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Well, I’m lying about the voodoo dolls, but what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the phrase ‘Witch Doctor’? Shrunken heads?

Skybound Entertainment with Image Comics released Witch Doctor #1 a couple of weeks ago now, but I only just picked up a copy. Now, plot wise I don’t think it’s anything we haven’t seen before, from the days of Mister Monster to the recent teenage occult investigator Doc Macabre.

That is not to say that this is not fun, it most certainly is. Lukas Ketner’s art is a treat to behold and conjures a mood halfway between the old EC comics, and the numerous Nineteen Forties’ style horror movies, with a dash of The Exorcist thrown in for good measure. If there is still an issue hanging around, then grab it. The main character gives the great Doctor Who himself a run for his money in terms of eccentricity, but at no point is this overpowering, or cheesy. This is waiting for a movie, with Vincent Price as the lead, even if the lead Doctor Vincent Morrow is a whole lot younger and better looking. Paul McGann would also fit the role.

The good news is that apparently, there are many such mini-series being planned for the good, erm, studious Doctor, and I can see the writer Brandon Seifert carving out quite the legacy character.

I could also see one of those relaunch titles thirty years down the line, akin to Project Superpowers or Terra Obscura, where all these various occult investigators have a large conference together. Hopefully it would be given more airtime (erm, page time?) than the Private Investigator conference of the penultimate issue of Crisis On Infinite Earths. There’s a concept that could do with a revival, and as DC establishes the new continuity, would be an ideal opportunity to bulk introduce its P.I. cast.

In the meantime, The Sixth Gun has now reached a full year. When I first blogged about this title, I feared that it would not last, even though it is obvious that cowboys are cool again. (The Jonah Hex film not withstanding. And on the note of my orginal blog post, what did happen to the Brigade relaunch? It just vanished!) If you haven’t yet sought this title, a combination of over-emphasised supernatural mysticism reminiscent of the Seventies Man-Thing or Ghost-Rider and the good Old Wild West, then I urge you to give this title a go.