Skybound Entertainment, Robert Kirkman’s company, chose Brandon Seifert’s Witch Doctor as its launch title. That alone should tell you how great the series is.
It is basically Dr House meets H.P. Lovecraft. Dr Vincent Morrow is an occult physician, a person that diagnoses and cures ailments and afflictions of a supernatural kind. He is helped by Eric Gast, a trained paramedic who acts as the muscle, and Penny Dreadful, a creature that eats monsters. Together, they solve medical cases of a supernatural kind.
In 2012, Dr Morrow and Company are coming back for a second series. This time around, Dr Morrow takes a cue from Dude, Where’s My Car and makes it more disturbing. Dr Morrow does not lose his vehicle. He loses his memory of who he is and the last 24 hours.
Even the world’s leading expert in supernatural disease needs to unwind sometimes. But when Dr. Morrow wakes up with no memory of what (and who!) he did last night, is it a case of partying too hard or something more malignant?
“I’m glad people loved Witch Doctor volume one so much — but we’re barely getting warmed up!” said writer Seifert, adding, “Mal Practice has more monsters, more magic, more medicine and more peril, as Dr. Morrow has to treat a very different patient — himself! And like they say — doctors make the worst patients!”
“This story really ups the stakes and pushes the characters to new levels of desperation — after all, what’s a witch doctor to do when he’s his own best hope to survive?” said artist Ketner. “I’ve been waiting to draw some of the stuff in Mal Practice since the very beginning of Witch Doctor, and I’m relieved that we’re finally taking the bandages off for all to see!”
Witch Doctor Volume 2: Mal Practice #1 is the first issue of a new six-issue miniseries, with story by Brandon Seifert, art by Lukas Ketner and coloring by Andy Troy, arriving in stores November 28th with 32 pages of gruesome and gory goodness ($2.99/FC/T).
Reading Witch Doctor Volume 2: Mal Practice will make you instantly understand why Robert Kirkman picked Witch Doctor as Skybound’s first new original title, and why The A.V. Club diagnosed it “Terrifying, hilarious and above all, smart!” Critics and fans agree, once you’ve been infected by Witch Doctor, there is no cure.
In the meantime, please check out the original series. It is a pretty good series that fans of horror comics should read. Despite the odd premise, the series works. The key is that it is never afraid of the premise. It embraces it with full gusto and runs with it.
