I read the conclusion of another mini-series this week and it was not rewarding. It was disappointing and frankly kind of sloppy when previously it wasn’t. It was everything that Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare #4 is not. Now the third issue of Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare is pretty much untouchable. It was in my opinion a perfect issue from the story to the art. I didn’t expect the fourth issue to be anything like the third. It needed to stand on its own and more importantly wrap up the entire story we’ve been reading.

The Oxymoron has been grooming Mary to be his nemesis. To be his counterbalance. He’s been testing her and pushing her in ways that frankly we’ve never seen in comics. It’s not a hidden fact that the Oxymoron and Swanstown are homage to The Joker and Gotham, but there’s been no Batman. Oxymoron is basically in search of his Batman and he thinks it’s Mary.

In this issue, Mary proves him wrong in so many ways. And it’s fucking incredible.

The problem I always seem to have when reviewing the last issue of a ComixTribe comic series, is that there’s not enough safe material to talk about. Everything is a spoiler or at least a major clue that could spoil something for someone else reading. It leaves me with nothing to talk about and unable to really pick apart the issue in order to say why it’s so damn good. The best I can do is the sentence above. It is incredible because in a way this is everything you sometimes want Batman to do to the Joker. He wouldn’t ever, but you kind of want that. You want that Dark Knight Returns moment that never seems to come.

Tyler James and John Lees nail this ending. It’s incredibly satisfying, but not boring. A lot of times when there’s a four issue mini-series the third is the spectacular part and the fourth issue is just a quick wrap up. James and Lees manage to make this fourth issue shine on its own. There’s still surprises to be had, characters to develop and violence to be traumatized by. They do a wonderful job together and have delivered four solid issues.

With the art Alex Cormack delivers as well. His work on this series has been wonderful from beginning to end. I still remember my advanced view of the first issue before the talented Jules Rivera joined the series, it was in all black and white and you could see just how much energy and creativity Cormack was putting into each page. Now with colored pages there’s a complete and total package. The final showdown is really good. Like really fucking good. There’s also an uncomfortable torture scene that Cormack manages to keep tasteful and not overpowering.

I’m honestly sad to see this series go. It’s been one of the best all year and even though another Oxymoron series is teased in the back, it’s not this one. This one has won me over in a big way and will be something that I recommend to any fan of superhero comics.

Score: 5/5

Oxymoron: The Loveliest Nightmare #4 Writers: Tyler James & John Lees Artist: Alex Cormack Colorist: Jules Rivera Publisher: ComixTribe Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/2/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print