So I’m coming into this story at the 3rd issue of a 4 part series. Well I’ve been a looong time fan of Niles and if there is one thing going for him, its that he often likes to tell a very simple story. The benefit is that you can jump into a ongoing series and catch up on the fly and usually without any fear of feeling lost or behind. Niles is mostly a meat and potatoes writer, he tells simple stories with classic themes that satisfy thanks to good characters and iconic themes.
Criminal Macabre is part detective noir and part horror story in a pleasing blend that a few other authors have made work in IPs such as The Dresden Files and Dylan Dog. Gotta admit I a sucker for a well done genre blend and Niles has worked out a really good formula for Criminal Macabre that has been working for two decades now. Gumshoe Cal McDonald takes the idea of the hard boiled detective and makes it even grittier by making Cal noth an anti-hero and a drug user, but its hard to blame him when his cases involve monsters like vampire, zombies and werewolves and such in a work where most humans are either unaware of this stuff or just plain don’t believe in it. Lucky or unluckily for Cal, the cops are more than willing to hand off the weird cases to him so he can make ends meet. If you know at east this much you can get into any Criminal Macabre comic.
The genius of Niles is the fact that although a lot of these Cal’s stories have the sort of villain of the week flavor Steve manages to keep you coming back for more because this series and its characters are fun. Niles doesn’t try be Alan Moore, he perfectly understand what he’s great at and keeps doing it again and again and still manages to give Cal and company a noticeable level of character progression and growth, and thats what will keep you coming back for more.
ART
The art in this issue just doesn’t grab me in the same way the characters and story do. The art isn’t bad but unfortunately its not great either. Now to the artist’s credit he is doing all the art chores and that is a real slog (I know from experience). That said though I feel like he just keeps missing the mark given the talent I’ve seen Steve team up with before and compared to artists like Templesmith, Corbin and Medors Nemeth falls short for me. He does a serviceable job and I have no trouble following the story and page layout and flow is good, there are times when the art gets muddy in its colors and the art gets a bit sloppy, even for something that I’m expecting to be rough and gritty in nature. Nemeth is not afraid to move the camera about, render backgrounds and he has good “acting”“ in terms of the characters on the page.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This comic isn’t a steak dinner but its a hell of a good burger. If you are in the mood for some fast food fun Criminal Macabre should fill you up with comic book goodness.
SCORE: 3.5 out of 5
Writer:Â Steve Niles
Art:Â Gyula Nemeth
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