The Good
AXIS: CARNAGE has been an enormous amount of silly fun and this latest -- and sadly, final -- chapter really shines because of artist German Peralta colorist Rain Beredo. Not only are there plenty of creative pages and angles (the look into Sin-Eater's eyes, the handling of Carnage's thoughts), but the issue is consistently polished and full of energy. The character work is so lively, presenting individuals that are expressive and they rarely appear static. The handling of the effects and environments -- be it Sin-Eater's glow or Carnage's slithering yet still smooth symbiote -- are equally impressive. Even if you're not the biggest fan of the story, it's still a great thing to witness.
There's a pretty pessimistic message tossed in here and it doesn't add much weight to the story (if anything, it just continues to illustrate the point the reporter's not a respectable person at all), but Carnage's reaction to it works well enough and once again offers an amusing look at superhero tropes. Nothing here made me laugh out loud like the previous two issues did, but the clever handling of Carnage's thoughts was good fun and the opening sequence made me smile ("That's not fair!"). There's an extended part that's kind of dry and doesn't have any good gags, but it's doing some mandatory work to race the story towards its end and instill some change before saying goodbye. Unfortunately, it's not as exciting or as creative as the rest of the series and feels like it's a bit of a rushed conclusion, but -- as stated above -- at least the art team makes it one hell of a scene to look at. I'd love to see Rick Spears get another opportunity to write this version of Carnage. Even though this ending didn't live up to the rest of the ride and a big change occurs (one which I don't think is necessary, but that's a personal gripe), he still proved he can make following Carnage ridiculously entertaining there's still plenty of room for great comedy with this character.
The Bad
AXIS: CARNAGE has been hilarious and a clever way to shine a new light on Carnage, so it's understandable to go into this chapter with pretty high expectations. But instead of getting another creative and hysterical chapter, this conclusion feels pretty standard; it seems like this story would have really benefited from having an extra issue to expand upon the development or build up to it and flesh out the themes a little more. Instead, this last chapter only delivers a laugh or two and the handling of the conclusion doesn't really leave an impact. It plays out pretty much how you'd expect it to -- Sin-Eater feels like he's here for this one moment instead of being an interesting part of the narrative -- and it doesn't stand out in any significant way. It's not bad, it's just a simplistic way to give Cletus a "clean slate" and it doesn't have the same kind of character as the previous two chapters.
The Verdict
An extremely funny and hugely entertaining limited series comes to an okay conclusion. The visuals are still a blast and there's a decent laugh or two along the way, but the theme doesn't really resonate and it feels like a pretty basic way to wrap things up for this story. If you enjoyed the previous two chapters, you owe it to yourself to see how this all comes to an end; just don't expect to love it nearly as much as the other issues. Hopefully this isn't the last spotlight inverted Carnage will receive. This limited series proves there's potential for a lot of fun with this character.