Writer – Denny O’ Neil
Artist – Dick Ayers
Inker – Alfredo Alcala
Colours – Hubert Paley

Arna is dying and there is nothing that Kamandi can do about it. That does not mean that Kamandi will give up on her though, and so it is that he and his companions take her back to her people in the hopes that they have come up with some way of preserving their lives. Denny O’Neil creates a moving tale with this issue, one that finds our hero at a loss once again at what to do as another person that he cares about is upon the brink of death. Despite suffering through it with his grandfather and with Flower, it is something that a person can never get used to and to make matters worse, Kamandi spent too long hating her and only came to love her far too late. Now he will never know what could have been and for that, he hates himself. In a rage, Kamandi runs off and gets himself into a little trouble, though nothing he cannot handle. What is more than a little disturbing though is the fact that he comes into contact with a boy that is supposed to be his son, though how that is possible, he has no idea. The boy is a mirror image of Kamandi and goes by the name of Kamarni and he too has a hatred – one for his father for never knowing him and another for his mother for abandoning him. Like all things involving families, they can be complicated and arguments are stronger and have more impact. Despite all that happens though, O’Neil wraps it all up with not necessarily a happy ending, but one that finds things all forgiven as Arna passes away. The sadness that one feels while reading this is compounded by the talented pencils of Dick Ayers who gets a little help from Alfred Alcala and Hubert Paley. It is an emotional ride and the artists use everything in their arsenal to bring that forth upon the page. The rest of the characters including Pyra, Doctor Canus, Spirit and Ben Boxer take a backseat with this story – it all focusing primarily upon Kamandi and Arna, as it should. This was a very solid issue from front to back and hopefully out hero will pick himself up and go both onwards and upwards.

4 out of 5