Morbid Drive is a quirky package of goofy humor that pays homage -- in a nyuck-nyuck kind of way -- to the classic horror villains of old.

Ron Cremeans' graphic creation has its problems -- among them, a sideways layout for about half of its pages, which might make passersby think the book has a centerfold, and a lack of development of its characters. But it's a good start and shows potential for more.

The central character is the Prince of Darkness, an 18-month-old toddler who is the world's oldest living vampire. Sharing his dwelling on Morbid Drive are Professor Hal Geigercounter, a mad scientist, and Earlie Shatterbone, his half-wit assistant; Buttercup, a feel-good, back-from-the-dead monster; Uncle Ian, who refuses all advances from the Grim Reaper; and Stickpin, a morally upright voodoo golem.

A portion of the book is exposition, pages on which the little Prince explains factoids about vampirism and introduces his cohabitants. The rest are a semi-sequential cartoon strip that is the life (or unlife) and times of each. It's here where the book could have stood a few more pages; as soon as Cremeans begins to develop one character, he veers off into something else and often leaves the reader hanging. (This may be corrected if Cremeans achieves his plan to release a new book focusing on each character.)

Morbid Drive is good, goony fun that gives us a peek into the odd mind of Ron Cremeans. I hope he writes more in this vein.

- Rambles
written by Tom Knapp
published 26 February 2005