I don’t know how to feel about this series.
On one hand, did I want more Max & Chloe? Yes, always. Did I want Max to meet Rachel? No, not really, but that’s fine, totally fine.
On the other hand, I felt like FAREWELL was the perfect kiss-off for Max & Chloe.
There’s nothing wrong with the first volume of this comic book series — penned by Emma Vieceli and illustrated by a very Vertigo-esque Claudia Leonardi — but it does feel empty, it feels 100% like fan-service. Well-penned fan-service, but fan-service nonetheless.
It’s supremely well-executed, with a great high-concept hook that manages to finagle all of the possible timelines, but ugh, I can’t get behind the love story between Max & Chloe. Not my Max! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Max & Chloe are ride-or-die friends — not lovers. Shipping them is just … not an option in my book, but apparently folks want that.
This series leans hard into that, and while I’m all about queerness, that feels fundamentally different from who these characters — these people — are. I’ve previously harped on authorial intent, but this seems disingenuous.
Nonetheless, it’s a very inventive comic, one that embraces the multi-faceted nature of the series and manages to work off it, despite being a linear narrative work. It’s substantive, and worth your time if you’re into the LIFE IS STRANGE universe, despite my grousing about shipping Max & Chloe.