It’s been quite some time since I first covered Manifest Destiny, but I finally got around to reading the final few issues this year after the series concluded in 2022. This review will focus on the second half of the story, covering issues 25 through 48. These are collected in trade paperback within volumes 5 through 8.

The story of Manifest Destiny is a fictional account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Volume four saw our main characters struggle through the harsh winter and revealed the major antagonist for the series, the demon of chaos Navath. Now as the expedition nears the final leg of the journey, our characters must contend with new threats and make crucial decisions that will shape history as we know it.

As I mentioned in the first part, the characters are especially strong in Manifest Destiny and I’m glad to see that continue here. These last volumes amp up the interpersonal conflicts within the group for our heroes. Volume six in particular has virtually no supernatural elements, instead focusing on the struggles between leadership. Though our characters have grown more accustomed to dealing with the supernatural threats, there are still quite a few creative new horrors you can expect as well such as psychedelic fog, obsidian rock monsters, and even giant mole rats.

Personally, though, I found the second half of this story to be much weaker overall. One of the core themes of the work involves the horror of the unknown. As more information becomes revealed to the reader this theme slowly fades into the background. This is a shame as I found it to be a core draw of the series. Additionally, I found the final climactic conflict was executed sloppily and it causes the ending to fall a little bit short despite serving as a fitting conclusion to our characters.

Another issue I had was the missed opportunities regarding the worldbuilding. After introducing Navath as an extraplanar entity, I was excited by how the writers could craft their own mythology surrounding the homeworld of these monstrous beings that have acted as obstacles thus far. However, there is little focus given to this aspect and we never get to see a glimpse into the other world. On top of that, Navath’s motivations are simple and bland. It’s unfortunate given the nuance to which the main cast is written that such a flat villain is the final test.

One thing that remains fantastic throughout this second half is the artwork from Mathew Roberts and the colors by Owen Gieni. Roberts’ style is perfect for this story and the last few issues certainly deliver some haunting pages and exceptional scene compositions.  On the other hand, Gieni’s colors bring everything together bestowing life to each image and emphasizing key moments with harsh bright colors.  I like how he subtly mimics the style of oil paintings of this era of history.

While I wasn’t as positive on the second half of Manifest Destiny, I still think it’s overall very solid. It’s certainly a unique take on an underutilized era of history for comics and delivers a compelling cast of morally grey characters to get invested in.

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Manifest Destiny

$16.99

7

Score

7.0/10

Pros

• Great Art
• Compelling, nuanced cast

Cons

• Ending is poorly executed
• Some aspects underdeveloped
• Flat final villain