It's always a dame, ain't it?  A slinky girl in killer heels with a cheetah walk, ticking men off her list like she's grocery shopping. But when Dr. Vincent Morrow has the bad luck of coming across the one woman with a living parasite for a tongue, he suddenly finds himself trapped in a life or death struggle with a shadowy man in black. Looks like it's another day in the office for the supernatural doctor, where the bizarre and the arcane are an everyday occurrence.    

The fan-favorite WITCH DOCTOR (Image Comics) is back again for a second helping of beasts and black magic. Originally a five part mini-series released by Image's Skybound imprint, WITCH DOCTOR exploded on the scene in 2011. Funny, well paced, and deeply entrenched in supernatural lore, the comic had garnered the praise of everyone from industry critics to that weird kid down the road. WITCH DOCTOR: MAL PRACTICE continues Dr. Morrow’s legacy of getting in and out of trouble, once again pitting him against unbeatable odds.

In the latest arc, Dr. Morrow is back to his old ways of expunging children of Satan and hanging out with the living embodiment of Penny Dreadful, a bummed out demon with the appearance of teenage girl. In taking a trip to the local dive bar following a particularly nasty possession, he gets picked up by a mysterious woman and loses all memory of the previous night. As he slowly begins to piece together the missing time, who should re-appear but the woman herself, this time trying to infect the good doctor with the nastiest looking parasite this side of the Black Death. Though she’s put down, her appearance opens up a whole jar of messed up. Suddenly, Dr. Morrow is fighting for his life against the initial infection she gave him the previous night and answering to orders from mysterious strangers. A tangled web of strange happenings, the issue has me reaching for the next issue before it's even out.

WITCH DOCTOR: MAL PRACTICE is already burning a solid path behind its first incarnation and lives up to the hilarious and spooky storytelling that we’ve come to love. Author Brandon Seifert, who is also responsible for HELLRAISER: THE ROAD BELOW, takes his time crafting the perfect amount of personality and characters, keeping it a smart and fresh read. The art, by his partner in crime, Lukas Ketner keeps in pace with the quick humor and the quicker gore, making this a solid read from beginning to end.

---

Reviews - Comics Reviews