The thirty-eighth comic: #582 Parasyte

Parasyte has an interesting premise - these parasites invade the human race and take control of several people, fighting mostly for their survival. Our hero gets infected by a parasite, but his mind isn't taken over. He starts to fight these parasites - in part in self defense as he struggles with questions about how he fits into this world.

It's an interesting story, exploring the struggle of humanity versus needing what needs to be done, with some vague environmental comments, in particular in how you treat those who are less than you.

What's disappointing, then, is that the story ends rather quickly. There is an ending that's written to, taking out the strongest of the parasites, but it never addresses what happens in the larger world, or more important, never really resolves the question of whether our hero is still human, whether the parasite is changing him or whether it's for the best. In the end, is he doing the right thing? It's asked, but just wiped away at the end.

It's a waste of a good story, one that I wish I hadn't quite read, as it feels it overshadows the rest of it: in the end, the fun of these stories is seeing where it goes and how these people end up. Knowing the answer doesn't just quite live up to expectations (they never do) but actually make them worse is painful.