Something Wicked

(Image, 2003)
™ and © Image Comics, Inc.

It’s a shame the first issue of Something Wicked didn’t ship in time for Halloween. It’s got just about everything fans of the old Universal and Hammer Frankenstein films could hope for, including grave robbing, a nosy outsider (in this case a detective), a mad scientist with a God complex, and, of course, a monster formed from the dead. All the story needs is a fretful wife or girlfriend and torch-wielding villagers.

The monster in this issue isn’t the typically lumbering, largely mindless hulk of the old creature features. Rather, he’s a clawed, muscle-bound super-freak with a sinister sense of purpose, driven by memories of his past life. Adding drama and an even deeper sense of foreboding to the tale is the overriding fact that a plague has destroyed much of the world’s population.

The dialogue is a bit wooden at times (perhaps to give the characters an old-school feel), and there are a number of punctuation errors, but the story is definitely a page-turner — there’s mystery in the air, as well as horror. And, fittingly, the hauntingly pleasant art will please E.C. Comics buffs, Bernie Wrightson aficionados, and fans of Eerie and Creepy magazine.

Just what the doctor (Frankenstein) ordered for Hallow — for the holidays.

— Brett Weiss

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