Ascender #7 Review

Writer: Jeff Lemire / Artist: Dustin Nguyen / Image Comics Issue 7 of Ascender was all about Captain Tesla and what she’s been up to for the past ten years since the events of Descender took place.  Following through with the cliffhanger from last issue, Tesla is getting dragged underwater and into a giant werewhale’s mouth. And as soon as she gets there, accepting certain doom, we jump back to ten years prior in the aftermath of the major events of the end of Descender. This is how this issue is framed, and it works really well to not only advance the narrative but provide information that bridges the past to the present in a way that is wrapped up in the character’s desires. These flashbacks don’t feel like they were just shoehorned in because they needed to be. They feel like they fit right into the only slot they could fit in. Because Tesla feels like she’s about to die, it’s like these flashbacks are her life flashing before her eyes– at least the last ten years of her life. It’s a way for her to go over every major moment that led her to this exact situation, but it’s also a way for us to get some much-needed info about what her life has been like while time has passed and how the galaxy has descended from a galactic federation of planets to a desolate wasteland full of a religious vampiric army. We still don’t have all the answers, but we’re well on our way due to the context of Tesla’s memories.

We also get to see how Tesla and her first mate Helda’s stories got int…