R.I.P.D. : City of The Damned #1

To make sure the souls of the dead keep moving forward, God has a unit of special officers known as the Rest in Peace Department, these special cops serve the almighty for a century and keep the recently deceased in check. Being dead themselves, Roy Pulsipher and Nick Walker are the new recruits and as partners in their very first case, they’ll have to solve the mystery of an evil entity snatching up dead souls for his own personal gain.

The Team

Written by Jeremy Barlow (Remind, Star Wars : The Cone Wars : The Colossus of Destiny, Kult), illustrated by Tony Parker (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Vol. 1) & created by Peter M. Lenkov (Fort : Prophet of The Unexplained ). Cover by Dave Wilkins. Published by Dark Horse Comics.

The Pros & Cons

Think Men in Black, but with ghosts & the supernatural, instead of aliens and you’ve got a good grasp on what this comic’s about. Seems God can’t take care of all the souls that move on all by his lonesome, so he has a special police force to bring law & order to those misguided and sometimes malicious souls. This origin series is a direct prequel to next summer’s guaranteed blockbuster hit R.I.P.D. starring Ryan Reynolds & Jeff Bridges. Seems Hollywood has a short memory. Remember Cowboys VS. Aliens? What a train wreck that was. The difference being, is that this is a decent comic book, where as the Cowboys Vs. Aliens comic was a generic and awful P.O.S. not worthy of reading material for your cottage’s outhouse. Lately Hollywood can’t seem to get enough of ghosts n’ goblins, so this story has the right elements for a kick ass movie and a fruitful life in sequels. But this ain’t a movie review, so I’ll move on.

This story begins with R.I.P.D. officers Roy Pulsipher, a gun slinging & Buffalo Bill looking ex U.S. Marshall who’s joined the department for personal reasons and officer Nick Walker, a tough big city ex-cop with a trigger happy finger. The pair are smack in the middle of a weird case and then the story shifts into the past to concentrate more on Roy’s origin and his introduction to the R.I.P.D. Like M.I.B., there’s a whole hidden world away from human beings and the special police who monitor it. I like those stories and I like this one, sure it’s only the first issue, but it has some true potential for a great horror adventure with a dash of mystery mixed in. Of course it’s not all loom & gloom, there are some moments of humour here & there. There’s a scene where the 2 recruiters fetch Roy and use an outhouse as a mode of transportation that’s simply hilarious.

Having written copious amounts of Star Wars comics, writer Jeremy Barlow is on familiar ground here, scribing about heroes with guns & strange creatures. Illustrator Tony Parker’s drawings are new to me, but offers some nice painted like images with pastel colours courtesy of colourist Michelle Madsen. The cover has a movie like poster look that’s just beautiful.

The Outlook

I quite enjoyed this Wild, Wild West meets Ghostbusters little tale, unfortunately, it loses a few rating points for borrowing heavily on M.I.B. & Cowboys VS Aliens. Having said that, it’s still worth a look. I look forward to the movie.