The Empty Man: Manifestation

Manifestation is the third and final (so far) volume in Cullen Bunn’s Empty Man series, with Jesús Hervás again providing the raw and scratchy artwork and questions still flying every which way as to what’s going on.

We begin with a nod to Kubrick’s 2001 and a caveman finding a pillar or monolith of blood and bone. Where are we? When are we? I suppose this is the dawn of man, and more particularly the dawn of human consciousness, a point at which the Empty Man came into existence. Or so, I think, Agent Langford explains when he shows up back in our dimension, carrying shotguns and with cancerous tumors spilling out of his guts.

Any idea of the meaning of all this is going to have to be found in Langford’s account of his trip to the Empty Man’s world, but I found this just as mystifying as the rest of the story. My own interpretation is that the virus is the physical expression of malignant narcissism, with the Empty Man looking to create peace and unity among all the peoples of the world but only on his/its own terms. Its need to project itself by way of various media platforms is sort of like the amplifier effect of social media. The way people worship it as a god reflects our own cults of celebrity.

Well, that’s a stretch but it’s my story and I’m sticking to it. As I say, it’s left pretty vague. We can’t even be sure if this is the end of the story, as we leave things with the Kerry family (who are relegated to the role of luggage in this volume) locked and loaded, ready to go after the cult in a cosmic horror “holy war.” The apocalypse beckons. But as for what has happened to Jensen, again I have no idea. Apotheosis? And the creepy kids? Are they better now? I guess we’re supposed to stay tuned.

I don’t know how much of the mystery here was deliberate and how much was Bunn just not being sure what it was he was trying to say. But I’m inclined to think it was more the latter, as looking back on the series as a whole it really is a mess. There are some interesting ideas raised, I think, but they’re covered in a whole lot of psycho-spiritual stuff that doesn’t gel. Being left to guess what the point of it was after three books was disappointing.

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