Summary: The allied armies battle their way through the Vatican in an effort to stop the Red King's Coronation Day but are they too late?

Plot: The end is truly nigh for the rag tag group of adventurers that Mignola and Golden first introduced to us ten years ago. It's been a long journey, from one of my favorite modern novels to a fantastic series of comics and with only one issue left and the chips down I really am left wondering how it will all end. Mignola and Golden have spared no punches over the years, introducing us to an amazingly diverse cast of characters, making us love them...and then killing them off in bitterly painful ways( like Mr.Kidd in this issue). Through out it all there's been a pervasive feeling that no one is truly safe in this world except Lord Henry Baltimore whom God has apparently forged into his own living weapon...but this issue left me feeling as if even he may be expendable. 
    It's definitely been a story that leaned heavily on on the literary trope of present Devil, absent God, with evil incarnate everywhere but with divine intervention no where to be seen and even the upholders of God's word on Earth being impotent in the face of Evil. The characters lament and curse God for forsaking them, which creates a feeling that Baltimore's stoic march against the tide of Evil and the way he always remains virtually unscathed makes him soul deliverer of God's divine wrath like unto Moses against the Egyptians. And so, like the tribulations of Moses, that Batimore would come out of the trials and lead the world back to the light...only here we see serious doubt. Baltimore, for the first time, has no plan and more troubling still seems doubtful that there is a possible victory. He fights with the only purpose that if they don't at least try the world will be worse. One could hope for Divine inspiration as Baltimore reaches the sticking point next issue but the doubt introduced here really makes me wonder, "Are Mignola and Golden really going for the ultimate downer ending? Will the Red King win?" I can't say what the answer will be, but with the culture they've created in their writing nothing is out of bounds for the ending.

Art: Bertings figure work and panel composition is as great as always although for me, one scene really took the cake. As Baltimore and his gang make their escape Mr. Kidd falls with a single shot to the head and sinks silently into the sea, under gunfire the other cannot retrieve him or avenge him but can only press on. In the aftermath we see Baltimore uncovering the disguises for their next path: