Lucius Fogg: Deadly Creatures

Werewolves In The Shadowy Fogg

'Lucius Fogg: Deadly Creatures' is the new novel from comic book author Dan Wickline. Comic fans might know Dan Wickline from his work on Zenescope's 'Sinbad' or Image Comics' 'Shadowhawk'. But the storyteller has finally taken his skills to the world of books and, by doing so, may have given us his most memorable characters yet.

And so, the mysterious Lucius Fogg is on the case! Now, don't let the title fool you. The story, set in a spooky 50's noir where supernatural things can and frequently do happen, is more about Fogg's assistant, Jimmy Doyle, who narrates the book. Doyle is a working class stiff in the best tradition, a forthright blue-collar hero who tries to do the right thing even in the face of the weird things happening around his shut-in boss, Fogg, and their ties to everything magical or otherworldly going on in this story.

In a lot of ways, 'Deadly Creatures' contains a lot of familiar sights and sounds, but they're the kinds of things that fans of old monster movies and old detective flicks never seem to tire of. Including me. There's private eyes, there's sultry dames, there's monsters, there's werewolves and there's plenty of other spooky residents of a weird little section of fictionalized New York called Old Town. This book is fast-paced, hitting the beats that keep it from ever getting boring or stale. I struggle to get fifty pages in to a lot of books, but I never felt it was a chore reading this book. It's escapism, pure and simple. And fun. The world that Dan Wickline has created here is fully formed; it's the kind of place you'd love to see a movie made of (Hollywood, get on this!). I happen to know that a second novel is in the works (you can follow @danwickline on Twitter for more info about his work) and I'm personally looking forward to going back to the world of Lucius Fogg.

I won't summarize the whole plot in this review, but I will say that if you like supernatural noir with plenty of monsters and things lurking in the shadows, then 'Lucius Fogg: Deadly Creatures' is a fun, fast read.