The Culture

[ Currently: Listening to Off the Ball ]

This book collects issues 0 – 4 of Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse by writer/artist Ben Templesmith. I am a fan of Templesmith’s art from his 30 Days of Night books but I think this is my first exposure to him as a writer as well.

Wormwood is a trans-dimensional worm who inhabits, and animates, a corpse – usually visible in the corpse’s right eye socket. He is a paranormal investigator along with his non-drinking buddy, and robot, Pendulum and hired gun, and ex-lap dancer, Phoebe. When he gets a visit from ghost cop, Trotsky, Wormwood finds himself invovled in a case invovling erectile dysfunction pills causing the rapid and violent births of tentacle-faced demons.

I thought that this was a great book full of humour and bizarre situations. How these characters come to exist and function in the world is not really explained but if you are willing to accept the set up then this is a fun read. The art from Templesmith is great as ever. I love his style with minimalist backgrounds and beautiful colouring – horror books never looked so pretty before. I look forward to reading more adventures of Wormwood and some of Templesmith’s other solo works.