Review - Driver of the Dead #1

Would you sign up for a job that entails fighting all sorts of undead monsters battling for your very soul while giving you a chance to drive a kickass hearse in the meantime? If these are the sort of things you look for in a comic then look no further then Driver for the Dead #1 from Radical Publishing. I couldn’t have asked for a better title then that and, really, this is an overall enjoyable comic to read and am looking forward to the next issue. At the moment though let's focus on this first issue and have ourselves a review.

The story begins with Mose Freeman, a man of supernatural powers and knowledge en route to a house to help a sick child. Now this child isn’t sick with any old illness, but has been cursed by a former nanny with some real powerful magic. In the ensuing fight a dragon demon thing flies out of the boy’s mouth and attacks Mose, fatally wounding both in the process. Mose's final wish is for the parents to call someone to take care of his remains and that man is Alabaster Graves.

With this being a comic you know nothing goes right for Alabaster as he runs into some grave robbers as they open fire on him, hitting his hearse. Graves gets word that Mose Freeman has died and requested him personally to drive his body back to New Orleans to be buried in the family crypt. Only hitch in the plan is Mose's great-granddaughter is coming along for the ride which is a bad idea in his book, but seeing the money at the end of the tunnel let's him get over it.

The first issue written by John Heffernan features encounters with the aforementioned grave robbers and a witch who informs him of a potential showdown with Fallow, an entity of pure evil setting his sights on Alabaster and Mose's corpse. I have to say I really dug the artwork by Leonardo Marco (colors by Kinsun Loh & Jerry Choo) as it's just a great fit with the story and adds a darker tone to the work as well. Great first issue of this new series and I very much enjoyed reading it and am definitely looking forward to that next issue.

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