CRIMINAL MACABRE: MY DEMON BABY by Steve Niles, writer and Nick Stakal, artist. (Dark Horse Comics, September 2008) Paperback, 104 pages. ISBN # 159309087 / 9781593079086.
Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .
To say that Cal's been through hell and back would be a misstatement. He's been to hell, all right, and he seems to be stuck there for good. When we last checked in on Cal, he and Mo'Lock had just witnessed the vile, horrifying transformation of Cal's lovely ex, Sabrina Lynch, into a minion of the vampire Nosferatu.
After that Cal disappeared for a bit, and at the start of our new series, Mo'Lock finds him just in time to lure him off the filthy couch in an abandoned house with an offer he can't refuse -- either he gets up and takes a new case, or Mo'Lock will kill him before the drugs can.
And what a case it is. Devil worshippers in sunny SoCal are doing their best to bring Satan into the world, and by the looks of things, Cal's already too late. What does one feed a bouncing baby Beezlebub, anyway?
My Four-Star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
I’m a fan of Steve Nile's Cal MacDonald character, a hard-boiled detective of the occult and monstrous. He reminds me of John Constantine/Hellblazer in that both are substance-abusers and smart-ass cynical observers. Their narratives are full of wry comments. However, while Constantine solves his problems with magic, Cal McDonald pulls out the guns.
McDonald is wallowing in his misery and hiding out, abusing alcohol, drugs and whatever mind-numbing substance he can find when his ghoul buddy Mo'Lock pulls him out of the funk to take on a new case - - helping the Catholic Church rescue a baby girl, the embodiment of Satan into the world, from the devil-worshipping cult that conceived her.
McDonald has to maneuver between the cult followers (including a few vampires) and a resurrected Knight of the Templars bent on destroying the child and anyone in the way. It's a fast-paced romp through the eerie world that McDonald inhabits, full of amusing commentary, dialogue, and laughable moments.
After being struck by a vehicle piloted by the mad knight, Cal shares his feelings: "I felt a rib snap, and that wet going down my back was just warm enough to be blood. . . . Plus, guess what? Mustard in an open wound hurts like a bitch! . . . It was nights like this that made me wish I had a pez filled with Vicodin."
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