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Witch Doctor: Mal Practice #4

Published Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:00:52 -0600

Last updated Sun, 03 Mar 2013 15:05:58 -0600

Louis Falcetti writes;

What to make of 2013 so far eh? There seems to have been plenty of sound and fury (probably) signifying nothing (definitely). We've had new comics to enjoy, new comics to lambaste, and new comics to ignore. What am I getting at? Where is this going? Where are any of us going? Big questions for a big world and this is but a simple introduction to a review of Witch Doctor: Malpractice #4.

When we last left Morrow he was in a world of hurt, he'd been separated from his body in the astral way, chakras and all (embarrassing). Trusty sidekick (and ambulance driver and tortured war vet and hunk of man) Eric is left holding the Morrow's limp and broken body before the Medicine Show. Penny Dreadful has been chained and is out by Golem. Things are bad in a major war, it doesn't help that Nostrum dresses like a Venture Brothers villain (that is, a Scooby Doo villain but with sad self awareness). What is going to happen? How will the Doc and gang get out of this one?

Well without giving it away (because when do we do that?) we finally get a glimpse at something beyond human with Eric, not demon-y and not spell…y, but something big and glowing and green. I guess that does give it away. Well he glows green. Do you feel spoiled? But as you can imagine, what with this being the fourth of sixth issues, Eric manages to get the Doc gone and then it's romantic interests, Fantastic Voyage tributes, magic, demons, snark and danger. You know, everything that you read Witch Doctor to experience.

I probably say this every review, but it bears repeating and repeating, Ketner just keeps getting better. Nostrum arguing with the Medicine Show demon twins, we see the sound of the approaching car (with "vrooom"ing letters by Seifert) first small behind the angry villains before getting huge as their faces take on the looks of "Something bad is going to happen to us soon, isn't it?". The colors also continue to amaze and impress courtesy of Andy Troy who definitely has a lot to work with this ish, from gloating astral chakras to gruesome and gruesomer horrors, both within and without Morrow.

The book continues to find the balance of comedy and horror as Morrow's illness progresses he begins to show more and more one of the darker aspects of the infection…GOING GINGER! First come the freckles, than, who knows? And like every issue of this excellent Image/Skybound book, it ends with a cliff hanger. I wish I had a medical or horror type metaphor to go out on, something that ties in with cliff hanger. The Good Son? Well that's more of a thriller and kind of gives away the film's climax. Cliffhanger? That also came out in 1993, weird. Weird year for movies that involve people hanging from cliffs. I feel like there's a re-make/re-model in there somewhere.

…

No there isn't. Read Witch Doctor it's great, just like this review.

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