The Empty Man: Manifestation

by Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás (Illustrator), Niko Guardia (Colorist)

It’s the nation’s final chance to stop the terrible Empty Man pandemic from completely taking over, as the Kerry family fights against their own personal armageddon.

The Empty Man has gone viral -- not just pathologically, but also through the airwaves as cultists broadcast their “message” of indoctrination to all within range of a television. Agents Jensen & Marsh must escort the Kerry family outside the city limits, shielding them from quarantine crews and the cults looking to bring the infected Melissa into their ranks.

Written by Eisner Award-nominated author Cullen Bunn (Harrow County, Bone Parish) and illustrated by artist Jesús Hervás (Lucas Stand), Manifestation is the third installment in The Empty Man franchise, bringing the haunting story of the Kerry family to a close.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy

112 pages, Paperback

Published November 26, 2019

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series had potential but we didn't get an ending. Creepy horror story but it needed a conclusion.

[OmniBen · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review)
The only spoiler here is the book itself, which will spoil your day and waste your time if you have continued to read it up until this point, like I sadly did. My last two reviews I went into considerably more detail as to the very few pro's and much, much larger list of con's of this series. Now that we have reached its horrendously underwhelming climax (except for the fact that I don't have to read it any more), I could simply fill a review with random fart sounds and it would be a more worthwhile use of my time than to try and dissect this train wreck of a story. I've yet to read harrow County or Sixth Gun, and fuck me if I didn't spend a lot of money on the lovely hardcovers. If they don't turn out to be worthwhile, they will be able to sense my rage on Neptune. If you by chance are reading this and haven't started reading the series yet. DONT! just don't. Do something far more useful with your time, like jump off a tall building or bury yourself up to your shoulders and have your friend and family throw sharp objects at your face. Anything to avoid this sloppy shit. 1/5


OmniBen.

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot about the atmosphere of this that I like, but all three Empty Man books do this thing that I keep seeing in comics, especially horror comics lately, which is a lot of characters ranting a lot of madness and vague philosophy and long long long passages of gibberish. I find it incredibly tedious, and I just want the story to move, or give me some interesting characterization or something. The first book is the best as it gives you some characters that are likable and it's somewhat grounded. But books 2 and 3...I just didn't have a handle on what was going on, and the endless crazy-talk wore me down. I don't know why every horror book I picked up lately is like this. For example, Unfollow: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was left feeling about the same as I was when reading the prior volumes (The Empty Man, The Empty Man: Recurrence).

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

We're finally brought back to the next part of the first Empty Man book, but the ending is just so unsatisfying. It's a half-closed cliffhanger that does not feel very exciting. And the whole EM was here the whole time thing is pretty lame, especially that opening that very clearly imitates 2001 Space Odyssey

[Andrei · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars

I went into this with high hopes based off the previous volume, but was utterly disappointed. First, it starts as if there was another issue or two in between from where the last book stopped. Some of the conclusions of earlier threads are unsatisfactory, while the reveals about the empty man are all a confusing mess. And to top it off, this still doesn't conclude the overall story.

[Lukas Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I'm getting off here. I like Bunn, but this is just taking too much to get into. You've got the million non-answer, answers about what is happening. Each one seems to contradict each other. I get that this is part of the point of the madness and trying to confuse/upset the readers, cool. The world is hard enough without that. Plus, I mean, any time I go through reading this much of a series to have a character suddenly announce at the end of a volume, 'Now that's over...now the REAL story (the war) begins!' puts me off. Now it feels like you're just clearly tacking on story to something you probably meant to end with this. So, I'm out. Best of luck to everyone staying on.

[Ricardo Nuno Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this graphic novel ended up being somehow a bit of a disappointment.
The plot is interesting enough (in a gruesome twisted chaotic kind of way...) and consistent enough.

The art is well suited for this kind of dark narrative.
But if you already reached book 3 you know that by now.

All in all, out of personal preferences, it didn't reach 4-stars level for me.
Too dark, too violent, too insane for my taste, sorry.

Reviews:
Book 1 - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book 2 - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book 3 - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think Bunn stuck the landing on this. He ended each volume on a cliffhanger, even this concluding volume. It was an interesting concept and had great scenes and art but it just ended

[Zach Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the four… still a cliffhanger ending, concludes the original story but starts a new one.

[Luke Shea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda fun but ultimately disappointing. Didn't hate it. Thanks for inspiring a barely related movie that totally rules tho

[The_J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still distressing, but perhaps a small chance to find redemption, in a difficult story to accept

[Sean Fitzpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The comic is pretty cool, but honestly you should just watch the movie. One of those rare books where the movie is wayyy better than its source material.

[Vonne Patiag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this art style.

[Juliana Durso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story, huge potential, but a bit confusing; plus, it ends with a MASSIVE hook that leads nowhere, since the series is over =\

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review is for all three volumes read consecutively

It has a definite look and a feel, but it's more creepy and odd than it is interesting.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Went off the rails for me with the creatures and the cliffhangery ending.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this had brought a conclusive end to the series. It took the Empty Man story into a realm of near apocalypse and major social commentary on the country over the past couple of years. It's great that it's a hard core horror comic, but the story just isn't as fleshed out as it could be.