Promethea, Volume 5

This series by Alan Moore and JH Williams has been one of my favorite comics ever and this final collection is no different.

The previous volumes were guided introductions to magic and the kabbalah. This last volume sees Promethea presiding over the Apocalypse while the government and a a super-team try and stop her. Moore's vision of the end of the world is actually quite uplifting and inspiring; probably not something you ever expected to read.

As with the whole series, JH Williams' and Mick Gray's art (with colors by both Jeromy Cox and Jose Villarrubia) more than stands up to the rigors of Moore's demanding scripts.

The final issue (for reasons that become obvious as you read the series, there had to be 32 issues) is an epilogue that show more restates/summarizes all of the themes and ideas that have been presented in the previous 31 issues; all in one heady, psychedelic package.

One of the most satisfying, thought-provoking comics reads I've come across. show less

A bit underwhelmed by these. If you want a beautifully illustrated example of the Hermetic Qabalah interpretation of the Tree of Life and the Tarot Deck, with lots of respect for John Dee and Aleister Crowley, then this may be the reference book for you. If you want a gripping graphic novel about the adventures of a woman with the powers of a goddess, you may find all the explanations of the significance and imagery a bit hard work to wade through. Definitely reads as if written when stoned - wow man, we are all one in the mind of god, and we should all love one another, and we are all made of love, and the imagination is Powerful, man, and sex is powerful, man, let's put the Wand in the Cup - although that doesn't mean it's not show more beautiful and contains a lot of truth. The sort of book fundamentalist christians probably have in mind when they say 'reading graphic novels teaches children about False Magick and is Dangerous' although to be fair, very heavy in christian imagery and accepting of the divinity of Christ (just also the divinity of everything else). show less

I was sad to see Promethea end after just five books, but this is hands down one of the most kick-@$$ stories I have ever read (this goes for the series, not just this book) and the series is a cherished part of my graphic novel collection - and I am picky! The ending caught me off-guard, but in a way it almost seems fitting the way it ended.

Once I started this one, I pretty much had to keep going until the very end. In part, it was not as profound as the previous volumes, so that made the reading pace a bit quicker. Most of the in-depth meditation of the series was already out of the way. The nice thing about the ending, which I think is a stroke of genius for Moore, is that it leaves you with an uplifting sense of hope. And yet, you get the idea that the story will go on. This was definitely a good way to wrap up this very good and interesting series. Fans of Alan Moore will definitely like it. Readers who enjoy mythology and folklore will like it as well. In terms of appeal factors, and this is more for librarians, readers who like works like the Fables series may like show more this series. show less

Hmm. The final Promethea turned, somewhat unexpectedly apocalyptic. (I mean, it was mentioned in the fourth book but I didn't take it all that seriously.) In some ways I didn't like this one as well as the others, since I primarily enjoyed the shenanigans of Promethea while on Earth and in the kabbalistic system; in other ways, though, I did really enjoy this story. It's an unusual take on the standard apocalypse story, which was nice. The same caveats from my review of the fourth book still apply, though this was a lot less dependent on esoteric knowledge than the previous books.

I read this ages ago, except for the long, long chapter at the end. I tried to read it, but it made my eyes tired. That probably means that Alan Moore is somewhere in his English cave, twisting his rings and scowling at his voodoo doll of me, but large amounts of tiny font in front of tie-dye-ish backgrounds just doesn't work for me. And thus, I ignored writing a review or even saying I truly finished reading this series.

Okay, so what do I remember? This was a pretty good ending. It was a coming together of Promethea's "real world" aspect and her spiritual/mental/dream(?) journey. It's the end of the world, and it's Promethea's doing. It's also one of those "is she gonna destroy the world because she was told she'd be the one to destroy show more the world, or was she always going to destroy it no matter what" sort of deals. I felt like, with the build up of the past four books, this finished rather quickly and then moved on to Alan Moore's history of the world/magic chapter. Overall, I liked the series, but I could've gone without. The artwork was one of the strongest points of the series. show less

Promethea is a great idea set in a fantastic world (I love the details!) with fabulous characters. Sophie's loooong voyage into the Immateria (...she meets God! She IS God! We are ALL God! Wow!) was boring, but no where near as frustrating as the end of the series. Promethea-as-Ender-of-Worlds I like, but then it all got very psycadelic and I'm pretty sure Moore just finished writing while on acid.