Taken from his Criminal Macabre series writer Steve Niles focuses his evil on his anti hero Cal McDonald, an undead private detective living in Los Angeles. Not unlike the tortured paranormal investigator Constantine, Cal must solve crimes of a spiritual nature while adjusting to his new cold flesh.
A haunted veteran leads monster hunter Cal McDonald to a creepy subterranean military base where mad-science experiments were conducted on US soldiers.
I must say this…and I don’t say this much about Dark Horse comic books, but the art in this issue just didn’t do it for me. I guess had I been more familiar with his work I would’ve known what I was in for, but I didn’t so it left me half pitched. It just looked so unfinished to me. Maybe if it had been just a little bit darker it might’ve helped me get into the mood, but all the pinks and oranges were killing me. That being said the story was good. A little wordy at times, but that’s how these “noir” joints go. I don’t think there was enough in this first issue for me to make a solid judgement. I will however be on the look out for the next issue. The content and aesthetic reminded me a lot of Hellboy (another Dark Horse fav) in that it forces you to look at the spirit world differently. Kind of like the way I felt when I saw “Interview With A Vampire“. Your sorta doing the whole “oh…of course and I totally didn’t think about that” while you follow Cal deeper into the shit. I do wish this first story had been longer…so yeah I liked it, not as much as I’ve liked other Steve Niles joints, but this story does fit conveniently into his repertoire.
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