RASL: The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla: Volume 4
*Starred Review* Smith wraps up his noirish, fringe-sf, mystical tale in this fascinating closer. It’s been a long, weird trip to get here, as dimension-skipping art thief and ex-engineer RASL tries to stay one hop ahead of a homicidal government spook, fix whatever rifts between worlds he’s inadvertently opened up, and uncover the truth behind the death of the one woman he can’t get off his mind. Turns out Smith has known exactly where he was headed pretty much from page 1, and, due to the massive popularity of Bone, it was a safe bet that fans would stick with him through any number of bizarre cliff-hangers and mind-pretzling ideas. So, things like the bottle of Makers Mark that RASL casually sips from in an early issue and then plays a pivotal role well down the line, or even RASL’s unexplained moniker itself, all lend a sense of overall narrative cohesion rare for comic-book series with such out-there subject matter. And the surprise hero of the whole thing? Why, none other than the wizard inventor Nikola Tesla and the hints of all the genius things he figured out but never told the world. Throughout the series, Smith’s dedication to self-publishing has paid off for readers, with a plus-size page format perfect to showcase his impeccably rendered desert landscapes, physically animated figures, and tendon-tight action sequences. RASL supplies yet more proof that Smith is a unique talent in the world of comics who’s not afraid to take risks and knows how to pull them off. --Ian Chipman