Tales of the Unexpected # 1 (of 80
By Koppy McFad
October 17, 2006 - 06:54
DC Comics
Writer(s): David Lapham, Brian Azzarello
Penciller(s): Eric Battle, Prentis Rollins, Cliff Chiang
Cover Artist(s): Mike Mignola/Neal Adams
ISBN: 978-1401215064
128 pages
ls with the new Spectre-- murdered homicide detective Crispus Allen who is looking into dark deeds in a scummy apartment building. The landlord has just been gruesomely murdered but under the new rules that the Spectre operates under, he can do nothing until he knows exactly who the killer is. So Allen ends up acting as a homicide detective. This can be frustrating for the lead character as he sees lesser crimes being carried out in his ghostly presence but is helpless to intervene. Frankly, the reader may soon get frustrated too at a hero who who can just stand there while a woman is raped right in front of him. The set-up to this title is still a bit vague and hard to get into. The art by Battle is suitably grim and scarey although at times, he overplays the facial expressions-- such as in Allen's constant screaming. His lay-outs also need a little more work as they sometimes sacrifice clarity for spectacle. The back-up feature is a bit more intriguing. Dr. Thirteen, the resident magic-buster of the DC universe, looks into some bizarre event in the Swiss Alps. Apparently, there is some bigger conspiracy at work that will eventually involve a host of other DC characters. How they will possibly resolve all this in the limited time and space that they have will really be something to see.
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