Criminal Macabre/30 Days of Night Crossover: Final Night #3 Review: Enter Mo’Lock

Just one issue remains in the highly anticipated IDW/ Dark Horse crossover of Steve Niles’ two fables series. After issue three, you’ll be champing at the bit for more zombie-vampire action.

Before the series began, Niles promised by the end of it that one of the tales would case to exist. Although one side seems predominantly stronger now, there’s no telling what could happen by the end of it all.

While issue two was more dedicated to background storytelling, issue three is all action. Chris Mitten draws a gruesome tale that has everything from brutal vampire fighting, gun-play and even a killer page of scythe swinging. The result is a frenetic, fatal issue that changes the series forever. Although some of the art seems less detailed than his usual work and is sometimes hard to follow, it connects well with the savagery and wonton violence within the issue.

The end of the world doesn’t fall into perfect little pieces; Mitten’s art demonstrates that beautifully.

The story, like the art, is fast-paced. But a master scribe like Niles knows when to slow things down. It wouldn’t be a Niles’ comic without some humor. In the midst of all the hemoglobin-filled fights, Cal McDonald is his normally quirky, pop culture educated wise-ass self. After this issue however, McDonald will have much less to joke about. In a wild climax to the issue, the world of Criminal Macabre will never be the same.

The emergence of McDonald’s trusty zombie sidekick Mo’Lock as a true warrior (real fans of the series always knew he has it in him, but he always kept himself in check) was a shock but one necessary considering how much the world has changed over the past three issues. With just a few dozen pages left in the crossover, Mo’Lock’s courage might be the key to everything.

Behind the sturdy art and multifaceted story, this issue sets the bar high for the last zombie/vampire showdown. There’s no telling who will win this one. That, perhaps, is the best part.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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