After the shocking ending of, "The End Times of Bram and Ben" #3, I was skeptical to see if writers James Asmus and Jim Festante could wrap up their four issue mini-series with a bang. They not only knock this issue out of the park but they were able to end this biblical satire with a positive message that makes you say, "Hmmm".
After Bram was decapitated, Ben is left alone with the antichrists begging them to bring Bram back from the dead. The antichrists inform Ben that they cannot bring back Bram, but they could however reunite the two of them. Little does Ben understand that all they mean by this is killing him as well. Now that Ben is in trouble, Bram comes back as a ghost! At first Bram has no idea that he has crossed over and is a ghost until his friends and Satan, inform him otherwise. No longer focused on being a ghost, Bram rounds up his pals to help him save Ben from the antichrists.
Before Bram is able to make it back to Ben, Josiah and a few of his angel buddies have come to crash the antichrist’s party by informing them that Ben is a ward of Heaven now and there's nothing that anyone can do to hurt him. Ben is unsure if he wants the protection of the angels after what they had done to people at "Burning Bram” but Josiah explains to him that they are just instruments of God's wrath. Since they are just doing the Lord's work you would think that they would fight against the antichrists and their goon squad, right? Wrong. Hold on tight because here comes a plot twist. Ben learns that Josiah hasn’t been entirely honest and that Heaven and Hell are both on the same team!
Rem Broo's art has been a lot of fun throughout the whole series. The art has had a very adult swim cartoon feel to it which was spot on for the story. Even though it delivers as a cartoon. Broo has done an outstanding job creating highly detailed panels and pages such as the epic battle that takes place towards the end of this issue (hope I'm not giving too much away!).
If you've read any of my past reviews then you know that I usually go into a lot more detail of each issue that I review. With the End Times of Bram and Ben #4 I made it my goal to hook you in by just recapping a few pages; as a matter of fact I only covered 7 pages of this epic 26 page conclusion. It's going to be sad to see this series end but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the incredibly tasteful ending that is clearly an opening for a follow up series.
Score: 5/5
Co- Created and Written by: James Asmus & Jim Festante
Co-Created and Penciled by: Rem Broo
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $2.99
Release Date: 04/24/2013