Rare Flavours #5: The End is Near

Rare Flavours #5 picks up after Mo has finally reconciled the truth about Rubin’s monstrous origins, as the two continue their journey through India, exploring the culture through the food. In this penultimate issue, the motives behind the series’ antagonists are finally revealed as the characters inch closer and closer to the premier of their film, which has been featured in the background of this story since the first issue.

One of the most creative elements about this series has been how the creators weave recipes and instructions for cooking cultural dishes throughout the body of the narrative. This creates a sense of interactions that many fans have taken advantage of, with posts circulating social media that show people cooking with the comic open next to them. This definitely is something unique for a comic book, but at no point does it feel like a gimmick, with the dish serving an equally important role in the narrative at hand. Rare Flavours #5 particularly feels immensely interactive as the dish involved highlights a cultural element that is reflected by the narrative in ways that create a great sense of cohesion.

As this narrative comes to a close, it is becoming increasingly clear that this series is destined to win some sort of award, whether it be a Hugo or an Eisner. The way the narrative has flowed, identifying its major players as flawed, multidimensional, but also relatable has been nothing short of amazing. But the true defining characteristic of this narrative is the way that it discusses elements of culture and they way culture is identified and passed on through generations with these fantastically established characters. No other series in the past decade has done such a good job in teaching these elements in such an engaging manner.

The glue that ties this all together is the fantastic art from Filipe Andrade, who really brings this book full circle with his unique style and color pallet choices. The flashbacks to the antagonist’s history are a great example of this, with Andrade mixing the fantastical with the real in a way that is emblematic of how this series pairs those elements to tell such an engaging story. While there are a million different ways this creative team can end this story, there is no doubt that it will cement this as a must read book for years to come.