It took a great effort for Max and Tristan to get to this universe, both emotionally and physically. Tristan and Lawrence are finally together, and Max and Chloe live together all is happy, right? Yes and no, one can be happy and understand that sorrow must also come along for the ride as they say in the issue, no pain, no gain. The final part of Life is Strange: Settling Dust #3 jumps ahead in time a little to see a settled in Max and Tristan in this universe. But it’s so important to remember that human life cannot be boiled down to just a number. The sad truth is that the death of one is a tragedy the death of many is a statistic.

But, just like when she visited the Hurricane Katrina memorial in the other universe, she must come to terms with the results of what happened. Now she sees what became of Arcadia Bay and is able to mourn all those that were lost. Max ran away from her closure sure, it was done for good purposes, what with time messing up and all that, but it was still running away from her emotional turmoil. The first arc of this series deals with Chloe’s grief, getting closure.

Yes, Chloe and Max are back together, and that’s great, but there is a lot more under the surface here that needs to be addressed. Life is Strange: Settling Dust #3 sees us come down from the big epic climax with a denouement that is very somber in its pacing. But good stories continue past the obvious end and beg the question, “And then what?” Life is Strange: Settling Dust #3 It would be predictable to end the series with Chloe and Max reunited. But this issue’s biggest strength is that it’s not the last. So instead, Emma lets Claudia’s art and the song say the words for them. This Max and Chloe have been apart so long and missed each other so much no words will ever be able to convey their emotions properly. This series has a strong connection to music already, but this time it hits even harder because of what is not said. We see that on display to great effect with Chloe and Max finally embracing and kissing or even when Chloe wakes up and fears this was all a dream too good to be true.Įmma Vieceli’s choice to do the last few pages completely without dialogue instead of song lyrics was such a great choice. But when an artist wants to draw out a particular moment, the gutter doesn’t convey time passage as much as very subtle movement. In comics, you often use the gutter between panels to convey the passage of time. But the several pages just filled with panel after panel of moment-to-moment timing is fantastic. Every page is dripping with emotion, both pain and joy.

Special credit has to be given to Claudia Leonardi, her art for Life is Strange: Settling Dust #2 is something else.

Life is strange vol 2