Graphic Novel Review: Last Days of an Immortal

Last days of an Immortal is a French graphic novel published by one of my favorite companies Archaia. Its written by Fabien Vehlmann and illustrated by Gwen De Bonneval. This novel follows a man named Elijah who is a member of the philosophical police, as he journeys through the universe trying to not to solve crimes but to resolve them by helping different people understand, and come to accept vastly different belief paradigms and practices.

This book may be one of the hardest things to deliver to audiences because just as Elijah tries to rationalize diverse socio-cultural systems to others De Bonneval is trying to help us understand and ground oneself in this distant Utopian future, where intergalactic travel is so commonplace it doesn't bear mention. In a world where death is all but extinct thanks to mediums called echoes, except for the death of ones furthest memories which are lost when merging with an echo of oneself. It seems a difficult task but she remedies this issue by starting with something carnal and familiar as Elijah investigates a grisly murder scene.

This murder was committed all by a misunderstanding, as an alien who mistook an assassins gunshot in his direction as a sign of affection and the large beast returning that affection ended up murdering his attacker. Elijah is then responsible for resolving the feelings between the human, now revived because of his echo, and the alien and helping them understand where the misunderstanding occurred. This introduction mimics the overarching story as Elijah is trying to resolve the motives of two ancient alien races the Aleph and the Ganedan. Millions of years ago an Aleph ate a Ganedan prince and the Ganedans responded in kind-this conflict was the foundation of each groups customs and culture and now in the present future their conflict threatens to plunge the current society into war. Elijah and his echoes are trying to rationalize what started the original attack between these species all while he is trying to resolve the reasons his friend has chosen to completely die.

Bonneval's artwork is an interesting complement that is hard to fully describe but it is really easy to absorb and take in. This simplistic rendering has a sort of reminiscence to how Americans perceived elements of the future in the 40s in a type of Italian futurism; it makes an unimaginable future perceptible without the distraction of drowning in overwhelming ad nausea details. The artist takes much care in the setting of scene their artist style morphing to fit the mood and changing mediums (ie from ink to a watercolor wash) to help certain effects stand out.

Last Days of an Immortal  was extremely gratifying to read, while it was initially hard to get into and certain parts seem to be waterlogged with exposition the book helped to challenge my perspectives of science fiction and give me a grasp of what might lay beyond the perceivable. It also puts forth a remarkable demonstration of individual, interpersonal, societal responsibility for our actions and understanding ourselves in these various roles, and what death and memory mean as individuals.

It is a read for someone who enjoys sifting through a heady novel a couple of and times as then sit and simmer in the ideas it presents. Otherwise it can easily go unappreciated as a preachy or dull to the impatient laymen.

I'd like to thank my brother Sean Griffin  for gifting me this book.

The artist SirGryphon sometimes likes to overthink things and will illustrate them as humorous anecdotes in a series called MEANWHILE... or as a fun scifi adventure in WOW Signal. Both books can be found at Gryphon Knights Comics!