Witch Doctor: Mal Practice #5 Review

After getting back on track in issue #4, co-creators Lukas Ketner and Brandon Seifert ratchet up the amplitude in this week’s episode of Witch Doctor: Mal Practice. Not only is our eccentric hero in a fight for his life against a venereal parasite, his nemesis, Nostrum, is assembling an army, and Morrow’s most powerful weapon has already been captured. Despite a slow and clunky start, this book ends up leveraging the sticky situation that Seifert has created to deliver a thoroughly entertaining experience.

The best part about this issue is how Eric Gast, the doctor’s assistant, takes the lead. For far too long, Gast has been an amorphous barnacle on this series, but here, he’s a dynamic, believably-motivated participant. He’s the impetus for the issue moving from low to high gear, initiating the memorable plot progression that defines this book.

Seifert has returned the focus to medical magic and rambunctiousness, setting the series up for a proper conclusion. The only issue with this book is the scripting of the opening few pages, but it’s a glaring problem. The series is awkwardly recapped in a progression that almost entirely abandons any pretense of “showing” rather than “telling”. The uncomfortable section is short-lived, however, quickly giving way to more enjoyable fare.

The artwork in this issue doesn’t register at the peak of Ketner’s considerable talent, but it is quite good nonetheless. His efforts during the aforementioned introduction provide the critical visual spice that makes the section palatable, and, when the story gets rolling, it’s Ketner’s images that get the readers’ hearts pumping first. Morrow’s battle with his Strigoi parasite is a little thin in its narrative zigs and zags, but the impact of Ketner’s illustrations generate the downhill momentum that powers the rest of the book. That visual pacing doesn’t stop until the final page, proving both the skill of the artist and his importance to the success of this title.

The last time we reviewed this title, it had a brief stumble, but the last two issues have proven that those problems were the exception and not the rule. It’s very cool to see two creators that are so committed to a title that they built from nothing and brought to the big stage of comics. Seifert and Ketner have shown once again that they are capable of bringing this subgenre to even larger realms of popular consciousness.

Poet Mase is a regular contributor to IGN. Follow Poet on Twitter @PoetMase, or post a message on his IGN profile PoetMase.

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