Witch Doctor: Mal Practice #2

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

Witch Doctor is a really fun series that treats magic as a real, medical condition.  Our good Doctor, Dr. Morrow, has been infected with a strigoi disease, and is being extorted by some unknown figure, who wants to trade the cure to the illness for a very powerful spellbook.  Morrow, being Morrow, does not want to deal with this guy, and instead takes his assistant to a place called the Red Market, where magical spells and items are traded and sold.

Looking for a cure, and a way of remaining invisible to his assailants, Morrow makes a couple of questionable deals, one of which requires him to perform a post-mortem on a couple.  Later, he attempts to get in touch with some angels or demons (we aren't told which they are), who can cure him, but are going to do it in the most painful way possible.

Brandon Seifert is really expanding on the magical elements of this series, stepping away from the more medical-based premise of the first series, and not following up at all on the elder god angle he introduced towards the end of it.  Instead, we are learning a great deal about the broader world where Morrow lives and operates.

One of the things that first drew me to this book was the depth of thought placed into the designs by Lukas Ketner.  His arcane hypodermics and other medical paraphernalia are inspired, yet in this issue, I was a little disappointed with his designs for the Surgeons - they look like they've walked straight out of Clive Barker's Hellraiser.  I find that interesting, considering that Seifert is writing for that series at Boom right now.

Still, this continues to be a very original and entertaining book.  Recommended.

Witch Doctor: Mal Practice #1

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

I'd really enjoyed the first volume of Witch Doctor (Under the Knife), and I'm very pleased to see that the series has returned for a new six-issue arc.  The series follows Dr. Vincent Morrow, an occult physician, who alongside his two assistants, treats the medical conditions that cause a number of things we recognize as magical or unnatural phenomenon.  The first volume had Dr. Morrow 'treat' such conditions as vampirism, changeling babies, and demonic possession.  Basically, it was Dr. Strange done correctly, were Stephen Strange a total crank and misanthrope.

With this new volume, writer Brandon Seifert switches things up a little bit.  Instead of telling a series of one-off stories, he's giving us a longer arc that has to do with the unfortunate after-effects of a one-night stand the doctor has indulged in.

Seifert tosses right into things with this issue, as the Doctor continues his treatment of the young boy suffering from multiple possessions (I think it was the first or second issue of volume one that introduced him), and he doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the medical explanations for things.  That could be a mis-step, as it doesn't establish for new readers just what makes this book so unique.  If the concept sounds interesting, I urge you to track down the trade, or just dive in to the this new series, with the expectation that all will be made clear eventually.

Lukas Ketner's art has continued to improve in the almost year-long gap since the last Witch Doctor comic was published.  He excels at inventing arcane-looking medical equipment, but is also a strong character artist.  The book looks very nice in his hands.

Witch Doctor: The Resuscitation #1

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

I thought that the first volume of Witch Doctor was a very cool comic - it posits a world where doctors investigate, diagnose, and treat infections and chronic conditions that we usually ascribe to magic.  Things like vampirism, changeling babies, and the other things that populate horror stories all have a medical basis in this comic, although Dr. Morrow uses magic to combat them.  It's a neat take on Dr. Strange, and it works very well in Seifert and Ketner's hands.

This one-shot helps fill in the gap between the end of the first mini-series, and the start of the second, which will be published at some point in 2012.  The comic starts with a familiar image - a man wakes up in a bathtub full of ice cubes with a bandaged wound in his side.  We immediately assume that the man was drugged and had his kidney stolen, but what we learn as the story progresses is that he has, in fact, been given a transplant.  The new kidney has some divine origins, and this poor guy is now involved in an experiment conducted by an unlicensed necromancer.

Luckily, the good Doctor intervenes, and as usual, weirdness ensues.  This comic is pretty funny in parts, and maintains the self-aware nature of the first volume.  Ketner continues to enjoy designing weird and wonderful medical devices, just as Seifert has fun coming up with the explanations for things that the Doctor provides.  Witch Doctor is a good read.

Witch Doctor #4

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

The first (and luckily not last) Witch Doctor mini-series ends with a much clearer picture of who Dr. Morrow really is, and what his relationship with other mystics, is like.  When we last saw the good doctor and his team, they were being pursued by fishpeople in an abandoned aquarium, and in a framing sequence, the doctor was being interrogated by what seemed to be a mystical medical board.

Both of those plots are resolved in this issue, as Morrow's knowledge of bizarre bacteria leads to a solution for the fishpeople situation, and the promises of prophecy help him with the other issue.  What makes this series work, and different from comics in a similar vein (like BPRD, Criminal Macabre, or even DC's new Frankenstein) is the medical aspect of things.  Dr. Morrow views creatures as infections or diseases, and so takes a doctor's approach to the problem in a way that Dr. Strange never did.  It works very well here.

Witch Doctor is worth sampling.  The trade of this series will come out in December, as will a one-shot comic that will help tide us over before the next mini-series begins in 2012.  There is a lot to like about this comic, and I haven't seen it get a lot of internet love.  That should change.

Witch Doctor #3

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

The creators of Witch Doctor change tactics some with this issue, abandoning the done-in-one format of the first three issues (remember, there was a 'zero issue' preview in The Walking Dead) for a two-part story framed with our doctor having to explain himself to two creepy looking older people who I assume are like a witchy medical board.

This issue also gives us the secret history of the world, which is based very much on Lovecraftian creatures called Archaeons, reveals that the doctor has a 'destiny', and explains the story behind Penny, his odd, gothy assistant.  Amid all this exposition, we get a story about fish people, and see more of the relationship between the doctor and Absinthe O'Riley, who appears to be a potential rival and love interest.

What made this series work so well in the beginning was the application of medical procedures, terminology, and equipment to mystical phenomena and monsters.  With this issue, we're moving into a different territory, already familiar from books like Hellboy, but Seifert and Ketner are giving us a very well-constructed comic, with very strong characters.  So, while I liked where it was, I'm also very okay with where it's going.

Witch Doctor #2

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

I like this book, and was pleased to learn that it will be returning in another series next year, after this four-issue run is completed.  The premise behind Witch Doctor is that our intrepid Dr. Morrow confronts and treats supernatural issues with a medical approach (although really, nothing in medicine is so bizarre as what we see here).

In this issue, he and his team are called in to investigate a case of a cuckoo fairy, who is eating human babies and replacing them with her own demonic offspring.  This case takes up less of the issue than the ones that occupied the doctor in the two previous issues (don't forget there was a zero issue published in The Walking Dead), but that is because Siefert has started introducing a larger supporting cast; we meet Absinthe O'Riley this month, who is the curator of  museum, and is hunting some kind of sea creature.

This comic is frequently amusing, as Seifert has cooked up a number of interesting twists on supernatural standards, and Ketner is having a blast designing all sorts of strange devices and creatures.  This is a pretty unique comic, and it deserves some attention.

Witch Doctor #1

Written by Brandon Seifert
Art by Lukas Ketner

I wasn't originally going to give this series a try, mostly because the cover to this first issue didn't appeal to me, but after reading the preview zero issue in last month's issue of Walking Dead, I changed my mind.

Witch Doctor is a mash-up of Dr. Strange, Jeff Parker's Mysterius the Unfathomable, and the TV show House, M.D.  Doctor Morrow is Earth's Witch Doctor; the person charged with defending humanity from supernatural diseases and infections.  In the preview issue, he explored the medical origins of vampirism, discovering that vampires are just aggressive parasitoids that inhabit their victims.

In this issue, Dr. Morrow confronts a rare and complicated case of parasitic diabolis, which in layman's terms, is demonic possession.  Dr. Morrow has a bleak and ineffective bedside manner, as evidenced by the way in which, in outlining his course of treatment, he ends up chasing away the parents of his patient.

This is a pretty creative and unique comic.  It's clear that Siefert has spent more time thinking about the medical implications of the supernatural, and everything in this comic, while completely fantastical, has an internal logic behind it that makes things credible.  His work on developing these characters is strong too.

Ketner's art reminds me a little of Neal Adams, and he's clearly having a blast designing the strange apparatus and devices that Morrow uses.  I'm definitely on board with this series now.

The Walking Dead #85 / Witch Doctor #0

Written by Robert Kirkman and Brandon Siefert
Art by Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn, and Lukas Ketner

One of the things that has always appealed to me about 'end of the world' stories has been the actual mechanics of putting life back together.  The difficulties of rebuilding and reconstructing day-to-day comforts and routines would be massive.  Kirkman, in his long-running zombie comic, has addressed these issues a few times, like when Rick and his group moved into the prison a few years back, but now that the decision has been made to stay in the community where they've been living, and to improve upon it after their recent troubles, this is what's taken centre-stage.

There's a terrific scene where Rick meets with some of his friends, and the leaders of the community, to talk about methods that can be used to improve their safety, preparedness, and quality of life.  It's a cool scene, as so many people have good suggestions.  Previously, this comic was about survival; now it's beginning to become about rebuilding, and I'm looking forward to seeing these themes explored.

Of course, everyone is still recovering from the events of the last few issues.  Rick is in an especially dark place, for reasons I still don't want to spoil.  Leave it to Kirkman to end the book with such an ambiguous scene, which has me worried about a certain character that I like very much, all over again.

On the flip-side of this book is the 0 issue for Witch Doctor, a new series being published next month by Kirkman's Image imprint, Skybound.  The previews I saw of this title didn't interest me, but reading this whole issue did.

The Witch Doctor is a man studying the mystical from a medical standpoint.  In this issue, he and his assistants (one of whom is X-23?) medically examine a vampire.  In this world, vampires are parasitic creatures, like the Goa'uld of Stargate fame crossed with the Aliens from Aliens.  The way in which this investigation is conducted is interesting, and the art in this book, with it's attention to detail like stained glass hypodermic needles, is excellent.  I'm afraid I may have to buy the first issue when it comes out...

Myspace Dark Horse Presents Vol. 3

Various creators

To be honest, there's not much to say about this volume that would be different from my thoughts on the first two.  Dark Horse appears to be using their Myspace digital platform as a way of advertising existing properties or upcoming series through short pieces that work as a sampling menu of the greater Dark Horse line.

Anything with a Beanworld story in it can't be too bad, and while this is a nice little bit about recycling, it doesn't add much to the Beanworld mythos.  I also liked Becky Cloonan's (I know, shocking that I liked this) short story about a man plagued by nightmares, Chris Onstad's Achewood piece, and the Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer shorts.

Some other pieces had potential, but didn't go very far.  The Mister X piece and the Applegeeks story are good examples of this.  One piece that stood out for weirdness and originality was the Creepy: Om Nom Nom story by Andrew Mayer and Lukas Ketner.

Overall, this book is enjoyable, but not particularly memorable.