Doc Macabre #3 – Review

By: Steve Niles (writer), Bernie Wrightson (art), Tom Smith (colors), Shawn Lee (letters) & Tom Waltz (editor)

The Story: Doc Macabre gets to the bottom of the hauntings plaguing his town.

What’s Good: What a great little 3-issue story this was.  I’m not sure I’d call it horror, because it isn’t scary or gory.  It’s more like a Ghostbusters with great art.  Over these three issue Niles and Wrightson have worked as a solid team to develop a precocious monster hunter by the name of Doc Macabre and his personable robot assistant Lloyd (who looks like a lamp).  In this issue they come to deal with an appropriately creepy bad guy who has been causing all these hauntings and zombie infestations in their town and take him down.  It is just a cute and fun story that I urge you to seek out whenever IDW collects these three issues.  Let’s support original material, folks!

The big lure for me in trying this series in the first place was the Wrightson name on the cover and he doesn’t disappoint.  As comic fans we’ve grown accustom to seeing our favorite creators of our youth just kinda lose it.  Sometimes their quality actually goes downhill and sometimes they just fail to adapt with the times, but Mr. Wrightson is still just knocking it out of the park.  Based on his lifetime body of work and this series where he demonstrates that he’s still at the top of his game, we should all be buying anything with his name on it.  There is nothing to find fault with in the art for this series: great layouts, incredible inks, useful panel designs, good use of background (or lack thereof).  It’s all just wonderful stuff.  Well executed coloring too!

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Detective Comics #873 – In a week where I felt like I deserved a medal for valor for merely finishing my comics (thanks for that Marvel) that contained a notable death in Fantastic Four, three excellent Avengers comics, the shocking end to Uncanny X-Force, another stellar issue of American Vampire and a great start to New York Five, the best was Scott Snyder’s trippy end to his first story arc that combined gas masks, amputations, Scarecrow gas and Man-Bat juice to create a story where you didn’t know what was real and what was in Dick Grayson’s head.  This is far and away the best Bat book and that is saying something because all the Bat books are quite good right now.  Runner-up: New Avengers #8

Most Anticipated: She-Hulks #4 – The bad news is that its the end of the mini and the next time we see the She-Hulks it probably won’t be with Harrison Wilcox writing such clever dialog and Ryan Stegman drawing beautifully fun characters.  The good news is that I fully expect this series to close on a very high note.  The series has been fun as hell and you shouldn’t miss this final issue.

Other picks: I, Zombie #10, Doc Macabre #3, Amazing Spider-Man #653, Hulk #29

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Fantastic Four #587 – RIP Johnny.  A fantastic issue that succeeded on so many levels.  It wasn’ t just an emotional, heroic, and proper send-off for a character, as there were also thrills and, surprisingly, laughs to be had.  Truly, the sky is the limit for Jonathan Hickman’s Fantastic Four and I can’t wait to see where he takes us over the next year.

Most Anticipated: Invincible #77 – It’s a shame, but delays have taken some of the steam out of the Viltrumite War these days as it seems that Invincible comes out whenever it feels like it these days.  That said, it was a pleasant surprise to see this making it to the stands this month.  The Viltrumites are heading to Earth as the War comes to it’s conclusion.  That alone is enough to grab my most anticipated spot.

Other Picks: Invincible Iron Man #500.1, Superboy #4, Secret Six #30, Sweet Tooth #18, Brightest Day #19, SHIELD #6

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Kato Origins #6 – I am really digging Kato Origins and issue #6 this week was cool ninja action, layered into WWII America, with the crime and racism that makes Kato one of the most outsider heroes I’ve ever seen. Next issue is the start of a new arc, so you should get ready.

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #19 – Johns, Tomasi and the massive art crew have delivered some great issues recently and we’re gearing up for all the pieces to come together. That alone would have put Brightest Day near the top of my list, but Ivan Reis on Aquaman has been one of the real pulls for this series and this issue promises to be Aquaman heavy.

Other Picks: Captain America – Hail Hydra #2, Batman Confidential #53, Batman: Odyssey #6, Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1, Marvel Vault: Doctor Strange #1