just how quickly things
can get out of control, which plays nicely off the same sort of theme around the
murder that brought Angela and Damien together.
However, while the central
question of the murder is answered, and the question of which girl Damien would
wind up is likewise addressed, I felt like Dela Cruz had introduced a fair bit
of mystery that was never answered. I expected that there was something
important on the laptop Raevyn stole, given the intensity of her pursuer, but it
seems that there's no more explanation than he wanted his laptop back. Also, the
shadowy forms that have been following either Raevyn or Damien are left in the
shadows... were they simply FBI, or something along those lines? And one of the
most confusing elements for me was a wink from Raevyn, as I'm entirely unsure
what it's meant to signify; I can't figure out what she knew and when, or why
she would take such self-sacrificing steps for Damien and Angela.
Kissing Chaos has been an unusual book, and it serves up
an unusual ending. Though Dela Cruz's plot lost me a little, his characters
never lost their attraction for me. The dreamlike art and atmosphere of the
story was a big part of its attraction, and Dela Cruz for the most part ably
managed that balancing act.
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