• Writer: Tim Seeley
• Penciller: Victor Drujiniu
• Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse
• Cover Artist: Steve Morris
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Synopsis: While harnessing his new powers as the Occultist, college student Rob Bailey must defend himself and those around him from a series of hired Hit mages with unique magical abilities and a serpentine demon known as the Swordbreaker, all determined to kill him and to possess the powerful spell book known as the Sword!

Hot off the heels of the 2010 one-shot of the same name, The Occultist #1 finds college student Rob Bailey in way over his head: girls, exams, and a gaggle of mystical bounty hunters that want to pry the Sword from his cold, dead hand.

I’m a big fan of occult themed comics. Hellblazer, The Books of Magic, and Sandman are some of my favorite books of all time, and The Occultist follows in their footsteps while offering something unique and quite charming. The writing in this issue is solid. Tim Seeley is mindful to inject aspects of Rob’s vanilla life into his new role as the Occultist; it creates a nice balance of character for our protagonist that makes him feel like a magical Peter Parker, and it’s something I hope they keep up with as the series progresses.

Where the issue really hit it out of the park for me, however was artwork. Victor Drujini‘s pencils Andrew Dalhouse‘s colors are fantastic giving the book an almost hand-painted feel, and reminded me of the work done by artists Howard Porter and Mauro Cascioli in The Trials of Shazam. 

The Occultist #1 from Dark Horse Comics hits stores on November 9th. It’s a good start to what I hope to remain a really strong series. The writing was well paced and the art in the book is the kind of stuff that makes for enjoyable re-reads.

I give The Occultist #1 Four out of Five Stars.

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