The Occultist #3
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: Tim Seeley (script by Mike Richardson & Tim Seeley)
Artist: Victo Drujiniu (cover by Steve Morris)
Rob Bailey has just defeated some mystical assassins, but also got his butt handed to him by an extra-dimensional being that knows more about what’s happening to Rob than he does. Luckily, one of the assassins saves Rob by taking him (and the lady cop) to another dimension to kill him. Once there, Rob uses his wits to save himself and the cop. The problem afterward is that he barely has time to think about what’s happened before the crazy alien beast is grabbing him by the throat again! Will he be able to defeat this seemingly all powerful beast, or will he end up being its dinner?
Is it just me, or does this book seem that for all its action in the first three issues, that it is just spinning its wheels? It’s a decent read, but when I sit back and think about it, it does feel like it hasn’t really progressed much since the first issue. I can’t honestly say that the book is bad, but it certainly is lacking in “oomph.” My honest opinion is that some of these writers just have too much on their plates to deliver on every book, every month.
The artwork is pretty good, but not spectacular. It kind of matches the writing in the sense that it’s solid, but doesn’t ever wow me. Now, in the artist’s defense, I’m more used to Marvel’s big two-page splash pages that have fight scenes that just blow your mind, so that may not be fair in comparison. I still think you need stuff like that at least once in a book to keep a reader’s attention. Especially when the dialog scenes aren’t overly impressive. The covers have been good from Morris, and I hope he keeps that trend going. This issue brought the first arc to a close (sort of), and I’ll probably be bowing out now due to the lack of intensity. Rating 2.5/5
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
