Comic Review: Macabre #1

                I walked into the comic shop having no idea what I was going to pick up for today’s review.  Lo and behold, looking back at me on the shelf was the newest offering from Richard Moore.  If you don’t know about Moore’s work, it is something you should check out.  Most of the comics that he creates are for the “mature” audience, yet that usually has more to do with the cheesecake in the interior instead of any hardcore sex or language as many other comics with that moniker have nowadays.  The style itself is cartoony and he often uses anthropomorphized animals in his stories but that doesn't make them childish, as they often serve a purpose.  Black and white interiors are his main focus, so it has a very underground feel to it even though the art is much more polished than many of the comics associated with that era.  His work tends to look more like Bone than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

                Ever since I picked up the first trade of his hit Boneyard I have been a huge fan of Moore’s work, trying to accumulate any and all of his books, even some of the more risqué ones as the humor in the writing and art, along with the way the art itself is presented is second to none.  As soon as I saw Macabre #1 on the shelf, I knew what I was reviewing this week.

Cover:

                The book itself is set up almost like a Tales from the Crypt story where a narrator interjects between each story.  Being that this is a Richard Moore book, the narrator is a scantily clad woman that goes by the name of Charli, who is predictably in full display on the cover.  The cover is well done and honestly it does the job of drawing in someone walking by (case in point-me!) with that distinctive Richard Moore style.  If someone else had drawn the cover I wouldn’t have even looked twice at it even though the title has Moore's name right above it.  I wouldn’t have gotten that far and would have wound up purchasing something that I was unimpressed with (again). 

                The coloring is a little dark but because of the fact that it’s a creepy, gloomy book (in theory) I think that works.  I would have liked to have seen a little more of an homage to the old Tales from the Crypt covers from EC Comics though.  I understand that a pretty drawing of a scantily clad girl will bring eyes in the door, but I have 100% confidence that Moore would be able to make that work within the context of the EC comics cover. 

8/10 – It was the first issue and it grabbed my attention on a shelf of comics trying to do that very thing.  Very well done indeed.

Story:

                As I mentioned before, the book reads like an old Tales from the Crypt from EC Comics.  It houses three different stories along with a host of pinups.  The stories are good, often with a clever and humorous “Moore”-ian twist at the end.  The only one that doesn’t involve the typical level of cheesecake we are used to with many of Moore’s books is the last one, which is the strongest in my opinion.  It involves zombie pirates with a poor sense of direction, and turned from formulaic to hilarious in a split second.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Moore’s other stories, usually involving the scantily clad female enticing the stupid male to their doom, and always ending in a humorous fashion, but the fact that he was able to craft a tale that didn’t need that and was still able to offer a humorous twist was great.  That story felt more like Boneyard than anything else I have seen from Moore since that series concluded.  Call it nostalgia or whatever, but that set the final story apart for me.  The stuff in the interim with our “host” was little, throwaway stuff that seemed more like an excuse for Moore to draw  pinups, or at least full-page spreads more than anything. 

                As good as the stories are, they are so short, and so decompressed that it literally took me five minutes to read, and that was with stopping to marvel at the artwork on the page.  With the infrequency of Moore’s work, I would expect more from each installment, and the inclusion of the pinups, while incredible from an artistic standpoint are only used to pad a relatively thin comic out to acceptable levels. 

5/10 – I’m not going to accuse Moore of mailing it in on this one because the stories are good, but if he is going to take an extended break, I would like to see more from him upon his return.

Art:

                As usual with a Richard Moore book, the art is exceptional.  The pinups are incredibly well done, but it is the narrative work that once again stands out.  Moore’s use of facial expression and just the general “acting” that his characters do on the page make it easy to enjoy the story.  He conveys both drama and humor equally well, even when those two emotions are separated by a panel border.  100% of the situations Moore draws could never happen in real life, but the way he draws them, the gravitas that he gives to every moment because of the way he draws expressions, drives it home. 

The texture in his artwork is exceptional as well.  My favorite work that Moore produces is the standard pen and ink stark black and white stuff.  While this is not that kind of art, Moore instead delves into shaded artwork a la pencil or inkwash.  This technique, while not as effective as his pen and ink work in my opinion, is still incredibly strong and dynamic, and the figures don’t lose any of their expressive nature with the different art style.  Moore is an absolute master of the black and white comic book medium. 

10/10 – The only bad thing about Moore’s art is the fact that there isn’t more of it in this issue.

Overall – 7/10: It’s a little sparse for the price tag, but what is there is very good.  This won’t stop me from picking up everything else Richard Moore puts out, and it shouldn’t stop you either.