Witchdoctor #3 – Review

By: Brandon Siefert (writer & letterer), Lukas Ketner (art), Sunny Gho & Andy Troy (colors) & Sina Grace (editor)

The Story: The world around Dr. Morrow begins to come into focus as his gang raids an lair of aquatic beasties.

Review: This is a pretty hot comic.  The first thing that lunges out at me is the incredible art that Lukas Ketner is doing.  Maybe it’s because of the monsters in the series, but it really reminds me of Bernie Wrightson and anytime someone compares your art to Wrightson’s….you’re doing something right.  There’s nothing not to love about this linework from the intricate brushwork to the really cool monster designs.  It’s very nicely colored too.

Actually, that creature design is so important to this issue that it’s hard to confine its discussion to “the art” (as in “I liked the art.  I also liked the story.”).  In one particular sequence, there’s this comatose aquatic monster strapped to the table.  Big, nasty, toothy bastard with fins all over him.  Of course….he busts loose, but before he can do anything he is taken down by one of the main characters: Penny.  We don’t get to see the actual take down, but when we flip the page, Penny has this huge monster in her arms and is eating it .  The visual on Penny is just priceless.  She’s a scrawny 14-ish-year old girl who is possessed by a demon who compels her to eat monsters.  Except that the demon is manifesting through her mouth and she has these weird appendages protruding from her mouth to bite the aquatic dude.  It sounds nasty as I’m typing it, and it is nasty to look at on the page, but it’s pretty rare to get visuals these days that impress in this way.