We prove a finiteness theorem and a comparison theorem in the theory of étale cohomology of rigid analytic varieties. By a result of Huber, for a quasi-compact separated morphism of rigid analytic varieties with target being of dimension ≤1\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\le 1$$\\end{document}, the compactly supported higher direct image preserves quasi-constructibility. Though the analogous statement for morphisms with higher dimensional target fails in general, we prove that, in the algebraizable case, it holds after replacing the target with a modification. We deduce it from a known finiteness result in the theory of nearby cycles over general bases and a new comparison result, which gives an identification of the compactly supported higher direct image sheaves, up to modification of the target, in terms of nearby cycles over general bases.