Written by Martin Dunn
Drawn by Shawn Langley
Published by CAE Studios/Big Pond Comics
Here’s another comic I got on impulse. It was digitally released in August 2015, so I’m quite late. It’s collection of strips from a webcomics. As for the premise, well, I’ll just post the official solicitation:
Season 1 of the hit webcomic is collected for you here and chronicles the story of Darren Palmer, a twenty-something con man who is killed in a freak accident, and given a second chance at redemption by serving as a “Spectromancer”. His task is to hunt down and return the rogue spirits who’ve escaped limbo’s judgement. However, Darren is all about personal gain, and instead begins to exploit his powers for profit.
Sounds good to me, which is why I got it, although I’d never heard of the webcomic before this. The story opens at Darren’s funeral, recapping his origin, then switches to the present where Darren, in his Spectromancer form, showing up at his ex-fiance Karen’s apartment. We learn that he previously left her at the altar and stole from her, so you can imagine that she’s not exactly happy when he shows up as a ghost and asks her to be his “assistant” in catching bad ghosts. She calls a Priest to perform an exorcism to get Darren’s ghost out of her home, but this proves to be highly ineffective and results in the Priest’s accidental beheading. And then things get even weirder.
It’s a funny book. Darren is written as a jokester who doesn’t taken anything, not even his new condition, too seriously. I would say his sense of humor is similar to a character like Deadpool. The only things that really brings this story down, I’m sorry to say, is the artwork, which is amateurish at best. But if you can overlook that, I think you will enjoy this book, should check out the webcominc (link below) to see for yourself.