Haunt is a great comic series that follows the titular ghostly superhero as he deals with the seedy underbelly of society. I picked it up on a whim earlier this year, and loved both the first and second volumes. After a ridiculously long wait, my copy of Haunt Volume 3 arrived. Did it uphold, or even exceed, the high quality of the earlier sections of the series?
Haunt’s got a lot on his plate. With Hurg recently taken down the future seems bright. Kurt, however, notices a strange ghostly creature stalking him, which no one else can see. This monster, dubbed The Apparition, is tasked with forcing Kurt to cross over, and Haunt’s power is useless against this invincible and unstoppable beast! Meanwhile, Hurg’s associates break him out of jail, meaning Cobra, the mercenary with a grudge against Haunt, is close behind. And, of course, Daniel’s new girlfriend, Autumn, is in the dark about what his wild job entails. Can the Kilgore brothers hope to survive everything and return Daniel to a mildly normal life?
“I’m back, bitches.” -Cobra, mercenary extraordinaire
Robert Kirkman’s on writing duties once again and we’re treated to his standard serious tone with drops of humor evident throughout. This volume packs in a lot of revelations, but also leads us to more questions about Haunt’s powers and purpose. A minor character from Volume 1 returns and, in true Kirkman style, turns out to be pretty darn important. Of course, there are a lot of plot threads set up which will no doubt become hugely important in the next volume. Even so, I felt like the writing this time around wasn’t great. The dialogue was pretty good and the plot wasn’t bad either, but it just lacked the high quality of the previous volumes (and what I’ve seen Kirkman do on Invicinble, which I read much of after finishing Haunt Volume 2). The story just felt bland and seemed more like a bridge to future arcs than a strong, standalone story.
The Apparition: consider yourself boned
Greg Capullo and Todd MacFarlane return for art duties. Their design for the new foe, The Apparition, is pretty cool, and of course the designs from earlier volumes remain. The covers are great as well. Honestly, though, the interior art isn’t as impressive as previous volumes, either. Like the writing, I feel their was a noticeable dip in quality. Thing is, I’ve seen Capullo’s work on Batman for DC, and it’s so much better than Haunt that it almost makes me wonder if the lower-quality art is intentional. Stylistically it fits the story, but images appeared sketchier this time around. Regardless, the art isn’t bad, but not great, either.
The cover to Issue #14: I’m not sure why I like it so much.
Regrettably, Haunt Volume 3 isn’t as good as Volume 1 or 2. The writing and art are both good…but still nothing as amazing or groundbreaking as what I found reading the earlier chapters. I figure Volume 4 will be better, since it’ll probably extrapolate on the multitude of plot threads established here. Furthermore, I know there’s a new creative team starting in the next issue, so some fresh blood may take the series in new and welcome directions. Obviously, I’m going to keep reading and have faith that Haunt can return to the amazing series it was.
–Creative character designs
–Interesting new plot threads established
–Great covers
–Lower quality art than earlier issues
–Bland plot
–Lack of humorous and interesting dialogue
Rating: 
Brett Simon is a twenty-two year old comic enthusiast. He’s starting to wonder if Kirkman has a thing for redheads.
[...] a series I’ve found enjoyable since I first picked it up. Sadly, the quality dipped a bit in Volume 3. A new creative team consisting of Joe Casey and Nathan Fox took over with Volume 4, however, so I [...]