“Finals” is quite different from other titles one will ever read. Aside from being a mature title, considering all the violence, I enjoyed the series for its unique story written by Will Pfeiffer and I really like Jill Thompson’s artwork. I’m looking forward to seeing how issue #2 will turn out!
TITLE: Finals Issue #1
YEAR: September 1999
COMPANY: Vertigo
WRITER: Will Pfeiffer
ARTIST: Jill Thompson
LETTERER: Rick Parker
COLORIST: Rick Taylor
EDITOR: Joan Hilty
Before Will Pfeiffer wrote “Teen Titans”, “Catwoman”, “Blue Beetle”, his first break was a Vertigo four-issue limited series titled “Finals”.
Co-created by Pfeiffer and Jill Thompson (known for her work on DC Comics “Wonder Woman”, “The Sandman” and Comico’s “The Elementals”), the story is about students who attended a twisted college known as “Knox State University”and students are trying to survive their finals.
At Knox State University, people try to survive as the “strong students prevail, and the weak are chewed up and excreted by the strong”.
In the first issue we see an athlete with his girlfriend walking on campus and one of the students activating and writing the results of rapid introduction of concentrated megadose of Anadrol and we see the jock starts to grow incredibly, grab his girlfriend by the neck and rip her head off.
Meanwhile, we see Dr. Fisher trying to get his film student, Wally Maurer to start working on his final (which Wally hasn’t started).
The story introduces readers to Wally’s girlfriend Nancy Bierce, who is majoring in Comparative Religions and is worshiped by people at her school and his roommates, Tim Pike (majoring in Theoretical Engineering) who is building a time machine and Gary Skelton (majoring in Anthropology) and his final is based on living in the back yard and seeing how far down the evolutionary ladder he can climb.
The comic also introduces the college president, Michael Woolrich and we learned how the Knox University would change to its current state.
As the students work for their final and Wally wasting time, what happens when something emerges from Tim’s time machine?
Overall, an intriguing comic book debut for Will Pfeiffer. “Finals” is quite different from other titles one will ever read. Aside from being a mature title, considering all the violence, I enjoyed the series for its unique story written by Will Pfeiffer and I really like Jill Thompson’s artwork.
I’m looking forward to seeing how issue #2 will turn out!