by Joe Schickman, Reporter
The last issue poured sickly sweet off page after page, grimly tickling our curiosity with increasing intrigue as we saw the Necromancer’s obsession with conquering death propel him to achieve horrific scientific breakthroughs. When last we saw Dr. Eyes, he had just trialed off into the oblivion from whence he came, the devastation he wrought leaving unparalleled heartbreak in his wake. In The Principles of Necromancy #2 we see him answer the desperate calls for help from a young girl named Eloise McCallister who has been taking care of her mother through worsening illness. Will Dr. Eyes help Eloise’s mother, and if so, what cost will he require as payment?
Official Synopsis:
Doctor Jakob Eyes is nearing the completion of his great work… but one last piece remains.
Fortunately, beyond the walls of the City King’s domain, young Eloise McCallister has been writing to the Grand Hospital for over a year. Her mother has a terrible sickness in her mind – a sickness Doctor Eyes believes he can harness to finally conquer death. Eloise has only one condition: he has to teach her how he achieves his magic.
Today, Eloise McCallister learns to be a necromancer… and the dark secret at the heart of Doctor Eyes’ origin is revealed.
The phenomenal writing duo of Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing (Outsiders, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek) return to creator-owned comics with this macabre series brought to life by the evocatively horrific art of Eamon Winkle. Each issue features a variant cover by Jana Heidersdorf (Dark Souls)!
Creative Team:
Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
Artist: Eamon Winkle
Colorist: Jay Fotos
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Designer: Bobby Curnow
Covers:
Cover A: Art by Eamon Winkle
Cover B: Art by Jana Heidersdorf
Incentive Cover: John McCrea & Mike Spicer
The Principles of Necromancy #2 promises that the first issue’s blend of an original, heart wrenching, and engaging story backdropped by gruesome morbidity, horrific despair, and escalating terror, was not a fluke. Nor was its ability to capture our interest from the offset, only to magnify the effects throughout the incredibly well crafted story, a one off. As this issue opens we once again find ourselves facing the unforgiving harshness of the icy cold. A horse and rider have long since fallen victim to its white deathly maw, leaving a letter to gather snow until it is picked up by Dr. Eyes.
The letter, addressed to the Twenty August Master Doctors at the City Hospital, is one of many from a young girl named Eloise McCallister, who struggles to care for her mother and cure her worsening sickness. She begs for help with increasing urgency, but is discouraged by the lack of response to any of the other letters, nor any sign that the City King’s presence has reached to her home town of Arkwright since she was a baby. Feeling abandoned and hopeless, she entreats that “It is not only those in the city who require the miracle of medicine.”
It is then that Dr. Eyes decides to make a house call, quickly applying the same brutal approach we saw before. However, after removing a tumor from Eloise’s mother, she improves in miraculous fashion. The only payment the Necromancer seeks is the tumor itself, which may hold the missing key to his design for “circumventing the more horrifying consequences of the deathless consciousness.”
Fascinated and eager, Eloise follows the Necromancer to his laboratory in a decrepit and dilapidated house, where she sees all the horrors we have come to expect from Dr. Eyes. He works in a room lined with filaments of nervous and circulatory systems while skins hang from rafters, jars hold dismembered body parts, hearts and lungs connect to sickening machinery, and bodies lie in varying states of decay, the necrotic flesh echoing Dr. Eyes’ unnatural mask. Among these items is the tumor extracted from Eloise’s mother’s brain.
Initially enraged by the intrusion on his sacred place of science, The Necromancer commands Eloise to leave, but she implores him to teach her instead. And so a deal is struck. The only conditions? No vomiting, no closing eyes, and to do exactly what the doctor tells her at all times. While Eloise acts as his nurse, we learn more about Dr. Eyes, gaining insights into his world views and history. But the mystery surrounding The Necromancer deepens as Eloise finds a puzzling implement unlike the other meticulously cared for tools in the lab. Before Eloise can solve that riddle, Dr. Eyes’ next lesson leaves her devastated and enraged, but leads her to a discovery which may hold the clue to Dr. Eyes’ true origins and motivations.
Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly once again keep us on the edge of our seats, displaying their honed abilities to masterfully tell a tale which captivates the readers from start to finish. Though just introduced, they easily compel the audience into caring about Eloise’s plight, and empathize with her. The frustration she feels towards the City Hospital as her letters continually go unanswered forces us to project our own issues with uncaring bureaucracies and senses of helplessness. Artist Eamon Winkle and colorist Jay Fotos partner in making the grotesque narrative into a beautiful visual feast, which simultaneously sickens as it enchants. Panel after panel draws the reader along until we are at the end and left still wanting more. Shawn Lee’s lettering finds yet another way to add depth and character, achieving striking relatability with Eloise through her letters. The combined effect definitely establishes a fascinating world in which to place these complex characters, and we at Comics Online cannot wait to see how the rest of the story unveils.
Rating: 
ComicsOnline gives The Principles of Necromancy # 2 – 4/5 reanimations.
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