The end has come, but does this journey close out on a high-note?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Dynamite:

FINAL ISSUE!!! It is a turning point in the lives of the residents of Collinwood. Reeling from the aftermath of their confrontation with Dark Barnabas and his family of vampires, no one has been left unscathed. With no place else to turn, and little hope of surviving another vampire encounter, Willie is forced to call in help from the most unlikely of sources… vampire hunters.

I’m not going to lie, this was the one review I was looking forward to the least.  Because, I’ll be frank, I’m bummed that this volume is coming to an end but thankfully the team that was given the opportunity to know these characters and send them out on the right note.  It’s not perfect but it’s extremely close to that coveted level of quality.

Mike Raicht decides to cover a lot of story in the space he’s given.  Knowing full well that this is his opportunity to end the odyssey of dark Barnabus he wastes little time on the details.   We’re given a different perspective that shows the facts as they are, the terrible future and all the consequences from that potential nightmare ripple out affecting the lives of all the primary players.  Years pass and the ultimate result is a literary close that feels like a proper end point for not just the arc but this chapter of the franchise.

I could continually compliment the work of Nacho Tenorio, but suffice to say he delivers yet another strikingly bold array of panels that fit the text.  He uplifts the narrative with crisp and clean visualizations that are sure to please fans while giving them enough space and time to realize what we lose by not getting the opportunity to see more renditions by this illustrator.  In short: the whole is great and the pictures are superb.

Dark Shadows #23 is the end of a volume, but I hope we witness the resurrection of these characters in the near future.  Highly recommended.

5/5