Shadowland: Blood on the Streets #4

The four-issue Shadowland: Blood on the Streets limited series reaches its conclusion here, with Francesco Mattina's moody cover setting an appropriately tense tone — a white-haired woman wielding dual firearms and a determined woman with a large gun stand their ground alongside a masked figure in the foreground, while a hulking, red-eyed creature looms on the left and an armored figure threatens from the shadows behind them. It's a striking ensemble portrait of street-level heroes bracing against overwhelming darkness, perfectly capturing the gritty atmosphere Antony Johnston and artist Wellinton Alves built across the series. If you've been following "Blood on the Streets," this 2011 finale is exactly the payoff the preceding issues have been building toward.