Dakota North #5

 The groundbreaking series from 1986-87 comes to a close after only 5 issues. Dakota reunites with her brother, but they both find themselves in the clutches of a deranged sheik who uses falcons are weapons. Though the ins and outs of this caper (beginning all the way in issue #1 with her first client, a besieged fashion designer) are finally revealed, this issue ends with more questions than answers such as:

• What happened to Ricky's girlfriend, the former teenaged assassin?
• Did Luke the designer end up with his loyal assistant who pined for him the entire series?
• and did Dakota's father get killed or did his new love just happen to be holding a revolver?

    Dakota North pops up in various other titles over the next 3 decades but to my knowledge, her backstory is secondary to the title's star in which she is guesting. These 5 issues have never been collected in trade form (to my knowledge) so the chance of any treasury collecting her minor roles is slim to none. So I guess I'll have to wiki-read up on her exploits. 

    If you take away the ending, issue #5 maintained the same amount of quality, humor, and action that filled the previous 4. I'm not sure who to blame for the ending. I honestly think co-creators Martha Thomases and Tony Salmons intended for this series to go longer than it did. (If fact, at the end of this issue, there is an ad for subscribing to Marvel Comics and Dakota North is listed as one of the titles available for subscription.) So when the powers that be at Marvel informed them of the sudden cancellation, they had to scramble to tie up the loose ends. But as I said, the ending left me with more questions. 

(If any of my readers can give me some more info on Dakota North or recommend any other titles to keep up with her exploits, please feel free to leave me a comment.)

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.