There are people who want the child dead. Max is trying to save the kid. There's an army of clones that are ready to strike. Everything seems to be in a very volatile state as Precious Metal reaches its penultimate chapter. Writer Darcy Van Poelgeest ushers the story through its fifth issue with artist Ian Bertram and colorist Matt Hollingsworth. There are a lot of important decisions to be made by Max and several others as the series begins to draw to a close in another visually dreamy science fantasy thriller. The unique look and feel of the series lives on as it reaches its final chapter.

Max is approaching the room that houses the boy. He gives the guard an ultimatum. Tells him that he’d better be there between him and the door so that he can open it for him. The guard had been told to protect the boy with his life. There’s no question that’s what’s going to happen when Max gets on the other side of the door. There IS some question as to what Max is going to do with the boy. He could take him to his mother in exchange for his daughter or he could take the boy to the old man and give both the boy and himself the freedom they both might need. 

Van Poelgeest frames every scene in the issue like it's an inexplicably, beautiful, little narrative poem. Every scene in the issue feels like it has its own resonance. Everything in the issue feels like it has its own life force. There aren't many people who can pull that off in the course of a clean and coherent narrative. The author manages to do so in a wave that continues to cleverly build tensions for next month’s final chapter. 

Bertram’s art continues to feel like it’s being puled out of another world altogether. There is just enough in the visuals to suggest a world that would be very familiar to our own. The dark surrealism of Bertram’s heavy inking brings a great deal of darkness to every page. There’s just enough emptiness beyond the blackness of the ink to provide Hollingsworth an opportunity to weave a bit of magic through mood, tone and color. The story might benefit a bit from an arts style that's grounded in a slightly more realistic style, but it would lack the dreamy nightmare intensity that the art team has been managing throughout the series. 

Please continue to run to the final chapter next month. It's going to be interesting to see where it all comes to rest. Nice as it is to see the creative team on the book continue to ratchet up the tension, it feels like they've been doing so for a long t and it's difficult to imagine the final chapter of living up to the intensity of everything that has come before it. Nevertheless, the final moment for the current series feels like it could open up into something unspeakably, beautiful.

Grade: A