John Irving once wrote that if you live long enough, all that’s left is a “world of epilogues.”
Which if you ask me is the most precise and depressing encapsulation of human morality I’ve ever heard. But it’s also a neat little awareness by Irving that he often uses epilogues to “keep characters alive.” (Beats reincarnation, I guess.)
And that’s precisely what it offers Tsukumari in Nights #18.
Yes, the prequel arc effectively ended in issue #17: Erik is gone; Gray has been recruited by Chimera; Thule is basically over (although our good agent saved everyone who remained after Isaac’s little “tantrum”); and Tsukumari is back in the field to stop more monsters and entities.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
What we get in Nights #18, then, is an epilogue that’s emotionally resonant to its very core. One of my favorite parts of the first “season” was the dynamic between Tsukumari and Gray — writer Wyatt Kennedy gave them tension but also a sense of camaraderie, and we felt that deep history play out with little context. Here, we get that very context, and the pair have a relationship that’s both parental and sibling-like in some important ways. It informs how they manage one potential land feud between man and monsters and also how they share ice cream — they each know themselves and each other so perfectly, and they’re not afraid to bash heads (as needed) and still find some deeper connection.
It all feels very affirming and quaint, and the art team (artist Luigi Formisano, colorists Francesco Segala and Gloria Martinelli, and letterer Maria Letizia Mirabella) give us warm movie theaters and scenic snowy hillsides to really play up/extend the sentimentality of these moments. (Again, Nights does bonkers action/horror so well, but as we’ve learned amid this latest arc, it also knows how to slow things down to give us some new spaces to explore.)
Courtesy of Image Comics.
After this issue, it really is the sort of pairing that feels right at home in Nights. It manages to remind us just enough of Vince and Gray to contrast these relationships in an interesting way (which serves as some greater character work and world building) while respecting the uniqueness of both dynamics.
Given the ongoing “secret” about Gray’s true nature, and even how Chimera operates and regards its agents, I think we can better understand why Tsukumari engages with Gray the way he does. That, and what that might mean in the long-term for how she is regarded (and how she wants to be regarded in her choice of friends/partners.) Given that I’ve long called Nights the “Comic About Nothing,” getting to meander for a while with these two feel like a deeply special gift.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
At the same time, Nights #18 also prepares us for the future. I don’t want to spoil all that much, but we’re introduced to a new locale in the Nights-verse that seems to be the focus of the upcoming second “season.” (There’s also a preview at the end via a kind of ad, and the art team have further developed some familiar characters in a way where the intensity, weirdness, and action movie vibes are bigger than ever, and that bodes well for this book’s future.)
What I can say is that Tsukumari’s visit gives him some final time with Quinn seemingly before he’s shuffled lose to yet another plane. (That moment is another little preview where Nights’ art team once again play around with designs and visuals that make this world even more magical and more layered than ever before.)
Courtesy of Image Comics.
That “visit” also clarifies what a lot of this prequel has been about: Tsukumari. I mean, that’s been fairly obvious from the start of the arc, but after Nights #18, I have some distinctly fresh feelings about the masked badass. And much like we know why he wore said mask, I feel like I know him better than ever. Whether it’s his unflinching calm in the face of big, gross monsters (once more, some inspired design work that exemplifies why this title is unlike most others); his devotion to life (even in the face of rules and bureaucracy); his quite charm and grace; or what he does with both freedom and his own finale (spend it with the only folks that matter), Tsukumari feels so very alive.
He’s someone who cares deeply and wants people to be happy, and yet he’s not afraid to be terse or manipulative or act “shady” in order to generate outcomes that he wants. I don’t think he’d view himself as underhanded or duplicitous — instead, he’s a man of great depth and courage who believes that if he serves life at large, he can both do his job and make people’s lives that much easier/better. He’s quite warm but he also makes you work for those “feelings,” and he wants to make good things happen but isn’t so naive that he thinks he can save/help everyone.
Courtesy of Image Comics.
He is, in short, a rather complicated man, but someone who felt like he was trying to do right in a world that would eat most people alive. And regardless of his own fate, I think after this issue we can all agree the man made a proper difference. Not just in his job but though this quiet dignity and respect that I think sits very much at the heart of Nights. This idea that the world is big and ugly, but you can be good in ways that make a difference if you’re simply smart enough.
So, was Nights #18 an epilogue worthy of Mr. Irving himself? I’d think so. Because just like that author, this issue lent hope without treating us like children. It presented death and pain but grounded it all in this idea that those are prices worthy of being paid for even just a few moments of quiet joy and connection. And it was firm in its efforts even as it also gave us so much context and magic to explore.
Some of you may already be rushing toward Nights #19, and you should — the future of this book is going to be bonkers. But sit for a few moments with this warm but understated chapter, and I think you’ll be glad for all the truly great epilogues out there.
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