2007 was a breakout year for Jeff Lemire. He won critical acclaim for the first two parts of his Essex County trilogy, as well as several awards. Today, Lemire brings his storyline to a close with The Country Nurse (Top Shelf Productions).

The Country Nurse finishes what was started in the first two volumes, Tales From The Farm and Ghost Stories. Readers already familiar with the trilogy know what to expect: stories centered on a fictionalized version of Lemire’s hometown in Ontario. But while the first two tales had unique themes – Tales dealt with growing up, Ghost Stories was based on regret and the loss of self in a big city – Country Nurse seems to exist merely to expand upon Tales. While Ghost Stories only had a single “crossover” moment between characters from the first two volumes, Country Nurse brings in characters from Tales and adds an epilogue to Ghost Stories. This approach might not alienate those new to the trilogy, but it may disappoint fans expecting an unique story.

The title country nurse is Anna Quenneville, a rather nice woman who acts as a walking, talking plot device. It isn’t as if though she comes off unsympathetic, what with her being a widow and a mother to a slacker son. However, she acts more as a supporting character in this volume, as she meddles with the main characters from Tales: young Lester Papineau, who has come to grips with his mother’s death and has abandoned the mask and cape he worse through the first story; Kenny, Lester’s uncle and guardian; and Jimmy LeBeauf, the gas station owner who befriended Lester in Tales. Anna’s talks with Kenny and Jimmy pave the way for a revelation of a secret that Lester never knew about.

The fresher story comes in the form of Margaret Byrne, Anna’s grandmother, who is the county’s oldest resident at over 100 years old. While Margaret remains silent and wheelchair-bound, we flash back to 1917, back when she was a nun running an orphanage. After a major calamity, she is forced to led her charges through the harsh cold to safety. Along the way, she wrestles with her own secret, one involving Charles, the orphanage’s caretaker.

To his credit, Lemire keeps both plots interesting, even with no set chapters. The segues might not be as beautifully done as in Ghost Stories, but they manage to transition readers between the two time frames. Lemire’s art should be familiar to fans of Essex County, with the lovely scenery and unique faces, as well as a crow that pops up in both stories. Before closing out the trilogy, Lemire brings out two family trees, connecting the main characters from all three books.

While The Country Nurse pales to the first two volumes, it provides a good finish to the trilogy. As for Lemire, he has a new graphic novel – The Nobody – coming in 2009 from DC Comics’ Vertigo line for mature readers. If that book is as good as the Essex County books, Lemire will be remembered beyond his successful year of 2007.