Sweet Tooth #40

After almost four years and forty issues, Jeff Lemire's beloved Sweet Tooth has come to an end. With Karen Berger leaving and Hellblazer ending, it may seem like you can hear the baseline from "Another One Bites the Dust" beginning to come from the offices of Vertigo, but this ending was planned all along. After finishing the issue for the first time, it does seem somewhat rushed, though. From the cover image, it's clear we are fast forwarding to when Gus is a grown man and much of the story is told in flashbacks that fill us in on what occurred between issue #39 and now. Upon reflecting on the series and reading the ending again, the way this issue is written actually makes sense this way. There really isn't much need to go into much more detail on the events told in flashback unless you wanted to prolong the series. Lemire's plan to end it now is spot on.


It's hard to talk about the brilliance of this ending without giving away spoilers. Suffice to say that it is a very heartwarming, emotional, satisfying, and thought provoking end to a series that has been all those things all along, really. The future Lemire has created for this world stands in stark contrast to what most people envision when they look to the future, but it really makes you think about the possibilities and the way things are now in reality. This new world is brought to life beautifully by Lemire and Jose Villarrubio. Particularly the splash page of Gus's new home and what it has become really stands out and hits you when you first see it. As he has previously, Lemire colors portions of the book himself in order to make the flashback panels differentiated from the present timeline and it works every bit as well here.


Like I said, it's hard to say much about the story without giving something away. Even telling what emotions are evoked would probably be too much. I think this ending caps the series off brilliantly and cements Sweet Tooths reputation as an epic series that can hang up there in the same realm as Y: The Last Man. If this issue feels short or rushed at first, it's because Lemire has created a world we wish we could spend more time in, filled with characters we have come to love.