Final Boss #9 — Tyler Kirkham’s Tommy Hits the Deep with the Cold-Bloods

Tyler Kirkham directs Final Boss #9 as Tommy and Rabak face a submerged nightmare. With generational secrets surfacing and the ruthless Dragod closing in, survival becomes the only goal in this high-stakes issue.

There is a specific kind of kinetic energy that Tyler Kirkham brings to Final Boss, and it only gets more focused as the story tightens. Issue nine isn’t about slowing down for exposition; it’s about taking the narrative engine that has been humming along and shifting it into a higher gear. You can feel the pressure mounting from the very first page, not because of loud noises, but because of the sheer weight of the stakes being placed squarely on Tommy’s shoulders.

The premise here is deceptively simple but rich with tension: Tommy and his loyal companion Rabak are no longer just navigating the surface world. Ancient discoveries made by Tommy’s grandfather are echoing in the present, pulling them into a deep-water environment where the rules of survival change completely. It is a shift from urban chaos to aquatic isolation, and Kirkham uses that change in terrain to amplify the danger.

Enter the Dragod and the Cold-Bloods. These aren’t minor obstacles; they are a venomous, ruthless force that sinks its teeth into our protagonists with zero hesitation. This issue is less about planning a heist or outsmarting an empire and more about raw endurance. Tommy and Rabak have to summon every ounce of their skill just to stay afloat, literally and figuratively. It’s a visceral struggle that highlights their bond under extreme duress.

If you are looking for the kind of comic that balances high-octane action with genuine character stakes, this is the one. Kirkham’s dual role as writer and artist ensures that the pacing never stumbles, and David Miller and Ifan Noor’s contributions keep the visual storytelling sharp and dynamic. It’s a masterclass in maintaining tension when the odds are stacked impossibly high.

I’ll leave you with this thought: in a world of flashy villains, the ones that stick with you are the ones that force the hero to question their limits. Tommy is being tested in a way that feels both ancient and immediate. If you haven’t been following the lineage of the grandfather’s discoveries, you might want to catch up on the lore, but even just reading this issue as a standalone survival thriller is a rewarding experience. Trust me, the depth of this story is deeper than it looks.