Written by Kate Leth
Art by Ian McGinty
Colors by Lisa Moore
Backup written and drawn by Kat Leyh
Published by BOOM! Studios
Filled with techno-babble, expert or not so expert spaceship maneuvers from artist Ian McGinty, and Catbug non sequitur one-liner gold from writer Kate Leth, Bravest Warriors #34 is sadly the beginning of the final ride for this comic and creative team. Luckily, Leth, McGinty, and colorist Lisa Moore are going out space opera style as the Bravest Warriors travel to Plum and the merwif’s home planet of Mirvahda to save it from the Colossal Matter Shark or the not so sexy love child of Galactus and the space whales from Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Leth’s script is full of moral dilemmas and tension as the Warriors must make some tough choices in their battle against the Shark. But she offsets the space jargon and rising emotions with her usual rapid fire puns, Catbug comic relief, and some incredibly clever pop culture references.
The plot of Bravest Warriors #34 is structured like the first act of a Star Trek episode with most of the action happening inside the ship interior and a moral dilemma involving aliens forming the crux of the main conflict. But Leth’s dialogue is breezier even if some of the writing in the latter half of the issue seems a little heavy on the technical sci-fi stuff and light on the character interactions which have been the heart of the series. However, she brushes off the technobabble with some great food related humor, and all of Plum’s development throughout her and McGinty’s run pays off as she is forced to make difficult choices. Also, add the merwifs to characters made more adorable my Ian McGinty.
McGinty actually switches up his cartoonish style and uses minimal lines in creating the Colossal Matter Shark, who 
is given a washed out bleach tone by Lisa Moore. The monster has a weird fiction meets force of nature feel that is the opposite of a more evil villain like Bugcat. He’s less malevolent and hungry, but still definitely the most dangerous threat the Bravest Warriors have faced in Leth and McGinty’s run. McGinty’s skill with drawing eyes continues as he shows characters’ emotional reactions from Wallow’s little beady peepers bugging out at the initial distress signal to Plum’s furrowed brows and teary eyes that turn into pure rage as the evacuation of her planet becomes more hopeless. These big Pendleton Ward-esque outbursts add flair and flavor to the ship scenes which would be just talking heads in a less inventive artist’s book.
Kat Leyh writes and draws a hilarious backup story about the Bravest Warriors going to Beardigras, a kind of facial air bacchanalia. It’s safe to say that this backfires on them, but Leyh’s gift for physical comedy as the Bravest Warriors’ try to best each other in beard growing combat involving misused tech makes this short a welcome break from the emotional and physical drama of the lead story. Plus who doesn’t like Impossibear running around like a wild thang.
Bravest Warriors #34 is basically Kate Leth and Ian McGinty cashing in their Plum character development chips and telling a super intense interplanetary sci-fi action story with some fun jokes along the way and a dark cliffhanger.