The Occultist #1 Review
Dark Horse Comics
Story: Mike Richardson & Tim Seeley
Script: Mike Seeley
Art: Mike Norton
Colors: Allen Passalaqua
Letters: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover: Steve Morris
Review: Tom Barnett
Beware! This book has a lot of heart and is tons of fun. The Occultist is Rob Bailey, a college student who has arcane powers of magic because of an ancient artifact known as the sword! This issue opens with the Occultist and his detective partner, Anna Melendez investigating some seriously messed up supernatural hijinks and from there it gets weirder.
Mike Richarson and Tim Seeley have given this new story arc a bang out of the gate. Seeley writes some very good dialogue infused with humor and heart. This book deals with what could be portrayed as very dark material, but still manages to be upbeat and fun in tone.
Mike Norton’s art lends itself to the aforementioned tone. His work here is very clean and crisp. Norton does a great job combing his character work with some well done supernatural elements. He turns in a splash page depicting Anna’s subconscious that is a must see. It’s also a nice touch that you can see the bones of the Occultist’s hands when he uses his magic. Norton’s work looks fantastic with the great color work from Allen Passalaqua.
This is a great start to this 5 issue series. Jump on this series now, just beware the nursery! Don’t open the door to the nursery!
Story: 4
Art: 4.5
Overall: 4.5
Tom is a contributing writer for Drunk On Comics. You can follow him on Twitter at @tphoto10.