The Occultist #2
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Victor Drujiniu (cover by Steve Morris)
Try to put yourself in the shoes of Robert Bailey. One day you’re just a regular college student with the typical girlfriend and job. The next day, you’re knee deep in a world of sorcery that you didn’t even believe existed. Now, that all not withstanding, you’re also under an investigation by the police because your employer (a book store owner) was brutally murdered, and you’re the only witness and suspect. Also, it seems that every evil being in the universe realizes that you are now joined to a tome of spells that is sentient, and they want it. This has been the last few days of Robert’s life. Now, in this issue, we see that he has hypnotized a police officer who was about to arrest him, and the two are under siege from a few different sorcerers and demons. We also see Robert’s girlfriend get in over her head, as well. This fact looks like it might cost her or Robert their very lives unless he can somehow channel this unimaginable power he just attained a mere few days ago.
After the first issue, I could kind of figure out what to expect. That being said, I was still pleased with the angle that Seeley has taken with this issue. We see a guy that resembles Nick Fury that opens up his eye patch and some insane looking squid-like beast emerges and attacks the main character, which was pretty cool. There are some lines and scenes that are somewhat cliché, but nothing over the top.
The artist, Drujiniu, is pretty good at illustrating people and the crazy beasts. The settings themselves are pretty good too, but I really didn’t even notice them. The character designs still bother me a little bit, though. The look of the main character when in battle is too similar to a Marvel villain for me, and the Nick Fury knock-off was a little bit over the top, as well. Other than those small things, I think the book is fairly solid. Rating 3/5
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
