Witch Doctor: Mal Practice #2 Review

Our title character has contracted a mystical disease from a random lady that he met at a bar, and now he needs help. Problem is, the people who deal with diseases like this tend to be rather dangerous themselves. Witch Doctor returns to form with this week’s journey into the greater world of freelance magic.

This series is at its strongest when exploring the corners of its own unique take on the world of magic and interpreting familiar aspects of the supernatural in that context. Writer Brandon Seifert gives us just that for 22 pages, presenting it all under the umbrella of a greater threat lurking just out of view. Details like the linkage between a person’s real name and their soul and settings like the Red Market go a long way toward making Seifert’s world a viable milieu for an ongoing series. Some might complain that The Surgeons are a cheap knock-off of Hellraiser’s Cenobites, but I’d strongly disagree. In the same way that Seifert reinterprets vampires to make them his own, the writer simultaneously creates something new and pays tribute to an institution of the horror genre.

Lukas Ketner seems to feed off of the new possibilities created by Seifert’s script, using the new characters and settings to submerge the reader in this strange and wonderful world. Ketner’s work on facial expressions and character acting are top notch here. The most apparent instance of this is Old Man Moonshine, with Ketner’s renderings breathing a soul into the character that goes above and beyond what’s in his words. What the artwork lacks in gore, it makes up in ambiance and fluid art direction.

Witch Doctor is once again a rollicking good time. Mal Practice #2 is imaginative and interesting, delving deeper into Dr. Morrow’s plight and fleshing out the true nature of magic further. Morrow’s assistant, Eric Gast, is starting to play a more significant role in the series, and the shadowy threat to the two paranormal physicians is forming nicely. Importantly, the humor is once again top notch. If you liked the earlier offerings from Seifert and Ketner, you’ll love this.

Poet Mase is a regular contributor to IGN who had to fight a kid for the last copy of Witch Doctor -- 10 minutes after his LCS opened. Follow Poet on Twitter @PoetMase, or post a message on his IGN profile PoetMase.

Source : ign[dot]com