It really IS the Last Stop on the Red Line, as the mini-series finishes with this issue, #4. This Dark Horse title has an amazing beginning, so how does it wrap up?

Detective Torres’ partner Ben Damon has traced crime scene evidence back to an old asylum. Detective Torres and Yusef reconvene with Ben. Yusef’s connection to the invisible entity known as X unlocks memories that prove vital to finding Boston’s phantom strangler. Whew!

If you’ve been following this amazing series from the first issue, this one will cap it all off. Paul Maybury’s riveting script is tight and terrifying, but a little like the hairpin turns on those thriller movies; if you blink or look around, you’re off the cliff. There are a lot of moving parts here. Supernatural beings, superbly illustrated by Sam Lotti. The art has weight, drama, atmosphere. And that’s not all; Paul Maybury covers two bases in this comic; he is also the colourist. And his work is simply splendid. The intensity of the colour palette, the way he interprets real and unreal environments are all amazing.

I suspect that this title will really gain from being collected in a trade, where the reader can backtrack, review and reabsorb the creepy surroundings before emerging, dazed, from this subway thriller.

An added feature is the break down of one page of script from issue 3, from text to final coloured art.

Dark Horse, Last Stop on the Red Line #4, $3.99 for 24 pages of content. Assume Teen +

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!