Well, we’ve reached the end of the road, comic book sniffers! This week saw the wrap up of Dark Horse Comics’ digital alliance with Jane Espenson and Brad “Cheeks” Bell’s Husbands property, and the last two chapters are absolutely stellar. For such an unlikely foray into comics, team Husbands has really delivered in a way that “the big two” endlessly struggle to achieve. Espenson, Bell, and Dark Horse have given this geek a booster shot of optimism that the comic book medium still has the potential to go way beyond the “capes and cowls,” appealing to new readers who have no interest in the super-powered beating that crap out of each other during the latest event o’ epic-ness.

Before we get to the finale of the series, let me address the awesomeness of Husbands #5: Arch Nemesis. I had thrown in a Kevin Keller joke in one of my previous reviews, but I never actually believed Brady, Cheeks, and Haley would actual be plopped into a pseudo Riverdale! This issue is super fun from start to finish, from the “Chick and Brick” interpretations of the leads, the hip, rhyming nature of the dialogue, the wonderfully appropriate hairstyles and clothing, to the subtle, yet absolutely fantastic, trademark Archie-style noses! Husbands #5: Arch Nemesis is full of laughs (the omnipresent narrator has some great lines in this one, such as the instantly quotable classic, “During football practice, Zak begins to suspect there may be a document in his pants . . . ”) and also carries an anti-bullying message that was much appreciated by this former dweller of the inside of lockers (not by choice, mind you). Let me give a much-deserved shout out to artist Tania del Rio for her wonderful work on the book before we move onto the finale issue.

Click here to read the full review.