When a comic feels as original and fresh as We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us, the expectations for the ending are even higher. The sixth and final issue not only needs to deliver on answers, but also a satisfying mix of what came before: action, intrigue, and evil behavior from its little girl protagonist. After a slight delay, the finale arrives in comic shops this week, and it comes in at nearly 40 pages of content, delivering a lot that should make this an instant buy for trade collectors.
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #6 opens with Annalise hunting a team of goons from a tree. Helicopters are in the sky, the men have machine guns, and you’d think she was outmatched. Armed with a robot arm, a knife, and a machine gun of her own, she makes quick work of the goons with some of the best action choreography you’ll see all year from artist Stefano Landini. She’s quick, vicious, and uncompromising. Being the daughter of a supervillain can do that to you.
Mixed in with Annalise’s infiltration of a volcano lair is her father, inside a robot, speaking to his greatest enemy, Rook, who happened to kill Annalise’s father. These scenes balance out Annalise’s bloody mayhem, while also allowing Rook to become more familiar and for the robot to say his peace. Rook has been in past issues, but never as much as in this one. That helps when he’s in a face-off with Annalise, and eventually is revealed to be far more important to writer Matthew Rosenberg’s plans going forward.
Annalise is dangerous.
Credit: Image
About halfway through the issue, the story switches gears, focusing more on character building and way less on action. This series has always been about the villains being the main focus, and not characters we root against. It makes the second half feel quite natural, and the finale moment a rather delicious one that you won’t see coming. There’s also an epilogue that adds a new layer to the entire series that’ll make you want to go back and reread the book.
Art by Landini is excellent. There’s a grit to backgrounds that adds texture, and the use of speed lines amps up Annelise’s violence. The retro color palette gives the book an identity all its own. Landini is great at the smaller moments with his fine pencil work, but isn’t afraid to bring the roof down on characters in epic scale in this issue. The art does a lot of the work in selling the comedy in scenes as well, like when the other supervillains are squabbling with each other outside.
Letters by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are excellent as well, with creative and unique tails on word balloons that add an extra bit of character or tone when things are said. There’s also an interesting use of borders on word balloons, which are sometimes absent for bits that add a little something.
If you’re looking for gripes, they are minor at best. The second half of the book has a pace that’s so much slower than the first half; it’s a bit jarring, and the plot taking its time feels off because of this. There’s also a matter of characters talking at each other while holding pistols. Given Annalise’s ability to kill without a second thought, it’s a touch hard to believe she doesn’t take the shot on Rook in a key scene, even if Rosenberg’s dialogue keeps you invested.
We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #6 is a ferocious, funny, and deeply satisfying finale that proves Matthew Rosenberg and Stefano Landini’s series is one of the year’s most original genre triumphs. It balances outrageous action with introspective payoff, closing with both blood and brains—and leaving readers eager for whatever twisted corner of this world Rosenberg explores next.
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