Criminal Macabre



Criminal Macabre is published by Dark Horse Comics. The cover price is $2.99.

Last Issue

 * Criminal Macabre: The Big Bleed Out #3: 12 Feb 2020

Current Issue

 * Criminal Macabre: The Big Bleed Out #4: 11 Mar 2020

Next Issue

 * none scheduled

Status
Series of mini-series & one-shots.

Main Characters

 * Cal McDonald

Allies

 * Mo'Lock
 * Jefferson Blout
 * Sabrina Lynch
 * Emek

Trade Paperbacks

 * Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery - Collects #1-5 of the original mini-series. "A pill-popping alcoholic reprobate, Cal is the only line of defense between Los Angeles and a growing horde of zombies, vampires, and werewolves." - Preview -


 * Criminal Macabre: Two Red Eyes - Collects the Two Red Eyes mini-series. "Cal McDonald, boozer, druggie, private dick who hangs with dead dudes—welcome to Rock Bottom. Your only friend in the human world is dead, your girlfriend just dumped you and moved to another city, and the district attorney has a chip on his shoulder the size of a Chevy Nova with your name on it. When that chip turns into a nasty case of police brutality, Cal ends up fighting for his life in the intensive care unit and wakes up days later... sober. And what’s Cal been missing since he went under? Only the most horrifying convergence of sheer monster power ever to emigrate from the old world. Cal McDonald, meet Nosferatu." - Preview -


 * Criminal Macabre: Supernatural Freak Machine - Collects the mini-series. "Escaped mad doctors and possessed muscle cars are all in a day's work for supernatural investigator Cal McDonald and his undead sidekick Mo'Lock. When an old enemy Cal sent to prison escapes, his sights are set on exacting cold revenge on the guy who put him there. And it looks like he'll have to cut through everyone Cal loves to get to him . . . perfect! Cal knows what he's up against, and he's hardly batting an eye. He's already put this guy away once, and it's not like prison makes people bitter, right? And besides--things are looking up. He's even got a new car to brag about--a spiffy 1973 Nova. Too bad the guy who died in the car before Cal bought it has no intention of leaving!" -


 * Criminal Macabre: My Demon Baby - Collects the mini-series. "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 Beelzebub, anyway?" -


 * Criminal Macabre: Cell Block 666 - Collects the mini-series. "Framed in the death of a cop, Cal finds himself at the mercy of a sadistic and corrupt police force. But now, in some of the bleakest moments of his life, the things that make him different from the rest of the world might be the only things capable of keeping his sorry butt out of deeper trouble. Because it turns out that the things that would make most people want to give up and die -- the strange, inhuman voices coming from adjacent cells, the mysterious visitors, the unlikely saviors in demonic disguise -- are the things that have kept Cal alive long enough to see a way out. And just when Cal begins to unravel the conspiracy behind his own downfall, he uncovers a nightmare world of murder and corruption at the prison that has dozens of former prisoners turning in their graves... and clawing their way out!" -


 * Criminal Macabre: No Peace for Dead Men - Collects the one-shots Die, Die, My Darling!, No Peace for Dead Men, They Fight by Night, Criminal Macabre/The Goon: When Freaks Collide, and “Call me Monster” -


 * Criminal Macabre: Final Night—The 30 Days of Night Crossover - Collects the four-issue mini-series. "Cal McDonald only wanted a beer, but what he got was a jaded federal agent and a story about vampires up in Barrow, Alaska. There’s a new vamp in LA, and he’s hell bent on bringing mankind to its knees." -


 * Criminal Macabre: The Eyes of Frankenstein - Collects the four-issue mini-series. "With ghouls dying all around him and the mystery of his own violent illness racking his body and mind, occult detective Cal McDonald takes on a new case from an old friend—Frankenstein’s monster. To solve the case, Cal seeks help from a man billed as “the world’s foremost authority on the supernatural.” Cal must trust this wealthy entertainer to save his friends and cure his illness." -


 * Criminal Macabre: The Big Bleed Out - Collects the four-issue mini-series. "Supernatural detective Cal McDonald, found wandering the streets as a disheveled vagrant, is ripped from his self-imposed retirement to resume his monster-killing career. But Cal is reluctant to return to the fray. What has the hard-bitten investigator so shaken? It’s a long story that begins with a beautiful woman who happens to be a vampire … and ends with a bang." - -  -


 * Criminal Macabre Omnibus, vol. 1 - Collects the original miniseries, the Two Red Eyes mini-series, the Supernatural Freak Machine, and the Love Me Tenderloin one-shot. - -


 * Criminal Macabre Omnibus, vol. 2 - Collects the My Demon Baby mini-series, the Cell Block 666 mini-series, and others. - -


 * Criminal Macabre Omnibus, vol. 3 - Collects the No Peace for Dead Men mini-series, the Final Night-The 30 Days of Night Crossover mini-series, The Eyes of Frankenstein miniseries, and the The Iron Spirit OGN. - -

Hardcovers

 * Criminal Macabre: The Cal McDonald Casebook, vol. 1 - Collects the original mini-series, Last Train to Deadsville, Supernatural Freak Machine, Love Me Tenderloin & Hairball. -

Creative Team
Writer/Creator: Steve Niles. Creator: Ben Templesmith.

Artist on Two Red Eyes: Kyle Hotz

Publishing History
First published in 2005.

News & Features

 * 06 Apr 2012 - Steve Niles On An All-New Criminal Macabre
 * 24 Nov 2006 - The Monster Challenge: Niles talks Criminal Macabre: Two Red Eyes

Links

 * Dark Horse Comics - Publisher's Website