The Occultist, Volume 2: At Death’s Door
Created by Mike Richardson
Story by Mike Richardson and Tim Seeley
Script by Tim Seeley
Art by Mike Norton
Color by Allen Passalaqua
Letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Cover and Chapter Break Art by Steve Morris
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 25, 2014
Cover Price: $16.99

As I’m sure you probably gleaned from the title, this graphic novel is centered around mystical powers. And if that’s all that The Occultist, Volume 2: At Death’s Door had going for it, it would still be a darn fine read. But fortunately for us, there is more going on here than you might first think. This is not your typical supernatural story, not by any means.

Since this was a miniseries originally, it is exceptionally nice that the writers included a couple of pages of back story to help new readers. Most of the time we don’t get that luxury. The premise here is a young man named Rob Bailey has been given the power of an ancient tome entitled The Sword. Following the loss of his trusted friend and mentor, Rob teams up with a local detective to stop the demons and the undead from seizing power and killing innocents. And that leads us to the current chain of events in this five issue series.

Each and every week, I, “Carton of Hate” Henchman21, and “Have you been reading Milk and Cheese again?” Empress Eve read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible”¦ theoretically. Naturally, we look forward to some more than others. I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of our pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of October 2, 2013. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

Here’s the thing, I was going to follow last week’s format and do a bunch of quick shots about a bunch of issues out this week. But then I started writing and I got excited about the comics out this week because comics are freaking awesome! And there’s a lot of freaking awesome comics out this week and I couldn’t stop writing about them. So as you can see, we’ve got a lot to get through this week and not much time to do it so let’s not delay anymore, let’s dance with The GoD List in the pale moonlight.

The Occultist #1
Created by Mike Richardson
Written by Mike Richardson and Tim Seeley
Art by Mike Norton
Color by Allen Passalaqua
Letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Covers by Steve Morris, Paolo Rivera
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Cover Price: $3.50

I’ve got a confession to make here, I chose to review this comic based solely on the title. I love horror comics and when a book is entitled The Occultist #1, I immediately think of Lovecraft, Cthulhu, and the like. So I dove in with some preconceived expectations, most of which never presented themselves. But hey, can’t blame a guy for trying…right?

Now, I don’t want you to get the wrong impression here. This wasn’t a bad book, quite the contrary. It just wasn’t what I was expecting. The main character, Rob Bailey, is in possession of an ancient artifact called The Sword. He’s described as a “mild-mannered college student,” but that just made me think of a certain super man masquerading as a newspaper reporter. I assume this was done purposefully, sort of tongue in cheek you might say. But Rob is a young man trying to unlock the secrets to this cryptic power he has been given. He’s not flying around saving the world…he’s saving it one haunted house at a time.

The Occultist #1
Story by Mike Richardson, Tim Seeley
Script by Tim Seeley
Art by Victor Drujiniu
Colors by Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by Nate Piekos of Blambot
Designer: Justin Couch
Created by Mike Richardson
Covers by Steve Morris, Jenny Frison
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: November 9th, 2011
Cover Price: $3.50

The Occultist is one of those comics that has something for everyone. Horror, magic, mystery, and most importantly, hot girls. Everybody wins! I hadn’t read the previous Occultist one-shot, but I was very impressed with this issue.

What I liked most about this The Occultist #1 is writer Tim Seeley’s ability to catch the audience up on what has happened previously with the character without talking down to them or wasting pages recapping last year’s one-shot. This book is all over the place and it’s a really fun read. We get not only plenty of time with the main character and his story, we also get a good amount of time with the villains and supporting cast and find out their motivations.