Criminal Macabre The Third Child 1

Story: Steve Niles

Art: Christopher Mitten

Colors: Michelle Madsen

Letters: Nate Piekos

Cover: Justin Ericjson

Creator: Steven Niles

Being my introduction to the Criminal Macabre series, issue #1 of The Third Child left the following impressions: Cal McDonald has lived through more horrors than my mind can imagine, being in a world with monsters and demons running abound calls for extremely cautious living, and the general population of this particular world are very, very stupid.

Starting with an internal monologue about the terrors both around and within humanity, The Third Child sets a stage for a very unapologetic and gruesome story about a looming threat that grows from within the supernatural community. A truce amongst the monsters (think vampires, werewolves, and “everything in between”) causes Cal and his friends/partners -- a ghoul named Mo’lock, a re-animated monster named Adam, and a human friend -- to compose and gather themselves to spring into action.

It seems like the group is revisiting one of their favorite pastimes, but I just cannot help but feel like the entire situation is forced. Cal hates who he’s become -- through some ironic twist, he’s now partly the very thing he hunts: a monster (not metaphorically, quite literally a monster, though I’m sure the metaphor applies as well). Prone to fits of rage, his companions see him as an uneasy ally, but also as an old friend, and also as the last defense for humanity. And I would be sold in this plotline, were it not for the surprisingly dumb general population, a group which almost necessitates action on behalf of our group of hunters.

You tell me: if you were walking in a dimly lit park, in the middle of the night, and saw a scaly, bulbous baby with a demon tail and no pupils, would you stop to chat? And if you lived in a world notorious for its population of evil demons/vampires/werewolves/babies/etc., would you go out and buy a Ouija board as a party game?

Perhaps I’m being a little tough on this issue, but I feel a little taken out of a plot that begins with rather heavy subject matter and then ends with a pretty common trope (used also to bring an unexpected twist that may or may not have been actually unexpected. I’ll be honest, I didn't see it coming, but this is also the first issue I've read).

At least the art is interesting to look at, and if you like seeing a lot of red with your blacks, greys, and browns in the color scheme, you may think it interesting as well. I wish I could say the same for the plotline.

Photo Credit to DarkHorse.com. For more information on Criminal Macabre and other Dark Horse publications, visit their website at DarkHorse.com.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.