Criminal Macabre: Omnibus V2

As a reminder: ALL REVIEWS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Publication Date: December 21, 2011

Format: FC, 368 pages, TP, 6" x 9"

Price: $24.99

Age range: 16

ISBN-13: 978-1-59582-747-0

Cal McDonald, the pill-popping, alcoholic antihero of the hit Criminal Macabre series, is back! Teamed with his undead partner Mo'Lock, Cal protects the sin-infested streets of Los Angeles against a growing horde of zombies, vampires, and occultists!

This trade collects Criminal Macabre Volumes 4-6, the one-shot story “Feat of Clay”, "The Creepy Tree" and "The Trouble with Brains" from MySpace Dark Horse Presents, and "Hairball" from Dark Horse Presents #102-#105, featured in color for the first time!

The book opens with “Hairball,” and it classic Cal McDonald, big chip on his shoulder, doing right with the odds against him, and taking no prisoners. After dealing with a Giant headed problem Cal gets a huge influx of odd cases, but when a client brings in a baby hand, it peaks his interest and he investigate. But what he finds may be more than he can handle. What’s a little more body damage, this is Cal freakin’ McDonald we’re talking about. But I do love his first person narrative, and his hit/damage counts.

Unlike Niles’ other series 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre isn’t all blood sucking vampires. No, that would be too easy for our prickly hero. In this omnibus alone he battles werewolves, clay golems exacting revenge, pissed off councilmen, rat toothed old world Nosferatu, brains, killer trees, con artists and cops. He has a few allies besides Mo’Lock. There’s an ex-girlfriend, a possessed car, lots of ghouls and a demon baby that offer assistance.

Two Red Eyes is among my all time favorites. Cal gets a beating. Cal sobers up. Cal is pissed off. Cal Kicks some major butt. Cal realizes he just got a hollow victory. Though that synopsis can describe most of the stories, it doesn’t make this one any less amazing. A close second is My Demon Baby, where I have to agree with Mo’Lock, Cal’s baby talk is utterly disturbing.

The love/hate relationship between Cal and Mo’Lock is fantastic. Cal fights the inevitable, as Mo’Lock bides his time, and deals with Cal’s childlike behavior. They have an odd chemistry, a mixture of support and enabling, that works wonderfully. Throughout the book, Cal is in various states of disrepair, and when no one else is there for him Mo’Lock picking up the pieces.

One of the fantastic things about the Criminal Macabre series is that if you’re not a long time reader you can still jump in and have the ride of your life. This series is not only seriously fast paced, it is absolutely exhilarating the way Niles weaves his tales of pure perfection. Each of the stories has a different artist, but each manages to capture the darkness, the grittiness, and the dark humor of the series. This Is one of my favorite series, and lovers of horror, hell, for lovers of good writing, this is one you should be reading.