A fantastic finale to a great series!



In this final volume, after rescuing Nick from the psychotic killer who had imprisoned him at the end of volume four, Jo brings Nicolas to her friend Otto, the librarian. She and Otto have created plans for dealing with the cult, plans which require Nicolas’ help. But the bishop of the cult has his own plans and only their final confrontation will determine whose plans win out in the end.



This volume ties together the loose ends left from the other volumes and brings them to an end in a very satisfying fashion. It’s certainly not the ending I was expecting but it fits perfectly. I liked that it wasn’t some happy ending where Nicolas and Jo walk off into the sunset either alone or together. The idea that there were consequences that Nicolas didn’t know he was walking into fits the tone of the poor men that have become involved with Jo. And it was nice to see Jo finally getting the ending she’s been longing for this entire time.

While the series started out heavily noir, the Lovecraftian influences take over in this volume as well. The themes of sanity being overwhelmed by the sheer terror of the existence of the brutal, implacable elder gods runs throughout the series and Brubaker pulls no punches as he wraps up this great saga. Best of all, at least for me, Brubaker doesn’t answer all your questions. No Lovecraft story ever fully explains its monsters and Brubaker continues that tradition.




The artwork for this volume is truly amazing and I’m still impressed at how well Phillips adapts his style from noir to Lovecraftian horror. While the noir artwork gave that gritty, 1950s feel to the story, the way Phillips draws the supernatural, otherworldly aspects of this part of the story really complements Brubaker’s horror writing. It’s just fantastic all around.



Brubaker and Phillips are one of my absolute favorite duos in comics ever and I honestly cannot recommend this series and particularly this volume highly enough.