Criminal Macabre
| Criminal Macabre | |||
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Cover of Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery (2003), trade paperback collected edition.
Art by Ben Templesmith. |
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| First appearance | "Big Head" (1990) | ||
| Created by | Steve Niles | ||
| Publication information | |||
| Publisher |
Dark Horse Comics Image Comics |
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| Schedule | Monthly | ||
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| Formats | Original material for the series has been published as a strip in the comics anthology(s) Fly in My Eye and Dark Horse Presents and a set of limited series and one-shot comics. | ||
| Genre | |||
| Publication date | 1990 – Ongoing | ||
| Main character(s) | Cal McDonald | ||
| Creative team | |||
| Writer(s) | Steve Niles | ||
| Artist(s) |
Jim Whiting Ben Templesmith Kelley Jones Kyle Hotz Nick Stakal |
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| Creator(s) | Steve Niles | ||
| Reprints | |||
| Collected editions | |||
| Criminal Macabre | ISBN | ||
| Last Train to Deadsville | ISBN | ||
Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery is a comic book series starring Cal McDonald, an antihero American comic book character created in 1990 by writer Steve Niles. The character's adventures have been published by Dark Horse Comics and later IDW Publishing.
Cal himself is akin to John Constantine, a DC Comics paranormal detective. He takes illicit drugs, and befriends a network of ghouls to assist him in his cases. Policemen do not really care to be involved with Cal.
Cal McDonald's first story, entitled "Big-Head", was released in 1990 as part of the anthology comic Fly in My Eye: Daughters of Fly In My Eye from Arcane Comix, with art by Jim Whiting. That story led directly to the four-part "Hairball", serialized in Dark Horse Presents #102-105 in 1996. Hairball was later printed as a one-shot comic.
Cal's subsequent appearances were in two 2002 novels, Savage Membrane, and Guns, Drugs and Monsters. In the latter, Cal relocated to Los Angeles, after following a living, severed head searching for its body.
Following the novels, Cal made his return to comic book form in the Dark Horse Comics mini-series, Criminal Macabre (2003) with Ben Templesmith as artist. The two would pair up again for a one-shot comic titled "Love Me Tenderloin" in 2004. Cal's adventures have continued in other mini-series such as "Last Train to Deadsville" and "Supernatural Freak Machine", both with artist Kelley Jones, where he re-encountered the severed head. Next, he starred in the mini-series "Two Red Eyes" with artist Kyle Hotz, where he does battle with the vampire Nosferatu. He also made a brief appearance in short story format in the Dark Horse Comics released title Drawing on your Nightmares, again with Ben Templesmith as artist. From there, he went on to do "My Demon Baby" and "Cell Block 666" with artist Nick Stakal. The series "Two Red Eyes" started a trend continuing in "My Demon Baby", where action film actor Thomas Jane would portray Cal on the issue's covers, stylized by artist Tim Bradstreet.
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Wikipedia