[Editor’s note: This review may contain spoilers.]
Writer: Rob Williams
Artist: Mike Dowling
Inker: Quinton Winter
Summary
This issue focuses on Akira and his “master plan.” He, Courtney OMG, and many of the 140 (129 at the beginning of this issue) are still in his crazy lair. As will happen when famous people do dumb things, a crowd gathers. News crews arrive to cover the crowd and the crazy dumb thing and they get sucked into the story. Ravan, Deacon and Dave show up here as well. Don’t worry, almost all aspects of this freak show are on full display.
Positives
Rob Williams knows how to write. His work on Suicide Squad is inspired and his work here is genius. Courtney OMG and Akira are in the middle of a stand-off and here is what he says about why people will not listen to her warnings:
“They won’t listen to you because you are only human. Whereas…I am a CELEBRITY.”
Courtney finds her inner badass and attacks Akira with a copy of his own book. She goes for it. She attacks and attacks and attacks and attacks. Instead of being exhausted, like I was watching it, she says,
“Why wasn’t this a hardback?”
Williams finds a way to make even the scariest, craziest moments funny. Later, Courtney is running for her life and her the dialogue box reads,
“Some Wagner would be appropriate here.”
So good right? Oh yeah, and if catchy dialogue isn’t your thing, how about some amazing plots twists? What? Akira did what now? He did it why? Damn! That guy is a mess. Oh yeah, Dave, Deacon and Ravan are on that island. What is up there? Well, in an effort not to ruin everything, just wait until you see what Dave is up to. Holy crap!
Mike Dowling has to take everything that comes out of Williams’ mind and make it work for us. He does. The Akira Fanboys are just as grotesque as Akira himself. As mentioned, there is a pretty graphic scene with Courtney and Akira. My stomach was in knots by the time I was done with that page. Not just the violent scene, but the anguish and pure terror that is written all over Courtney’s face as she does something she did not even know she was capable of doing.  He has firefights and exploding planes too. All of it is teeth-chatteringly amazing.
Negatives
There is a pretty high body-count in this issue. That makes me nervous that this is coming to an end too quickly. I sure hope not. This was written as almost two stories instead of swapping back and forth between stories like it has been done in other issues. I kind of prefer the swap, but I get why they did what they did here.
Verdict
This marks the end of one year of Unfollow. As is the case with everything Vertigo does, you cheer, you hold down your lunch, you cringe and you hold back tears. Rob Williams and Mike Dowling have created a world that, while it might seem like fiction, isn’t. Unfollow is not just a product of two amazingly creative guys, it is a reflection of who we are and what we could easily become. We have to analyze how we work with social media and how we function in the world of “instant celebrity.” Truly, this book needs to be loaded up with awards. Raise a glass to year one and tip it back for, what I can only assume will be, a spectacular year two.
