Last Call, Vol. 2

Tumbling along with the velocity of a feverish nightmare, this volume continues the adventures of Alec and Sam, two teenagers who found themselves passengers on the Ghost Train, a locomotive hell-bent on a trip through time and space. Alec, having been thrown off the train because he doesn’t have a ticket, ages 10 years while he is being trained as a police detective; when he appears back on board, Sam has aged only a few hours, but has acquired a sentient, semianthropomorphic shadow, Mr. S. The two youths begin investigating the murders of their decidedly odd fellow passengers, roaming through the train’s unpredictably reshaping compartments while avoiding the menacing conductor. Lolos’s brush and pen artwork sometimes looks like exceptionally vigorous manga, sometimes resembles hyperdetailed primitive portraiture; his plotting and scripting are stunningly original. (Jan.)